Greetings if this is your first time here. Scott Williams from the Big is the New Small weblog asked me to post and host while he is on vacation this week (Sept 1-5 ’08).

Introduction

By way of introduction my name is Bert Boan, and I run this blog Men on Purpose. I am married and expecting our first child (BertandVicki.com), starting a new business (Clear Focus Web Design) and I write a technical blog for myself, friends and family (13blue.com).

Help Wanted

Men on Purpose is started as a way to organize and record my thoughts as I begin a journeyman men’s ministry. The next stage is to produce content to turn it into a fully featured Men’s E-zine for the male Christ follower. If this is an area of interest for you, please let me know. I would like to partner with other churches, leaders, and writers to grow this project. Our purpose is to affect perminant change in the lives of men to grow leaders, mentors, and warriors for the kingdom.

New Section

If you have or know of an active men’s group in your area please let me know. I am finalizing a new section for the blog, a directory for men’s groups, their purpose, size, and location.

Erwin McManus (of “The Barbarian Way”) says that you can judge your level of “christian” maturity by the amount of time between when God tells you to do something and when you get it done.

Well, tonight I sent the email. The email that invites the leaders of Oklahoma City mens groups to get together and combine efforts. It took a month to get my mind around it, two months to write and two months to rewrite and send it. But, right now it is on the way to our small group pastor then to be distributed to all our other local campuses.

So, Erwin? how long is 5 months on the maturity scale? I guess five months is good considering all the things I’ve left on the table over the years.

God has put you where you are because he needs a man with your talents and personality exactly where you are. What has God told you to do that you haven’t followed through on? Do you think other parts of you life may be on hold until it gets done?

I promise my posts will get shorter as this unfolds!

(If at any point you think you might want to be involved in any of these ministries, use the “Contact” tab above to get in touch.)

Big step here. Gonna lay it all out. Like I said in the last post, I think men have disconnected from the Story and I want to be used by God to help ransom the hearts of those men. To light the path from bondage to freedom, from law to spirit, from accountability to purpose, and from resignation to LIFE. I have a band of brothers that encourage me and I’ll always have a group to lean on. But I need to do more. My first thought was “Perhaps while I meet with my core group I’ll start another seed group on a different night and charge those guys to go out and start their own groups.” Then I thought, “There are already mens groups out there, what about those leaders, who supports them?” As it stands now there is the huge organization and then a man on his own with a small group. There isn’t much in the middle. Those thoughts led to more questions and slowly a picture began to form, here I am today with a hope that God will begin something huge for men.

Here are the branches of this tree:

• An alliance of men’s groups.
  Metro and beyond, any leader of a group of men that wants to lead their men higher. The traditional church has very little more than guilt and duty to engage their men in service or loyalty. Most times the best you can hope for is Habit. David Murrow, Director of Church for Men, reports, “The typical U.S. Congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories.”

• Wild at Heart Boot Camp Team
  A team of men to lead weekend boot camps ala John Eldredge. This is a powerful message, in a powerful setting and great outline of what it means to live abundantly in the Epic story God is telling with us as the hero. This team will need prayer warriors (before, during, and after events), Audio/Video techs and Presenters to tag team on the message. I’d like to, at least, double fill every roll to allow for a better offense against attack from the enemy. Again, inter-denominational

• Man Church
  I ran across this a couple of weeks ago and am trying it on for size. Imagine once a quarter/twice a year after a big media push, a gathering of men for BBQ in the parking lot, a lobby full of networking opportunities (more to come in later posts), Paintball shooting range, Big screens with sports clips, gadgets, and car clips from the guys at “Top Gear” . Then a message broken into chunks like a variety show. Some serious segments and some comedy, and not some guy with a guitar, some proper Rock and Roll (I like Steven Cole for this). And all the while encouragement, not “You’re a man and you suck…” but, “You’re a man and God built you on purpose with a purpose.” (See Man Church New York (they have a Fight Song), Man Church Dallas, Man Church Columbus.)

• A weekly Podcast
  A group of guys, some sages, some grasshoppers, (only one Master). Perhaps a rotating cast but always speaking frankly about men’s issues. Groups could use them to start discussions or arguments, what have you. This can go a long way for a man who thinks he is on his own. For that guy to know that his struggles aren’t unique and he is only as sick as the junk he is holding inside. I think there are huge possibilities here. I want Christians to take over the iTunes podcast section.

My heart pounds in my chest when I start thinking about this stuff. I had lunch with Scott Williams, my campus pastor, yesterday. That was the first “Christian” conversation I’ve ever had in a restaurant where I didn’t care if the table next to me overheard.
This Sunday’s sermon was on being held “Hostage” to Worry (click here to watch). I was going to list my fears and worries about all of this but I’ll do it some other time, I’m too hyped to bring it all down with negativity. I’m giving it to God. For this to work he has to come through, right now it is less than a handful of us and two handfuls of hope. You saw it here first folks, you are witnessing the start of the journey, and in the beginning there was Light…