Courageous Popularity

Courageous was far and away the most popular movie this weekend in probably every cineplex where it was shown. Number of people per showing was 145% higher than Dream House; 110% higher than 50/50;  87% higher than Dolphin Tale and 81% higher than Moneyball. The closest was The Lion King and Courageous still had 67% more people on average in every theater.

Now that the movie is a 'visible' success' - the important work of ministry begins. God can and will use this movie to change men's lives and the destiny of their families but first they must see the movie and second they will need encouragement to execute their own "I Will" resolutions.

The DVD will come out in 2012 but do not wait for the DVD. The movie is received differently in a movie theater so let's start a viral explosion about this movie and see just what God might do. Join me in reaching out to friends, family, neighbors and co-workers.

Men Need Markers

Millions of men attended a local church service yesterday but how many made a decision that will serve as a benchmark for the weeks and months that follow?

Men need markers, measurables, benchmarks. The movie, Courageous, launches this Friday in over 1200 theaters around the nation and will provide men those markers.

The inspiration of the movie climaxes with adult men driving a stake in the ground and sharing before God and witnesses what they will do and what they will not do. Resolution is a powerful step for any man and serves as benchmark for decisions that need to be made and acted upon. There are a number of points of resolution throughout the movie in addition to the group resolution where the men agree together on a number of critical points of spiritual leadership.

The movie shows four of the men placing the Resolution Plaque on their wall at home. This would serve as a visible reminder of what they had each agreed to do. Their decision was in community and as agreed they were doubly accountable. Later they would stand in front of a wider community that would increase their accountability. These are all necessary components of an effective ministry to men in the local church.

Encouragement and accountability are the missing links in the lives of Christian men. This scripture calls this iron sharpening iron (Proverbs 27:17). Some leaders are hesitant to add deadlines and expectations on men and would prefer to extend grace and unconditional acceptance. I say yes to grace and acceptance but men need deadlines and markers to know if they are moving forward and Courageous will give men several of these measurables.

Turning a Man's Heart

Many people reference the last verse of the Old Testament when they think about fathering. Malachi writes: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

We are now two weeks out from the launch of the movie, Courageous. Tens of thousands of men and women are praying that this movie would be part of the turning of the hearts of fathers to their children. Prayer is the right weapon as the movie itself will only serve as an inspiration. It is the work of Almighty God to turn a man's heart away from the clutter of work and responsibilities and community and church and a host of different things - good things.

Would you join me and many others and ask God to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children? Please pray specifically by name the men that are in your sphere of influence. The result will be nothing less than massive awakening in our home, in our churches and in our communities.

Community of Men

One feature I really appreciate in the movie, Courageous, is the idea of a community of men. This is not a formal church based group but rather men who come together because they have something in common which is the basis for their relationships. These relationships become important and soon become missional as one of the men goes through an extreme challenge and is willing to include his friends in his journey.

Men and women are designed for community but women seem to do it so much better in the American church. Leaders in local churches cannot attempt to gather men the same way they gather women - it just does not work. Short term groups that feature missional community work for men. They may gather again and again but clear exit points help men get started in the first place.

Consider inviting guys to join you in a small group. Don't give them any details - just invite them to join you. Once they indicate their interest then you can together decide when to meet, where to meet, how often to meet, the content of your meeting, etc. You will find that men will say yes because God has designed men for community.
 

Honor Begins at Home

The movie, Courageous, opens in theaters the end of this month. It is important to note that the subtitle of the movie is “Honor Begins at Home”. This is an important subtitle as the main characters in the movie are law enforcement officers who willingly put themselves at risk for the sake of others. They give their very best time and energy to a noble vocation and part of the story of this movie is that they learn that honor is not limited to the streets.

This learning curve is not limited to law enforcement officers. Every man is somewhere on this curve and each of us must continue to look for creative ways of making sure we do not try to live a balanced life but rather live a life with the priorities in line with God’s Intentions for us. This is where this movie excels as we witness different men making these similar discoveries.

I come face to face with this challenge nearly every day as my wife, Barb, and I look to disciple our own children. We have chosen to educate at home which allows much more time with them but which takes much more time as well. The idea of the home being the place where 'honor begins' and not the church or the ministry office or the workplace fuels our decision to stay this course.  

You do not need to wait to see the movie to make an adjustment in your life at home. Do it today! Honor Begins at Home!

Who is the Customer?

I recently took four of my five kids out for ice cream to a place where they could break the summer heat with a shake or a sundae. It was a little bit of a splurge but I was feeling generous and wanted to 'give good gifts' to my children. This is my stretch of Matthew 7:11

I parked the car and the kids raced to the door and headed in. The staff seemed pleased to see four children ages 8, 10, 12 and 14 which made me happy. Sometimes people aren't happy to see us arrive. They made eye contact with me and confirmed that there were five of us on this visit and where would I like to sit. I shared my preference and the waitress led us to our table area. I let her know we were there for ice cream and she cheerfully handed out menus with ice cream asking if I wanted any of the younger children to have a children's menu. I assured her that we did not need a children's menu when it came to ice cream and asked if she would supply us all with a glass of water. She soon came back and asked me if we were ready to order and together we ordered some of our favorites. As she left to place to place our order a couple of things caught my attention.

This waitress knew that I was her customer. She was kind to the children but communicated with me.

She asked my preferences and I felt like she understood that these were my kids and I might have certain ideas for them.

She asked for our orders but had eye contact with me as I made adjustments to a couple of the kids enthusiastic choices.

Later she gave me the bill and thanked me for our visit. This waitress knew that I was her primary customer. I had chosen to bring my children but she did not cater to the kids apart from me. She did not invite them to a special 'kids area' where they could get different ice cream. She knew who was paying the bill and leaving the tip and the kids didn't have any money. I think she understood family dynamics and that I was the father and wanted to continue being a father even in her restaurant. In my opinion, she correctly answered the question of  "Who is the Customer?". 

I will be thinking of this waitress when I go to church on Sunday. I wonder if the staff there understand who the customer is? Maybe I can treat them to some ice cream and we can talk.  

Vacation Time Builds Memories

This summer I have already spoken to several men who were either too busy to take a vacation and/or did not have the money to take a vacation. These are solid guys living in challenging times.

How about you? Do you have a plan to do take a vacation this summer? It is only July 11th so it is not to late to still plan and execute a meaningful time away for you and those you love.

Webster defines vacate as 'to give up the incumbency or occupancy of'. A vacation is usually connected to vacating time at work. Most companies provide employees a minimum of two weeks vacation after a year of work so most men have some vacation available to them this summer.

I like to encourage men to not only vacate their work but also to vacate their home and if they have a family to take their family with them. A short summer vacation can build memories that last a long time. Building memories is a primary job of husbands and fathers. God has given us the shepherding role and planning a memorable vacation would seem to fit under that umbrella.

Three nights and four days at a fun location will be a memory builder this summer. Thank the Lord for the Internet where we can research and plan something affordable and memorable in a matter of a couple of hours. Let's graciously encourage one another to make sure we get this done in 2011 and not let the summer slip by without a vacation.

Missional Community

Who do you really want to invest your time to be with?

My experience is that the person who comes to mind is a person that you share a common mission with. This is missional community. It can be one person or 100 people.

Iron Sharpens Iron is a missional community of leaders and is not an organization. We choose to formally align our own organizations because we are regional ministries equipping local churches to reach men for Christ and disciple these men to follow Jesus for a lifetime. That is our common mission. We are in different cities all over the nation from the Hartford to Tucson and from Seattle to Miami - but we are in community because of this compelling mission.

We are a missional community.
How about you? Are you in a missional community?

Doing Together What We Cannot Do Alone

Courageous the Movie has five national ministry partners who are creatively working to promote the movie launch of September 30th and all that will follow into the Fall. Iron Sharpens Iron is honored to be one of these ministry partners and our network of ministries is helping to host screenings of the movie all over the nation this summer.

The Courageous Marketing Team hosted a conference call yesterday and invited all five partners to come together and begin to interact on what can we do together that we cannot do alone. Leaders from Focus on the Family, FamilyLife, All Pro Dad and The national Center for Fathering joined myself and some of the Courageous Team for a spirited hour of fellowship and sharing our hearts and hopes about what God could do through this movie and after the September 30th launch.

Each ministry is diligently working to give the movie visibility in it's own sphere of influence but yesterday for the first time we began to really consider what could happen if we intentionally locked arms and worked together on a follow through plan that would serve men, families and churches after the conference.

I believe that this movie will have a tremendous opening weekend Sept. 30-Oct 2 and that the unmerited favor of God is all over this resource. That said, the resource will come and go if we as partners do not lock arms and move from being a fellowship to becoming a force. I will be sharing more about this could look like as we move through the summer.