The primary role of the mentoring facilitator is to ask questions that will help the mentee learn the process of TPM and discover his or her lie-based beliefs. As the mentor, he is a trainer and the one equipping the mentees in both the TPM principles and the TPM process.

However, during the ministry session his role does not include giving advice, telling the person the truth, guiding, directing, analyzing, or diagnosing. He never provides his opinion about what he thinks is happening, never interprets anything that occurs, never suggests memory content, or points the person in any direction at any time. The truth is, the mentoring facilitator does not have a clue about where the person is going and is only following.

At the end of the day, his primary goal is that the mentee grows in the knowledge and understanding of the TPM process and principles. The outcome of the session is in the Lord’s hands. His aim is to equip the one seeking ministry with the “tools” necessary to self-administer so that the person might not remain dependent upon him for this ministry process. Discovering the PURPOSE, PRINCIPLES, AND PROCESS of TPM is more important than the person finding freedom from a few lies in a ministry session. The person finding freedom from a lie in the session is “giving the person a fish,” whereas, teaching them the principles and process “teaches them how to catch their own fish.”

With this being said, the mentoring facilitator will initially invest a great deal of his time teaching and equipping the mentee to make TPM a lifestyle. The Apostle Paul alluded to this discipleship model when he said this about the gifting of the Church; “… Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-13)

I did not just say that Bible teaching, Christian counseling, or any other ministry one might do is not important, for without question, it is important. When the ministry session is concluded, the one prayed with may also benefit from good teaching and discipleship by the facilitator, counseling from a good Christian therapist, as well as Bible teaching through the church. It is not a question of one method over the other, but is, rather, a matter of timing. Both biblical counseling and instruction have their place in the whole Christian realm of caring for people, but not in the context of a TPM session.

It goes without saying, that good teaching and orientation about TPM precludes many unnecessary troubles. You can accomplish a great deal more with a well-equipped mentee and an ill equipped mentoring facilitator than you can with an ill equipped mentee and a well-equipped mentoring facilitator.

Nevertheless, until the mentee is well equipped himself in the process and principles, he remains dependent upon the ministry facilitator to aid him in the journey. This is of course especially true for the early sessions.
During this season of the journey the mentoring facilitator’s functional role –apart from ongoing teaching and orientation— is to ask the right question at the right time. As long as he knows where he is (what Box the recipient is in) he will know exactly what question to ask. There should be no guess work involved. To the degree that the facilitator stumbles, more practice and learning is needed.

Since the ministry facilitator is following and not leading, his or her questions should never “get in the way” of the mentee’s progress. When what the facilitator does causes the person to pause or stall out, this is an indication that the facilitator has taken the lead position and is no longer following. As long as the facilitator is following he cannot get in the way. As I have stated, if the ministry facilitator does anything to move the session in any direction he may think it should go, he is no longer doing pure TPM.

The only questions that ever need to be asked by the ministry facilitator are the ones assigned to each specific box in the TPM process. If the mentoring facilitator finds himself coming up with other questions it is because he does not fully understand the process. This would include asking the person to envision anything such as looking for Jesus, remembering a “happy place” where he experienced Jesus before, or asking Jesus to do something such as take them to a memory.

In the earlier editions of this training we used to ask the Lord to take people to the memory that was the “source and origin” of their pain. Today we see this as a major violation of the basic TPM principles. Freewill is the primary element that causes whatever happens in a ministry session to happen. The belief and choice principle comes to play here and is at the root of all we do. The only reason that a person cannot remember something is because; 1) it is impossible to remember and therefore not needed information, 2) they are choosing not to remember it because of what they believe about remembering it. In order for Jesus to take a person to a memory that they do not want to remember, it would require Him to violate their will. He will not do this.

People will remember all they need to remember when they choose to and they will choose to remember when what they believe about remembering –their lie-based belief—is replaced with the Lord’s perspective. If someone believes that he will be overwhelmed if he remembers something, then it may be difficult for him to remember. Beliefs such as “I will be overwhelmed if I remember,” “I might die,” or “Remembering will be too much to bear,” will create a barrier that may keep the memory from coming to mind. If, however, the Lord reveals His perspective the person may then be willing to remember.

In addition to this, the mentoring facilitator never needs to “help out” by confronting demons, breaking “curses,” speaking on behalf of God, sharing personal insights, opinions, or his words of knowledge, or attempting to rescue the person in any form or fashion. Ministry facilitators are the most prone to attempt to “rescue” the person when he does not know what else to do. The problem with a facilitator not knowing what to do is that they typically do something anyway. Not good.

The role of the Prayer Partner

Having a person praying in the room is good and sets the tone for what is expected to occur. However, though the prayer partner is indeed interceding in prayer, he needs to watch and listen so that he may benefit from the training opportunity being provided. In TPM, it is understood that all members of the Body of Christ are on a journey with God as He refines their faith, renews their minds and transforms their lives. The prayer partner has an opportunity to become more equipped so he might cooperate with what God is doing in his own life. Therefore, the prayer partner sitting in the ministry session is a student or mentee himself learning and growing in the knowledge that TPM training affords, learning the TPM process, principles and purpose by watching and observing.

He is also serving as a witness to all that happens in the ministry session. We live in an un-trusting world and we cannot assume that all people coming for prayer are there with righteous motives. It is wise to document what occurs in each session through the witness of the prayer partner who is on the ministry facilitator’s team. The ministry facilitator should never position himself where it is ever his word against the person with whom he is praying. Having a person who is on his team can provide some measure of protection against any ill motive that may be present.

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