Boots on the Ground

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I work for Man in the Mirror. Our vision is for every church to disciple every man. So we basically work with churches in any way we can to train up leaders, equip them with resources they can use to reach and disciple men, and provide support and encouragement to pastors.

Here's the thing: I'll often go and conduct a training for 10-20 churches, or conduct a men's event for 50 or 250 guys. And then the same thing happens every single time: I leave.

Man in the Mirror celebrated its 25th Anniversary earlier this year with a banquet. We invited Bruce Wilkinson to come speak, and he offered to spend some time with our staff and executive team beforehand and talk about vision.

He queried us about what might be keeping us from achieveing our vision -- EVERY church discipling EVERY man is a tall order!

We knew the answer. We've known it for 10 years. The problem is what happens at the end of every interaction we have with churches and leaders. We leave. To solve the problem, someone needs to stick around and help these churches and leaders do the hard work of implementing the strategy that we help them develop. We need "boots on the ground."

How many, Bruce asked. How many would it take?

We felt like maybe one leader for every 1,000 churches would be a good start - this also happens to coincide with about one per every million people. Or about 330.

Bruce said, That's what you need! You need to find that "one in a million" person. 

Of course, you can imagine our reaction: "Who? Us?" To which he basically responded, If not you, who?

That was the beginning of our efforts to recruit 330 Area Directors to work in 1,000-church territories around the country, recruiting leaders to help them work with churches who want to reach and disciple EVERY man they can.

We're looking for those "one in a million" people. Maybe you're one of them. Maybe you know someone who is. Go to this site: www.mimareadirectors.org and poke around. Watch the video, read the job description, see what "A Day in the Life of an Area Director" might be like. Then, if it's for you, click on the link to Take the Next Step.

Do me a favor: Share this blog post or the link above with someone you know who is passionate about men's discipleship and might consider a career change to do it full time.

Let's help every church disciple every man.

Book Review: Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index: The Best Bible Subject Index Ever

I received this book from Nelson as part of their BookSneeze program. I enjoyed reading though it, and am happy to write a review of it.

This reference book has a lot going for it. It's compact and comprehensive, covering a ton of subject areas. However, these two characteristics together bring out its weakness. It's not particularly deep in any of its subject areas. So if you are a lay person who is building a reference library to help you in your own Bible Study, this is a great addition to that library. If you're a pastor or scholar, you've likely already got all of this information - and tons more - in your library.

Chandler Mountain Challenge

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Had an awesome time climbing at HorsePens40 during the Chandler Mountain Challenge on Super Bowl weekend. It was a crazy weekend with lousy weather, but an awesome to hang out with family and meet some new friends.

My cousins and aunt and uncle live in Birmingham, so we drove there on Friday and stayed overnight. My folks flew down from Troy, MI to see us (and my mom's sister). That was a miracle in itself, as my mom's health has prevented her from doing much for a couple of years now. Amazing what a little brain surgery can do for ya! (You heard me -- brain surgery.)

Anyway, we drove up to HP40 through rain and sleet on Saturday, hung out for an hour waiting to see if the weather would clear, and then...drove back to Birmingham. Comp postponed to Sunday...Super Bowl Sunday!

The family all agreed to climb on Sunday and hustle back for at least the second half of the "big game." So off we went on Sunday morning. And it was COLD! Too cold for Jackson to even want to climb for the first 4 hours of the comp. (Smart dude. He still won his age division even though he spent a few hours learning the finer points of checkers from Howard Schultz, the HP40 owners' father.) I know they say the cold air helps with friction, but if you can't feel  your fingers, what good does friction do ya?

Cassidy, Kimberly and I climbed...OK, Cassidy and I climbed. This was Kimberly's first time outdoors and she just couldn't do anything hard. I got so caught up in finding Cassidy and myself stuff to climb, that I earned the crappy husband of the year award for not paying attention to my wife. She persevered and toward the end of the day we found some routes that were perfect for her. She ended up taking 3rd place in women's!!! Cassidy took 2nd. My women rock!!!

As for me, I learned how easy it is for me to get caught up in good things and ignoring the best things. Taking care of my wife was a best thing, and it took me all day to do it - and, I'm ashamed to say, a few weeks to realize how bad I'd made her feel. I get so caught up in my own world so often that I miss the bigger picture.

As a husband, my job is to put my wife first - emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. Too often I forget to take care of her, often in the guise of, "I don't want her to think that I think she can't handle it." Honestly? That's just a copout. What I really don't want is for her to cramp my style. Pretty self-centered.

So guys, if you're reading this, here's my take: God gave us our wives and it's our job to take care of them first. Just like Christ takes care of his bride, the Church, to the point of taking on all the penalties for our sins. I am supposed to put my wife first, ahead of what I feel I deserve or I'm entitled to.

I can't wait to take her back to HP40 and spend the whole day finding routes she can climb. I want her to love rock climbing, not for me (OK, a little for me), but because it makes her feel like she's accomplishing great things. At our age, we need new accomplishments!

By the way, the folks from Solid Rock Climbers for Christ http://www.srcfc.org/ put this event on, and they did a great job, especially considering the conditions. I was excited to be able to share a little bit after the climbing. I talked about faith in a person - Jesus - not in a religion. The competitors were very gracious. I spoke quick...it was cold and there were prizes to be awarded!

Thanks to Brad Killough and his family, Ryan Bolen, Jonathon Parker and the Schultz's for a very fun day, and a good lesson.

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Photo credits: Kimberly Clemmer

Merry Christmas! And Here is Luke's Account

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In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.


So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

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Hoarding Life

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Heard a great sermon on Sunday. My pastor, Pete Alwinson, is talking about Peace this Advent season. One of the points he has made is that the Christian faith often causes one to lose peace - the peace that is found in complacency in particular. He used this great quote from Wm. Barclay:
I can see how I "hoard life" sometimes. I want it to be comfortable. I want my family to be comfortable, and my job to be comfortable and my church to be comfortable... Working in ministry makes it even easier to be like this, because I've always got a convenient comeback to those feelings that maybe I'm not really living my life in a way that builds the Kingdom as effectively as it could. I can always hark back to some ministry experience that blunts the barb of Christian conscience.

There is no place for a policy of safety first in the Christian life. The man who seeks first ease and comfort and security and the fulfillment of personal ambition may well get all these things, but he will not be a happy man; for he was sent into this world to serve god and to serve His fellow man. A man can hoard life, if he wishes to do so. But that way he will lose all that makes life valuable to others and worth living for himself.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on myself. I just want to be honest with myself about the ramifications of my faith.  Patrick Morley quotes Dr. Schaeffer in his book, The Man in the Mirror, and points out the two "impoverished values" of personal peace  and affluence.

Personal peace means just to be let alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of other people, whether across the world or across the city -- to live one's life with minimal possibilities of being disturbed...Affluence means an overwhelming and ever-increasing prosperity -- a life made of things, things and more things -- a success judged by an ever-higher level of material abundance. (from Frances Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live, 1976)

I want to be sure that I am not committed to ease, comfort, ambition, personal peace and affluence - that I am not "hoarding my life" - so that I miss out on what I could be doing to make a difference in the world.


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Broken-Hearted at Christmas

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Seems like Christmas is a rough time for a lot of people emotionally. I suspect it's the contrast between the joy that is expected to permeate the season and the reality of unmet expectations, broken relationships or just that general feeling of, "is this really as good as it's going to get?"  

Got this Weekly Briefing from Pat Morley at work today. A great message for the Christmas season.

My heart has been broken many times -- left out, made fun of, rejected, feeling alone, feeling unloved, depressed, broken promises, shattered dreams, betrayal, falsely accused. And then there are my sins of which I am ashamed and over which I grieve.

What is breaking your heart today? Maybe an injustice -- by you or against you. Maybe you're grieving, or need to grieve, what could've been -- a son on drugs, a daughter who has wandered from the path, a spouse who seems distant, or parents who got divorced. The closer the person, the deeper the hurt. (excerpted from To Anyone With a Broken Heart, Weekly Briefing Volume 351, December 14, 2009. Read the rest of the article.)

I'm praying that we would all feel the real presence of God this season -- His peace, love and comfort in the midst of a trying and difficult world. If you know Him, don't forget to talk to Him. If you don't, just talk to Him, He'll hear you. If you want to talk to Him and don't know how, email me (baclemmer@maninthemirror.org). I know Him and I'd be happy to introduce you.

 
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Photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cckaiser/ / CC BY 2.0

Great Times Climbing in Ch-ch-chattanooga

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That's the sound of my teeth chattering. Took my son Jake to Tennessee last weekend to camp and climb. We had a great time (mostly). The highlight was probably waking up Saturday morning to snow on the ground! We went with friends from the gym, including my buddy Ike who is the camping and climbing uber-guide.

The climbing crowd is really interesting. Kind of like surfers in the laid-back mentality and the relational style. I heard the phrase, "Awesome dude!" about a million times. A fair amount of drinking too, so not super kid-friendly, although I doubt most of the adults saw it that way.

Jake had a tough day at the comp on Sunday. We had climbed outdoors two days already and we were both pretty tired. He still ended up finishing 4th in his age group!

Here was the most interesting part of the weekend to me: surrounded by young, energetic people, all of them really love the outdoors and the challenge of climbing, yet no realization of where all of this must have come from. An appreciation for beauty and creation, but no affinity or interest (it seemed) in the Creator. I loved what we were doing and even who we were doing it with, but I still felt pretty out of place.

Pomona Highlights

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I had a great weekend in Pomona last week. Highlights:

• My new BFF Lynn Guerin acted as host for the weekend. A great servant's heart. He is a pretty amazing guy. One of his accomplishments is helping put together the John Wooden Course. Hanging out with John Wooden has got to be so cool!
• Meeting with 27 leaders from 15 churches to talk about men's discipleship. My favorite part was hearing the guys share their struggles and then hear them encourage each other with ideas.
• Went to the Influencers Bible Study on Friday morning with 150 guys. Maybe the first men's Bible Study I've seen singing work really well in a long time. Amazing talk too. "Quiet brilliance", I would call it.
• A breakfast with my friend Angelo Ismirnglou-one of those awesome high-energy, visionary guys. He's going to do great things in the Brotherhood of St. Andrew!
• Then 100+ guys at Pomona First Baptist Church doing a Rewired Seminar. Had a weird experience when I pulled up realizing I had been there before 3 years before. They knew. That's why they brought us back.
• A couple of hours jammin' with Mat Kyser and the men's leaders from The Village Church in Irvine. What a great group of guys. I went to their church on Sunday as well. An amazing service on the topic of adoption. Matt was channeling Mark Driscoll style-wise.

The weekend was fun, and a huge encouragement to me. OK, so I didn't surf. But hey, it's California!

Sunflower Seed Christianity

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Have you ever eaten sunflower seeds? You chuck a bunch in your mouth and crunch on them. You extract the meat part of the seed, and then you spit out the husk. It's trash. A little salty, perhaps, but not edible.

In Revelation 3, God tells the church at Laodicea:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Francis Chan imagines presenting the people of his church to God at the end, and having God go, pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft!-pfft! Spitting them out because they are lukewarm. As I watched this great video, I had to ask myself:

Would you be willing to give away as much as you kept?
Would you be willing to sit on the grass every week for church, so the money it would take to build a comfortable building could be used to help others instead?

Are you willing to really teach what Jesus taught? Live like Jesus lived?

This is such a challenge to me personally. 

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/akumaru/1157598310/

Transformed from darkness to light...but a dim light at first

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Great quote from Pat Morley today in his Weekly Briefing on the nature of discipleship:

"We do not become disciples through a single life-changing event—transformed from darkness to light, yes. But it is dim light. Instead, we become disciples by steady plodding, by the regular intake of God’s word, by a consistent diet of preaching, by constantly rubbing shoulders with fellow pilgrims."

http://www.maninthemirror.org/weeklybriefing/wb319.htm
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Mark Driscoll on Men Who Act Like Boys

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“Too many men act like boys, and too many boys think ‘if I get married it will make me a man.’ And it never works like that. Boys who get married don’t become men, they ruin women, and sometimes children along with them.”

I love this guy's ability to communicate Biblical, reformed, covenant thinking in up-to-date terms.

http://tinyurl.com/cwr9yl or watch below.

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the bobblehead gospel

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working with david delk on a new series called "the bobblehead gospel". not sure if we'll keep that title. it's based on the concept that too often we create this watered down version of the gospel that is basically designed to sound good. it's not really about following jesus, but about using him to make us feel better about doing what we want to.

here's a couple of videos for the song 'plastic jesus'. one is just a bobblehead jesus with billy idol singing the song in the background. great version of the song. the other is from one of those all-time classic movies, cool hand luke, where paul newman's character sings it when he finds out his mother has died. not sure what the connection is between the song and his mom - maybe it was her favorite...but i digress.

i'll write some more about each of the lies of the bobblehead gospel we are teaching about. who knows, maybe you'll see it in a book some day. enjoy the videos!

Sing it Billy, Sing it!

What a great piece of movie making

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men follow leaders

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I spoke at a men's retreat for Trinity Lutheran Church in Midland, MI last weekend. Did the Seven Seasons of a Man's Life seminar for them. I woke up Friday morning for my flight and knew I was sick. Sore throat, sinuses. By the time I got up Friday night, I was pretty stuffed up. Somehow (HS, of course) I made it through the weekend. The guys were awesome. And the most awesome was their pastor.

Gerald Ferguson has a heart of gold, and you can see it in his men. I've been to many churches, and it's amazing to me how often the men are a reflection of their pastor. If the pastor is aloof, the men are too. If he's arrogant, his men are not fun to be around. But when he is kind, considerate, and visibly loves Jesus, you can tell it from looking at his men. Men follow leaders.

Like Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians:

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

I would add a corollary: If you are in a position of leadership, follow the example of Christ, because others will do as you do.

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the unshakeable kingdom - the fascinating ways God works on us in crisis

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my pastor's sick, so i taught our ironman men's bible study tonite at willow creek. we talked about crisis and how men deal with it. the guys were awesome.

ways guys deal with crisis that they came up with, with bibical examples:
anger - like naaman
blame - like adam
shame - like david
lying - like esau
withdrawal - adam again
isolation - still like adam
denial - can't remember which biblical character we came up with for this one
violence - like peter

pretty deep and emotional stuff from a bunch of "ironmen". good, honest stuff.

why does crisis happen? we looked at hebrews 12:

7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

for one thing, discipline. but just as an earthly father's discipline brings us what they think is best for the time we are on earth, the heavenly father disciplines us for what will always be our own good, so that we can be holy and have a harvest of righteousness. cool stuff! oh yeah, and it's painful. great.

later on in the chapter, the writer of hebrews (apollos, perhaps?) tells us what this discipline is accomplishing in our lives:

25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire."

that last bit refers to Deut. 4, where the israelites are being warned against worshipping idols! so, the shakable kingdom is a life where you worship anything other than God. "making money is what it's about." "i have to have this job to be happy." etc. these become idols in our lives.

the unshakable kingdom though is a life built on worshipping, trusting, relying on God alone - like the man who builds his house on the rock.

so, in a crisis? remember, our God is a consuming fire. if you are living in the shakable kingdom, he loves you so much that he will burn away the idols so that all you have left is him. not so fun in the short term, but eternally exhilarating!

if i am in a crisis and i am losing things - my house, my car, my job, my cable, my ability to send my kids to private school - it's worth asking yourself, "is this God loving me so much that he's willing to move me from the shakable to the unshakable kingdom?"

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"i'm taking jake to the hospital!"

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not what you want to hear your wife say when you answer the cell phone. our son fell out of a tree and busted his right arm - broke the ulna close to the wrist, and dislocated his elbow. we met at florida hospital south. they have a special pediatrics emergency department. they took good - if a bit slow - care of him.

his arm looked gnarly. i have pictures but it's just too gross. things are bending in the wrong place and his elbow is just wrong looking.

in the end, they drugged him up, kicked us out, and manipulated his bones back into place manually. i'm glad we weren't in the room for that part!

through it all, my 11 year old son was as brave as you could possibly expect a kid to be. he did everything they asked, suffered thru 2 sets of x-rays as they moved it all around, and told us when he needed more pain meds.

jackson is a stud dog. it's not that he was stoic or fearless - it was that while he showed his pain and fear, he didn't let it overwhelm him. he handled it with maturity way beyond his years. he asked us to pray for him a couple times during the afternoon as we waited for treatment - what a treat when your son asks you to pray for him in a public place.

my son and i have had a running conversation for several years about fear. it started when he was about 5 and learning to swim. we've always said that it's ok to be afraid, just don't let your fear keep you from doing something you want or need to do.

he lived that this week. he's my hero.

"have I not commanded you? be strong and courageous. do not be terrified; do not
be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

joshua 1:9

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most of the dudes are chicks

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one of the greatest frustrations i run into when i talk to guys about their churches is just how feminized it is. from love songs to jesus sung in the key of falsetto to a 5:1 ratio of women's activities to men's activities, to sermons about feeling better about yourself, a lot of guys are just tired of this "chick-ified" version of church. and the ones who like it, well...

here's great video with mark driscoll that points out how important it is to reach guys, and gives a little editorial on the state of men in the church.



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climbing comps and stuffy noses

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tomorrow's the big day - regional bouldering comp and then a citizens comp in the afternoon. cassidy's been sick since sunday morning. in bed sun morning to thurs morning almost non-stop. she made herself take a 1-mile jog/walk this afternoon to get her muscles going. she's either going to rock and roll or crash tomorrow! what an adventure!

jackson is determined to climb better than ever. he will, too. he's a stubborn kid. once he decides to do something, he gives it his all.

i haven't decided if i'll climb in the afternoon or not. 'game time decision.'

watching a movie with my family and in-laws this evening, i really had a sense for how much i am blessed. we get on each others' nerves sometimes for sure, but it's nice to be with a group of people who really love each other.

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jason castro is a follower of jesus!

someone sent me this website: http://www.iamsecond.com/

really cool site. they have a collection of videos of people talking about their faith. jason castro, the "over the rainbow" with a ukelele singer from american idol, has this incredibly cool testimony on it.

what an encouraging thing to watch today! a gift...

here's a youtube video of him singing 'hallelujah' on idol. watch his iamsecond video to see what he says about this song.

behavior modification vs. heart transformation

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this is one of the biggest ideas for the man in the mirror seminar, 'rewired.' as i teach it this weekend in maryland to guys from the frederick church of the brethren, God is speaking to me all over again about the importance of believing in Him, in His power, in His grace, in His accomplishments, rather than my own.

in romans 7:5, pauls talks about "the sinful passions aroused by the law", saying that the law itself results in sinful passions - i think he means that when we decide we'll follow the law, motivated by our desire to make our own salvation, then all it ends up doing is making us want to sin.

1 corinthians 15:56 says, "the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law." so if the law leads to death, what's the answer? next verse: "but thanks be to God! he gives us victory thru our Lord Jesus Christ."

being religious just doesn't cut it. the righteous live by faith...not the law. how's that for the consequences of grace?

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someone who helps get me out of the box

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andy searles is a pastor at aloma methodist church just north of orlando. i love the way he talks (he's british). i think he's a good judge of life partner, as his wife tracie is pretty cool and works with me at man in the mirror.

but mostly, i love the way he thinks. his blog, 'whatever is', is one of my favorites. i read every post thru google reader. but what i enjoy the most if just sitting at lunch and talking about things. he's got great insights, always sees past the surface.

we all need friends (brothers, mentors, whatever) like that. people who challenge us and who make us see the world differently - get out of the ruts we sometimes don't even know we're in. andy does that for me.

i think it's time i took him to lunch again. feeling a little too inside the box lately myself...

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