In 2019, Kingsland launched our Empowered Homes initiative — essentially a network to provide homes and churches with the practical resources and strategies to equip parents to take ownership of the spiritual development of their children. We want to see homes transformed by the power of the gospel.
Kingsland’s purpose statement reflects our commitment to do home with missions in mind and missions with the home in mind. We are committed to inviting all people — from Katy to the ragged ends of the earth — to experience true fulfillment in Jesus Christ, one home at a time. The key is one home at a time.
As part of our commitment to see the good news of Jesus Christ transform one home at a time, Pastor Ryan cast a God-sized vision of leading us to reach 1,000,007 homes. That’s a big number. The final seven homes reminded us of what each of us can do. Each of us can allow God to use us to reach seven homes.
Every month, I receive encouraging reports from our international partners about people reached with the gospel. Each person we reach represents a home. Each of those individuals represents the potential to be the catalyst to transform their home to love God and serve His purpose in their respective geographical context in our generation.
For the past several years, our Empowered Homes team has spoken at churches and conferences around the nation, challenging and equipping parents to embrace their role as the primary faith trainers in their respective homes. Every month, more than 35,000 people from as many as 115 countries access the more than 15,000 family resources on our Empowered Homes website. And, in addition to that, 37,000 people tune in to and download our Empowered Homes podcasts.
In 2026, we are taking another bold step to reach and empower homes to serve the purpose of God. We have scheduled Empowered Homes Conferences with our partners in Uganda, Spain, Brazil, Australia, and a special Men of Courage Summit in the Philippines — all designed to fulfill our purpose statement and challenge to reach 1,000,007 homes with the transforming power of the gospel.
Your generous gifts make it possible for us to attempt the impossible. In 1911, the late missionary Samuel Zwemer said, “Our willingness to sacrifice for an enterprise is always in proportion to our faith in that enterprise. Faith has the genius of transforming the barely possible into actuality. Once men are dominated by the conviction that a thing must be done, they will stop at nothing until it is accomplished.”
Watch your mailbox for a copy of our new Kingsland Missions 2026 publication to learn more about how you can join us in the God-sized task of reaching 1,000,007 homes with the transforming power of the gospel in 2026 and beyond.
You can also click on this link to access a digital copy of our report. Scroll down the page and click on the pic of the publication.
Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish writer best known for his novel Don Quixote, defined a proverb as “ a short sentence based on long experience.” That is a really good definition. Every culture has their proverbs — nuggets of wisdom based on long experience and passed from generation to generation.
As an Hispanic kid who grew up in South Texas, “dichos sabios” or wise sayings were a part of everyday conversation and certainly the spice of parental advice. I heard my fair share of “dichos” throughout my growing up years. The rhyme and rhythm of these proverbs made them easy to remember. For example: “A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda” is translated “God helps the one who gets up early.” This dicho is related to “the early bird gets the worm” and is an admonition to work hard.
Over the years I have enjoyed collecting proverbs from different cultures. I especially enjoy cowboy proverbs, wise sayings forged by the rugged men who rode hard for the brand. Who can argue with these wise words: “Never miss a good chance to shut up!” or “Don’t get mad at somebody who knows more’n you do. It ain’t their fault.” My favorite is “Don’t squat with your spurs on!”
Years ago while traveling in Africa, I purchased a book of Swahili Sayings. One of my favorite is translated, ”Better to stumble with a toe than a tongue.” Sounds a lot like Proverbs 18:21 which cautions, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
The greatest collection of proverbs are found in the Old Testament book of Proverbs. Most of the material in this book came from King Solomon (Proverbs 1:1), regarded as the wisest man who ever lived. The men of Hezekiah are credited with compiling the material recorded in Proverbs 25–29. Proverbs 30 is attributed to Agur the son of Jakeh and Proverbs 31 to King Lemuel.
The major theme of the Old Testament book of Proverbs is wisdom. The book belongs to what biblical scholars call the “wisdom literature” of the Old Testament. The words “wise” and “wisdom” are used at least 125 times in the book. The practical and cautionary wisdom of Proverbs is designed to help us acquire and apply God’s wisdom to our daily lives.
I have heard numerous sermons over the years on the Proverbs 31 woman. This is one of my favorite chapters in the book and beautifully describes the ideal woman or wife. However, Proverbs has much to say to men. Solomon often uses the phrase “my son” suggesting that the truths recorded in the book should be passed along by godly parents to their children — certainly from fathers to sons.
Because Proverbs offers so much practical wisdom for men, I have prayerfully written “The Proverbs Man” — a new small group resource especially for men that we will give away at Kingsland’s men’s event in October. Each lesson begins with an exegesis of the proverb or proverbs under consideration to promote understanding of the passage. The sections that follow are designed to draw out practical wisdom that can help men live in a way pleasing to God. The reflective questions are designed to help men think deeply in order to live wisely.
In keeping with the spirit of Proverbs to pass on wise counsel to children, I asked my good friend Bobby Cooley to write the concluding “Pass It On” section of each lesson. Bobby had one of the worst childhoods ever and, after coming to faith in Christ, has truly become a Proverbs Man and a remarkable Dad. Bobby’s challenge to pass along the instruction and wisdom of each proverb to the next generation is personal, practical, and measurable.
The most essential thing for the effective application of the wisdom of Proverbs is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which makes it possible for a man to call God his Father. God is ready to empower men through the Holy Spirit to become a Proverbs Man — a man whose life reflects the value and joy of biblical manhood.
We look forward to sharing this new resource this Fall at our Men of Kingsland gathering. We want to see men embrace the practical and cautionary wisdom of Proverbs and do life in community with other men because alone is dangerous.
Every summer, Kingsland’s student ministry mobilizes students to serve on mission. This month, more than 450 students and leaders served from the greater Houston area to the ends of the earth. I have the privilege of leading our graduating seniors on their trip every year. This trip differs in that it is a worldview study tour.
For several years our graduates traveled to Israel to visit the places where our biblical worldview unfolded. We addressed the geographical, biblical, and historical context of each site. During our evening worship time I addressed the devotional context or the why does it matter questions.
This month I led our students on a study tour of the seven churches of Revelation in Asia Minor or modern day Türkiye. This biblical journey helped put into perspective how the gospel reached us. If you could trace your spiritual ancestry all the way back to the first century, you would likely find that your spiritual lineage traveled from Jerusalem through Asia Minor and across the Aegean Sea all the way to your front door.
Visiting the sites of the seven churches of Revelation was powerful because it helped our students understand the challenges believers faced in the early days of Christianity. And because many chose to remain faithful to Christ in the face of opposition and persecution and pressures to compromise, the gospel continued its journey to the West.
Being on site in Asia Minor gave our students the opportunity to glean deeper insights into the letters to the seven churches. In preparation for the trip, I wrote a study guide for our students structured around four key components.
First, I addressed the Scriptural context by exegeting the respective Biblical passage related to each of the seven churches. Second, I addressed the geographical context of each site and how those geographical considerations can open the eyes of our understanding. Third, I addressed the biblical and historical context. Finally, I addressed the devotional context or why what happened then should matter to us now.
We concluded each evening with a worship time followed by a devotional session in which we looked deeper into the lessons we should glean from each of the seven churches. And, as I do every year, I challenged our students to remain faithful to Jesus as they begin the next chapter of their lives.
Using the message to the church at Ephesus, I cautioned our students about how the world, the flesh, and the devil will try to persuade them to forsake their first love. I shared my own story of dealing with professors and students in college who were hostile to the gospel and how I dealt with each challenge.
I am thankful for the opportunities we give our students to serve the purpose of God both locally and internationally. And I am thankful for the investment that our student ministry makes into the lives of our students — equipping them to serve the purpose of God in their generation, to understand what they believe, and to live out their faith incarnationally in the context in which God has placed them.
“You don’t have to wait until you are a grown-up to change the world. God can use you today to make the world a better place for kids who live in faraway places.” This is a message we want for our kids at Kingsland to understand and embrace.
Every year we challenge the kids who attend our Vacation Bible School to do something big and audacious to make life better for kids around the world. This year we asked our kids to raise funds to support showing the new Jesus Film throughout the Australian Outback.
Earlier this year, my friend Jay Lowe and I traveled more than 10,000 kilometers in Australia to distribute 10,000 copies of Luke’s Gospel and to announce the coming of the new Jesus Film. We visited dozens of small communities throughout the Outback to announce the coming of the new animated version of the Jesus Film.
The original Jesus Film was released by Campus Crusade in 1979 and has been viewed more than 5 billion times. According to the Jesus Film website, “Every two seconds — sometimes in the midst of global chaos and conflict — someone indicates a decision to receive Christ as personal Savior as a result of seeing the Jesus film.”
The Jesus Film Project is now working on a new animated version of the Jesus film. They state that this animated version is “designed to reach families, new generations, and people of all ages with the story of Jesus.” The film is still under production and, when released, will appeal to a generation growing up with Pixar quality animated stories.
Every year I write a rhyming book for the kids attending VBS at Kingsland to tell them about the recipient of their gifts and to inspire them to raise funds. This is a fun way to explain to our kids about the impact their gifts will have on making Jesus known among the nations.
In the month of June, the kids attending VBS at Kingsland raised $19.441.39 to invest in showing the new animated version of the Jesus Film throughout small towns in the Australian Outback. Kingsland’s missions ministry matched the offering brought in by the kids and added an additional $30,000 in gifts to this project for a grand total of $68,882.78.
In the two weeks since VBS we have had additional gifts given to round up the total to $77,781.30 USD or $118,282.33 Australian Dollars at today’s exchange rate. We will send these funds to our friends at Power To Change (CRU) in Australia. Our partners Geoff Folland, National Director, and Young Goh, the National Project Director for the Jesus Film in Australia. They will direct these funds to maximize the showings of the new Jesus Film in small towns across the Outback when it premiers.
I am proud of our kids at Kingsland for once again showing that God can use them today to make a difference in the lives of other kids. So many of our kids came up with creative ways to make money to invest in the offering. They are learning what it means to give selflessly and generously to kingdom initiatives. In the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliot, they gave what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose.
What started as a dream one year ago — a dream about traveling across Australia’s Outback to distribute 10,000 copies of Luke’s Gospel — is now finished. And how appropriate to finish this adventure on Easter Sunday.
My friend Jay Lowe and I share a kindred heart about missions, about distributing copies of the Scriptures, and about sharing Jesus with people who live in remote places.
The last adventure we shared was prayer-walking across Bangladesh, from border to border, in January 2023. As we began to pray about the next kingdom adventure, Australia came into view.
Australia is vast by any measure. The majority of the population live along the coast. As you move inland from the coast, the population becomes increasingly sparse. And that is what attracted us to Australia — the people, including the indigenous folk, who live in the vast Outback.
I began by contacting my friend Craig Petty who serves on the Compassion leadership team in Australia. Craig and I met and became friends in Cambodia. I pitched the idea about visiting Australia to distribute 10,000 copies of Luke’s Gospel mainly across the Outback.
Craig affirmed the idea and put me in contact with Geoff Folland, the national director of Power to Change (Campus Crusade in Australia). Geoff also embraced the idea and suggested that we could dovetail the distribution with spreading the word about the new Jesus Film.
The New Jesus Film is currently under production. It is an animated version of the forty-plus year old version of the Jesus Film that is the most viewed film in history.
The animated version is geared to children ages nine to twelve. Missiologists tell us that most people who come to faith in Christ do so between the ages of four and fourteen. The hope is that this film will help a new generation and their families connect with the greatest story ever told.
Geoff put me in contact with Young Goh who is responsible for coordinating everything having to do with the Jesus Film in Australia. Young helped us to put together a plan to serve as ambassadors for the new Jesus Film and distribution of Luke’s Gospel. Since the Jesus Film is scripted from Luke’s Gospel, this plan made good sense.
Over a period of months, we emailed and Zoom-called and prayed and planned until all of the pieces came together. We would arrive in Melbourne on April 1 and journey north along the coast toward Brisbane before turning west toward the Outback.
I asked Pastor Ryan to join us for the first week of our journey to celebrate Australia as the sixth continent in which our missions ministry is engaged and to celebrate Kingsland reaching the $40,000,000 milestone in giving to missions.
And so began our adventure. We left Melbourne with a handful of contacts who agreed to host us and to open doors for distribution. And, as only God can do, every contact introduced us to people in their respective networks that opened even more doors for us all the way into the interior of the country.
An added bonus was being interviewed by Vision Christian Radio in Brisbane for their Sunday morning program on April 13. Vision Christian Radio reaches the entire nation with their broadcast, including the Outback.
We took a detour on our way north to visit Paul and Robyn Roe in Dubbo. Paul was responsible for helping to bring Campus Crusade to Australia and is known as The Outback Historian. Paul and Robyn hosted us for two nights and I was blessed to celebrate my 69th birthday in their home.
The time we spent with Paul and Robyn will forever be etched in my heart. We listened to stories, sang worship songs (and some John Denver as well), and prayed together. Paul contacted several friends who opened up more doors of opportunity for us along the way.
And so our journey began to unfold in ways we could never have imagined or planned. All along the way we were welcomed with open arms and left with the names of others to meet along the way.
Day by day we traveled and listened for the Lord’s prompting about places to stop. We made cold calls at churches and met some of the most inspiring people who are faithfully serving the purpose of God in small towns along our route. All welcomed us and opened doors for us to meet others on the road ahead.
Geoff arranged for Pastor Ryan to preach at Parkside Baptist Church in Sydney. Pastor Matthew and his team embraced us and made us feel at home. Parkside was a breath of fresh air. We were blessed by our time with them. And, the Parkside family took more than 600 copies of Luke plus info on the Jesus Film to distribute.
After Pastor Ryan and Andrew, our videographer, flew home from Sydney, Jay and I made our way up to Brisbane for the radio interview and then turned west into the vast expanse of the Outback.
Once again, God connected us with some amazing people who helped us with our distribution initiative. One contact led to another and then to another. Watching God work in this way was so exciting. We could never have planned any of this in this kind of detail. All along the way we sensed that God was honoring our initiative to get His Word into the hands of people in off-the-beaten track locations.
Jay and I had specifically prayed for opportunities to get the Scriptures into Aboriginal communities but had no contacts. No problem for God. He opened those doors and put us in contact with the right gatekeepers. As a result, we gave more than 2,000 copies to these remote communities of Australia’s indigenous population.
We gave away our remaining copies in Port Augusta and then continued our journey back to Melbourne. Twenty days after we started, we arrived safely in Melbourne late in the day on Easter Sunday. We drove 10,346 kilometers (more than 6,000 miles) across the vast expanses of the Outback and distributed one copy of Luke for every kilometer traveled.
The past three weeks have been beyond anything Jay and I could have imagined. We are grateful for all of the people we met along the way and all of our friends and family who kept us in their prayers.
Only Heaven will reveal the full impact of this kingdom initiative. Our bodies are tired, our hearts are full, and we will return home with unforgettable memories and great expectations about what God will continue to do after we leave.
So, in one sense, it is finished. Jay and I finished what we set out to do. But in another sense, it is just beginning. Much of the seed sown fell on good soil. And that will be the start of something good in hearts and lives across the Outback.
In the summer of 2023, the children who attended Kingsland’s Vacation Bible School raised funds for the purchase and outfitting of a mobile dental clinic to care for children who live in remote villages on the Indonesian island of Papua — formerly Irian Jaya.
Every year, we remind our kids that they do not have to wait until they are all grown up to change the world — God can use them right now. Once again, our kids embraced the challenge and brought in their nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars to fund a special project to specifically bless kids who live in hard places. They set up popsicle and lemonade stands and did all sorts of other creative entrepreneurial initiatives to raise the money for the mobile dental clinic.
That year, as in previous years, I wrote a book to explain the need in Papua to our kids. Learning to love and serve others is an indispensable part of spiritual formation. That’s why we want for our kids to grow up with an understanding of what life is like for kids in other parts of the world while giving them an opportunity to bless those children.
The dream of funding a mobile dental clinic for the children and families of Papua is now a reality. Dr. Miguel Lopez, our partner serving in Papua, shepherded the project through to completion.
The mobile unit was constructed over several months in Jakarta, Indonesia to Dr. Lopez’s specifications. The unit is self-contained and capable of serving in locations on and off the grid. Once completed, the unit traveled by ship to Papua.
My friend Andrew Probstfeld and I arrived in Papua on Saturday for the official dedication of the dental clinic. Andrew serves on our media team as director of Kingsland Films and has completed a beautiful documentary on the life and ministry of Dr. Lopez and his wife Laura. After we premier the film at Kingsland it will be available on our Kingsland Films YouTube channel.
The dedication was a beautiful event. More than one-hundred nationals and ex-pats who serve in Papua attended the dedication service. We began with worship and then Dr. Lopez told the story about his dream to have a mobile resource to provide greater care for those who live in very remote villages. When he had shared that dream with me in early 2023, I told him that God would use Kingsland’s kids to make that dream a reality.
And now, that dream has become a reality.
The mobile dental clinic is ready to hit the road. Given Dr. Lopez’s extensive ministry to small villages around the island, this clinic will be on the go every week. Children and families who have lived a lifetime with no access to dental care will now be the beneficiaries of this beautiful clinic.
The best part is that every person served in the mobile clinic will have the opportunity to know the love of God and how valued they are in His eyes. Both the dental care they receive and the good news they hear will go a long way toward restoring their smiles.
When European explorers set off in search of a land located below the continent of Asia, they stumbled across a landmass they called Terra Australis Incognita, translated Unknown South Land.
Perhaps because Terra Australis Incognita is a mouthful, a naval officer and cartographer named Matthew Flinders coined the term “down under.” The nickname stuck and, to this day, folks from outside of Australia refer to the massive continent as “the land down under.”
The gospel reached the land down under in the late 18th century with the arrival of an evangelical Anglican clergyman named Richard Johnson. He was the first to preach the gospel on Australian soil in Sydney on February 3, 1788.
Interestingly, John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, was Johnson’s mentor. He encouraged Johnson to take the gospel to Australia and the South Pacific and called his young protégé the first Apostle to the South Seas. Johnson remained in Australia for twelve years.
I will begin my own journey to Australia in a few hours by way of Papua New Guinea. I will fly from Houston to Papua where I will take part in the dedication of the mobile dental clinic underwritten by Kingsland’s 2023 Vacation Bible School offering. This clinic will make it possible for our partner there to provide dental care to people living in remote locations.
From Papua I will make my way to Melbourne via Jakarta where I will connect with my good friend Jay Lowe. Jay and I walked across Bangladesh in January 2023. We have traveled together to some of the remotest places on the planet to share Jesus.
Jay loves adventure but loves Jesus even more. He is a former Guinness Book of World Records holder for driving the lower 48 states in record time. He is also the father of Sean Lowe, the bachelor on ABC’s Season 17 of The Bachelor. Jay had the honor of officiating his son’s wedding to Catherine Giudici on national television.
And now, we are off again — this time on an adventure down under to distribute 10,000 copies of Luke’s Gospel. We are also working with our friends at Power to Change (Campus Crusade in Australia) to serve as ambassadors to announce the coming of the new animated version of the Jesus Film. Geoff Folland, national director of Power to Change, and his team have provided us invaluable logistical support.
In advance of our trip, I had the honor of sharing a little about my story with Dr. Tina Waldrom on her the Evangelism in Australia podcast. Evangelism in Australia exists to train and equip believers and churches for evangelism. Tina is passionate about evangelism and about reaching Australia with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I will post real time updates on my Instagram account as we journey through Australia. We are intentionally driving to and through smaller towns on-and-off-the-beaten path.
My pastor, Dr. Ryan Rush, will join us for the first week of our journey along with Andrew Probstfeld, our Kingsland Films director. We will, in part, celebrate Kingsland reaching the $40,000,000 mark in missions giving and setting foot on our 6th continent. Our work among the nations now spans the entire globe both north and south of the equator.
Excited to journey to the land down under to work with our new partners and friends to share the greatest story ever told. Thanks for your prayers and I hope you will follow our adventure.
Our 17th Annual Caring for Katy is now history. Although there was concern about the cold weather and possible rain, the day was a success. The rain held off and our teams served in more than 60 projects around Katy and the surrounding communities.
For the many recipients of our acts of service, Sunday was a day they will not soon forget. Our people served single moms, widows, families in need, and a number of our local ministry partners.
This year more than 2,000 Kingsland volunteers left the church building on Sunday to be the sermon in our community. Special thanks to all of our small groups for once again doing an amazing job of identifying needs and then moving in the direction of those needs to make a difference.
One of the best things ever about Caring for Katy is seeing so many families make special memories of serving others together. Parents teaching their children to serve by example is an important component in the spiritual formation of children. We want for our kids to understand that they do not have to wait until they are all grown up to change the world. God can use them right now!
Our media department put together a video that offers a few highlights of the practical projects we engaged in. Please take a moment to watch this brief video that captures and celebrates the spirit of Caring for Katy.
In the Spring of 2015, my friend Gil Harris, the director of Kingsland’s Men’s Ministry, began a concerted effort to encourage the men of our church to do life in community with other men. Gil asked me to pray about starting a new small group for men.
My initial response to Gil was that I was too busy to take on one more responsibility. I did not want to give up what precious little discretionary time I had for one more meeting. However, the more I prayed the more convicted I became about the importance of what Gil had asked me to do.
Long story short, I agreed to start a new small group for men — a group especially for fathers who had either faced challenges with their sons or who had great relationships with their sons. So, I launched Band of Fathers and structured our small group around three guiding objectives: shared study, shared service, and shared adventure.
Outside of worship on Sunday, meeting with my Band of Fathers is the most important meeting of my week. All of the original members, with the exception of those who have moved away, continue to meet every Wednesday for a meal and shared study. We are fifteen men strong and have developed very close bonds with one another.
In reflecting of my journey over the past ten years as a leader of a small group, I offer the following ten reasons why I believe every man should do life in community with other men. Using Small Group as an acrostic to organize my thoughts, what follows are some of the benefits of doing life in community.
S = SURROUND Being a part of a small group gives men the opportunity to surround themselves with other men who are on the same journey, facing the same challenges, feeling the same pressures, struggling with the same temptations, and who share the same concerns about leading their families well.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Life is hard and can continually dull our edge. When that happens, our edge can be restored through our interaction with other men who have our back and best interests at heart and who will speak the truth to us in love.
M = MENTORSHIP Being a part of a small group gives men the opportunity to mentor as well as to be mentored. A mentor is a trusted advisor capable of offering wise counsel. Having a mentor introduces a trusted voice into our lives that can help us to exercise greater discernment and discipline regarding the way we live, love, and lead.
Having a mentor gives us the benefit of learning from someone whose wisdom has been forged in the furnace of experience. Benefiting from a mentor means we must humble ourselves in order to learn. We must ask questions, listen to wise council, and then act accordingly.
A = ACCOUNTABILITY One of the main reasons why men get into trouble is the lack of accountability. I am thankful for the men who have loved me enough to make me face unpleasant things about myself. These friends have taught me that while tough love is painful it is essential to making course corrections.
Proverbs 27:6 tell us that the wounds of a friend are faithful but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Kissing people is undoubtedly much more pleasant than wounding them, but not always the most loving thing we can do. We need to give other men permission to wound us, if necessary, in order to keep us on the right path.
L = LIVES Being involved in a small group gives us the opportunity to be involved in the lives of our brothers. My Band of Fathers meets every Wednesday at a local Mexican food restaurant. I always enjoy the candid conversations that takes place while we eat and before we start our study — guys just sharing with guys about what’s happening in their lives.
Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!” I see this unity on display every week and also during the times we gather to serve others or to go on an adventure together. And, as a group, we stay in contact with one another through our text group — sharing prayer concerns or celebrating victories.
L = LEGACY Every man will leave a legacy whether good or bad. Our legacy is the sum of our life — what people will remember about us after we are gone. Our legacy is certainly impacted by our accomplishments, achievements, awards and recognitions. However, beyond that, our legacy is also impacted by the example we set, how we navigated through life, and the influence we had on others. Every deed, good or bad, is woven into the fabric of our legacy.
Doing life in community with other men can keep us on track to leave a good legacy. It is easy for men to wander off the path and make decisions that will damage their reputations and ultimately their legacy. However, when we allow other men to speak into our lives there is greater likelihood that we will stay on the right path and make better choices and leave a good and godly legacy.
G = GROWTH Being involved in a small group can contribute to our growth as a believer. My Band of Fathers and I enjoy our weekly shared study. We discuss books by Christian authors that challenge us to think deeply about our lives so that we can live wisely. We examine the Scriptures to understand how we can better serve the purpose of God in our generation.
We also devote time to read and discuss books about great explorers and exploration and adventure and accomplishments. These books also contribute to our understanding of how doing hard things and facing tough challenges contribute to our growth as men.
R = RESPECT Being a part of a small group fosters respect between brothers. Each of the men in my Band of Fathers have accomplished much in their respective fields. Each of the men have faced and overcome intimidating challenges. And each of them have developed godly wisdom and insights for living as a result.
Bottom line: I respect the men in my group and hold each of them in high regard. They inspire me to stand firm, to stay the course, and to become a better man whose choices consistently align with a biblical worldview. I could never have gotten to know the men in my group as much as I have apart from doing life with them.
O = ONE ANOTHER Being a part of a small group is a good environment for living out the one another passages in the NT. There are 35 verses in the New Testament that contain the phrase “one another“. Every single one of these passages teaches us the value of living life in community with others and remind us that we were never meant to live life alone.
The men in my group certainly love one another as brothers in Christ. We demonstrate that love by living out the 34 other one another passages. For example, we pray for one another, we bear one another’s burdens, we encourage one another, build up one another, and serve one another. These are just a few examples of the benefits of living out the one another passages in community with other men.
U = URGENCY Doing life with men who are committed to serving the purpose of God creates a sense of urgency about making the most of every day. As a man who can now see his seventh decade on the horizon, I cannot afford to kill time because time is killing me. I want to continue doing hard things, going to difficult places, and doing the things that will advance the interests of the kingdom in my generation.
Doing life with other men can also create urgency about rising above the mundane in order to give ourselves to greater things. The old hymn entitled “Rise Up O Men of God” urges men to rise up, be done with lesser things, and to give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of kings.
P = PRAYER One of the best things about my Band of Fathers is that we have established a powerful prayer network with one another. When one of us has a prayer concern we immediately alert the group. The guys in the group affirm their commitment to pray and then check in regularly for updates. Just another way that we bear one another’s burdens.
An old pilgrim writer once said that Satan is a pirate looking for a vessel without a fleet. When we do life in community with other men, we sail with a fleet. When we sail with a fleet it makes it harder for the enemy to succeed in sinking any one of us. And if any ship in our fleet should take on water, we are all there to launch a rescue.
Years ago, my friend and former Marine Brad Flurry, Kingsland’s Executive Pastor of Ministries, spoke to our men about doing life in community because alone is dangerous. “Every man needs someone to have his six,” Brad said. In military speak this means having someone to watch and protect our back.
Alone is dangerous and our enemy knows that. That’s why I strongly encourage every man to consider and discover the value of doing life in community with other men. And I also urge every wife to pray for her husband and to encourage him to do life in community with other men.
In 2019, our missions and men’s ministries collaborated to write a series of study guides based on the theme of calling men to embrace God’s vision for biblical manhood. We also set our sights on doing Men of Courage Summits in Uganda, Cambodia, India, Brazil, and Nepal.
Men of Courage, our first discussion guide, has been translated into 9 languages. Working with our international partners, we have distributed more than 55,000 copies of this study guide with more requests coming in monthly. We are now working on translations of our Men of Character and Men of Conviction study guides and writing Men of Commitment, the fourth in our series.
This past week we led two Men of Courage Summits in Cambodia in cooperation with our partner Steve Hyde. Steve and his capable staff translated our study guides into the Khmer language in preparation for our summits in Phnom Penh and Poipet.
Our first summit in Phnom Penh was attended by area pastors and church leaders. We shared with the men about the three things God has placed in the heart of every man: a beauty to rescue, a battle to fight, and an adventure to live. We also talked a lot about why alone is dangerous and why it is important for men to do life in community with other men.
We enjoyed good fellowship with the men and concluded with a challenge to start small groups in their respective churches. Those in attendance expressed their gratitude for what we had shared and left determined to share what they had learned with the men of their churches.
We spent all day Monday driving from Phnom Penh to Poipet, a chaotic city along the Cambodian/Thai border. I have visited Poipet many times over the years. The small border town is small no more but has grown exponentially. Poipet is a gateway to Thailand and a wild west equivalent of Las Vegas — steeped in gambling, alcoholism, and human trafficking.
We led a two-day summit in Poipet with church leaders from around the area. We again addressed what biblical manhood looks like and why doing life alone is dangerous. After each teaching session, Gil Harris, Kingsland’s men’s ministry director, had the men sit in small groups and then led them in discussion of follow-up questions.
The leaders who attended the summits expressed their gratitude for both the teaching and materials. Based on the feedback we received, we expect that most of those in attendance will start small groups in their respective churches, providing opportunities for men to do shared study, shared mission, and shared adventure with other men.
I am grateful for my friends Gil, Brian, and Kyle for being a part of the teaching team. God used our team to inspire and encourage men in Cambodia to rise up and serve the purpose of God in our generation by becoming the men God has called us to be. We look forward to leading our next Men of Courage Summit in India.
Go Beyond 