Long enough to see and know...

     The picture is another cabin at another men's retreat.  This one was great to have a place to have a fire in the fireplace to take the chill off.  When we start to plan another retreat we start with the setting.  Where will it be?  But the planning goes so much deeper than that.  The material that we will cover is very important but it even pales to creating the atmosphere for guys to be with guys.  

     I was able to reflect back to our first retreats when I would suggest us singing together and would receive a "no way" to now that we can't think of a retreat without some men singing with the guitar or guitars playing along.  Our devotions were short and kind of squeezed in between the activities to now where the activities are put in around our times of learning from His Word.  A service project was unthinkable because we were here to play to the point now where we ask wherever we are staying, "What can we do for you?"  Wow, what a transformation.

     I also reflected on the depth of our conversation and what we were covering in our lessons.  It is not much different than our Sunday morning material.  And here is my big point, that men's ministry needs to happen in a church where families are present.  There needs to be an opportunity for the guys to grow together spiritually and give younger guys some one on one time with the older guys in the congregation.  I also highly value women's ministries but feel it is lacking if men's ministry isn't happening also, actually working with one another and not in completion with each other.  

     I am really curious to see this happen in a new environment with a new set of guys.  

Adam