Wrapping Up the Men For God Rally

Saturday Night
Bangor, Maine

I am writing this note from my hotel room in Bangor, Maine. We finished the final session of the Men For God Rally in New Brunswick around 4:30 PM and then drove two hours to Bangor.

First things first. I want to say thank you to Barry Beebe, president of New Brunswick Bible Institute, for inviting me to speak at the rally. Just before my final message, he thanked me for my sacrifice in coming, but it was no sacrifice at all. The real work was done by the NBBI students and staff members who worked so hard to prepare for the 400+ men who came to the rally this weekend. To me it was a privilege to part of such an inspiring event.

I will say this. They really packed a lot into an event that lasted less than 24 hours. We had two sessions on Friday night, three this morning (plus a break), then two sessions this afternoon (including a concert by Ed Sealy who really knows how to connect with men). I ended up speaking five times (plus speaking at the NBBI chapel yesterday morning). 

I am pooped tonight, totally pooped. But it’s a good pooped. What a treat to speak to hundreds of men from Nova Scotia (8 hours away), New Brunswick, Maine and Prince Edward Island. It was like a mini-PK rally. Loved speaking at NBBI. They are doing a strategic work for the Lord. Over the last 65 years their grads have served in 60 countries and in many parts of New England and all over the Maritime Provinces.

The men were very enthusiastic, eager, hungry (literally and spiritually). Some own shops or other businesses, some work in schools or for the government, some own farms, and others work for large corporations. They clearly enjoy coming together for this event. I love the sound of hearty male laughter–and there was plenty of that this weekend. I love even more hearing hundreds of men lifting their voices in praise to God.

The Lord gave us good weather. The temperature was moderate, which means in the 20s during the day and above zero at night. The snow was 3-4 feet deep in some places, but the ground crew kept the walkways open so we didn’t have any weather-related problems.

When I put out material about Keep Believing Ministries, they gobbled it up.

Got four pages of sign-ups for the sermon list (a record number).
Took all the wristbands even before I announced them.
Took all the refrigerator magnets.
Even took the Holy Land tour brochures.

I spoke on Man of Honor from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Covered Desire, Self-control, Being a One-Woman Man, Dealing With Anger, and Living Above Reproach. Closed with a reminder that “a saint is a person who makes it easy to believe in Jesus.” Our job is to live so that it’s easy for our wives, children, friends and neighbors to believe in Jesus because they know us. Very responsive crowd. Challenged them to pray, “Lord, do things I’m not used to.” Men came up and talked about how the series had ministered to them, especially the messages on being a one-woman man and on dealing with anger. These guys struggle with all the temptations of men everywhere and sometimes feel guilty because of the struggle and don’t know how to deal with it. So I think this opened the door to spiritual growth for many of them.

God willing, I will fly home tomorrow and arrive in Tupelo by 3:06 PM, in time to see the Super Bowl (much chatter about that this weekend, naturally). The rally theme was “Farm Men” so we had testimonies from farmers plus small 4X4 tractors in the auditorium plus displays about agriculture plus bales of hay on the platform and antique farm implements plus a ton of farm-related giveaways. The guys loved climbing on the tractors (men are just grown-up kids).

I told them they could contact me four ways:

Comment on the Blog
Send me an Email
Talk to me on Facebook
See me on Twitter

Special thanks to all our friend who prayed for this weekend. It’s neat to see the prayers coming in via Facebook.