Influencers Weekly Devotional

Influencers Weekly Devotional

Report from California

We’re giving Rocky a few weeks off from his Abiding with ME series to refresh himself, which gives us a great opportunity to share with you a report from California. The newly formed Cabinet, Greg Huett, Evans Rector, Frank Khalil, Mark Sewell and me, travelled with Rocky to California this past week to meet with the leaders of Influencers West. We wanted to better understand how God is using The Journey in other parts of the country, as we pray about expanding Influencers in new cities. It is too easy for us to view Influencers and The Journey through our view of the parade in N.W. Arkansas and Oklahoma. Likewise, we discovered that our California brothers were encouraged to hear our stories of how God is using Influencers back home. Wherever you are reading this report, you need to know you are part of a major move of God which is reaching men all over the world! However, we definitely witnessed some things which all regions should consider as they minister to men. First, we joined Pete McKenzie, Bill Kauble, Thad Montgomery and Gary Schrey and their Band of Brothers in Orange County. We got the pleasure of participating in one of their weekly times of gathering men early in the morning for prayer, praise and encouragement. They meet at 6:00-8:00 a.m. for Prayer, followed by a larger gathering of men for some praise music, some announcements about upcoming events and Journey groups and an encouraging message by Pete. They meet in a church in their Fellowship Hall and every seat was filled, about 200 men. The love and support and community we witnessed seemed to really fill a need in men. Journey Groups are their primary discipleship tool, but they believe in connecting the larger group of men on a consistent basis. It was amazing that so many men would get up that early every week for this event. They do this in Irvine every Friday and in Fullerton on Wednesdays. Second, we drove to Forest Home retreat center in the San Bernadino Mountains for the Band of Brothers annual retreat. The theme was “Run to the Battle Line”, and 170 men chose to participate. The whole retreat took place in a 24 hour time period, but God packed an unreal amount of spiritual treasure within this short amount of time. It became evident that our brothers in California, like us back in the South, are enduring some very difficult battles. One of the highlights of the retreat was when Pete asked the men to write themselves a Letter from God. Then, he asked men to come up and share their letters. Whereas Pete thought only a few would come up, a long line of brothers waited to share their hearts and the words they heard God say to them. It was a powerful time of healing and restoration. The love and the bond amongst the men was supernatural and inspiring to all of us. After leaving this very special event, our next stop was Bakersfield. This is an area where Journey Groups have exploded. Now, a book could probably be written about the move of God in this small oiltown in Central California, but I will give you a brief synopsis here. Les Pearsey, an elder in a small, young church, decided that they needed something for the men about 4 years ago. He gathered a small group of leaders and asked each of them to invite 5 men to a kick-off retreat at a Ranch outside Bakersfield. Forty-two men came to this first event, and Pete McKenzie came to give them his “Man of God” message. There is a very special place on a high hill above the ranch property where a cross has been placed. God met these men “on the hill” and a move of God was birthed. This led to those 42 men reaching out to others for another retreat and then another. They found hundreds of men in Bakersfield hungry to become the spiritual leaders of their homes, men who were being set free from their past and finding a home in the brotherhood of Christ. They next decided to have a monthly event that would be a non-threatening place for their men to bring friends and reach new men. An older, new believer opened his beautiful, large home. A small group of men stepped up to cook an incredible meal. A couple of praise songs were sung, a testimony was given and men felt part of something very special. We attended one of these monthly dinners where we saw 250 men flock into this event. In all my years of participating and leading men’s ministry, I have never seen anything like it. A large percentage of the men we saw were FIRST-TIME participants. It was only after they had established a large group of men who attended these retreats and these monthly dinners that they found The Journey. They soon realized they needed to disciple all of these new believers and these men who were ready to change. The Journey proved to be the perfect tool. However, they do it a little different. Pay attention Tulsa and Arkansas! They meet every Friday at 6:00 a.m. EVERYONE in all their Journey Groups meet together. They have 2 Praise songs, a 5 minute “Nugget”, which is a brief devotional related to the material, and then, the men split up and go to their individual Journey Groups. They meet until about 7:15 a.m. and dismiss the men. They meet WEEKLY, so they only do a ½ Session each week. They believed it should be weekly, as to make it easy for men to remember and to keep them on pace each week. They also like to keep everybody in all the groups on the same schedule to keep everyone connected. This is SO different from the way we’ve used Journey Groups in every other city, but all I can say is this: IT IS WORKING IN BAKERSFIELD! These men are on fire, and they are making a major impact on the men of their church and the whole community. Men from many other churches in the city are beginning to take notice and are joining this move of God. We were blessed to witness this and to know that The Journey was a key part of the transformation in men’s lives. OBSERVATIONS: Though we know The Journey is anointed and has blessed and transformed many men in Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas and other places, there have been two lingering questions after 10 years of history. 1. What about the guys who aren’t ready to commit to The Journey? 2. What about the guys who go through The Journey, but decide not to lead a group or be a part of a group? Influencers West has solved this issue with their consistent Gatherings. Orange County has the weekly meetings. Bakersfield has the monthly meetings, as well as the weekly gatherings before Journey Group meetings. All of this serves to keep men connected before, during and after the Journey. The other element I noticed was a commitment to Prayer. The time of Prayer at Orange County’s weekly gathering was very powerful. Even at the weekend retreat, they carved significant time for Prayer. In Bakersfield, Les called on men at spontaneous times throughout our time together, asking them to pray about specific things. Both groups understand the power of Prayer. No wonder God is blessing their efforts and sending them men. All in all, we were very encouraged at what we saw in California. It affirmed in us the importance of The Journey and Influencers. It also convinced us of the importance of gathering the larger community of Journey guys, as well as providing a place to bring guys who may not be ready for The Journey. “No Man Left Behind” has been a rally cry in Tulsa, and I believe this statement captures the sentiment of our entire ministry. In the next few weeks, you’ll hear from Evans Rector and Pete McKenzie as they share their perspectives of this move of God we call Influencers. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25 Thanks to all you Men of God in California for your love, your hospitality and for being Influencers in your world! In Christ’s name and for His glory, Bryan Craig Tulsa, OK