Men in Ministry Fighting For a Generation

As Men in Ministry it is our responsibility to reach the generations around us. Whether the generation is Generation X, Generation Y, the Baby Boomers or the Greatest Generation. Not my job, I have children, that is enough, I do not know how to talk the language; all good honest excuses but they are excuses. Here, let us talk about reaching Generation Y. This generation is referred to by a number of names. Some of the names are The Facebook Generation, The Millennial Generation, Generation Next or the Echo Boomers. Whatever the name we give to Generation Y it is generally agreed to be the age demographic between 14 and 29. The generation in America numbers about 70 Million it is the largest segment entering the work force.

To fight for Generation Y let us take a look at some of the characteristics of the generation.

Tech Savvy: This generation grew up with technology in full swing. They are likely plugged in 24 hours a day. Email is a passé text messaging and Facebook Communication is prevalent. Frequently they relate by being part of a group, in fact going on "group dates" rather than the one on one night out is a norm.
Family Centric: The fast track in business though working long hours and all the days has lost its attraction. They look for family and a better work life balance. Meaningful work is important and the generation is good at questioning authority. We may think of the "why question" as a moniker of Generation Y.
Achievement-Oriented: The generation is confident, ambitious and achievement oriented. They have high expectation of their leaders. The generation Y is not afraid of new challenges, truing and not succeeding is much better for them that not trying at all. They will try often to succeed.
Team-Oriented: Generation Y is comfortable on a team. They grew up in play groups, team sports and may have earned their advanced degree by working on a team throughout the experience.
Attention-Craving: Attention in the form of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being informed as a form of attention. Generation Y will benefit from a mentor to guide them and help them develop spiritually, socially and professionally.

This should give us some fundamentals for how to reach out to Generation Y and become a relevant part of their life.

Let us not read too much into this but I would say being real, living real in the ministry is very important to Generation Y. Be the example, by living the life we profess. Hypocrites need not apply for the army to fight for Generation Y.

Iron sharpens iron rings true for reaching Generation Y, as we need to live what we are promoting be the sharpening iron. Given this, which should be obvious in all our life. Let us look at a possible formula to reach and fight for Generation Y.

Communicate in the way they are comfortable communicating; text and Facebook will have to be a large part of the communication activity. The communication will likely be in short specific spurts. Work together with them on challenges, assist don't tell and encourage success all along the way to the goal. You are a partner not a dictator.

The hard part is helping them realize that the life the way the world prefers, and all or most of their friends prefer, produces the results, which they may not prefer. Showing through real example that living for Jesus will produce a life with no regrets and a fabulous future. Hopefully you can be that example.

In Glad Tidings Mens Ministry International active men in ministry making a difference is our goal.

Our vision is to love God, Love our families, love each other and love the community of San Francisco, CA. It is our mission to demonstrate this love in all aspects of our lives.

Original article

Men in Ministry - Supporting Your Pastor

In a conversation the other day with my Pastor, he described, without names, the content of some of the 100 plus emails he received about his Sunday Sermon. What always surprises me, when we have this conversation or when he mentions it from the pulpit, is the gall of some people in how they address the man that God has put in authority over us. Or, how a member will come up to you or me between services and begins to criticize the service, which just took place. Or, the people who want to gossip about something going on in the church, or the pastor's family, or a staff member, or a ministry leader. I think I have covered most of the likely critical conversations, which you may have been or will be exposed too. Oh, there is one more, when a person comes up to you and says; " I want to tell you what so and so did, just so we can both pray for that person."

As long as the church is made up of people it will continue to go on. You have a role in it. As men in ministry, we need to cut it off at the pass, stamp it out and not even let the person get the words out of his or her mouth. It is all a form of gossip! Paul the Apostle and writer of most of the New Testament equated gossip to murder. Gossip cannot be taken lightly, it will destroy the person and the local church.

Support your Pastor through positive reinforcement for him, directly and with all of the people you talk too. He has been put in the position by God to lead the local church at this time. It is not a mistake. Actions speak louder than words; you and all the men in ministry, should be taking action that clearly demonstrates your absolute support of the Pastor.

I was told a true story about a Pastor who was caught in adultery. The person, who caught him, is a man of God and at the time was a subordinate to the Pastor having the affair. Making it worse the affair was with a church member. To the person telling the story, this was devastating as he looked up to the Pastor and held him in high esteem.

The person who made the discovery went to his mentor and asked what he should do. His mentor was and is an absolute man of God. His mentor told him, in no uncertain terms, that the Pastor, who was having the affair, was placed in authority over him. No matter what he was doing, he needed to follow and obey him as long as what he was directing him to do was not contrary to the Bible.

This is a true, although an extreme example. The Pastor, who had the affair, repented and was restored to his position.

The point is, even in the most extreme cases, we need to support the Pastor with our actions and our words. If someone tries to come against this, the best thing to do is grab that person by the hand, we will call him Jim, and walk him over to the Pastor and say: "excuse me Pastor, but Jim has something he wants to tell you."

That story will move through the congregation, you can count on it.

Frank Slovenec is the founder and leader of GTMMI; Glad Tidings Men's Ministry International http://www.gtmmi.com/

In Glad Tidings Mens Ministry International, we are active men in ministry making a difference, one man at a time.

Our vision is to love God, Love our families, love each other and love the community of San Francisco, CA. It is our mission to demonstrate this love in all aspects of our lives.

Original article

Developing a Winning Team of Men in Ministry

Men in Ministry, to be effective, must be a unified team. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to develop that team.

What is the problem? The group of men that you will be leading is diversified, from all different walks of life. They all have different challenges, different motivations and different everything else. To lay the foundation for a unified ministry you will need to bring them together around the ministry vision, which is then supported by each of the smaller objectives of the ministry. It is vital to have the men participate in setting the vision as well as all the smaller objectives. This will help create the unity that you need to have a winning team. Once unified, I believe, the ministry will be unstoppable. From the successes of the ministry, the dynamic growth will come.

The power of unity in ministry is made very clear throughout the Bible. No place is it clearer than in Acts, Chapter 2:1. "When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." They were all totally on the same page. We do not know how many people entered the upper room, where everyone was together. It may have been hundreds of people, but we do know that when the day of Pentecost came there were 120 people in the room, unified. Then the greatest revival ever, hit the people in the room and in the town. There was fire, wind and a huge sound, which brought the town together, with the people from the room. Time for church! Peter then gives a sermon and 3,000 people join the 120 people. Talk about growth; from 120 to 3,120 people in one day. Unity, which brought the Holy Spirit, was the critical element.

Talk about power. Remember, Peter, some 53 days earlier, denied Jesus and now he is boldly testifying to His death and resurrection. He is doing this among many of the same people to whom, out of fear for his life, he so vehemently denied Him.

During the waiting in the upper room, they most likely had a self-selection process, where people decided that they no longer believed in the goal and left. I would suspect that as people decided to leave there was some prodding; "oh please stay." That never works in ministry. People stay because they believe in the rich common goal.

You need to agree on the goals. I do not agree with quantity goals. For example, we need 100 men in the ministry. We need to reach out to the men of the local church and be relevant to them. Whether you are group of 5 or 50 men. We then need to reach out to the city and be relevant to it. We will do this with common prayer, fasting and common attractive activities, which can demonstrate the value of the Men's Ministry to all the men in the church and in the city. The size, in numbers, of active members of the ministry is not important. The strength from the unity of the men in the ministry is the power, which will drive the successes. People want to be part of successful organizations from here comes the growth.

In Glad Tidings Mens Ministry International, we are active men in ministry making a difference, one man at a time.

Our vision is to love God, Love our families, love each other and love the community of San Francisco, CA. It is our mission to demonstrate this love in all aspects of our lives.

Original article