Iowa Realty agents who experience one of Tim Meline’s sales training events can never be sure what fictional or historical character he may appear as next, after seeing his impressions of Forrest Gump, Rocky Balboa, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and Elvis Presley, to name just a few. What they may not know is that Meline is equally comfortable at a Habitat for Humanity worksite, or traveling to Africa to help refugees build new villages.

For the past 27 years, Meline has been director of Iowa Realty’s training department, where he enjoys serving as an ‘edutainer’ to the company’s 800 sales associates. A Habitat volunteer who has led five construction projects, Meline was crowned “Mr. Habitat” last year by the non-profit group. He’s also served the community through his work with HOPE Ministries and as a leader of Capitol Hill Lutheran Church. Through his church, he has worked closely with four of Sudan’s “lost boys” to help them assimilate to life in Des Moines since their arrival in 2000. In February, he spent two weeks in Ethiopia, where his church is helping Sudanese refugees to re-establish villages.

How did you become a real estate trainer?

I got out of college with a degree in upper elementary education, but I was married and we had one daughter, and I didn’t want to try to make it on substituting, so I got a full-time job as an insurance adjuster rather than going into education. Then I called on a company in Pella and a broker there said, ‘Tim, why don’t you get your real estate license, because I’m going to leave the insurance side and just do real estate.’ Then (two years later) Iowa Realty opened an office on the southeast side of Des Moines, and a buddy of mine said, ‘Why don’t you come back to Des Moines and sell real estate?’ A year later (in 1978), I became training director.

How did you decide to incorporate an entertainment element into the training?

As a unit clerk in the Army National Guard from 1968 to 1978 with the 830th Station Hospital, I had organizational skills, and I had an education background, though I was still kind of a goofball. It was natural to take the entertainment side, because people will pay more to be entertained to be educated, so why not bring the two together? You just have to be yourself, and that’s what’s been successful for me. People accept you for who you are, if you’re sincere.

How do you keep up with real estate industry trends?

I study a lot; I’m a good student as well as an instructor. I try to keep on top of my game plan, whatever it is I’m teaching, so I can be entertaining, but at the same time if you’ve got a question, I can answer it. I also teach a four-hour and a 12-hour course on ethics, and for Iowa Realty I do the pre-licensing and post-licensing courses and the continuing education courses required by the state of Iowa on a variety of subjects. Then I have a one-year advanced sales training program I call TigerLand, where they have to increase their production by $1 million from the previous year.

Do you miss being in sales?

No, because I’m involved. At our church, we consolidated with the former Central Lutheran Church. So that building’s up for sale and I’ve had it listed. And at the church there was a building for sale next to us. I acted as the agent and we bought the building, tore it down and put up a parking lot. When you’re involved in real estate, you’re one of the people they come to to get it done. And with Habitat I’ve taken a look at the lots when they’re making an acquisition. You’re not going to see my name on anything, but my fingerprints are going to be there.

What aspects of teaching do you enjoy the most?

Mentoring, because you can put yourself into their position and you can share life experiences. But I also have a very strong faith, and I think it’s important. It’s been said there’s no reason to walk someplace to preach unless you’re preaching while you’re walking. I really feel I can witness my faith to my audience by the way I conduct my business by mentoring the right way to do things.

What was it like traveling to Africa to work with the Sudanese there?

There’s a quietness there that’s just good. They have everything that you would see from Old Testament days:donkeys, everything’s done by hand. But in that simplicity there’s a calmness.

I worked with three different tribes: the Dinka, who are the lost boys, the Nuer and the Maban, who actually live now in an Ethiopian refugee camp. When the war broke out in Sudan, these people had to flee because the North was annihilating the South. So they came to Ethiopia, which opened up refugee camps. When the communist regime fell, they had to leave this region, and then in the early ’90s, the United Nations brought them back. What we want to do is to build two wells and then go back and establish a church. For a little church, we’re trying to make a difference, and we’re doing it, and it feels good.

What did working with four Sudanese refugees teach you?

When they came over about five years ago, I volunteered to sponsor them, to teach them, for example, what a grocery store is, what a Laundromat is, because they would have just gone down to the river to wash their clothes. They are just wonderful, and they really teach you an awful lot about humility, because they’re so appreciative of everything.