Running in the Same Direction

From T.S., an alumnus in Indiana…

We began implementing No Man Left Behind almost two years ago. The first major hurdle for us was to begin making the shift in our church’s culture from “men’s ministry” to the all-inclusive mindset of “ministry to men.” We have made tremendous strides in that among our staff, leadership team, and key male participants. I would say that we all now have that portal priority of discipleship in mind.

The aspect of the model that we’ve probably had the most success in is our 3 Strands of Leadership. We now have an unbelievable men’s leadership team in place and the unwavering support of our lead pastor.  Those things combined have helped us make really good progress.  I really believe the leadership team has to be the first line of defense for any church looking to begin implementing No Man Left Behind.

This year we began using the Journey to Biblical Manhood, which has been great at giving us a tangible framework to use in implementing the principles of No Man Left Behind. Honestly, without the Journey, I don’t think we would have made as much progress as we have. Our big focus right now is continuing to think through all-inclusive approaches (to reach men on the fringe)… I anticipate we will make great strides in that over the next 12-18 months.

We are in this for the long haul; we know it can take years to make a dramatic shift like this and we continually remind ourselves of that.  It’s definitely a marathon and not a sprint, but at least we’re all running in the same direction now!