Cross-Gender Mentoring with Dr. Leighton Ford and Dr. MaryKate Morse

Our theme for Season 2 of “A Sojourner’s Truth” podcast is mentoring. You can SUBSCRIBE on iTunes, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

In this episode, Natasha speaks with global leaders, Dr. Leighton Ford and Dr. MaryKate Morse about cross-gender mentoring, specifically how we cultivate healthy mentoring relationships between women and men.

Dr. Leighton Ford, evangelist, author, social activist, leader, communicator and mentor, was singled out by Time Magazine as “among the most influential preachers of an active Gospel.” Dr. Ford is president of Leighton Ford Ministries. As an author, he has written 11 books. His most recent book is The Attentive Life. As a social activist, Dr. Ford has been an advocate for such issues as world hunger, poverty and racism. As a communicator, he has spoken to millions of people in scores of countries on every continent of the world. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister and was vice-president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, where he served for 31 years. He was also a regular alternate speaker with Billy Graham, his brother-in-law, on the Hour of Decision, one of the most popular religious broadcasts of its time. As a leader, Dr. Ford serves as the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, having served from 1976 to 1992 as chairman of this international body of Christian leaders. His book, “Transforming Leadership,” is one of the most comprehensive books on leadership ever written.

When mentoring, I often ask God, “Who are you asking me to be? Who are you asking me to follow? Who are you asking me to serve?”
Dr. Leighton Ford

Dr. MaryKate Morse is Professor of Leadership and Spiritual Formation at Portland Seminary of George Fox University. Currently, she is the Lead Mentor for the Doctor of Ministry in Leadership & Spiritual Formation. Raised in the Air Force, MaryKate lived in various US states and overseas. She completed her BS in Secondary Education and English Literature at Longwood University in Virginia. Upon return she did a Masters in Biblical Studies and a Master of Divinity at Western Evangelical Seminary (now Portland Seminary). She began teaching, studied spiritual formation and spiritual direction, and was certified as a spiritual director and recorded as a pastor with the Evangelical Friends. MaryKate completed her doctorate at Gonzaga University where she studied the characteristics of renewal leadership as modeled by Jesus. After her doctorate she planted two churches and served in various administrative positions at the university including Seminary Associate Dean, Director of Hybrid programs, and University Director of Strategic Planning. She is a spiritual director and leadership mentor and coach, conference and retreat speaker, and author including Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space, and Influence and A Guidebook to Prayer.