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

Men, Come and See

One of our men’s ministry focuses is on events that are “come and see” events.  In John chapter 1 some of John’s disciples started to follow Jesus and He asked them, “What do you seek?”  They responded by asking him where he was hanging out. Jesus said to “come and see.” Then we see in a few verses later the two disciples following Jesus’ example with their brother and close friend—“come and see -- we have found the Messiah.”   We want our men to have safe environments where they can invite their unsaved or un-churched friends to an event where they can “come and see”.  Come and see that Christian men are okay, that church people are accepting and see Jesus loving them through our men’s actions. A few weeks ago we had a men’s game night. This was not just for our men to enjoy, which we did, but we had 5 guys join us, who were not part of our church. They came and saw that our men can have fun and eat.  We had men ranging from grade school to the 70s.  We had scheduled games from 8:00-11:00 pm. We had men staying until midnight. Thank you to the ladies for allowing your men to stay out late that night with the guys. I wish to thank Michael Sanders and Aaron Harada for their planning and coordinating this activity. As the old saying goes, “A good time was had by all.” How is your “come and see” ministry working? Men-- if you have ideas that might be good “come and see” events, I would be glad to visit with you. --Leon   Book Recommendations 1. Surfing for God--by Michael John Cusick.  This book is a must for men who want to do more than manage their sexual struggles, but to understand them and find victory that is lasting.  Ladies if you will read this book it will also help you understand how to be a help-mate.    2. 9 Things You Simply Must Do by Dr. Henry Cloud.  The author of Boundaries has once again written a very practical and helpful book.    Faith4Now Update It is an amazing thing to watch God work in people.  To date we have received $761,000 in pledges and gifts to our North Property purchase.  We have until April 12 to get our pledges in.  One man as he gave a very substantial gift said with a smile, "I hope people discover just how wonderful it is to give to God's work."  Continue to pray with us that God will show His mighty hand through and to our church.  Pray that we will be so filled with faith that we will say to these mountains, "move from here to there, and it will be done for us."  Pray that we will be so filled with faith that nothing will be impossible for us.

Wild Game Dinner

PTL Success!



When our  team first started talking about having a wild game dinner many people asked what kind of games we were going to play. I would often say that we will play blindfolded twister, Pachisi without using your hands, etc. In reality, we wanted to create an outreach event that would connect men and the outdoors. This venue would be an opportunity for men to get together to see some nice mounts from hunts, hear hunting stories, eat some great food.


Let me give you a small overview of the evening. Upon entering the CLC doors, our guests were greeted by two ATV’s, a duck blind, and the sounds of duck calls and elk bugling.  Continuing down the hall, they received a ticket for the evening and their choice of many styles of pocket knives. Walking toward the banquet room we had name tag table and different animal skins for touch and feel.


The banquet room had tables for the 120 men, nicely decorated by Carol Hanna and her friends. There were center pieces with a duck decoy on every table. The front of the room looked like a wild life museum. We had elk, buffalo, mountain lion, deer and antelope. Set up amongst the wildlife mounts was the podium.


There were elk sausage appetizers cooked out front on the grill, and we enjoyed wild fish tacos for dinner.  Over 70 door prizes were given away during the evening. The men enjoyed some fellowship time before the men were challenged by Pastor Jeff Beltz who spoke on predators. Predators are prowling around looking for what they can devour and destroy. The predator can do damage and devour your wild game if you are not alert and quick to your prize. As men, we have to be alert and quick to defend ourselves and our families from spiritual predators that are looking to destroy. Satan the devourer is out to destroy our spiritual life, testimony, joy and peace. We have to ask ourselves if we are prepared to stand against those attacks? If not, our men’s ministry would like to help you develop a strong defense against your predator.  

We had several men attend this event that do not go to our church. The best part of the evening was that several men checked a box on their response card that said that they had prayed to receive Christ.  Hallelujah!


Thank you to all the men who had a part in this event. All the hard work and time you put into this event was rewarded by the response by our visitors, especially those who prayed to receive Christ.  We had an extraordinary team that put it all together--thank you!  We also appreciate all the men who attended. The fellowship was great. We had men arriving a little after 5:00 and staying until almost 10:00. We look forward to the next Sportsman dinner.

- Pastor Leon

 


18-38 year olds--we need your opinion

Take the Gen2Survey and you could win an i-Pad mini.  For any person 18-38--parent, single, married this survey will ask about how you were raised, your beliefs and your current lifestyle.  Salem First Baptist is participating in this national survey for the purpose of sharpening our discipleship of families and our children.  Thanks for participating. 

 

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