Life's a battle sometimes. Victories are rarely won alone. We all need help from time to time! I pulled a book off my shelf this morning. It's title? The Man's Book--The Essential Guide for the Modern Man." An intriguing title, don't you think? The table of contents covers all kinds of subjects... health, sports and games, women, drinking, smoking, cooking, how to dress and even a section on how to 'idle' while one is away from the job. I found the smoking section particularly interesting as it included diagrams for how to light and hold a cigar and the proper use of snuff. The copyright date is 2009, so this really IS a contemporary piece on the modern man.
However, there was no section on faith or personal growth as a human being... Just a section listing 'holy days' according to the Episcopal church (with no directions as to how to celebrate them) and the recipe for how the church determines when Easter will be. It makes me wonder if this is the 'primer' and road map for how 'modern man' now shows up only at Easter and Christmas. Or if he shows up at all! And maybe I don't want to be that modern man. You? For how can a man be modern and how can one even be a man if there is no desire or call to tend to one's inside life? Just sayin'.
It's almost Easter... almost...and even now that the big annual Houston event is over I can say..."this ain't my first rodeo!" Thirty-plus years of ministry will do that. And it's been a great ride! To my memory, the only day I have not been in a church on Easter Sunday was in 1973 when I went to San Jaun Capristrano and SoCal for Spring break in college with a couple of fraternity brothers. So, that's a lot of Easters... But, not only that... I lived in New Orleans for almost a decade of my life and I can also say with great confidence..."Mardi Gras always ends like this"... with Lent and Holy Week and the Great 3 days... the story that shapes and defines who we are and how we live as Christian men. So, let's get back to basics for a moment...as this is who we are and this is how we live...
KING'S Men... as we...
+ K now Christ!
+ I nvite others to join God's team!
+ N urture our faith through prayer, worship & daily Bible reading!
+ G ive our time & money supporting God's work in our church!'
+ ' ( ' = a sign of God's "possession" ---who we are and whose we are!)
+ S peak well of our pastor and the men in our lives!
KING'S men...that's who we are... this is what we do...
2012 started off different than the last 3-4 years. How? Well, simply said, it seems this "men's ministry' drum I've been beating since 2007, as the synod's Co-ordinator for Men's Ministry, has started to echo around the synod and even farther... There have been numerous calls from pastors and congregations asking, 'can you come and give us some time to a) get our men's ministry on the right track?' or b) 'Can you come and share how to expand our men's ministry beyond the Saturday breakfast and Bible study?' These invitations have connections as there have been requests for me to go to Iowa, PA and Henderson, NV...but my 'road trip' schedule is not the focus of this note... I also need to say, 'thank you' to all of you who keep applauding this work... as it is easy to get into a funk about men's complacency and resistance to 'looking inside' and 'being real' with others... remember, this is not rocket science... it's harder...
+ I nvite others to join God's team!
+ N urture our faith through prayer, worship & daily Bible reading!
+ G ive our time & money supporting God's work in our church!'
+ ' ( ' = a sign of God's "possession" ---who we are and whose we are!)
+ S peak well of our pastor and the men in our lives!
KING'S men...that's who we are... this is what we do...
2012 started off different than the last 3-4 years. How? Well, simply said, it seems this "men's ministry' drum I've been beating since 2007, as the synod's Co-ordinator for Men's Ministry, has started to echo around the synod and even farther... There have been numerous calls from pastors and congregations asking, 'can you come and give us some time to a) get our men's ministry on the right track?' or b) 'Can you come and share how to expand our men's ministry beyond the Saturday breakfast and Bible study?' These invitations have connections as there have been requests for me to go to Iowa, PA and Henderson, NV...but my 'road trip' schedule is not the focus of this note... I also need to say, 'thank you' to all of you who keep applauding this work... as it is easy to get into a funk about men's complacency and resistance to 'looking inside' and 'being real' with others... remember, this is not rocket science... it's harder...
Ok, so let me go a little farther and broader here and say what is at the heart of these questions and requests... and that they will not be accomplished by me and a handful of elected synodical leaders alone. Our partnership as people of faith... clergy, AiMs, Youth & Family ministry staff and leaders of men in our congregations will in the end provide the prayerful energy and spiritual support to engage all of the men in all of our congregations in this important and urgent work. Not convinced? Read a couple of blogs about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman and tell me what's missing here?
As the official men's organization of our synod. LMM, we are required to hold an annual meeting to teach, train, worship and tend to the business of the church... as what I consider a most essential arm of what our congregations are about in our neighborhoods, this synod and the world. So, we did that this year. Our synod event was held in Kenner, LA at Christ the King. Less than 40 men attended, including 3 pastors. Assistant to the Bishop, Dr. Don Carlson was present, too. And while at the surface you might want to throw your hands up in the air and say, "what's the use?" you will need to know that this gathering included 5 male students from LSU's Lutheran Campus ministry... and each received a copy of the Master Builders Bible and were blessed beyond belief as well as giving blessing back to their older and 'seasoned' brothers! There was also ONE HUGE take-away... and that is always asking the question, every time we meet, "what's next?" And this is it...
BUILDING MEN FOR CHRIST event in the Bayou Ministerium where this next stop goes...
The date is: Saturday, April 21st. 8 AM - 4 PM. Bethlehem Church and Pastor Patrick Keen will host the event and national LMM president, Rich White will be the presenter. Details and registration forms are being handled in the Bayou Ministerium and here is a link to share more information and how one of these events goes (see the sample fliers on line)...
But, that's not all, conversations are already taking place to host two more of these events on the Texas side of the synod later this year...one in the metro area and the other in the Western sector/Brenham churches.
But, wait... there's a bit more... as I said this effort to answer those two begging questions will require a greater effort... and that's where 'another' next step comes in to play... and I will be contacting the pastors and lay leaders of some of our larger congregations to help me build a team of 15-25 men who can become the first wave of trainers for the "One Year to Live" event also sponsored by LMM. OYTL is what men move toward and through after they've connected and have become a bit more rooted in their own congregation... Camp Lutherhill will be the site for this intense and life-changing weekend gathering...and here's that link...
So, here's my prophetic thought... when our congregations get back to basics and offer ways for men to have a life-time of ongoing faith development then we will have churches full of "Modern Men" who are prepared to engage life, when it feels like a battle or not...
"one man at a time...no man left behind..."
Brian
COMING NEXT on this blog:
"The Depth Chart: Seeing men's ministry through the eyes and heart of a football coach." Too vague? Well, here's the question..."how can we build a ministry team of men when we don't know who our men are and what they are capable of doing?"
