2013 – Time for Men to Step Up

What does it mean to be a man? How would you define it?

When does a boy become a man?

When he turns 18? When he starts driving? Graduates from school? Gets married? What answer would you give a boy to that question?

I’m very excited to announce that beginning this January,  we’re going to try to answer that question, as well as other questions related to it. Using the new curriculum, Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Manhood, the men of our church and our community are going to discover what it means to become the man that God has called us to be. Here’s a clip…

In the twelve years of this ministry to men, I don’t think that I’ve ever been this excited over a new study. I believe that there is a great need for a rediscovery and renewal of godly manhood in our culture today. I pray that God will use this study to make a powerful impact in the lives of the men who gather each week to participate… and therefore, also impact their families, workplaces, communities, etc.

Requirement to be a part of this study…

You are not required to be an expert on the Bible or Systematic Theology.

What you will need is the desire to become the man that God has called you to be… at home, at work, at church, in your community… and even alone. None of us has yet become that man, but that desire is a step up and a step in the right direction!

Here’s a little more about the study…

Many men find it difficult to identify acts of courage while slogging through the daily challenges of home, work, and community. Yet these are the very battlefields where courage is demanded of them every single day.

In this 10-session video series, Dennis Rainey calls men to boldly forge into courageous manhood. Stepping Up defines courage throughout the five stages of manhood and commissions men to honestly evaluate where they stand in their duties of masculinity. Rainey then prepares men to bravely master their life purpose by developing a strategic plan and establishing a winning vision.

You can master true leadership, develop a plan for your life and make a difference in your world.

(from the back of the study guide to Stepping Up.)

Our new study begins on Monday evening, January 7th (at 7pm in our Family Life Center)… or on Wednesday morning, January 9th, (at 6:30am, also in our FLC).

You do not have to be a member of our church (Southside United Methodist Church) to come and join us. This study is open to all of the men in our community. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me at 396-2676 or email me at D.Tedder@southsidemethodist.org.

Let’s pray that God will use this new study to help us STEP UP and STAND FIRM.

Blessings,
Dale

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Why Satan Wants You To Keep Secrets

The Top Ten Reasons Satan Wants You To Keep Secrets

10.) You lose out on the support God provides in the body of Christ.

9.) You lose confidence spiritually.

8.) You lose the ability to develop self-control, and you repeat the cycle of sin.

7.) You lose fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

6.) You lose your connection with the truth.

5.) You lose credibility with others.

4.) You lose intimacy with your family.

3.) You lose intimacy with others (it’s not the real you).

2.) You lose days, weeks, months, even years of joy and peace.

1.) You lose intimacy with God.

From Every Young Man God’s Man: Confident, Courageous, and Completely His by Stephen Arterburn, Kenny Luck, and Mike Yorkey

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Shepherding Sons

(The following comes from a new page that I just started today.)

I’m blessed to be a part of a great group of men at the church I serve. Each and every week we meet together for the purpose of fellowship, studying God’s Word, and prayer. God has been good to us ever since we first met back in 2001.

My hope and prayer when I first started the men’s ministry was that the men of our church would come to know Christ better and to have their minds renewed and their lives transformed… in every sphere of their lives… personally as well as at home with their families, at work, at church, in the community… everywhere. Again, God has been good and I have seen firsthand how this has happened and continues to do so.

One of the best ways we, as Christian men, can extend God’s Kingdom and impact our culture for Christ is by influencing men before they’re men. I believe the time to begin discipling, encouraging, and developing Christian men is when they’re still boys. Wouldn’t it be great if generation after generation of boys grew up in our churches where being discipled by their fathers and other godly men was commonplace? What might God do in and through the lives of such boys when they become men?

This page is devoted to some things I’ve written on the subject of shepherding (i.e., loving, caring for, encouraging, leading, discipling, developing, etc.) our sons to become men of God. As a father of three I can attest that I’m still learning. I still fall flat on my face as a dad. However, it’s my deepest desire that my own sons would become godly boys, then godly young men, and then, one day, godly men who are raising their own sons or daughters to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to live for him in every sphere of life. What could be better?

PS – Click here to go to the page on Godly Manhood. There’s a great deal more material there.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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From Boyhood to Manhood

I just started reading Gary and Carrie Oliver’s book, Raising Sons and Loving It. (I was sad to learn during an Internet search that Carrie passed away a few years ago.) I’ve only read the Introduction and first chapter so far, but it’s shaping up to be a very helpful book.

As the father of three boys, the topic of raising sons to become godly men is very important to me. It’s more than that… it’s a passion of mine. If only I was better at it. If only I was more faithfully practicing was I’m learning in the all the books I’m reading on the subject. If only I was more consistent. Well, like the rest of life, fathering sons is also a journey, one that I pray that by God’s grace I will become better at traveling.

This book, like many others on similar topics, begins by communicating just how rough it is to be a boy (or man) these days. When you realize the book was written eleven years ago, you appreciate that it has not gotten any better for boys or men. Here are three articles written over the last few years by Al Mohler to help make that case.

• The End of Men? A Hard Look at the Future by Al Mohler
• Where Are the Young Men? by Al Mohler
• Man Up or Man Down? by Al Mohler

Other authors, such as Pat Morley, Steve Farrar, and Robert Lewis, who have written extensively on the subject of ministering to men, have all shared the same: Boys are growing up without any real understanding of what it means to be a man. There are even fewer who have an understanding of what biblical manhood is. When the default definition of manhood comes from movies and television, you know our culture is in trouble.

In addition to raising our three sons (and one awesome daughter) with my wife, I’m also privileged to lead a small group of 5th and 6th grade boys. I jumped at the chance because I believe that the church, (as a supplement to the home) is where boys have the greatest chance to learn what it means to become a godly man. I thank God for homes, churches, ministries to boys, scouting programs, etc., that are taking seriously the call to help boys navigate their way to manhood from a biblical perspective. Our culture will be lost without such boys who grow to become such men.

I’ll continue to share what I’m learning from this book. As I mentioned, it looks like it will be a good one.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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