Men's Ministry or Men Of Ministry

Much is written today and there are many good people working to help churches build strong, vibrant men's ministries. But what's the purpose of a men's ministry? What's the purpose of the particular men's ministry you're involved in? Do you know?

Sometimes I think the purpose of many church and para-church men's ministries is to give some men an opportunity to minister to men. Then the ministry is measured by the number of men "receiving" ministry - showing up at the breakfasts, or attending the classes. Please understand that I know many churches that do not take this specific approach. If you're fortunate enough to be in one of those churches, that's great. Many other churches however are dissatisfied at the lack of involvement, passion and growth of the men in their congregation. They're always trying to get more men "involved" or "growing" or "participating." Is that a problem your church faces? If so, this is one possible solution.

Since when did men need to be ministered to as a rule? I realize we all appreciate some help when we need it, but Proverbs 27:17 says that "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." In my mind, that means at least half of us are ministering to someone, now and the other half will be soon. Robert Lewis, in Men's Fraternity, calls us "action figures." We're to be initiators, as Larry Crab said in The Silence Of Adam, not passive, but active, stepping into chaos, and bringing order. In Wide Awake, Erwin McManus suggested that when we're passive; when we're unconnected with the world around us; when we're not ministering, we fail to honor our call. We shortchange the world because we fail to fulfill the work God prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). We are made for a purpose; to make a difference within our sphere of influence. As John Ortberg stated in God Is Closer Than You Think, we're made to bring "up there down here." Sure we could use some help. We're not supposed to go it alone. But if the purpose of the men's ministry is to try to grow us through involvement and attendance, we'll come up short.

We're not to be full-time students. We are not to experience a relationship with Christ from a classroom, or vicariously through our church staff and men's ministry leaders? No one ever made a difference sitting in a church service always being a hearer. We are called to not only be hearers, but also effectual doers. We need to stop being taught and begin to actively learn. We need to learn on purpose and for a purpose. The ministry we need must make us ministers.

So, how can you become a minister? Maybe you're one now. If so, great. Pray for the rest of us. As for the rest of us, if you hear a still, small voice in you telling you it's time to get up and get going, do it! Listen to God. Ask God today to make you a minister. Ask Him to show you where and how to make the world a better place, one person at a time. Then, whatever you think he's telling you to do, DO IT! Will you mess up, probably. But you're messing up not doing anything anyway. Ask God to direct you, pray for the people around you and watch what God does. He's almighty. He'll direct you if you're sincere in your desire to follow Him. Ask a couple of men to keep an eye on you so you don't get too far off base, but go for it. Before you know it, you'll be in real men's ministry.

100 Best Business Books Of All Time

The more I learn about Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten of 800-CEO-Read, the more I agree they are qualified to claim The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You (Portfolio, 2009). Their website explains much of the history of their passion for business books. Out of that passion, the authors present quality reviews, reasoned standards of excellence and an appreciation for business books that deliver new ideas, or timely solutions in fresh ways. The book clearly honors the subtitle. You will learn what the books say, why they matter and how they can help you.


In the introduction the authors demonstrate they are all business. They created a set of standards to justify the claim to the best books of all time. Their first standard was to "ask each book the same set of questions: Is the author making a good argument? Is there something new that he or she is presenting? Can we use this idea to make our business better?" The second standard is how applicable is the topic, does the book apply to business people here and now? And the third standard relates to accessibility. How accessible is the information? I appreciate this standard as most executives might. What is the cost to acquire the information? Most of us don't have weeks to commit to learning a new idea.

From that point forward, the book is immensely creative and useful. The books are arranged by categories but also in priority order. The categories are:

1. You
2. Leadership
3. Strategy
4. Sales and Marketing
5. Rules and Scorekeeping
6. Management
7. Biographies
8. Entrepreneurship
9. Narratives
10. Innovation and Creativity
11. Big Ideas
12. Takeaways

The reviews are concise, yet deep, thoughtful and informative. The reviewer is identified so you know if it was Jack or Todd doing the review. I noticed no repetitive content. Each review is fresh, containing quotes when helpful and the reviewers opinion of the highlights of each work. Often, the reason for inclusion is also explained in the review. Each review is between 2-4 pages except for the 12 books listed under Takeaways, which are one page each.

Four features provide the "But wait..." bonus you probably would not expect from reference such as this:

1. The first chapter - You;
2. The final chapter - Takeaways;
3. The sidebars.
4. The Where To Next entries at the end of each review
   

The You chapter contains books to make you a better business individual. Examples include Getting Things Done by David Allen, How to Swim With The Sharks by Harvey Mackay, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, How to Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. (Yes, that's right. Read the review to understand. I can't wait to get the book.) The Takeaways chapter contains 11 reviews (one for each chapter) of unique, bonus-value books. Examples include What The CEO Wants You To Know by Ram Charan, Lucky Or Smart by Bo Peabody and Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko. The sidebars provide a variety of interesting facts including articles such as Leadership in the Movies, Found In Fiction, Classics, Deming's 14 Points Of Management, and Quotes. At the end of each review there are at least 3 suggestions for Where To Next. Thoughtfully, the authors have provided a less-structured-but-not-random alternate path through the reviews. For example, The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team is in the Management section, but the recommendations take you forward to the section on leadership, back to an entry on starting a business, and to the one-page Takeaway description of The Team Handbook by Scholtes, Joiner and Streibel.


This book challenged me and shamed me. I am ashamed at how few of the 100 Best I've read. Clearly, too many of my selections have been from those books ranked 101 and below. I have a lot of catching up to do. But I'm challenged as well by the how the authors studied, learned from, documented and shared the benefits of each book. This book takes a special place in the library. It makes me focus my learning, eliminate waste, and concentrate on getting the best bang for my business book buck!

Book Review

God Is Closer Than You Think
by John Ortberg

If you've read any of John Ortberg's other books, you won't be dissapointed by God Is Closer Than You Think (Zondervan, 2005, Grand Rapids, MI). The author provides deep insight and thoughts about the ways of God using stories, humor and scripture. He draws analogies to common things of today in order to make the point of the subtitle: This Can Be The Greatest Moment Of Your Life Because This Moment Is The Place Where You Can Meet God. The ideas are presented in a logical order that pull you further and further into the book and into a better understanding of God.

In the first chapter, the author uses stories from the bible and a detailed discussion of Michelangelo Buonarroti's masterpiece painting of God and Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, The Creation of Adam. He makes the point that God is moving heaven and earth, pursuing us. God is the originator of the relationship, not man. The point is further made repeatedly in the bible, from Adam, to Jacob, to Samuel, and the travelers on the road to Emmaus that God is seeking us, initiating the relationship; always present.

Chapter two: We need to train ourselves to find God. He's right there if we look for Him. God is always present whether we see him or not. The point is made clear and memorable by the author's comparison and illustrations to the Where's Waldo books once again interwoven with examples from scripture. The imagery and the detail of the analogy make the point memorable. "Where's Waldo? He's right there on the page. He's anywhere people are willing to see the whole world with eyes incapable of anything but wonder... [h]e's closer than you think."

In the subsequent chapters, he uses modern analogies like "DTR" or Define The Relationship", and movies "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Princess Bride" mixed with biblical exposition, Christian history, and practical application to help the reader practice taking advantage of our proximity to God. He is not to be hidden from as Adam did, but He is to be pursued, studied, known and followed moment by moment. He even took the DTR in chapter and changed it into a reminder that we should be following Jesus so closely, we should be covered in DTR, Dust of the Rabbi.

The book is entertaining and enlightening, compelling and convicting. Study it slowly, think about it deeply and ask God to change you as you learn more about Him.

Capitalism and Meaning

What's the purpose of capitalism? What's the point? What about wealth? Is it's only purpose to purchase comfort, or power or influence?

What about benevolence; have you ever wondered why you feel good when you do something for someone else? Why is doing something for others considered "good?" What if you used your wealth to make yourself feel well and you decided the maximum good feeling is not selfishness, but benevolence? Maybe the purpose of wealth is to do nice things for others?

In recent years, more and more businesses have operated "to maximize shareholder return" or for the benefit of the shareholders. But a business that exists to only provide for it's owners seems to be a pretty shallow undertaking. If you look back 100 years to the people we value as great leaders, they used their talents, wealth, skill, and influence to make things better for others. Abraham Lincoln, for example, is valued and remembered much more highly than many contemporaries for his contribution to society, not for what he gained for himself.

Capitalism has great advantage over every other economic system. In a capitalistic society, such as the United States, people have freedom to choose the use of their profits. (That freedom is somewhat constrained by things like taxes, but we'll withhold that topic for another post.) In a capitalistic economy, we can use profits many ways; one of which is to generate further profit. However if that profit becomes an end in itself, that seems like a short story. Take the money and run.

Profit reinvested creates further profit. Many companies reinvest in customers; customer acquisition, profitability and retention. Profit reinvested in customers does not necessarily guaranteed a return to the business. How many companies do you know that went out of business with satisfied customers? And reinvestment in fixed assets is fleeting also. How many companies invested in buying other companies only to watch the stock market revalue itself in the second half of 2008?

Only when the shareholders invest profits in the lives of the employees or associates, who in turn spend their lives in the service of the company, that profit multiplies many times. Employees and associates care for customers and fixed assets. Their productivity creates the value that becomes profit to the shareholders.

Therefore I believe the employer that truly operates for the benefit of its employees and associates creates a meaningful experience of work and thereby creates a competitive advantage.

Do you agree? Can a company succeed caring for employees and associates ahead of customers and shareholders?

Wide Awake

A book that I recently finished spoke to me, Wide Awake - The Future Is Waiting Within You by Erwin Raphael McManus. It was published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson. You can get it here.

Erwin Raphael McManus is not your normal, run-of-the-mill pastor. He has a refreshing, engaging approach to following Jesus. Wide Awake is a challenge to those of us who have postponed or given up on our dreams. The challenge: embrace the dreams. They were put there by God. He designed them into us. Let's not quench them, or run from them or ignore them. Let's embrace them. Let's become alive in Christ and free enough to live our dreams. Why not dream wide awake?

Inside Flap: "Maybe you have been asleep. You have never lived up to your potential. You have unfulfilled dreams and longings. If you're dead, let Jesus raise you up to new life. If you have been sleepwalking, it's time to wake up and start dreaming wide awake."

McManus begins the introductory chapter titled Awaken with the premise that there is a hero within each of us. He claims (and I heartily agree) that "people are the most underused and undervalued resource on the planet. Earth's unlimited resource is the gifts, talent, passions, imagination, and ingenuity of its citizens." He goes on to say that "the real battle is not between good and evil, but between less and more." He also asserts that the world needs us at our best. We were created by God for a purpose. He states that the "planet is made better or worse by the people we choose to become. If you live a diminished life, it's not only you who loses, but the world loses and humanity loses." We simply need to awaken the hero within us.

The following eight chapters are the attributes necessary to live out our greatness. They are:

1. Dream
2. Discover
3. Adapt
4. Expect
5. Focus
6. Create
7. Enjoy
8. Invest

The author's hope is that we would live out the "more" that God created us for and change the world in the process. "Go. Dream big. Dream God-sized dreams and have the courage to live them. If you do, the world will never be the same again." In all, I was challenged and encouraged by this book. I appreciate the author and read everything of his I can get. This book helped me have a better view of a God that is much harder to understand; a God who refuses to fit in my boxes. God is so big, so powerful, so "not me" and still so loving as to be interested in my life and its outcome. Erwin Raphael McManus has helped me know God a little better and challenged me to pursue the dreams God has given me for my life. Who knows, maybe the world will benefit!

Introduction

Welcome
Many of my thoughts and opinions come from a desire to make a difference. The question however required definition. What type of difference would I make? How can I maximize that difference?

The Power to Make a Difference
A few years back, I decided to act as if Jesus Christ was who he claimed to be, and that changed my life. Up until that time, religion, and religious teaching left me empty. Nothing seemed to make any difference in my life. I was a failure in my own eyes and destined to remain so.

However, as I have studied Jesus' teaching contained in the Bible, I have found it to be the best and only way to actually reconcile religious teaching to the things I experience. Jesus teaching, and all the teaching recorded in the Bible, provides a rational explanation of my circumstances as well as those I can view objectively in the world. Daily I find that it takes more faith to believe that Jesus is wrong. As a result, I have a new life! I am different than I was and I have the power to do things I've never been able to do before. Many times I fail to trust that power, but I have experienced it too many times to deny its existence. Therefore, I have the power to make a difference in my own life and I have friends who will testify to that change.

The Best Difference
But if Jesus gave me the power to make a difference in my own life, is that the extent of his teaching? Is his only goal for me to be a better person? Or should the difference I make extend beyond myself? Empirical evidence seems to suggest that we were designed to interact and relate to one another. We were built for relationships. Also, there is no denying that people tend to want to do something that will outlive themselves.

Interestingly, Jesus claimed that true treasure did not exist in this world. He told us to "lay up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal." True treasure is only in Heaven. Also, we also know that you can't take anything with you when you go. So the best difference, the most lasting difference must be in the lives of people.

Purpose
My goal then, is to help people improve their quality of life. This blog will contain thoughts and learning on the subject. If you'd like to improve your own life quality or that of others, please feel free to participate.