Mentoring — Blog — Dec 2025
Fall 2025 Menu:
UNCORKgenius 2025-2026
Bethany Beach Recap
Movers & Makers Mastermind
Premiere Coaching
Dave and Zia LIVE
Hello All,
We are back! — as promised — with updates on further programming for the year.
We think we have almost everyone into the Movers and Makers Mastermind — we are off to a good start for the year. If you’re interested in this mastermind, we are keeping it open until the end of December.
This year, we felt God was asking us to put UNCORKelevate aside, but there was no instruction manual on how to do that. We have felt called to simply follow the Holy Spirit through the dark. During the last 4 weeks or so, the picture became more clear.
This next step is a direct result of reaching the finish line with our Leadership II graduates. To recap a big accomplishment of the last season: we brought 5 leaders through the finish line of our leadership mentoring program. To see their certificates of completion with names and accomplishments, see the gallery of pics in the banner above.
We consider this a multi-layer accomplishment that started back in 2020 when we launched the UNCORKelevate program itself.
The process really kicked into high gear when we started the UNCORKelevate Cohort groups. The Cohort groups continued into 2023, with their fair share of leadership turnover along the way, but there were a few consistent ones who made it through that process. We have seen 15-20 leaders come through the Cohort groups!
Then we started the Leadership Masterminds.
We began with about 11-12 folks. Two groups. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation at the joy of starting small groups in their hometowns or within Uncork.
But much like with Gideon, there was a process of culling and pruning that happened year after year. Leadership I was no different than the Cohorts.
We want to honor everyone who participated, while recognizing and celebrating those who were ready to carry a mantle of leadership with initiative, purpose, and service. Just as valuable was discovering those who needed different paths of service.
The 3 words of initiative, purpose, and service are big, since many have leadership raw material, such as charisma, articulation, intelligence, power, and warmth. But — there isn’t always the desire and humility to serve and sow into someone else’s vision first (before God gives them the harvest of their own), to lay down their life with consistency, to do the dirty work of following up, to take initiative toward what feels unglamorous, to engage the active work of hearing the Holy Spirit and obeying in coordination with a team. It’s not about being Batman for God. ;)
It’s hard for some to be directly mentored by us. That’s fine if that’s what God is asking them to do, but it’s usually clear what God is asking us to do in our own house. And we often need to move on into obedience.
Then Leadership II happened.
We started with 7 participants, down from the original 12. By the end of Leadership II, we gave out 5 certificates of facilitation (pics above) to those who had started their own stand-alone groups of 3 or more individuals besides themselves and conducted at least 9 meetings.
Of course, this process involved:
Practical items like invitations, Facebook, group texts to everyone in touch.
Articulation of vision and development of their own testimonies.
Curriculum/content development.
Relationship building.
Commitment to a day of the month or week to make themselves available to members,
Facing their own doubts and fears as to whether they were “up to the challenge” in various ways specific to them.
Submitting to a mentorship process around those groups with humility and the challenges they were facing in leading those groups in the Leadership II Mastermind, and especially relying on their fellow group members for encouragement, support and healing.
But wait — there’s more. ;)
Of the certificate holders and UNCORKelevate Group Facilitators, there are those who really and truly showed something we’d been searching for since 2020 when we started UNCORKelevate:
Commitment to the UNCORKelevate material, with follow through to back it up.
Commitment to service toward those inside of UNCORKgenius and UNCORKelevate.
Eagerness to “do the dirty work” (and not just personality-driven ministry celebrity stuff.)
Alignment with our hearts for the group as a whole.
A sense that these people are on our side and want the best for us. They trust us. They don’t abuse the privilege of being in close proximity to us by treating us as glorified parents, competition, or dumping grounds for what is their responsibility to handle if they want to do this work
They see our hearts. They know us as competent AND compassionate leaders ready to serve. They are not just using us for training/perks/comfort first, but rather they see our own accountability to God’s process and want to come under that, trusting God that as they sow into us that God will give fruit out of that into their own personal lives. They see clearly our “long obedience in one direction” as Eugene Peterson puts it, and they trust it without any wiggily or wiley extras. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve experienced wiggily or wiley extras – usually out of a jealous, entitled, or impoverished soul.
They are ready for calling over comfort as Arthur Burk puts it. No one is required to hand it to them on a platter with nary a thank you.
Last but not least, they are not in it for the glory or the perks, but rather for the relationships with God and others.
Enter the Finance Healing Group — run by Katya and Kevin.
We were delighted to reach that point where we can entrust UNCORKers with folks who have our heart for the program and for us. Over and above Leadership II requirements, these Katya and Kevin have shown:
Willingness to show up during extreme difficulty toward whatever the Holy Spirit is prompting.
Consistent availability to encourage those they are leading and mentoring on a deep level
Motivation to “keep up with people” and care for those who would likely otherwise fall off the map
Initiative to serve Dave and Zia with infrastructural needs in the portal, “getting the word out”, sharing the vision, keeping the atmosphere of the group clean and ready for HS to move.
Heart for mentoring and mentorship
Motivation to learn and keep learning ways of serving and understanding the material more effectively. Capacity for a high level of effort without striving.
Willingness to be mentored by us without resentment, distrust or competitive spirit.
Maturity to be honest when they disagree, but again, without any squirliness.
Ability to “take it to the Holy Spirit” during times of disagreement and propose compromise or 3rd-way solutions rather than just disappearing or not following up
Maturity to “go after it” and to take initiative without prompting, where they are not riding on our coattails but actually add to what we are doing or even willing to multiply or augment what we are doing with joy.
Not of having a victim or daycare mentality around UNCORKelevate. Not passive but actively engaged and responsible for their own outcomes in personal healing and in leadership.
Not blame shifters or responsibility shirkers. Willing to look in the mirror and take accountability clearly.
So we did finally find some of the ones who have both the charisma and the stick-to-it-ness to show up where it’s both glorious and unglamorous. We found folks who are as much for our vision and UNCORKgenius as they are for developing their own vision of leadership.
Ultimately, this process, among other things (training, certification, support for many folks along the way), was a 5-year job interview with lots of starts and stops along the way. We do believe everyone benefitted from the process and got the training they needed, even if they didn’t make it to the end.
We also intend to keep offering Leadership initiatives, and I guess this is a fair warning that this may be when we need more people on staff. ;) You should also get some really really good training, experience and wisdom tools out of it if you do choose to join.
But this isn’t for now. In the current season we are developing new materials around somatic healing and future retreats, and we need other laborers to carry the full load! So now, here we are – trying to figure out what to do with Katya and Kevin, now that we found them!
We have been seeking God over this conundrum for at least 6+ months.
And now, here are the infrastructural shifts we are making to bring on Katya and Kevin as paid staff. We hope all of you can join in this as a celebratory moment, as I know many of you have benefitted already from their passion and service.
Official Titles: Senior Mentoring and Support Leaders
We have sensed two changes needed given this onboarding:
The finance prayer group becomes UNCORKelevate 2.0: Fundamentals in finance,. This entails the following shifts:
The finance meetings become UNCORKelevate 2.0 where Katya and Kevin share their own applications of the UNCORKelevate material and mentor folks on that application. This is really already happening, but we intend to give a bit more structure and planning to this new initiative.
These new UNCORKelevate 2.0 meetings will remain open and free for everyone in the UNCORKgenius page to attend, whether paid or not.
However, the new UNCORKelevate 2.0 chat (formerly the finance healing What’s App chat) will become a closed entity, only available to those inside of the UNCORKelevate library. Everyone enrolled in the library will be added here. Everyone not signed up to the library will be removed.
The UNCORKelevate Facebook Group will remain closed and available only to UNCORKelevate library members. Dave and Zia will remain admins in this group along with Katya and Kevin.
2. The mentoring program within UNCORKelevate for the 2024-25 year will shift into a once-a-month mastermind by Katya and Kevin. This also means that Dave and Zia will be periodic special guests to this Mastermind. Inside this UNCORKelevate Mentoring Mastermind starting in January, they will mentor mentors and share what they have learned during their time becoming leaders in mentorship.
3. On December 31st we will discontinue the old mentoring structure officially. You are welcome to discontinue your own plan before then as you see fit. The portal allows for self service. ($35/mo for mentors and $80 for 3rd yr+ participants that are not mentors), and require that people sign up for new plans:
$35/mo for UNCORKelevate Library only, or
$35/mo + Mentoring Mastermind for those who are interested in extra training.
The requirements for participating in this mastermind will be:
Willing to mentor one or more persons within UNCORKelevate. This may entail bringing one or more people into UNCORKelevate.
Willing to meet with your mentee at least one time per month. Or even ready to create a small group of mentees that meets one time per month.
Have spent at least 9 months time within UNCORKelevate.
Ready to share what you’ve learned around the material in UNCORKelevate with your mentee(s).
Ready to be accountable and vulnerable to the group around mentorship and leadership.
*** As usual, we need at least 5 participants to make this happen. Let us know your intentions early if you’d like to join, because ultimately the group decides what happens according to their level of commitment, or not.
Ultimately, the changes are small. simple adjustments. These structures are already in place, but we hope they are becoming BETTER with more infrastructural support for Katya and Kevin and to those who desire to become mentors and ultimately to those who are getting mentored at every level.
We also hope that we are giving Katya and Kevin the honor they are due by pulling them onboard and giving them more support for the good work they are already doing.
There has been so much vision casting and storytelling through these emails this year. We hope you have enjoyed hearing our story as much as we’ve enjoyed telling it. We have certainly felt led to write the vision and make it plain in this season! (a la Habakkuk).
Blessings!
Zia and Dave
—
Contact us for anything you need:
znevins@uncorkgenius.com
—
God loves the whole you.
