Come and See

Our men’s ministry is looking for opportunities to invite men outside our church to “come and see” events. We want our men to feel comfortable inviting other men to one of our activities and we want the invitees to feel comfortable attending. We want them to “come and see” Christian men having a good time.   We also want the invitees to check out our church and to check out Jesus. Our mission is to bring men into a life changing relationship with God and other men.

 One of these “come and see” events was our recent Sportsman Dinner. The theme was “the pursuit.” Our men invited many who do not attend our church.  Imagine walking from the parking lot into the building with the smell of grilled meat penetrating your nostrils and telling your stomach that you are starving. Once you are in the building your senses move to thoughts of the outdoors. You enter an area of duck and elk calls creating the atmosphere of the hunt and the outdoors. As you make your way to your table you see the wildlife mounts on the wall. Wow! You wish you could be out in the wilderness praising God for His beauty.

Our speaker talked about going on the hunt and ending up as the hunted.  So often we are hunting significance, control or comfort. We think that if we succeed in these areas we will be happy and prosperous. We do not realize that we are being hunted, either by a roaring lion who is looking to devour or by the Creator--the almighty personal God.  The results of the pursuit will be determined by how we respond to the signs that are around us. We can either be taken captive by the philosophy and empty deception of the world or we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind as we become Christ-like.

Our evening was full of laughter.  The stories and fellowship created an environment that made the men feel comfortable. They were willing to talk and listen. They were fed well and they had opportunities to win a nice door prize. But most important of all, they got to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The response to the message was encouraging. We had four men who wanted to have coffee and talk more about Christianity, five men who would like to be discipled and 11 who said they trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Please pray for these men who “came and saw” as their lives were touched. Now our desire is to have them “watch and learn” (discipleship) -- being transformed into His likeness so they will then be able to engage and reshape the culture they live in to reflect God’s heart.

I want to say thank you to all those who made this evening possible.  All 182 men appreciated it.
--Pastor Leon