Hey Everyone, we’re at the Iron Sharpens Iron in Spokane Valley, WA right NOW. We’re excited about the turnout and we’re even more amped up about what God is going to do in the lives of the men here today.

We have an awesome lineup of speakers and the worship band is rocking out for Jesus.

Stay tuned…we’ll be reporting back throughout the day.

Planning your next men’s retreat? Getting ready to put on a regional event geared to men? Looking for a great speaker for a father/son camp? Whatever need you have related to locating a quality speaker – Men’s Ministry Catalyst is creating a great resource for you.

We’re getting ready to launch the MMC Speaker’s Portal on our website. Our goal is pretty simple and straightforward. We want to provide pastors and men’s ministry leaders across the nation with a centralized access point to a fantastic stable of speakers for their needs.

With the help of our web designer, we have created a searchable database that will allow you to locate speakers in multiple ways: regional speaker, camp/retreat speaker, conference speaker, seminar speaker, church/special event speaker, etc. We’re also going to give you the ability to search available speakers by state too.

Each speaker that is invited to be listed in our Speaker’s Portal will be providing a person bio section, the type of speaking engagements they’re interested in, why they feel called to minister to men, along with a great deal of additional information. This should prove to be very helpful as you can use it in selecting the ideal speaker for your upcoming event.

We’ll also be providing you with links to each speaker’s website, social media accounts, and much more. We’re in the process of populating the Speaker’s Portal now. Be watching our Facebook page and the blog – we’ll announce the launch of the beta version of the Portal there. If you follow us on Twitter, look for the announcement there too.

What is the missional church?

We continue with the theme of ecclesiology this month and will examine the 10 key aspects of the “missional” church. In the next article, I will present some of the challenges we face in trying to live out a missional expression of the church.

This last summer, I took a class as part of my MA in Theology program at Whitworth University entitled, “The Missional Church.” Jim Singleton was the professor (some of you may recognize Jim’s name – he had been the Senior Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs and just recently accepted a professor post at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston). The class concluded that the following ten aspects compose what we believe to be a missional expression of the church:

1. The “misseo Dei” – the sent nature and character of God. David Bosch writes this about the nature of a sending, missionary God: “The classical doctrine of the misseo Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit is expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.” It has always been God’s intent to send out people – He does it as elemental to His nature and we need to do it as His sent people.
2. A Trinitarian understanding of the relational character of God. God exists in perfect community as Father, Son and Spirit. As His followers, we are to invite others into the community that we are experiencing, particularly as that community reflects and points to God’s Kingdom. With the challenge of Kingdom living being counter-cultural, we must recognize that communal living will not be easy — we are not inviting people into comfort, rather we are inviting people to experience life-transforming Kingdom community.
3. Incarnational theology. God stepped out of His world into ours through the incarnation of Jesus. How can we step out of our “world” into others to reflect the love of Christ?
4. Grace-centered theology. In a worldly culture that is devoid of grace, the church should be radically different in its extravagant dispensation of grace (just as God has extravagantly dispensed His grace on us). In a missional context, the church should have an intoxicating nature of grace and an abundance of the aroma of Christ.
5. Transformational theology. Spiritual formation is about transformation, not information. The assumption that information leads to transformation has proven to be false. The missional church will address equally all aspects of humanity: the mind, the heart, the will, and the body.
6. Hospitality. The missional church will practice “philo – xenia” – loving the stranger. We must not be selfish with our love and service to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and in any way.
7. A Servant’s Heart. The missional church looks out, not in. This movement dreams big dreams to serve the world.
8. Empowerment of Laity. The missional church values laity and equips them to minister. This is a distinct shift away from a clerical central model of ecclesiology.
9. Authentic worship dynamic. Worship exists for worship sake, not to be used for other competing motivations of the church. The object of worship (God!) is the priority, not the form of worship (which can be loaded with attempts to evangelize, teach, create community, or entertain).
10. A climate of joy and love! The attraction is not a place, a comfortable building, great programs, or a charismatic speaker. The attraction is the joy and love of the community and how that joy and love are extended beyond itself. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

So, what, if anything, is missing from this list of elements that should comprise how we operate as the “church”? How have the churches you have been a part of in the past reflected these ideals? How have they fallen short, and more importantly, WHY did they fall short?

May we love one another and the world in the life-giving power of Jesus and find courage in Him to bring His light to the dark places.

Geoff Rinehart joined the staff of New Community in Spokane, WA in October 2011 and along with serving as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation, is also a Church Planter-in-Residence, with the vision of cultivating a small group-driven community of missionaries that wholeheartedly worships God, unconditionally loves all people, and boldly lives out and extends the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, through Jesus Christ in the Coeur d’Alene, ID area. You can reach Geoff at geoff@new-community.com.

It was one of those games where the refs were making ridiculous calls. Were they blind? Other fans weren’t happy either, and they were shouting it out from the sidelines. Contempt for the refs, ridiculing the players, disapproval of the coaching… and this was at a Christian high school game! I disengaged for a while and listened to the carrying on around me. I was ashamed that I was on the verge of the same behavior and embarrassed at the prospect that someone who wasn’t a believer might be at this game. It was an eye opener!

Like a scene from a bad movie, this type of setting unfortunately plays out all too often. The father who lifts his hands and praises God in church, then screams at his children the whole car ride home. The worker, whose vehicle bears the Christian “fish” symbol, takes the pay but leaves the job incomplete. The co-worker who listens to Christian music in his cubicle yet decorates the golf course with his arrogant attitude and colorful language. The husband who professes his love for his wife yet has a secret addiction to pornography. Think through your own life, and I am sure you’ll come up with even more examples. Who are we really?

As men of faith, it’s time we step up and make sure there is congruence between our talk and our walk. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him (God) yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” I’ve never thought of myself as a liar – an imperfect sinner, yes, but not necessarily a liar. But God’s Word makes it crystal clear that what we say has to match up with how we live or else we are living a lie.

Taking it to the street, I asked my 15-year old son what it was like when he saw adults who profess to be believers act in ways that are opposite of their faith. His response: “It makes me, like, so mad. They are hypocrites. They say one thing then do another. They are doing all the things that we aren’t supposed to. I don’t want to be like them.” Pretty radical, isn’t it?

Whether you are at home, work, or play, one of the greatest keys to being an effective leader is to be a man of integrity. Let’s make a conscious effort to be men whose words and actions are in alignment — even when no one is looking. Let’s strive to live consistently, making sure that our walk and our talk line up. For some of us, a slight attitude adjustment may be all that is needed; for others, it might mean a major overhaul. But either way isn’t it worth it?

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6

Challenge: Take some time this week to look at every area of your life, and see if your beliefs match up with the way you live. Then ask yourself – who am I really?

That’s right, in five days the Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Equipping Conference will be ‘invading’ the Spokane Valley on Saturday April 21st. Are you coming? We hope so! We’re looking forward to a fantastic day of learning from excellent speakers, great worship times, and fellowship with men from all over the inland northwest. You may still purchase tickets online or if you prefer, you may pay at the door the morning of the event.

Please be praying with us for the event. Pray that:

• The men who attend will be challenged by the Holy Spirit to make radical changes in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Believers will step out and invite their friends to attend with them. They will definitely hear the gospel message!
• Our speakers will be focused on glorifying God in their presentations and that they will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.
• All of the behind the scenes logistics will go smoothly.

We’re anxious to see everyone there and we’re hoping to do some live blog updates during the conference. Please watch our Facebook page and follow our Twitter stream for more details. Thanks!

Need more info about the conference? Click here! We hope to see you there!

Happy Easter Men!

We’re pleased to announce that Logos Bible Software has included five books written by our founder, Dr. James (Jim) Grassi, in their electronic library. These books are available for purchase through Logos.com to be used in your Logos Bible Software Program.

“It’s great to see that pastors and men’s ministry leaders will have access to these resources for their personal study and for use in leading their men’s ministries,” says Dr. Grassi. “I personally use Logos and it saves me hours of prep time. With the addition of the Men’s Ministry Catalyst Collection, I will be excited to hear how men use it within their ministries,” he adds.

As many of you know, MMC is a fan of Logos and we’re thrilled to have five of Dr. Grassi’s books included in their growing library of resources. To learn more about the books included in the Men’s Ministry Catalyst Collection and how to purchase it for inclusion in your Logos Library, please click here.

Have you already purchased this collection? If so, we would enjoy hearing from you! Feel free to leave a comment about how you’re using these resources in your personal study or in your ministry to men.

Gentlemen – here’s a great movie to see with your entire family. A good friend of our ministry, Jeff Abramovitz (of DadPad.org fame), has suggested that this film is a great way to bring up the issue of pregnancy with your children and discuss all of the options available. Men, this movie is a great tool for you to use in shepherding your kids and teaching them the value of life and how amazing it is that God has created each of us uniquely.

Here’s a good plan for you (this plan is given free of charge, haha):

1. Schedule a movie night with your family to go see October Baby. To find a theater near you that is showing it, please visit OctoberBabyMovie.net/theaters.
2. Before taking your family to view the movie, sit down and read Psalm 139. It’s only 24 verses long, but it packs a powerful punch and speaks right to the point about how God knows us and created us.
3. Go see the movie and then take the family out to a coffeehouse or ice cream shop to discuss it after the movie.

We pray that you’ll be blessed by the message of this movie and the discussion that it creates for you with your family.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” Psalm 139:14

Please feel free to share this YouTube link featuring our radio spot on KYMS Radio too – we would appreciate your assistance in reaching as many men about this exciting men’s’ ministry event! Thanks.