#93 – A Quick Obedience

Guest: Ron Cool

Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Years ago, there was a book that became popular, entitled: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. While that title needs to be true of us in our overall direction in life, today we are going to see “A Quick Obedience in the Right Direction”. While it is not a book(yet), it is an encouraging story of faith and a quick “yes”, once the direction is abundantly clear. All I can say as we listen today is – let that be true of me.

Our guest today was working with very recognizable clients and bringing in a lot of money, providing an awesome service for them. Let me be really clear – There is nothing wrong with making a lot of money. In this case, for our guest today, he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was telling him to walk away from it, as it had become his god. And in a matter of minutes, he talked with his wife, and they did just that.

Ron tells us that God shared three things with him that he needed to do. The great news for Ron and his family is that he was obedient. How about us? If God tells us to do something that seems to us as dramatic as He told Ron, how would we respond? I pray for me and you, that we be “a quick obedience in the right direction”.

For Ron, it took a serious conversation with his wife, where she was clear that the marriage was dead and she had moved on. His life was about work, work, work, and work. Her life was about kids, kids, kids, and kids. Thank God, Ron listened to God’s call on his life.

When he finally listened to God, he believed God told him three things:

1. Pause – stop the noise and the activity.
2. Surrender – are we willing to give up the god we are worshipping? For Ron, it was work, work, work, and work. Ron – obeyed the Lord and gave up his business immediately.
3. Spend time with God – God is not a box to check, but a relationship to develop.

Today, Ron is very effective in ministry with men, consulting, coaching, and mostly with his family. He has also published a worship track that you will want to hear. You will want to follow Ron and get connected with his tremendous, life-changing resources and coaching.

You can find Ron Cool at: www.newpathnewyou.com. This website will open up many ways to connect. You will be blessed.

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

#92 – A Life Transformed

Guest: Aaron Bennett

Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Today, you are in for a major gift of encouragement. When God transforms a life, He does not take shortcuts; He does not pick and choose whom He transforms; He is only looking for a surrendered heart that knows that without Him, we have no hope.

I met Aaron the first time on video. I am blessed to attend a church that celebrates the work that God is doing in the lives of people. I watched a video that Aaron, the tech team, had put together.

Today, you are going to meet Aaron Bennett. God is blessing him and his wife, Deb, in so many ways. Our local church is so blessed to have them “All In” with our church.

Aaron Bennett has done many things in his career: a Professional Baseball player, a construction worker, a Club Manager, and now a Sales leader. Ultimately, none of that is important. Today, we are going to meet a man who was far from God – brought back to Father God – and now, as hard as he was running away from God, he and his wonderful Bride, Deb, are investing deeply in the cause of Christ. Here is what Aaron would say: I can come to Christ and be transformed; anyone can!!

Parents, if you have children far from God, be encouraged today. God is working in their lives – pray that they will respond to Him.

Spouses, if you have a spouse who has wandered from God, be encouraged today. God is working in their lives to bring them back to themselves and to you. Pray that they will respond to the working of God in their life.

If you have a brother or sister who is far from God, never, ever give up. God is working to bring them back to Himself.

What did Aaron’s mother do? Follow her example: Pray with passion and power to release the Holy Spirit into their lives. Love them like their eternity depends on it, for it does. Accept them back, like the father of the prodigal son did.

“While we were sinners, Christ died for us”, Romans 5:8

If you want to connect with Aaron Bennett directly, reach out to bennett.aaron1@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/

#91 – Creating a Spiritual Family Legacy

Guest: Don Paterson

Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

We have all heard of families whose Christian faith points back many generations. We as men, fathers in our families, want this to extend to our kids, their kids, and keep going to even future generations. Psalm 78:1-7, starting in verse 5, says this: “He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them, even the children yet to be born.”

Our guest today will walk us through what he has done to do just this with his family. He has 3 boys and 5 grandchildren. All of whom are Christ followers.

Creating a Spiritual legacy for your family starts with us as men. The basic premise is that our wives want us to be the spiritual leaders of our family. Our wives may be more biblically literate, spend more time in prayer and Bible reading than we do, and we may feel very insecure in our spiritual journey when it comes to Spiritual leadership. Despite any reasons why you, as a man, are insecure in this process, it is our role to simply take initiative to ensure these processes are happening in your family. It has the potential to change your family for generations to come.

As we think about what we, as men, can do to initiate this process, let’s look at a few practical steps:

1. Your personal relationship with God becomes a very high priority.
2. You and your wife should find time and ways to pray and study the Word together.
3. It is important for your family to pray together, beyond the prayer at meal time.
4. Ask your family questions around the dinner table, like “Where did you see God working today”?
5. Tribal stories – family stories where you have seen God intervene in a spiritual context. Tell and retell these stories to future generations.

If you want to connect with Don Paterson directly, reach out via email: donp0018@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/

#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/

#87 – Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Friend or Foe?

Guest: Tristan Johnson

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Today, we hear so much about Artificial Intelligence. There are strong opinions from both sides of the belief system regarding AI. Today we are going to jump into the discussion: AI – Friend or Foe??

Tristan is a devout believer, a ministry to men ministry leader, an entrepreneur, and a business leader who uses AI not only in his business, but also in his local ministry. In full disclosure, Tristan has blessed our ministry with taking some of the books that our Founder, Dr. Jim Grassi, has written, and is in the process of helping MMC create small group study guides that local churches will use with their men’s groups.

We started the conversation with Tristan on the basics. Some will remember the great Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Football coach, who started every football camp with his professional football players holding up a football and simply said: “This is a football”.

You will want to listen hear Tristan discuss what AI is and equally importantly, what AI is not. He was also very clear on the advantages of using AI and some guardrails to keep in mind as you are moving forward.

If you are considering using AI in either your business or your ministry, Tristan Johnson would certainly be someone who could help you sort through any of your questions or concerns.

Please enjoy the conversation with Tristan.

If you want to connect with Tristan Johnson directly: tristan@tristanjohnson.org

https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/

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/

#86 – Building Noble Warriors

Guest: Mike Young

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

As the man goes, so goes the church. As the church goes, so goes the culture.

Our guest today is Mike Young. He is the Founder of Noble Warriors, has a passion to see men grow, serve and lead as godly men… Noble Warriors even. He especially wants to see this in his three sons and the man that he hopes his daughter will someday marry.

He is a member of the National Coalition of Ministries to Men (and served as President for 3 years), as well as a member of the Iron Sharpens Iron Network and the Fatherhood CoMission.

Mike and his beautiful wife, Stacy, have three sons (Tim, who is married to Caroline, Zach, Ben) and a daughter (Hannah).

Mike has many tools on his website that you will want to check out. We would also encourage you to review his video series on “5 Keys to Effective Discipleship” that he is making available to you at no cost.

He mentions keys like Prayer and Building a team. You will want to listen to these videos to get the details on these two and the other three keys.

Mike is offering his “5 Keys to Effective Men’s Discipleship” to anyone who would like it: 5 Keys to Effective Men’s Discipleship

If you want to connect with Mike Young, or with Noble Warriors:

https://noblewarriors.org

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/