I am going to post these as I get them. If you are a Christian man and are not currently receiving these newsletters, let me encourage you to visit CMN Worldwide’s website and sign up! I recently had the privilege of attending CMN’s 30th anniversary event – Lion’s Roar ’07 in Dallas, TX. What an honor to be associated with greatness for God in the form of the global Christian men’s movement. Paul Cole is running full-sprint with the vision his father, Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, had for all men around the world. The men of our church are in continual prayer for Paul and all he is doing for the sake of the Kingdom. We love you Paul. Keep doin' work!
The newsletter circulates via electronic-mail to men all over the world. There were only a few pictures featured on the newsletter. I was excited when I realized that there, sandwiched between a photo of Robert Barriger (leader of the largest church in South America) and Paul Cole (President of CMN Worldwide) was a shot of me and my good friend, Andrew, getting-down in some hard-core prayer at the Lion's Roar '07 conference. Awesomness...
-av
Brother -
Confusion breeds mediocrity...our culture is confused on the definition of manhood. That one issue is deeply and negatively affecting all areas of culture.
Today I’m in Peru...at Robert Barriger’s massive conference “Corazon” (which means ‘heart’). We are meeting with dozens of leaders from the nations of South and Central America—we are in an amazing season of exponential growth!
Pastor Jimmy Cornejo told me this story...of the first 20 men they commissioned in Ecuador just 4 years ago, 12 have launched churches—7 are strong, active leaders in his church in Cuenca...awesome!
These are the reports we are hearing every day from all over the world...Uganda, Indonesia, Germany, Ukraine, New Zealand...
Pastors are leading the charge to take their nations...discipling men, building the church...changing culture!
WE ARE CHALLENGING/CONFRONTING THE CONFUSION OF THE CULTURE!
You and I know that to set culture on the right course, we must impress the men of this generation with the message that “Manhood and Christlikeness are Synonymous.
When men don’t know where they are headed, they slow down...when men don’t know the essence of manhood, they back off—living lives safely secure in mediocrity...
Mediocre manhood is the dragging riptide of our culture...Mediocre men are immature men—irresponsible, unteachable, painfully selfish.
The demasculination of our churches has led to a feminization of the discipling process that does not attract strong men...To keep up ‘numbers’ we end up training pastors to cater to the mediocrity of men...intimidated by strong men and not wanting to ‘rock the boat’...
Let’s do more than rock the boat! Let’s blow up the boat!
Mediocrity enslaves men in the sin of substitution.
Mediocre men want:
authority without accountability
position without the price
power without the process
the applause of men rather than the presence of God
In 1 Kings 14 the enemy stole the gold shields from the temple—symbolic of God’s authority, presence and power...
Unbelieving, confused Israelites replaced the gold with brass shields...symbolic of the strength of man...THE SIN OF SUBSTITUTION...
Our church culture and culture in general is in a state of confusion. We substitute:
humanity for divinity
works for faith
talent for anointing
respectability for righteousness
tolerance for love
Fathers substitute toys for time.
Husbands substitute money for affection.
Pastors substitute personality for character.
We must rescue men from the morass of mediocrity, clearing the cobwebs of confusion...bold in our message, strong in our presentation, sure in our faith.
Let’s lead a men’s movement of powerful, humble servant leaders.
The world needs your confident faith...the world needs your message.
The world needs your Jesus!
We can change the world!
Let’s do it—one man at a time!
Paul L. Cole
President
CMN Worldwide
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