News
Prayer Request for Paul and Kathy Hille. Pray for Paul and Kathi Hille as they battle cancer. Paul is the district coordinator for the Great Lakes District and a member of the National Leadership Team. Several weeks ago the doctors decided the tumor on Paul’s remaining kidney was getting too large and doing surgery to remove the tumor was too risky. Paul had a procedure called cryoablation. That freezes the tumor and, hopefully, destroys it. Paul will return to the Cleveland Clinic on January 7^th for an entire testing procedure - from head to foot - MRI, CT scan and blood work. Kathi has been diagnosed with an undetermined blood disorder. Remember He is able!

Southwestern District Men’s Retreat. About 25 men attended including several teenage boys. Four of them gave their life to Christ during the weekend. Dan Wetzel was the speaker.

Western Pennsylvania District. The Lord is moving in the hearts of men. There was a very good success at the No Man Left Behind workshop at the Greensburg CMA. Since the workshop, Don Aldus, WPA district coordinator, has been busy speaking in several churches and talking to others by phone on how to start a men's ministry. Two weeks ago four men from the district traveled 125 miles to help a small church with an older congregation to change 34 florescent lights. The job took two and a half hours. The men had a wonderful time with the brothers in Christ and we were blessed much more than they were.

Life
Culture Check: Are You a Work-A-Holic? According to USA Today, more men (60%) than women (40%) find it hard not to work on their days off. What about you? If you’re one of those people, you might be struggling with the Spiritual Discipline known as “taking a Sabbath.” Take a day off! Every week. You need it, and experts say you’ll be much more productive in the time that you do work.

From our friends and partners at the National Center for Fathering

Do you ever find yourself losing sight of the important things in life? Work and stress can become overwhelming at times. CEO Roger Kimbrough listens to worthy advice from an unexpected source: the janitor in his office building. He learns six powerful principles that transform his life and business.

"Take a few minutes and devour this little book…It's going to be a motivational classic, and you'll be in on the first wave of inspired readers." - Pat Williams, Senior Vice President, Orlando Magic; and Author, The Warrior Within.

This new book is by Todd Hopkins and Ray Hilbert. Ray is a faculty member for Man in the Mirror Seminars and the Leadership Training Center. Buy it at Amazon.com!

Leadership
Men of Valor and Prayer: A Case Study in Men’s Ministry. Harvest Community Church (HCC) was launched in February of 1996 with five "seed" families and a vision "to develop people into followers of Jesus Christ with a passion to worship God well and communicate His love to others." God arranged for me to join this effort in June of 1996. Shortly thereafter, we began to help develop the men of Harvest into fully-devoted followers of Christ.

"During Man in the Mirror's National Leadership Summit in August of 2005, God prompted a whole new paradigm for the ministry. HCC launched a small group following their annual Men's Fall Summit. Amazingly we saw 40% of the men participate!"

We asked him what encouragement he had to give men's ministry leaders. "It is very rewarding to observe God at work in men's lives at HCC."

Read the full article here. (Article of the Month)

Reboot (with Joshua) Characteristics of a Leader (Joshua 1:17-18)

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 and pledged their obedience. They were also an encouragement to Joshua.

Be Encouragers (v17-18).

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. ¹⁸Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh gave Joshua words of encouragement.

They went beyond willingness to participate. As we saw above, they encouraged Joshua with a commitment to obey. They capped their response by reminding Joshua that he was operating under God’s agenda, authority, direction and presence.

Those to whom God is giving rest he expects to be encouragers of those who have yet to receive rest. There are two forms of encouragement: words and action. Action involves working with and walking along side a brother.

In ministering to men, we face obstacles, barriers and challenges. We face the forces of darkness. Satan will actively interfere with spiritual growth. Men need to be encouraged in their walk. As leaders of men, we need to say “Be strong and courageous.” We need to convey the message in both words and actions. Be transparent. Let men know that you have faced or are facing challenges. Men are encouraged when they know that others have been there or are aware that men along side of them are dealing with the same or similar issues.

²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb 10:25).

Those to whom God is giving rest he calls to be encouragers.