Glad Tidings Men in Ministry Neighborhood Prayer Groups Some Results

The purpose of the Glad Tidings Men in Ministry Neighborhood Groups is fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, and ministry and worship this separates the groups from affinity groups or ministry groups. The groups are intentionally Spirit-Led. The groups are following Biblical Principles from Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." The Glad Tidings Men's Small Groups are also in the vision of our Pastor.

The groups are in the will of God and the vision of our Pastor. The expectation is the results would be enormous. The results are hugely significant. Men's lives are changing. Something we hear all the time. So what if we did all this work and there was not any evidence of changed lives. Lives would have still been changed. Why would I say  that? God's Word never comes back empty. Isaiah 55:11 "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

I can talk about men who are now engaged with the Word and Prayer for the first time in their lives. A man, who has gone from living for the world has entered an intense Christian intern program. Men who never participate, in any Men inMinistry activities are opening up to become consistent contributors in these meetings. Men, who are invisible on Sunday and Wednesday but are actively participating in the meetings. All of these men have a lot to contribute; we just needed to provide a comfortable forum. 

The city of San Francisco is changing because men are meeting, to fellowship, study the Word, worship and pray together. Based on Isaiah 55:11 if seventy men gather each week to obey God what will happen. The results do not have limits because God does not have limits. Here, also the men are demonstrating the love of Jesus through the love they have for one and other.

Jesus worked in small groups He had 12 Apostles. He had thousands of followers at one point He fed 5,000 men not counting the women and children another He fed 7,000. Jesus could have operated with a huge number of people. Jesus knew that He would be effective operating with a small group. Look at the results: Christianity. After the day of Pentecost Peter, being led by the Spirit, spoke and 3,000 were added to their number. Look at the results of being Spirit Led. 

The Glad Tidings Men in Ministry small group meetings are Spirit Led, Bible study, fellowship, and prayer and worship meetings. Can we even imagine the results that God will produce from these meetings?

San Francisco belongs to the Lord it is the light which will lead the world in the great revival.

Whenever I think is all the work worth it, God reminds me that He died for every one of of us. Even if, there were only one of us, He would have died for the salvation of that person. One man changed from these meetings produces massive results.

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry

Men in Ministry, Horseshoes; Are you kidding?

Horseshoes? What the heck are you thinking? Horseshoes in San Francisco, California the cosmopolitan city and you want to have a Men in Ministry event around Horseshoes? That is a dramatization of the response which pastor gave me when we first suggested a Men in Ministry Horseshoe Tournament. What trust! He agreed to it and supported it. That was 4 years ago. The first tournament was a smashing success!

May have never played, the intensity and the fun becomes
obvious very quickly

The success is not by chance it is designed into the shared experience around horseshoes. That shared experience is no experience. Yes, no previous experience throwing horseshoes is the common ground, which creates a tremendous bond the men share. In other words, few men have any experience at throwing horseshoes or competing in a horseshoe tournament. This creates a natural bond among the men. It gives them the one thing necessary to begin to fellowship; something in common, which then becomes the seed to a conversation. From this simple seed, the conversation can then build into other common interests.

The common ground, when put into a competitive event, creates excitement and fun. There is one social rule in the Glad Tidings Men’s Ministry International Horseshoe tournaments. All the 2 man teams are made up of men who either do not know each other or know each other very little. This creates the potential for new friendships; men creating a bond and a purpose to serve God with another man.

I believe God created man to be in Christian relationship with other men. This is evident throughout the Bible. Moses and his brother Aaron, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy, Jesus and James, John and Peter just to name a few close supporting relationships. “When 2 or three are gathered in my Name.” God is present when we are alone and seek no question, but when 2 or 3 are gathered in His name there is power!

Plenty of time for conversation

Certainly at the beginning of the event everyone is practicing and talking with their friends. After the opening prayer; a photograph of 50 men in a circle praying wow! Back to the story; after the opening prayer and before we eat, BBQ is always a part of the event. Each man will choose a man he does not know as a team-mate. After the teams are decided, I do a casual check with the purpose of pairing people who will benefit from the pairing and breaking up teams of friends. The teams eat together. The tournament begins.

It is an exciting competition. It is structured in such a way that the games move quickly and everyone will play at least 5 games. Every team will have at least one win! The competitive juices start to flow; the bond between the new friends has an opportunity to gain traction. It is keen to see the excitement and the friendships that start in a few short hours of sheer fun.

Everybody wins, one team finishes first

This last year was the best as the tournament went down to the wire. Possibly the two most unlikely men, who a few hours earlier did not know each other and did not know which end of the horseshoe to hold, won it all. They came from behind with multiple ringers in the final throws to win. No one in the tournament lost we all won with fellowship. We each met men we did not know. The Glad Tidings; Godly fellowship gave us greater potential to grow and become a disciple of the living God.

That is what it is all about: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”

Men in Ministry