Mission Focused Men for Christ

Everyone likes approval. We enjoy seeing our teachers’ A at the top of our essay, hearing “good game,” or gazing on the diplomas on our wall that verify that we have been approved by an educational institution to receive a high school, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctor’s degree. Wanting approval often leads us down a path to success and achievement; but it can also lead us in directions of compromise, regret, and self-loathing, when we weakly surrender to unhealthy peer pressure. We all know the experience of hearing our conscience warn us, “say no” but saying “yes” instead, in order to fit in. We have all been in situations where we sensed the leading of God’s Spirit to identify ourselves as Christians, but have chickened out. We have all looked back with regret on times we should have stood for righteousness but caved. The goal of this episode is to heat up our passion to seek God’s approval and pour cold water on the coals of desire for the world’s approval.For more information about the book, Anchoring Your Child to God's Truth in a Gender-Confused Culture, click here.

Mission focused men realize that their mission begins with the Call TO Christ, to enjoy a love relationship with him. It is profoundly important to get this right because keeping our affections set upon Christ, making him our first love, and satisfying our souls in him are God’s design for keep our hearts aligned. And what our hearts want will determine the course of our lives. The command to rejoice in the Lord (Phil 4:4) is the command to intentionally ENJOY God. This episode explains four obstacles to obeying this command to give ourselves pleasure by celebrating who God is. One of the resources used in this episode is Scotty Smith’s book, Objects of God’s Affection. Here is the link. 

Every Christian husband and father wants to succeed in being the spiritual leader of his home, so we have been studying how to maximize our impact in leading others to spiritual maturity, whether we are husbands, dads, small group, church, or another kind of spiritual leader. This is the third episode in a three-part series, Becoming Effective Spiritual Leaders. This series examines the leadership process by examining the relationships between the 3 components of leadership. Here is the link to a simple diagram that explains these three parts and their relationship to one another. This week, we cover the most neglected step of leadership, one that takes our leadership impact from mediocre to excellent. This third step is EQUIPPING followers to grow into mature disciples. 

This is the second episode in a three-part series, Becoming Effective Spiritual Leaders. This series examines the leadership process by examining the relationships between the 3 components of leadership. Here is the link to a simple diagram that explains these three parts and their relationship to one another. Last week we examined the orange arrow from the leader to the goal, observing ways the leader must stay focused upon the goal of his own spiritual growth, so he can lead from his life. This episode examines the vertical green arrow from the leader to the followers and five ways that Jesus won the hearts of his followers by BUILDING HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM. 

Summary: The greatest impact we have on those around us often comes when we fill the role of spiritual leader. This role can come to us in countless ways—by being assigned by God to spiritual leadership at home as a husband and father, or by serving as a church or ministry leader. Leadership can come with being the default spiritual influencer on your sports team or among your friends. It can be the result of assuming responsibility to steer brothers and sisters in your extended family towards Christ, or neighbors, or work associates. This episode looks at the way spiritual leadership can have maximum impact in the lives of those who surround us.Here is the link to the Leadership Leadership Diagram referred to on this podcast.

Men want to succeed at everything they do. They want to know which hill to take. They want a clear target on the wall so they can focus their masculine energy into it. When it comes to spiritual things, they want to like Paul, who said, Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. If we are going to strive to obey God’s command to fathers, to bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, what are the goals that we need to PRESS ON TOWARDS. This episode gives guys a concrete game plan to strive to achieve as with the Lord’s help, train our kids into godly character.Much of the material in today’s episode comes from Boundaries With Kids, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. 

Even though MOTHERS seem so much better at it, God makes FATHERS primarily responsible for raising up their children in the way they should go. But how can we expect Christian dads to succeed in this vital calling if they are not equipped with biblical principles and strategies to formulate a plan? This episode equips dads to understand the basic goal of parenting and gives three ways parents must use their influence to accomplish this mission. We then identify 6 obstacles to effective parenting. Finally, we look at God’s evaluation of a parent who does not paddle his child, Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. God designed a child with a bottom—a safe part of the body with no risk of damaging organs to receive a sting NOW for wrong behavior, so that wrong behavior does not CONTINUE and bring severe pain. The article then provides wisdom for how paddling must be used properly so it corrects behavior but is never abusive.Much of the material in today’s episode comes from Boundaries With Kids, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. 

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen an authority figure, namely a Minneapolis police officer, murder George Floyd, seen mayors of major American cities refuse to stop angry mobs from looting and destroying property, and while observing Father’s Day, noted the fatherlessness epidemic in our cities along with God’s ordained design for fathers to be responsible for the discipline of their children. The common thread in these themes, is the break-down of the proper use of authority in our streets and homes. This episode looks at four restraints upon evil that God provides for society, then zooms in to look specifically at one of those restraints, i.e. the proper discipline of children. It examines five guiding principles to use discipline to train our children effectively at home.Here is the link to the bog article I wrote several years ago, in response to a Twitter explosion, asking What Is a Switch? in response to Adrian Peter’s mention of this implement used for paddling children. The article, entitled, The Peterson Case & the Spanking Question.Some of the material in this episode comes from Boundaries With Kids, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, which is my favorite book on parenting. 

For decades we have been hearing that the Bible is laced with a patriarchal bias, which more enlightened, modern Christians must uncover and correct. This episode examines this flawed argument, which if left unchecked will shape the rising generation in our homes and churches. It then identifies and amplifies five facets of biblical fatherhood that meet the needs of a child’s heart. 

The horrific murder of George Floyd and lawless property theft and destruction taking place across America have put our focus on American cities, the plight of the urban poor, and especially black urban poor. This focus has rightly challenged Christians to consider how better to confront racism in our own lives and American institutions. As Fathers’ Day approaches, I want to also suggest that, as we consider the plight of the urban poor in America, we recognize the epidemic of fatherlessness taking place in our cities and the black community. Its impact is enormous. But father absence is not just an urban or black problem. Fifty percent of children in America grow up with fathers who are physically absent (34%) or emotionally uninvolved or harmful through abuse (17%). Today’s episode looks at the way God has designed children to need a father, the damage caused by that absence, what a child needs from his/her father, and what we can do to help boys and girls in our midst who don’t have dads in their lives.Some of the material in this episode comes from Pete Alwinson’s book, Like Father Like Son: How Knowing God as Father Changes Men, which I highly recommend.