Brainstorming

Ok. Here are some ideas for what could happen here.
1. Guys could post here. They would have to sign up for a free blogger account.
2. We could print a monthly newsletter based on the blog contents to distribute in church both for the benefit of guys that are not comfortable using the internet and new guys that are not aware of the mens group or the blog.
3. give a class or classes in how to use the blog and/or email and/or internet
4. i could print up/email information on how to use the blog or put up a post right here on how to use it.
5. keep it simple, stupid

Restart

OK. This blog is back by popular demand. But first, one ground rule: There are no rules... yet!
I discontinued posting to this blog because it had become a chore for me and not achieving my intended result which was to foster more discussion and interaction among the men of the men's group between Saturday meetings.
A couple weeks ago, I was talking to Dikart and John K. who told me that they missed the blog and would like to see it start up again.
They had some good input which I will get into at some point but for right now I just want to throw this thing open to you guys. What do you want out of this? What are your ideas? As for me, it has to be a joy not a job so I'm just going to post what's on my heart (Christianese for mind) rather than a formal summary of what went on at each Saturday's meeting. I'm done for now. I'll post some ideas later and if you want to do some brainstorming with me, leave a comment.

The New Man Report: Men Need Men

The New Man Report: Men Need Men

An Undivided Life - April 21st

For today's meeting, we read from Chapter 11 of John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted, titled "An Undivided Life: The Practice of Reflection on Scripture." The problem, according to Ortberg, is double-mindedness. In spiritual terms, wanting to follow Jesus and wanting to follow the "world" too - to have it both ways. He quotes Jack Palance's character in the movie "City Slickers": "The secret of life is pursuing one thing." Similarly the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defines our problem as "...the failure to achieve simplicity - to have a life that is integrated, that is focused on one thing." Or as Jesus said, "seeking first the Kingdom." Ortberg goes on to define multiplicity and duplicity, the enemies of simplicity. Multiplicity is being pulled in opposing directions, eg. we want to be generous but we want to hoard our money, we want to give our time to some charity but we want our time for ourselves. Duplicity, on the other hand, involves dishonesty. We say or do something with an overtly noble intent but in reality our motives are not so pure. What comes to mind is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They intended to appear more generous than they really were for the sake of what others thought of them.
By contrast, in simplicity, "The motives we appear to have are the ones we really have." (Clifford Williams).
So how do we do it? Ortberg says one way is to have our minds re-formed by immersing them in scripture. This means meditating on it not just reading the words. This is how our minds are "washed by the water of the word" and purified.

Next week we will continue with The Life You've Always Wanted series. Same time, same place: Sat. 7AM (yes, that's AM) in the lounge in the old building.

Please leave a comment on the blog and let BCCMan know you're out there!

SNOWED OUT! Sat. March 17th

Happy St. Patrick's Day! See you next week!

Iron Sharpens Iron

Last Saturday, March 10th, 11 men from BCC attended Iron Sharpens Iron at Loudonville Community Church. It was a worthwhile experience and everyone took something of value away from the conference workshops and plenary sessions. Additionally, it was great being together with the guys, getting to know one another just a little bit better (wasn't a lot of time for hangin' out) and doing something together outside of our home church. If you attended, we would all love to read your comments about your experience and the specific workshops you attended, so, feel free!

Business Cards

We're going to be trying out some ideas for business cards for the men's group. Please feel free to post your comments or suggestions. Here's the first one. (see above) This one is kind of fanciful. We are VERY serious about the men's group but perhaps want to convey that we are not overly self-serious and maybe we even have a little fun. I thought of it cause I know some guys are leery of a church men's group cause they think they're going to have to talk about "feelings" and do touchy/feely stuff. So I thought we could have a little fun with that. Kind of bring that thing out into the open. What are your ideas? Picture? Sayings?