Encourager. Guide. Listener. Friend. Confidant. Supporter.

“These are all characteristics of a good mentor,” says Sabrina Smith, who, along with Kathy Smith, Brenda Miller, and Sharon Cooney, will lead the Heart to Heart women’s mentoring ministry in 2016.

Attend the group’s informal open house 2 to 4 p.m. April 16 in Kids Street Worship Center to learn more about being a mentor or being mentored in the six-month program.

Sign up in the connector hall to attend or by emailing Shannon Warden, director of women’s ministries, at shannon.warden@tbcnow.org.

“Some women will be interested in being mentored, and others will be interested in serving as mentors,” Sabrina Smith says. “Other women may choose to serve as prayer partners who pray for specific mentor-mentee pairs during the program.”

Like all of Triad Baptist Church’s women’s ministries, Heart to Heart’s goal is to support and encourage women. Its unique way of doing that is through mentoring relationships.

“Women face so many challenges and often benefit greatly when they are able to share with and learn from other women,” Miller says. “Participating in a mentoring program like Heart to Heart is a great way for women to support one another.”

Heart to Heart’s 2016 program builds on a record past success, including the personal and spiritual growth Cooney and the 34 other women experienced who participated in the six-month program in 2015.

Heart to Heart provides basic structure for the mentor-mentee pairs but encourages women to select the approach for their mentoring relationships that works best for their schedules and personal interests.

Whereas Cooney and her mentee chose play dates, other women choose book studies, weekly or bi-monthly emails or coffee shop visits, prayer walks, and other ways to meet together.

“My mentee and I decided that play dates would be a good time to get together,” says Cooney, who served as a mentor. “We talked while our kids played, and that worked out very well.”

Through Heart to Heart, Kathy Smith says women learn to put their hope in God regardless of life’s circumstances.

“This life is a journey and along the way we will surely have problems,” she says. “All of us will need to make hope-filled choices. You may need to reach out to other Christians or you may need to focus on helping others in order to find purpose in each day.

“Whatever journey you choose, place your hope in God. Romans 5:5 says, ‘This hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.’ Heart to Heart can help you along this journey.”

Mentors and mentees will be paired based on their specific interests after April 16. A brief training event will be held for mentors April 30. Later that same afternoon, mentees will meet too so that the Heart to Heart’s leadership team can help the pairs officially launch their six-month mentoring relationships, which wrap up at the end of October.

“We know that summer schedules will affect the mentoring pairs at times, but it’s a flexible program,” says Warden. “Ultimately, we believe many women will be blessed by participating as either mentors or mentees in the program.”