Go Beyond

I believe that deep in the heart of every man lies a thirst for adventure — a thirst that can only be quenched by engaging in pursuits that lie beyond the boundaries of our daily routines. Adventure calls us to move in new directions and to seize opportunities that will stretch and ultimately redefine us. The potential for personal growth increases in direct proportion to the demands of the adventure.

I spent this past week with a team of men from Kingsland in a remote Athabaskan tribal village in far eastern Alaska. And what an amazing week we had. Our men were tasked with working with children in the daytime and leading worship for the villagers in the evenings. We also scheduled some adventure time in the mountains and lakes near the village.

Men working with children — a beautiful sight. Too often we tend to task women alone with anything having to do with kids, whether it’s serving in Vacation Bible School or Sunday School. God, however, wants and needs more men to step up and serve children as well. Watching our team of men interact with the kids in the village was encouraging. The kids melted the hearts of our men and our men embraced every moment we had to work with the kids.

Our hosts told us that we are the first team of men only who have come to work with the kids in the village. The presence of our men serving kids, they told us, is something that encouraged them. Kids need a strong and godly male influence in their lives. We were happy to serve the kids and also to encourage the parents that stopped by the tribal hall.

In the evenings, our men led in worship. They shared their personal stories of coming to faith in Christ, led the music, and preached the Word. Honestly, we did not have any capable singers in our group, but together we made a joyful noise choir that put smiles on the faces of the people. They joined right in and sang along.

Our men not only had an opportunity to serve, we also enjoyed some fun adventures. We hiked the trails through the thick woods in the surrounding mountains (sometimes bushwhacking our way through), panned for gold, and searched for diamond willow trees. One of the men in the village took our team on an amazing trek down a remote and pristine river teeming with wildlife.

Our Men of Kingsland Ministry and our Go Beyond Missions Ministry believe in the importance of providing our men with opportunities to engage in shared study through core groups. But, in addition to shared study, we believe that we can help our men to become stronger by also providing them with opportunities for shared mission and shared adventure.

We are committed to helping men to become stronger by doing life in community with other men (shared study), leading men to serve others (shared mission), and providing men with opportunities to do cool guy stuff in the great outdoors (shared adventure). We believe that by helping men to become stronger and more godly, we will ultimately help strengthen the home and better equip the next generation to advance the purposes of God long after we are gone.