‘Called, B
Equipped, Sent’
y the time ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson neared the apogee of his Sunday sermon at the July 22-24 Lutheran Men in Mission Gather- ing, there was no question about who was sending the 400 men at the Denver Marriott Tech Center into the world well-equipped for lasting discipleship. Jesus, of course. Jesus’ post-resurrection address (Matthew 28:18-20)
In Denver, Lutheran men gather for God By Vic Williams
isn’t called “The Great Commission” for nothing, Hanson said, and it’s high time men step up and use their gifts for good—no excuses. The ragtag band Jesus entrusted with the future of Christianity was less than perfect: “men who had run away from him, doubted him and left him to die on the cross. If Jesus had faith to send them out into the world, he has faith in you,” he said. The triennial gathering’s theme, “Called, Equipped, Sent,” allowed Lutheran Men in Mission staff and hosts from the Rocky Mountain Synod to organize the event into three inspirational, forward-thinking parts. “Ninety percent of all Christian men are leading luke- warm lives, and they hate it,” speaker Pat Morley, CEO of Man in the Mirror ministries, told participants. “Most men know only enough about God to be disappointed in him. The vast majority of churches are failing men, and men’s ministries are failing young men.”
LMM executive director Doug Haugen agreed: “Lutheran Men in Mission may be the [church’s] only hope [of] actually engaging men.” This year’s LMM gathering stoked the fire of active dis-
Williams is publisher and executive editor of Fairways + Greens magazine and a member of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Reno, Nev.
Participants at the Lutheran Men in Mission Gathering in Denver scale a rock climbing wall.
cipleship among men of several generations and levels of church involvement.
After a sizzling Friday night message from Lawrence J. Clark, pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Chicago, and Saturday morning keynote addresses from Morley and Jay Gamelin, pastor of Jacob’s Porch, a campus ministry at Ohio State University, Columbus, the guys got down to the business of being equipped. They attended seminars and workshops on such topics as Lutheran faith formation, dis- cipleship, spiritual relationships with “postmodern men,” asset management and parenting adolescents. One popular seminar focused on the “One Year to Live” model of a 44-hour retreat with 30 to 40 men (ranging from teens to octogenarians). The retreats are a catalyst for deeper relationships with Christ and other Christian men. One Year to Live is for “the serious guy who’s done every- thing there is to do in the church and is looking for more, and the guy who is totally unchurched,” Haugen said. “The guys who resist the most are the most changed.” Sean Forde of Palm Beach, Fla., attended his first LMM gathering a decade ago as the group’s intern. As LMM’s first Young Men’s Council director, “[I] was able to pass on the responsibility and management to the next generation,” Forde said. “Guys need to make a lifelong commitment to Jesus Christ. It’s not just through high school and college. We let them know there are expecta- tions: to show up for Bible study, to keep your faith going. It’s really benefited guys who have been in church for years but are still struggling.” To learn more, visit
www.lutheranmeninmission.org or call 800-638-3522.
September 2011 37
DALE HORKEY
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