Crisis in America

This was the theme of the Men's retreat on the hill this past weekend. It was about the lack of male leadership in America today (ref. Isaiah 3). The basic lessons were about what the qualities of a good leader are and some pointers on being good teachers.

The goal of being a good teacher was very simple. It was to make the simple profound and the profound simple. Wow. When I think of all the great teachers in my life (Andrew Hind, Mike Brady, Bob Warren just to name a few) I realize that they all had that quality. It is amazing how such few words can speak volumes. I hope that I am able to do that as well.

The three qualities of a good leader are; Faithful, Humble and to be able to Extract the Precious from the Worthless. Our scripture reference was in Jeremiah 15. Sometimes I think that last one can be difficult. We likened it to a sculptor. Here he starts with a block of material and in his head, he can see the finished product. He must then chip away at everything that is not of the finished product.

We also spent some time during an open discussion session to talk about old natures, new natures (the cat and the hog story) and who we are in Christ. We need to realize that there is not a battle between the sinful nature and your new nature. The old nature has been eradicated (Gal. 6:20, Rom. 7:4), it is satan that is trying to convince me the the old man is alive. Some of the men there had not heard that before.

It was very interesting to be there with this group of men. Some were new (this was my first men's retreat), some had been there many times before but God seemed to know what we all needed to hear. I continue to pray for the ministry of Bob Warren and the streams that flow from the hill.