News
Faith Affects Behavior
Contrary to some of what you hear, Christians are actually good for society. God has taken a bit of a beating in the public eye this year, as several prominent anti-God books have hit the bestseller lists. According to a study from The Barna Group:

Promise Keepers Announcements (Ministry of the Month)
4 Core WINS - PK recently announced a shift in focus to four high impact programs. It is called 4 Core WINS (or What’s Important Now). The four areas include National Promise Keepers Men’s Conferences; PK Select – one day multi-casts hosted in theater complexes in local communities; a new Technology Portal for delivering uplifting spiritual content on demand 24/7 through a web-based delivery system; and Men’s Resources tools for men’s ministry leaders, teaching resources and Bible studies. Keep up with these initiatives at Promise Keepers.

PKAdventure – While PK will continue national conferences, they are adding cinematic events with high definition and digital audio to bring the intensity and encouragement of a live PK areana event into many more communities across North America and eventually around the world. PK Adventure will be held in local theaters. PK is launching this ministry on November 10 in 14 cities across the US. Learn More.

Life
Surprise Results - Marriage and Courtesy Are Good Things!
For Most People, Marriage still has a nice ring to it...

Even though a decreasing percentage of the adult population is married, most unmarried adults say they want to marry. Married adults are more satisfied with their lives than are unmarried adults. For more information click here.

Courtesy Counts! According to the Stanford Research Institute, the money made in any endeavor is determined only 12.5% by knowledge, and 87.5% by your ability to deal with people. 68% of customers quit shopping because of an attitude of indifference toward them by an employee. These same principles apply to any church.

(The Winning Attitude, John Maxwell, Nelson Books, 1996)

Leadership
Help Wanted!
A men’s ministry coordinator is looking for character studies on men in the Bible. If you have studies to recommend, send them to editor@cmamen.org and we will relay them to him and report back in this section next month. Thanks!

Young adults aren’t sticking with church
Protestant churches are losing young adults in "sobering" numbers, a survey finds.

Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23, according to the survey by LifeWay Research. And 34% of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church. Read more. (Article of the Month)

Pam (pām)
-noun

1. a female given name, form of PAMELA
2. one of the country's most prolific church men's event professionals, having supported over 1,000 events. Working at Man in the Mirror, Pam Adikins has supported men's seminars and retreats at churches throughout the nation and the world. Pam offers her expertise and advice to anyone hosting a Man in the Mirror Seminar for their men. Origin: circa 2007; Man in the Mirror.

How many men's events have you successfully implemented? Maybe you should call Pam! Call 800-929-2536 or email pamadkins@maninthemirror.org to learn more.

Reboot (with Joshua) Characteristics of a Leader (Joshua 1:18)

Joshua gave the Reubenites, Gadites and half tribe of Manassah instructions on their role in advancing into the Promised Land. He exhorted them to be accountable to the commitment they made to Moses, to “go in front” of the Israelites, to help their brothers and to be persistent. They responded by stating their willingness to go (v 16) and pledged their obedience.

Be Obedient (v18).

¹⁷Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.

Not only were the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh willing to follow orders, they made a commitment to follow Joshua. Joshua was now the leader. Moses was gone. Therefore, they will follow Joshua.

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh thought it through. It is not blind obedience. It is a thoughtful willing obedience. They will go to the battlefield once again. They had spent 40 years in the wilderness following Moses. Now the time had come to conquer the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership. They had conquered the land east of the Jordan (Num 32). Now they were going to conquer the land west of the Jordan.

When we made Jesus the Lord of our lives, he asked us to set aside things that are important to us in favor of things that are important to Him. It is one thing to be willing and something else to be obedient. Obedience is putting your mind, body and soul where your mouth is. Obedience is doing.

¹³Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else (2 Cor 9:13).

Those to whom God is giving rest are to be obedient.