#90 – All In Marriage

Guest: Rob Thorpe

Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Rob Thorpe has spoken at dozens of ISI Men’s Conferences over the last decade, as well as the national ISI Marriage Conference. He has held dozens of marriage-related workshops, classes, and retreats for churches in multiple states. Rob counts it his greatest privilege and honor that he and his wife Billie have been married almost 50 years and couldn’t be prouder of their three awesome adult sons and their thirteen amazing grandchildren.

Rob began this ministry by having couples who were younger than them mentor them in their relationship. From there, it moved to a life group for young couples, which then moved to conferences and ultimately to several books.

Rob has several key points:

1. You cannot learn your way to a great marriage, which most of us try.
   1. It starts with walking closer and closer with God. The closer we get to God, the better we will honor and love our wives the way God intends for us to do.
   2. Getting closer to God and His word helps us to understand that Spiritual Warfare is a part of your life as a believer and even more so as a married believer. Satan attacked the first couple, and as we know, it had devastating consequences. Nothing is more important to our enemy than to attack marriages and split us apart, which impacts our children and grandchildren.
2. Marriage is God’s workshop for showing us how selfish we can be. Men, we can all be selfish by making other things more important than our marriage, or even just not being engaged fully in our marriage. Let’s make marriage the most important relationship in our lives, beyond our relationship with God.
3. Love is a verb, meaning it requires action.
   1. We need to do something to demonstrate our love for our wives every day.
   2. We need to be proactive in meeting needs, heading off incoming problems.
   3. We need to reach out for help early rather than bluff our way to divorce.

Marriage is the primary institution that God created. Men, let’s step into this and love and honor our wives and protect our marriages at all costs. God’s heart will be pleased with us as we do just that. Praying for you.

Questions to consider about your marriage:

1. Ask your wife how you are doing as a husband. What one thing can I do for you that you will appreciate and so I am able to demonstrate my love for you?
2. What challenge is in your marriage? What one thing can you do today to take initiative to resolve this challenge? Seek a marriage mentor for yourself,

If you want to connect with Rob Thorpe directly, reach out via email:

Marriagesthatmatter@gmail.com

As a reminder, these podcasts are released on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. For additional podcasts, go to: https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/

#89 – Impacting Men Deeply

Guest: Reza Zadeh

Director, Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Great story from our guest today. Originally from Iran, he grew up as a Muslim in Southern California. It was through sports and Athletes in Action (AIA) that Reza came to know Jesus. Since Jesus impacted his life so deeply, he chose to answer the ministry call on his life to impact others through pastoring, Athletes in Action, sharing the Word in churches, camps, golf courses, and coaching.

What do many men deal with in their process of coming to Christ and maturing in their faith?

Identity – Everyone wrestles with the idea of what their identity is. We are conditioned in our society to create our own identity – after all, we are self-made men, correct? As men of God, we do want to find our identity in Christ, but we often fail to understand that our identity is not something we achieve; it is something we receive from God.

Father – How do we view our earthly father? Often, we translate that view to our heavenly Father. If we have had an absent, abusive, neglectful, or a father we were unable to please, we translate that to what we think about God our Father. It is important to see God as He is presented in the Bible, not necessarily in our human experience. Sometimes having a mentor, or close friend, that we can utilize to help build a positive and correct view of our Heavenly Father. How you see God as your Father does make a massive impact on your life.

Shame – someone said that shame is the language the enemy speaks. Lying is what the enemy does. Shame says I am bad because of what I have done. It is not conviction that leads us to make changes, it is a condition that causes us to live under the impact of thinking we are bad…no hope, with no ability to be anything other than bad. Guilt says I did something bad and is a motivator to help you make changes. The truth is, I am a child of God. I need to repent and make changes, but God loves me, can forgive me, and place the identity of a man of God within me. You are not your sin – you are a child of the living God.

Men – today, replace lies with truth. Our engagement with God and open dialogue with trusted men of God can make a massive impact in your life.

Today, live your identity in Christ and pursue the truth of God about you, found in the Word of God. YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE LIVING GOD!!

If you want to connect with Reza Zadeh directly, visit https://www.rezazadeh.co

As a reminder, these podcasts are released on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. For additional podcasts, go to: https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/

#88 – Men’s Ministry Catalyst – Our Future

Guest: Eddie Bateman

Director, Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Our Founder and Board of Directors of Men’s Ministry Catalyst (MMC) are very excited to continue the conversation about the MMC Legacy we have discussed for years. MMC is very excited to share that this continues to move forward. One of the most important ingredients to help this move forward is the hiring of the right person. This is the person who can make this dream become a reality by leading MMC into the future.

MMC is very excited to introduce you to Eddie Bateman, Director of MMC. Let me say that it would be very beneficial for you to listen to this podcast to really get to know Eddie, his family, his background, and all that he brings to this role at this particular time. What is so thrilling to hear is the connections only God could have orchestrated to bring this all together at this time in this way. The relationships between our founder, Dr. Jim Grassi, the organization we are combining with, known as RDN (Relational Discipleship Network), as well as the local church out of which RDN was birthed and of which Dr. Grassi was and is involved.

Please listen and then welcome Eddie Bateman to the organization.

If you want to connect with Eddie Bateman directly:

eddie@mensministrycatalyst.org 208.755.9863

Just a reminder, these podcasts are released on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. For additional podcasts, go to: https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/