Camping, Big Dogs and other stories

I'll be concluding my thoughts on the ARC conference tomorrow once I get back home. Today I wanted to give you some thoughts about the just concluded Point Man Camp that took place at Garner State Park this past weekend. My friend Marc Longoria of My Father's House (Church) hosted the conference and it was an amazing time of connecting, personal ministry, and real vulnerability. There's nothing quite like a group of men gathering together to seek God and open their hearts to other men about their struggles, their fears and their failures. In the midst of that kind of vulnerability, something supernatural happens.

Paul Cole, Dave Roever and myself were the featured speakers and the prevalent theme seemed to be the idea of choosing to confront our weaknesses in an honest and open manner so that we could make ourselves accountable to other men who have walked through our stage of life. One of the most refreshing things that happens at these types of gatherings, is that men realize that they are not the only ones contending with major issues and fears. The response of the men was humbling as they wept openly, prayed together, confessed their struggles to each other and experienced a tremendous amount of freedom and emotional healing. I am confident that the lives of a large majority of the men who attended the conference will be completely different on their return home.

Ultimately, if we are better husbands, better fathers, better employers and employees, better friends, better pastors... and the list goes on, we would have accomplished exactly what we set out to accomplish when the idea of the Point Man Camp was first birthed. This is truly one of my favorite things to do. I love to see men growing spiritually and taking full responsibility for the wellbeing of their families, their churches and their communities. I'm convinced that if more and more men are willing to live their lives with honest and godly vulnerability, we will find our churches becoming more and more relevant to the larger community as we coach other men on how they can live their lives successfully the same way. By the way, this very cool Big Dog custom motorcycle, worth $35,000.00, was up for grabs to whoever was able to throw the words 'Big Dog' on the roll of dice. Unfortunately, I am not riding the bike home! What did you learn this past weekend?