3 Comments

  1. Jeff Walton
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:33 pm

    Helpful comments — thanks, Scott, for compiling these.

    Reply

  2. Weber Ivy
    June 7, 2014 @ 11:39 am

    I am really looking forward to the “Burgers and Brothers” get-together at the home of Andrew Jones in Falls Church this coming Friday evening, June 20th, because I think that concept is a little closer to what most of us men really want–the opportunity to just kick back and relax, and have a fun, casual time getting to know some other men in someone’s home and backyard. Yes, and I will try to attend the other “Burgers and Brothers” events which you may have in mind for July and August, since that sounds like a great way to have fun with an underlying purpose of life-changing relationship.

    Having had the opportunity to attend the majority of the “Man Up” sessions on Tuesday evenings at Little Falls, I applaud the idea and the effort that went into those sessions. And we can also fairly say that, since this past year we have been a guest congregation in someone else’s church, that situation presented us with some additional challenges to having an effective “Man Up” which hopefully will be mitigated once we get into our new building on North Quincy Street.

    But although David’s pastoral messages and the selected personal testimonies of individual men were often quite heartfelt and compelling, the lack of a sufficient sound system to amplify their speech was a big problem for those of us with significant hearing loss–and it sounds like that was to some degree a problem for all of us, especially if we were seated toward the back of the sanctuary where we were too far away to read a speaker’s lips.

    And the “MeetUp after the ManUp” idea is certainly well-intentioned, but I was one of the ones who never did “Meet Up” with another man afterwards, partly because of my long office hours and a 2-hour commute each way during the week, but also because the idea just felt a bit “stagey” and contrived–the goal we have in mind is laudable, but I think that the method that we’ve been using in these events to achieve that goal runs counter to the way that most men actually meet and form friendships.

    What if we were to consider this option instead: how about a “TalkUp After The ManUp”?

    After the formal part of our “ManUp” evening with its pastoral message and testimonies, suggest that each of us try to group up with anywhere from two to four other men, so that we all end up in groups of about 3 to 5 men each–and then pose the question: “IF…we men talking here in our small group tonight were to actually commit to meeting together at least once a week for the next 8 to 10 weeks, THEN…what are some of the practical ways that we could encourage each other to put into practice the things we’ve heard about tonight?”

    Then give us about 20 minutes or so to discuss that question among ourselves.

    At the end of that time, ask for a little bit of feedback on how our conversations went, then encourage us to get together with at least one other man that we
    talked to in our small group tonight–or, if possible, to arrange for some casual, low-cost or no-cost social opportunity, OR for some kind of lay-volunteer service opportunity that our small men’s group could pursue together (because men are task-oriented, and their friendships grow best when they’re working together on some worthwhile project from which they can see tangible results).

    As an example, I myself am a longtime partner in a local network of nursing-home worship-service volunteers, and we can always use mature, motivated men and women who just have a servant’s heart for ministering to some of our older residents, who will deeply appreciate the time and attention of a busy career and family man who carved out about one hour of their time on a Sunday afternoon once a month, so that they could have a godly, caring man sitting beside them and giving them some much-needed social contact in the context of worshipping God together.

    And there are a million other possibilities in things like AFAC, Casa Chirilagua, Courtney’s House, or even just lending a helping hand with somebody’s home improvement project in their own residence.

    I know this is a lengthy comment, so please forgive me for that, but hopefully this is the kind of feedback you were looking for–thank you for the “ManUp” concept–let’s keep developing it, especially once we kick off the upcoming school-year schedule in our new building in September! — Weber Ivy

    Reply

    • David Hanke
      June 7, 2014 @ 8:07 pm

      thanks so much for your thoughts, Weber. Those are great ideas. I too am looking forward to seeing how the coming year works out.

      The leadership team has an idea to be more intentional in our ‘mentor pairing’. Instead of just suggesting and creating space for a ‘meet-up’, we will compile 2 lists– those who are willing to be a mentor and those who desire to be mentored. We will then try and make matches based on affinity, vocation, relational demographic etc. It too will be an imperfect system, but we will keep trying. I am reminded every day how critical it is for every man to have other men in their life who have a platform and opportunity to speak truth in love.

      Reply

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