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Brothers together in Christ

December 8, 2009 By 3 Comments

I wanted to share this article with you by Ray Ortlund. It is a great read and also convicting. I hope you enjoy it.

Intensely felt, openly demonstrated love between manly men of God – who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Three ways to create that culture in our churches:

One, “Outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10). No flippant put-downs. No undercutting. Not even waiting for the next guy to make the first move. But me getting out of my self-concern to lift the next man up with high honor. Doing this verbally, unashamedly.

Two, “Bear with one another” (Colossians 3:13). Not trying to change one another. Who appointed us to that role? Our privilege is to bear with one another’s “weaknesses and oddities, which are such a trial to our patience, . . . to break through to the point where we take joy in [the other man’s quirkiness]” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together, page 101).

Three, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only such as is good for building up” (Ephesians 4:29). Nothing could be more unAmerican than denying ourselves our right of free speech. Men of God filter every word by a higher standard. Even if the words wanting to come out of my mouth are factually true, the real question is, Are my words positively helping the man listening?

Manly men of God loving one another intensely and openly are a life-enriching social environment.

Filed Under: For Men

SixTen Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Discussion Part 4

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Our latest SixTen Manhood and Womanhood discussion included covering the following massive topics…

Redeeming our Evangelical Dating Culture
Recovering Well from Relationship Losses
Pre-marital basics
and an overview of mature femininity, masculinity – and in particular what submission and leadership look like in the real world. (thought we’d throw that last one in there just in case we didn’t already have seven hours worth of material!)

We heard from various authors including Elisabeth Elliot, Carolyn McCulley, Wayne Grudem, Lydia Brownback, John Piper, Alex Chediak and more. We considered ways to redeem our dating culture (including an explanation of the non-exclusive dating philosophy still in development), and discussed the importance of engaging, enriching and shaping whatever biblical culture we find ourselves in (as opposed to just showing up). We discussed the role forgiveness plays in developing healthy current and future relationships and how difficult true forgiveness is (and how it can only be done in Christ). (With that in mind, some of you requested a link to the articles on forgiveness we mentioned – so here it is. Click here to read Forgiving Like Jesus Part One on Kim’s blog – (there is also a part two and three!) These articles are based on years of helping people to recover from relationship losses, plus Kim’s own journey of forgiveness. We truly pray these will be a blessing to some of you – and keep in mind that our SixTen leaders are here to offer help as you press on to truly forgive. ) We wrapped up the evening with some real life examples of submission and leadership, and how important it is to have our hope in God, not in men or women. Many of us were challenged and encouraged as we heard from one another and sensed a desire in the group to grow in ways that please Christ.

As we press on to find God’s best inside (and outside) our SixTen community, keep praying that each one of us would be seeking Christ and finding His strength sufficient for our individual and corporate development of spiritually mature manhood and womanhood. Blessings!

Filed Under: Class, For Men, For Women

Spiritual Warfare Bonfire

July 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment


We had a wonderful time at the bonfire on spiritual warfare. Thanks to all of you who participated! The notes from that time will be posted here soon – and also don’t forget to visit our facebook group and leave evidence of your visit (write on the wall or participate in one of our discussions) so that your name can be entered in the drawing this coming Sunday (7/19) for the book we mentioned at the bonfire: The Bondage Breaker. Our facebook group is called SixTen (all one word) and if you have trouble finding it – just leave a comment here and we’ll try to help get you connected. See you there! -SixTen Leaders (here are a few more photos)
Filed Under: Class, For Men, For Women

Baptism and Communion

July 12, 2009 By 1 Comment

Dear All – Here is a sermon on baptism and communion that encouraged me today (I Believe in the Ordinances – by Erwin Lutzer), and I thought someone out there might like it as well, especially as we move toward August 16 and the creekside baptism service here at West Shore. This sermon might also help you with praying for the people of our body who will be getting baptized on that day. The link brings you to the entire Moody Church Hour – so you need to fast forward to about the 17:00 minute mark to start with the sermon (although the music is pretty great too). The picture above is from last year’s baptism service in the river near Messiah College – did you attend? It was my first, and I was so blessed. If you were there – please take a minute to leave your comments below. Thank you! – Kim
Filed Under: Class, For Men, For Women, Jesus