The October Men's Breakfast will be this Saturday, the 3rd at 8am.
This month we will be cookin' it up for you in the Fellowship Hall at PCBC.
We hope to see you there!
Archives
We started week 3 with a video. This scene from Braveheart is very well known, but this time watch it with a different mindset. The Scottish Nobles act like Pharisees from scripture. William Wallace is telling the Scots that their freedom is worth fighting for, and sounding a lot like Jesus when he does it. Think of Mark 8:36 as you watch it.
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Mark 8:36 (NKJV)
This led us into a discussion first on how Jesus is portrayed in pictures in books, or Bibles, or wall decorations. Some responses were a gentle man with a beard, who used good conditioner in his long wavy hair, and is just as meek and mild as could be. At times (minus the hair care products) he was that person. We don't often see the warrior Jesus, the one who challenged the Pharisees (unheard of in their day) and fought for our souls. The Rider on the White Horse from Revelation 19:11-21 was talked about, and how that conflicts with the gentle nice guy that wants a relationship with us, but as long as we are a nice person who always turns the other cheek, etc etc. He knew that it would be a fight to turn us away from this world and to follow Him...asking nicely won't cut it. We don't often make the "Braveheart connection", where Jesus tells us not to worship the Pharisees, but to love and have a relationship with God (just as William Wallace said not to fight for the noble, but fight for their freedom). He wants us to fight against the world for our freedom.We talked for a bit about our relationship with our father.
How did he influence us and who we have become? Is he someone who we are proud to take after?
Then we talked about our relationship with our Father.
How does He influence us and who we have become (and are becoming)? Is He someone who we are proud to take after?
Some Q&A from Week 3
What is God fighting for?
Our love and worship
Us
That we use our free will to accept Him, not reject Him
When do we turn to God?
When things are bad or when thing are going good?
What is the public perception of us, as a Christian? Are we brave or do we strive for acceptance?
They should not be surprised to find out we are a Christian-it should be evident by the way we live.
Eldridge goes on to talk about the Earth we live on. "Most of the Earth is not safe; but it's good." We are encouraged to spend an evening in the wild - walk through the woods without a flashlight, go out in a storm, etc. Experience the wildness of God, and think about how much of the world is considered (by us) unsafe, but God Himself proclaimed it good. If you do it sometime this week, share with us what you experienced.We finished the evening talking about sex (GASP!). In a nutshell, God created it, proclaimed it good (after marriage, of course), yet it remains a taboo in most churches and amongst many Christians today. If it was inherantly bad, God would not have blessed it in Song of Solomon (SoS 5:1).
On the flip side of the coin, sex (along with money) is easily abused by man. Lust is a major pitfall of men, and one we must combat frequently.
We discussed an mp3 of Chip Ingram discussing how to defeat lust. That mp3 can be downloaded here (right-click, Save File As to download to your hard drive).
FOR NEXT SUNDAY: READ CHAPTER 3: THE QUESTION THAT HAUNTS EVERY MAN!
If you missed the study, we missed having you there. We hope you all have a great week, and we hope to see you next Sunday.
As always, feel free to leave comments or start a conversation in the section below.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling - Philippians 2:12
I wanted to share this verse in perticular to those men going, or thinking about going on the Fall Men's Retreat. This is the central theme of the retreat this year.
Read it. Read it again. Meditate on it. Consider what it truly means to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
If you haven't registered for the Men's Retreat yet, please consider it!
"Being a Christian isn't for sissies. It takes a real man to live for God - a lot more man than to live for the devil, you know? If you really want to live right these days, you gotta be tough." - Johnny Cash
Sept 20 was Week 2 of Wild at Heart. This week we dug into chapter 1, which lays the groundwork for what is to come.
We started off with a question from the Wild at Heart Field Manual:
"Let's say you have 3 months of vacation coming up, a sabbatical all to yourself, and plenty of cash to bankroll it. Where would you go? What would you do? What is your dream trip?"
The responses were very interesting. Here are a few:
- fishing trip to Alaska
- bicycling/hiking trip
- cross-country motorcycle trip
- trip exploring Europe
We talked about the significance of these answers. Most responses involved getting away, doing something adventurous on some level. Is this a natural reaction? Is this ingrained in all of us?
This led into talking about men through the Bible...in the wild. Moses, Jacob, Jesus. The wild called to them, and they answered.
As we delved further into chapter 1, we got into some other topics regarding men:
The "prepackaged male": "The masculine heart need a place where nothing is prefabricated, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, online, or microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, cell phones or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul." Is our masculinity (in and out of the church) being handed to us in a handy-dandy little package?
What the Church expects: Most men feel that the church expects them to be:
- docile
- safe
- nice guy
Does this fall in line with how we truly feel? How did Jesus act in comparison?
Question:
There are pressures all throughout the world to be the man we ought to be. "This is what a good husband/father/Christian/churchgoer ought to do."
Think about your life, your world. What is being asked of you? What do feel the pressure to be...
At Home....At Work....At Church?
Some felt pressure to be an example to the family. Others felt the pressure to be something they are not at their job (leaving you unfulfilled).
We feel pressure to juggle our varying priorities, incorporate God into our families and personal life, pressure to be willing to take a stand in the face of intimidation.
Pressure to be "the man".
I encourage you to ask yourself these questions, recognize what you are being pressured to "be".
FOR NEXT SUNDAY: READ CHAPTER 2: THE WILD ONE WHOSE IMAGE WE BEAR!
We hope to see you next Sunday. Feel free to leave comments or conversation in the section below.
The Wild at Heart men's study had its first meeting this past Sunday, Sept. 13.
Each week, we will post a summary of some of the discussion points that were covered in that week's study. Keep up with what you missed here, and jump back into the study whenever you like...there is no attendance policy!
We started off with some discussion of the book itself - expectations, early reactions, etc. Some that have already started the book have said it starts a little slow, but really picks up momentum as it goes on, while others are pretty much a clean slate going into it.
In the beginning of Wild at Heart, John Eldridge talks about how some movies speak to the masculine core of a man's heart.
Some movies that were mentioned were Saving Private Ryan, Facing the Giants, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and even 300. On the surface, all (but one) are not "Christian movies". If you look a little deeper, they all have themes that really resonate with men, and if you look even deeper, you will see, behind the Hollywood effects, or even scenes we all could have done without, there are some real Christian themes throughout these and other similar films.
Unfortunately, that just doesn't sit well with a whole lot of guys. All throughout scripture, though, we are offered a much different take on what a "Christian man" is.
Daring.
Brave.
Rebellious.
Wild. (see what we're getting at here?)
The Wild at Heart study will examine what it means to take these risks in our everyday lives as Christian Men.
FOR NEXT SUNDAY: READ CHAPTER 1!
Offer up your thoughts, leave a comment, or start a discussion below.
We hope to see you next Sunday!
One of our biggest challenges as Christians is out daily struggle to be in the world, but not of it.
In his book THE FINE LINE, Kary Oberbrunner helps us navigate that line, and what happens when we get too far to one side or the other of that line.
Learn about what it means to be a transformist in the world. 
Click the link below for a free sample chapter of THE FINE LINE.
If you like it, buy it.
Don't want to buy it but still interested? Lemme know. I'll let you borrow mine.
I just want someone to read this book and get as much from it as I did.
Enjoy the sample chapter of THE FINE LINE.
The September Men's Breakfast will be this Saturday, September 5 at 8am.
Breakfast will be at Bob Evans, 14490 Smoketown Rd in Woodbridge. (this is at the corner of Smoketown and Gideon)
We will be discussing Wild at Heart, the Men's Retreat, and more!
We hope to see you there!
Breakfast will be at Bob Evans, 14490 Smoketown Rd in Woodbridge. (this is at the corner of Smoketown and Gideon)
We will be discussing Wild at Heart, the Men's Retreat, and more!
We hope to see you there!
The air is getting cooler, kids are back in school. That can mean only one thing.
Besides football.
The Men's Ministry Fall Retreat is coming soon!
We will be heading back to Crossroads in Lowesville, VA. 
Crossroads is about 40 minutes from Charlottesville.
What is Crossroads like?
Quiet. Peaceful. Serene. All of the above.
No traffic.No sirens.
No cell phone signal.
You will, however feel like the connection between you and God is up to 5 bars...full reception.
So, what do we do at the retreat?
Learn. Pray.Laugh. Cry (yep, you just might).
Fellowship. Build relationships (with God and each other).
Hike. Meditate.
Worship. Sing (out of tune, but it's all good).
That's a good start. As in the past, it wouldn't be a retreat without some teachin' and preachin' from our good friend and brother Pastor Dave Williamson. For those who don't know him, the best way to sum up Pastor Dave is he is Pastor Dougs' BFAM (Brother From Another Mother). If you go home from the retreat and haven't learned something amazing from Pastor Dave, you musta been asleep.
Signups have begun. Feel free to email us or sign up at the church.
Cost is $100, with a $20 deposit due at signup.
We hope that you will consider joining us on this extraordinary weekend.