Starting Friday: Men's Fellowship Through Accountability

Has anyone watched the series, “Yellowstone”, starring Kevin Kostner?  My wife and I are hooked on it!!  Just finished up season one….started season two….and hoping to eventually catch up to the current season three.

Kostner plays the role of John Dutton, a wealthy cattle ranch owner in Montana.  Oddly enough (for this post), Dutton is not a believer in God, although at times when he’s in despair, he calls out to our heavenly father for help.  One of his famous quotes is “I’ve seen too much bad in my life to believe God exists….”.  Dutton’s life is filled with tragedy; the loss of his wife to a horse-riding accident, and his eldest son who was shot over a dispute of indian tribal territories.  Dutton cries out: “God…..damn you for leaving me!”

This week begins another “horse story” for our group, “Run with the Horses” by Eugene Peterson.  Homework this week is a tall drink of water…..read the first four chapters.  Yikes!  If you’ve been consumed by work, family…and oh yeah, this pandemic … and you haven’t done the homework, no worries.  Join the Zoom call anyway.  At a minimum, please read our scripture for this week, Jeremiah 1:4-19.

You can always find the homework for this 6-week series on the Resources Tab of the website.

Join the Zoom call at 7:30 am ET this Friday to “catch up” with the group.  I’ll kick off this week’s lesson at 7:45 am ET.  Details for the Zoom call are sent out in a calendar invite to everyone already.

Peace!

Holiday week…..celebrating our nation’s independence….so no meeting this Friday.  We’ll gather NEXT Friday, July 10th over Zoom beginning at 7:30 am ET.

The 6-week Study Guide is now posted on the Resources page of this website.  Be sure to read the homework for “Lesson 1” which includes reading the first four chapters of “Run with the Horses”.

https://startingfridayclt.org/resources/

Have a great rest of the week!  I’ll see you next Friday!

Peace!

Hopefully, most of you got the message that we’ve selected “Run with the Horses” by Eugene Peterson as our next study series.  This week, we’ll gather via Zoom to introduce the new book.  Next Friday is July 3rd, and we will not be meeting since it’s a holiday weekend.  And “week 1” of the new series will officially start on Friday, July 10th, again over Zoom.

“Run with the Horses” came with many recommendations.  Personally, I love how it aligns nicely with the book of Jeremiah.  More specifically, as it relates to the book title, the author shares:

“If you’re worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses?”

Jeremiah 12:5

Join me this Friday over Zoom where I’ll introduce the book and the author.  You won’t need the book this week…but you will when we gather on July 10th.  Order the book through Amazon and be sure to purchase the “commemorative edition” since it has the 6-week study curriculum included.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423078742?pwd=WnVJQzMvVjdqZFlvbitwTVh4dmVkUT09

Meeting ID: 884 2307 8742

See you this Friday at 7:30 am….I’ll start our discussion at 7:45 am.

Peace!

Can you believe we’re nearly to July??  The summer is flying by….!

We’re taking a break from our men’s gathering this week….I encourage you to rest and reflect on our most recent study, “Sticky Faith”, and take some time to consider our next one!  We’ll gather again on Friday, June 26th, to check-in and discuss ideas for the next men’s study.  Come with your ideas and best “sales pitch”…!  Ha!

The following Friday will be July 3rd and we won’t meet then as it’s the front edge of the Independence Day holiday weekend.  New study will begin on Friday, July 10th.

Lots of opportunities for prayers in our lives today…..between the global pandemic and community unrest with racial tensions…..I encourage you to talk with God daily, pray for our world, and for our communities.

Enjoy the week off!  I’ll see you over Zoom on the 26th!

Peace!

Buckle in gents….this week we’ll wrap up our current study of  “Sticky Faith” in grand fashion!  I’ve prepared an online quiz game (called Kahoot!) to make our wrap up both informative and fun.

Nothing needed to prepare ahead of time.  I’ll share a URL in the morning for the game.  Please try to have your laptop handy to play along.

Zoom meeting information is below.  Password will be shared via calendar invite.  (Reach out to me if you need that password otherwise.)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423078742?pwd=WnVJQzMvVjdqZFlvbitwTVh4dmVkUT09

Meeting ID: 884 2307 8742

Gather at 7:30 am….Game time will be shortly after 7:45 am!

Peace!

 

-1 week

-2 weeks

-40 percent

-57 percent

Did you catch those statistics as you were reading Chapter 7, “A Sticky Bridge Out of Home“, this week?

Here’s the high-level explanation:

“…the first two weeks are where key decisions (they) make key decisions about drinking and other high-risk behaviors, right along with choosing whether to go to church or to a campus ministry.” (p. 151)

“Don’t skip church that first week, because it just makes it easier to skip it the second week and then the eight week…..” (p. 151)

“…during the fall of freshman year, only 40 percent of youth group alum were attending an on-campus fellowship once a week or more, and 57 percent were attending church once a week or more.” (p. 152)

Great chapter, once again.  Lots of related topics…..trusting God, granting new freedoms to our kids when they “leave the nest”, and even touching on helicopter or velcro parents!  (Velcro was a new one for me!)

Jason Schubert will lead us this week.  Meeting over Zoom.  (3-4 can gather in the treehouse…..text Mike if you’re interested in that option!)

Zoom meeting information below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423078742?pwd=WnVJQzMvVjdqZFlvbitwTVh4dmVkUT09

Meeting ID: 884 2307 8742

Please note:  You’ll be asked for a password to join the meeting.  Mike is sending that out separately via calendar invite to our group list.

Gather on Friday starting at 7:30 am.  Jason will start this week’s lesson at 7:45 am.

Peace!

I’m loving this book.

Plain and simply, each chapter seems to speak directly to what’s happening (in my household).

For example, just this past week, my wife and I were talking about how to get our sons more “excited” about service projects.  There’s tons of need and tons of opportunities.  But, like many youth, they will only get involved under certain conditions:

-How long?  The shorter the better….

-Are any of their friends involved?

-Can they “fit it” into an already busy schedule?

So, I get it.  We can’t force these things and I try to truthfully think back to when I was their age….was I fired up and excited about serving others like I am today?  Maybe not.

Our reading this week tackles this subject rather nicely, in my opinion.  So whether you have teenagers, like me, or teenagers-in-waiting….then Chapter 6, “Sticky Justice”, will be a great read for you.

This chapter is all about the notion of not just serving God and others….but LOVING doing so!  And that ain’t an easy sell to any kids, trust me.

This week, David Parker, returns to the batter’s box to lead the group.  (Am I aging myself again?  Anyone remember the Pittsburgh Pirates slugger….Dave Parker….who played for the Pirates in the late 70’s and early 80’s).  I digress……

Zoom information is as follows:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423078742

Meeting ID: 884 2307 8742

Please feel free to join the meeting starting at 7:30 am.  David will launch into the lesson beginning at 7:45 am.

Peace!

Confession.

I binged watched a show on the Travel Channel last weekend called “Expedition Big Foot“.  Fascinating!  Not sure if I’m sold on the notion that a species of hairy, smelly, 7-8 foot tall, human-like creatures exists…but the technology used throughout this series was amazing!  (Click on the image below for more details.)

So what does “Bigfoot” have to do with this week’s lesson, Chapter 5 from Sticky Faith?  Probably not much….truthfully.  I mean, this week’s focus is around the “who” are our kids aligned with outside of the immediately family.  And doubtful that anyone has a Sasquatch included into their circle….but that would be very incredible!

What I found most interesting in this week’s reading is this concept of “balance” as part of the segregation (or not) of youth church programming/development and what our authors describe as the rest of the congregation.  Pay close attention to that theme as you read this week.

Tim Sydejko leads us this week as we continue Zoom meetings.  Details listed below.  Feel free to join at 7:30 am ET for “checking in with friends”.  Lesson will begin at 7:45 am ET.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423078742

Meeting ID: 884 2307 8742

See you then!

Peace!

Conversations.

How do the conversations go in your household?  If you have teenagers, I mean, how DO those conversations go?

Growing up, my parents didn’t talk about any of the tougher subjects: drinking, drugs, sex, etc.  They just expected, maybe through osmosis or something, they my brother, sister and I would make smart choices.  And, you know what….99% of the time we did just that….made smart choices.

So were we lucky in our household….or were we the most amazing, Leave It To Beaver, kids ever to walk the planet?  Maybe we’ll never know.

This week we’re focusing on the majority of American households where “leaving it to luck” is cannot be a reliable parenting strategy.  Homework this week is to read Chapter 4, “Sticky Faith Conversations”.  I’m happy to be leading this week….

We’ll continue to meet via Zoom.  Here’s the meeting information:

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423078742

Meeting ID: 884 2307 8742

We’ll open up the Zoom at 7:30 am ET, with the lesson starting at 7:45 am ET.

See you then!

Peace!