• When Overlake Church was in crisis, it was the men who took a stand to hold the church together. God used the men of the church to make significant transformation.
• Live a life worthy of your calling
• Three essentials to men for staying on mission: Compass, Map and Goal.
• “The glory of God is man fully alive” (Ireneous). Our vision in men's ministry, our underlying philosophy is to see men fully alive!

Encounter (The Compass)

Everyman needs to set his North Star by spending time in the face of God – to get on task. Men must create environments where they can encounter God. It is in the face of God that we set our moral compass.

• Moses the most humble man who ever lived lived. Deep desire to see God’s face. Moses set up the tent of meeting some distance away (Ex 33:7) To have an encounter with God it must be at a place or distance away from normal or routine. Moses and the burning bush. The burning bush set his passion and direction. We must get our men into the face of God. Moses set his moral compass to God
• 2 Cor 3:18: “beholding in the face of Jesus Christ, We are changed from glory to glory even by the spirit of God into the likeness of God.” We become what we behold!
• Moses went in before God and out before the people. He modeled time with God.
• Joshua went in before God and out before the people.
• David went in before God and out before the people.
• Solomon went in before God and out before the people.
• There is no way to set a moral compass away from the face of God.
• We are changed when we encounter God. If you want to see men changed, we need to get them into an encounter with God. The real question in life is “What did God say?”
• David and the return of the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6):
  • The Ark was the actual presence of God. It was intended to be carried on the shoulders of the leaders – the elders. Every church is the reflection of a Godly man (pastor). The elders carry the presence of God into the church.
  • David dances. He is joyful, celebrating. Michal, his wife, criticized him. She was the daughter of Saul whose biggest problem was pride. He was always worried about what people though about him.
  • “You will always run into problems in your church with those who think that your seeking the presence of God is undignified.”
  • “You had better be more concerned about what God knows about you than what people think about you.” (Kingham's father)
  • Encountering God will always cause someone to think that you are undignified; that you should not be doing that.
  • Seeking the face of God is all about giving men a compass.

Experience (Map) (how to get to the goal)

• Goal: get everyman in your church into a small group.
  • Accountability (Example: More than one small group has kept a man from making serious mistakes in his life).
  • If being in the face of God is my encounter, being in the presence of other men is my experience. The map is experience. Men view closeness as danger. This is the challenge of initiating small groups. Leaders must understand how difficult it is to get men into small groups.
• It is only with other men that a man becomes an experienced God follower. It is about apprenticeship. Hang out with It is about being, not doing. Apprenticeship is hanging out with someone more experienced.
• Small Groups are the map. Three things a man gets from small groups:
  • Acceptance – knowing the truth about you but include you anyway.
  • Affirmation – (Misunderstanding: that our importance comes from what we do. It is not about getting strokes from doing, doing, doing). Affirmation is defining what we see in the life of another. Affirm people on the basis of who they are, not on the basis of what they do. On the night before he chose his disciples, Jesus asked his Father to give him some men he can be with (who will become like him). It is about impact and interaction in the crucible of life. It is not about a place or location.
  • Accountability – Accountability is when I give permission to another person to help me get back on track when they see me do something that is inconsistent with my God-given spiritual goals. Most small groups assume accountability and accountability can never be assumed. Accountability has to be given by permission. Otherwise it appears that someone is trying to be sheriff over my life, e.g., the spirit of Cain “Am I my brothers keeper). I give permission.

Express (Goal) (Where to go, purpose)

• “And Jesus, knowing who he was and where he was going, got up from the table and put the towel around him.” John 13 No man can be a servant of God and have a relationship with others until he learns who he is and where he is going.
• Rev 7:9: The great multitude ... from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne ... .
• Compelling statistics:
  • Seventy percent of everyone who has been born again in all of history have been born again since 1901,
  • Seventy percent of those have been born again since 1946, and
  • Seventy percent of those have come to Christ in the past 24 months.
  • We are in the midst of the harvest we have preached for 2000 years.
• Why is it that in the last report that not one county in America has not experienced church growth. Why, when all around the world there is an evangelistic explosion, are we not seeing it in the US.
• “Go and make disciples.” A disciple is an experienced God follower.
• Rev 7:9: here is a picture of the goal accomplished, here is the end, here is the mission completed. Missions exist because worship does not (John Piper).
• I express the reality of God in my life in a bold manner.The Embarrassed Christian by Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt said “Never in my life have I seen so many people embarrassed to ask and so many people embarrassed to tell.”
• Edwin McManus in Uprising says “A man of honor is a man who moves from humility to integrity to courage.”
  • Face of God develops humility
  • Walk in the presence of some brothers develops integrity
  • Express the reality of God brings boldness.
• To get guys on mission you must give them a compass, a map and a goal. Then tell them to just dive in. Henry Blackaby said “Just find out what God is doing and adjust your life to get in on it.”
• “Many of us are not spending time with God or things would be different.” The facts deny that we are spending time in the ‘Tent of Meeting.’”