Feb. 22, 2002

Dear Ministry Partners,

The First International Consultation on Discipleship in Eastbourne, England, included 450 leaders from 62 countries.  They concluded, "Our faith is a mile wide and an inch deep."   I will be attending the second meeting of a national Discipleship Summit sponsored by Mission America Mar. 1-2.  Its purpose will be to awaken the body of Christ to discipleship.  Various leaders from around the country will explore, refine and assess various discipleship processes that truly transform lives in the context of the local church.

The great need has led Real Men of Integrity to build upon the past and reposition itself for the next phase of ministry.  Jack Rediger, a new board member and owner of Strategic Edge Training, will offer suggestions to enhance our business plan, contact management procedures, financial development procedures, and marketing approaches.  Jack’s experience working with many writers, speakers, business leaders, and Gallup has prepared him use their StrengthFinder Profile to study our current board and help us find additional members with the right expertise.

"Walk-Through of the Bible" and "Romans: Understanding Faith," are now written and will be the first two modules within the "Journey to Make God's Story Ours" curriculum.  The former provides an overview and hooks to think your way through the Bible.  A foundation of grace is established beginning with the Abrahamic Covenant and applied in Romans so unbelievers can place their faith in Christ and believers can learn to live the Christian life. 

Whereas the Walk-Through and Romans focus on the individual's relationship with God, the third and fourth modules -- "Seed Thoughts of the Bible," currently being tested, and "Snapshots of Kingdom Building" -- will explore how the corporate church can fulfill God's purpose to be “fruitful and to fill, subdue and rule over the works of God's hands."  The latter module will analyze Christ's teachings like the Sermon on the Mount and examples of kingdom builders like Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah to show how God uses folks from different walks of life to make disciples in all the nations. 

In addition, my pastor suggested we include a short session on Bible study methods to preface the first module.  Because the target audience is all denominations, we will demonstrate an objective interpretative process for Scripture so people can act like Bereans who “were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).   Our two primary references are Haddon Robinson's book, "Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages" and Howard and William Hendrick's book, "Living By the Book." 

Three test groups are working their way through “Seed Thoughts of the Bible.”  Anyone is invited to join the stimulating interaction in one of the following groups:

Disciple the Discipler Small Groups

Weekly Sessions: You are invited to choose one of these times for weekly participation: "Seed Thoughts of the Bible."

      A. Every Tues

            6 a.m. to 7 a.m.

            Oak Lake E. Free, 3300 N. 1st (north of 1st & Adams, between Cornhusker & Superior)

      B.  Every Thurs.

            Noon to 1:15 p.m.

            Real Men Office, 3701 "O" St. #B5 (across from Wyuka Cemetery)

      C.   Every Fri.,    

            4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Chase Suites Hotel "Board Room," 200 S. 68th Pl.  (Go past the front desk in the main building, walk upstairs and make a hard left.  It is the smaller of the two rooms upstairs). 

Prayer Requests & Update:

1.       Pray for physical and spiritual safety as our son, Steve, continues his adventure in New Zealand.  He is mountain climbing with a native New Zealander for the next couple of weeks.  National Geographic just hired him to do mountain climbing as they film a documentary.  He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

2.       Karen and I are teaching a 9-week marital intimacy group that began Feb. 2nd.  Pray that the
couples continue applying greater spiritual, emotional and physical oneness to their marriages and do the weekly staff meetings as homework.

3.       God's purposes to be worked out during the Discipleship Summit Mar. 1-2

4.       I will be speaking at a community-wide father and son banquet in Bennet, NE, Mar. 3rd.  Topic: "Passion for Fulfilling Our True Priority."   I am using Malachi to show how men can impart God's vision to their sons.  Pray for preparation and delivery of the message.

5.       Prayer for additional prayer partners, writing and editing helpers, strategic planning, board members, and financial support team required to develop the "Journey to Make God's Story Ours" curriculum.

Real Men is working to enhance its database software system so we can do a better job of communicating with our ministry partners and track activities, phone calls, appointments, faxes, and emails.

We are glad you are on our mailing list and appreciate knowing of others to include.   Please list their names in the enclosed envelope.

We want to send regular nuggets from the "Journey to Make God's Story Ours" (see enclosed sample) either once or twice a month by email.  If you are interested in receiving these nuggets, email pomeroy@realmen.org or send a note in the enclosed envelope if you don't have email.  We would like to hear from anyone being led to serve in one of the areas listed in the #5 prayer request above.  During this time, we especially need your financial support.

Sincerely in Christ,

 

Mark Pomeroy

"Journey to Make God's Story Ours" Nugget

What are the Benefits of Loving God?

Are there times when you don't feel like praying or reading God's Word? Are you bored in your relationship with God?  If you answered yes, you have not considered the magnificent benefits in loving God.  The book of Deuteronomy gives at least seven benefits.  We will look at four of these this time and the other three next time.

 The first benefit of loving God is power to fight the spiritual battle.  God told Moses not to fight unless the Lord went with him (Deut. 1:42).  If we are not in moment-by-moment conversation with God, we will be defeated by Satan who "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8b).

The second benefit of loving God is wisdom in knowing how to fight the spiritual battle.  We need wisdom from God to know which battles to fight since we cannot fight them all.  God told Moses to not to provoke Esau or the Ammonite to war, but to engage Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon to battle (Deut. 2:4-6,19,24).  We need wisdom to determine who should lead the fight in a particular battle. Even though Moses wanted to lead Israel in battle across the Jordan River, God commanded him to commission and encourage Joshua for the position (Deut. 3:23-29).

The third benefit of loving God is being an example of wisdom and understanding to the world that the Lord is supreme over all gods (Deut. 4:1-6,9-10).  God wants to show the world a new quality of life instead of being corrupted through worshipping idols.  “But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are” (Deut. 4:20).  When people see God’s miracles and the personal care given to His children, they will stand up and take notice.

The fourth benefit of loving God is communicating a message to our children how the Lord frees us from sin so we gain approval and blessing from Him.  After Moses told the nation to impress God’s commands upon their children, He promised to give them good things that they did not provide themselves (Deut. 6:7,10-11).  When a son asks the meaning of these commands, they were to describe their slavery in Egypt and explain the Lord's miraculous power of deliverance (Deut. 6:20-25).

Key Thought: We communicate grace powerfully to our children when we tap into God's wisdom and power.