A Group of Men that DO . . .

Guys,
This Crazy Love book has been challenging in so many different ways these past 7 or 8 weeks. But I hope it has done more than just challenge you. I hope it has done more than just guilt you into doing what you know God would have you do. Because it’s not about guilt at all, it’s about serving God out of one’s natural reaction we have to love Him because we are IN love with Him.

A lot of ACTION has been taking place within the different Man Group’s but hardly any of the other groups know about it! Well here is one example below of how a Man Group took action and got involved in the local community. What are YOU and YOUR GROUP doing? This blog is the perfect avenue to SHARE with the rest of us.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. – James 1:22 (NLT)

Man Groups got Crazy Love!

Last night was a great night to relaunch Man Group. Between eating some GREAT food and spending some quality time in the gym playing Dodge Ball with 33 other Man Group guys it was an excellent kick start to our next round of Small Groups at Grace Church. Our next book of study was also announced last night: Crazy Love written by Francis Chan. And in case you didn’t know, you have until February 1st to buy the book. All Man Groups will start THIS coming week (the week of January 25th) but that first night is just a hang-out night. We won’t start the book until the following week. And in case you haven’t purchased your book yet you can buy it cheapest online here. Apparently it’s cheaper on Francis Chan’s Crazy Love website than by going down the street to Barnes & Noble.

Just remember though, February 1st is only 13 days away so buy your book now!

Below is an Introduction to Crazy Love by Francic Chan himself.

Pictures From The Man Group BBQ

Poker Night will have to wait

Until further notice we will have to postpone Man Group Poker Night. We will email you all and let you know the time and place but Christmas and the holiday season simply caught up to us and we can’t pull all the details together fast enough to pull this thing off with quality.

‘Tis the Season for Man Group Greetings!

I received a card in the mail this morning and I felt the need to share it with all of you because it was encouraging – I hope it is equally encouraging to all of you. It appears that Man Group didn’t die this last summer with some of our summer participants – we now have an active Man Group satellite session at Point Loma University and they are “loud and proud” about it! Check it out:

Casey Kear “and friends” send us their Christmas Greetings at Man Group. And it is my pleasure to pass the Seasons Greetings on to all of you reading this!

(the front)

(the back)

Merry Christmas, Man Group!

A Great Man Group Moment . . .

Last night, our Man Group ended in a very unique way . . . we had a baptism. By the end of the night last night, Tanner Shade decided he was ready right then and there to hop in the water. Looking back, his experience and even his answers to our questions in small group mirrored the message in Acts 8:26-38.

Acts 8:26-38

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

As Man Group Finishes Up FIGHT . . .

. . . hear a little bit from the voice of Kenny Luck!

Before Man Group, some of you had never heard of Kenny Luck before. Your small group leader might talk about him like he is “the man” and you don’t understand why. Some of us are now realizing that we’ve asked you to buy a book written by someone you don’t even know and more importantly – some of you – even after reading his books (Dream or Fight) don’t really even realize that he has a BIG heart for ministering to Men . . . this probably won’t answer any of your questions about the book we have chosen or what book we will be moving towards in December/January but it will give you insight as to why we don’t just pick a book out of a hat . . . and that we, your leaders, do think very long and hard about what we will ALL read next. Many of you have loved Fight and some of you have had difficulty with it but I guess all we are trying to say is that the interest of the GROUP as a WHOLE is always forefront in our mind.

And so I’d like to give you this mp3 below as we enter into this week. We only have 3 or 4 more weeks reading Fight and so I suggest that if you have an iPod or an mp3 player then I encourage you to save this mp3 file to your own computer and then listen to it as you work out or while you are in the car or wherever you go to relax, etc. Or just listen to it right here on the blog – it’s all up to you of course. In December/January, we will not be choosing another Kenny Luck book after Fight . . . but we are about to choose another Man Book soon that we will roll out this next quarter December/January so keep your ears open!

We have about 5 more weeks in Fight and so I would encourage all of you to listen to the author of Fight, listen to where his heart is on the subject of Becoming God’s Man! Fight was a great book to START things off right but as we move forward please know that your small group leaders are leading with the best interest of the LARGE GROUP. This mp3 is of Kenny Luck talking to his own Men’s Group down at Saddleback Church. They call their Man Group “The Herd” and they meet on Friday mornings from 6:15am-7:45am . . . kind of like our GraceFit group here at Grace. In this message, Kenny shares his testimony and then talks about our role as God’s man.

Man Group Hangs Out

Good Afternoon Men,
I just wanted to take a moment and announce the results of our “Man Group Speaks” questionnaire regarding our next ALL Man Group-wide events for November and December. The survey went out exactly three weeks ago today and your 36 responses overwhelmingly pointed in TWO directions:

The Results? You Wanted BOTH!

21 out of 36 Man Group guys said that it’s time for Man Group to serve together in a Service Project and 30 out of 36 guys also said they wanted to have a Man Group Poker Night! And so we are going to have BOTH.

#1 Service Project:
Sat, November 21 (8:00 to Noon).
For this day we will be the Walk Through Bethlehem “moving and building team. “If you have never done this before it is actually a GREAT way to serve from behind the scenes. Man Group is not serving in Walk Through Bethlehem as characters but we are helping MOVE all of the pieces that make up Bethlehem from our off-site storage unit (Brackett Air Field, La Verne) over to Grace so that we can begin building all of the structures out in the Plaza walk ways that make up the entire Bethlehem set. And so . . . please start promoting this Man Group service project for Saturday, November 21 (8:00 to Noon) in our individual Man Groups. This will be our first chance to have all of our groups serve together. I’m genuinely excited about the day! Let your group know about the project and encourage them to be a part of it. Screw guns are needed so mention that too!

#2 Poker Night: Off-Site Location (TBA)
Friday, December 18th (6:30pm-Whenever)
Eat / 6:30pm-7:30pm
Play / 7:30pm-Whenever

There will be WAY more information to come in the near future but one thing we DO know is that nearly every guy who responded to the Man Group survey said, “I want a Poker Night!” and so here it is just for you. We had to push this event into December because every other weekend is pretty booked with our Service Project on Nov. 21st, Thanksgiving weekend starting Nov. 26th and then Grace Church jumps right into Walk Through Bethlehem on December 11, 12 & 13. And so, having Poker Night on Friday, December 18th gives every group the chance to finish Fight and it gives us (the leaders) the time needed to plan “the next big event” . . . this! And so we hope you are excited about Poker Night. We’ll work out the details and get back to you. Just make sure you mark your calendars!

Blessings Men.
-The Guys

I leave you all with this . . . an encouraging song I heard Miguel sing recently.

Man Group Speaks Out

Man Group,
Apparently after our softball game last Tuesday some of you started making suggestions about WHAT the next ManGroup-wide activity should be and WHEN we should have it. And so here is your chance to CAST YOUR VOTE as to what we all do next and when we do it. The majority vote will decide our next Man Group event for November so vote here:

CLICK HERE

The Softball Showdown!

The Softball Showdown! 56 total runs scored.
For pictures: Click Here

Last night felt like the clash of the Titans! It was a see-saw of scoring all night long proving to be a tight/close/exciting game. But, because WE won the coin-toss, WE went up to bat first and WE got to score the FIRST RUN all because of the batting strength of none other than Mike Smith . . . who hit the first TWO Man Group guys in for a quick 2-0 game in the 1st inning. And wouldn’t you know it – we caught it all on tape! WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW.

After Mike started us off right and put some points up on the board we (Man Group) went on to the field with 7 runs in the 1st and they (the Old Guys) retaliated with 2 runs making it 7-2 in the 1st inning.

We went on to score 2 more runs in the 2nd but they limped ahead of us (knee braces and all) by 3 runs in the 2nd inning, making it 12-9. This went on all night long – we’d advance and they would recover – they’d advance and then we would come back. Between our two teams, 56 runs were scored before the clock struck 8:59 and the Old Guys had to hurry off for their bedtimes.

Final Score: 30 (Real Men) to 26 (Man Group)

Everyone had a great time last night!
We’ll get you guys next time!

Update: Real Men vs. Man Group

With only 5 more days until the BIG match up, things are getting a bit heated between the “old guys” and the “young guys.” Smack talk is being traded out on the church plaza, blog comments are being posted and people are getting pretty excited about what is coming up THIS TUESDAY, October 20th, 2009 at San Dimas High School on the North Field.

Some examples of “Smack Talk” being thrown out:
Real Men: I heard “man group” was really just a cover name for girly man group.  Game on “girls”!!

Man Group: Note to manager: I’m fast, I play outfield, and I cover large areas.

Real Men: Old guys rock and young guys drool!!!  Or is it reversed?  I can’t remember anymore. I’m old.

Man Group: They would put it on a Tuesday night! They’re just trying to get rid of the young men who do youth ministry!

Real Men: I relish the opportunity to play in what promises to be a fantastic event of Men (RealMen) vs. Boys (ManGroup).

Your 2009 Starting Line Up
Man Group vs. Real Men

Man Group	Real Men
Brian Rietze	Andrew Banks
Joseph “Kitty Kat” Pinedo	Kirk Howie
Mike Smith	Buddy Long
Kyle Eden	Jeff Collier
Zack Grelling	Steve Sidenfaden
Nathan Chakerian	Gordon cooper
Chad Alder	Nate Watkins
Chad Cole	Brad “the basher” Kear
Jon Parker	Matthew Roberson
Joe Roland	Nick Serfas
Jeremy McCabe	Steve Martinez
Kevin Rietze	Dave Hartman
Steve Chakerian	Scott Turner
Samurai Douglas	Eddie Ginter
Nathan Ramage	Steve Bracci
Miguel Castuera	Jeff Hunter
Gabe Giron	Luis “The Great” Salazar
Peter Douglas	Steven Adamian
Eric Estep	Alan Jimenez
	Jody Osier
	J.R. Stewart
	Jeremy Fahey