After misfiring three times in my search for a mentor, I pursued a man whom I'd heard speak in church several years earlier. When I first approached Andrew Shearman at a Shoney's in Brownsville, Texas about 13 years ago, neither of us knew each other, and he was noncommittal.

Who could blame him? I gave him no reason to take time out of his already busy schedule to invest in me.

Actually, my friend Cameron Hitchcock asked him for me, "Would you ever consider mentoring Seth?" he asked. Without batting an eye, Andrew looked at me and asked me a question that perplexed me for years, "Are you apostolic?" I didn't have a clue. In the church I grew up in, all the apostles were dead.

But something in me wouldn't give up. About six years later I asked him to speak to our staff at a retreat. Andrew and I spent some time together and discovered we like each other. And In the time since then, his message of the kingdom has sunk deep into my soul.

Though he lives in Arizona and I live in Georgia, we have become close friends and ministry partners and love spending time together. He is the chairman of my board, and we have a dream of raising up 100,000 young leaders together. Tonight we're here together at an AIM board meeting at his house in Phoenix.

None of this would have happened if I hadn't seen something in him that I wanted bad enough to fight for and persevere to attain. I guess if you were to ask me what one thing I've learned from the process, I'd give you a list of five that I'd choose from.

I'll share them tomorrow in How to find a mentor...