We Came to Him and He Blessed Us By Bryan Craig
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Well, you’ve heard us rallying the troops for our International Summit for quite some time now, and many of you have been praying with us about it, asking God to have His way with us and take us where we needed to go. Our theme was, “Come to Me,” based on Matthew 11:28-30, quoted above. I will use that verse to tell you that GOD ANSWERED OUR PRAYERS!
We were hearing from the Holy Spirit that many men, some brand new to this ministry and some who were seasoned veterans, were carrying heavy burdens. For many of these men, it was hindering their abiding fellowship with the Holy Spirit and the ministry He wanted to do through them. Many were feeling stuck, depressed, confused, even in the Dark Night of the Soul. The Lord knew! These burdens were made lighter by other men as they helped carry them, but in most cases, they were removed as men gave the burdens to the Lord. Men received peace, joy, love, hope and REST.
The newfound lightness gave the men extra energy and exuberance to join Jesus in His yoke, His mission for the world, learning from Him through His Spirit in gentleness, humility, and repentance. Jesus was a man destined for death, so to join Him on His mission, it means certain death, but in the release of the burdens, there was also a death to the Old Man, to the old perspectives, to the old sins, to the old hindrances. And just like Jesus, there was a resurrection into new Life.
And it was men from all over the world. The International presence of the men from Rwanda, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala truly blew everyone away. But it was also a reminder that the need for an intimate, abiding relationship with Christ is universal. These men get it, and they, just like us in the U.S., have a heart for discipleship of the people in their home countries and culture. During one of our international discussions, we had a closing prayer in Spanish, Kinyarwandan, French, Nigerian and English. Amazing!
In one special session, we got to introduce the men to our Movie project, with a teaser video and a panel discussion with Brian Bird, our screenwriter and co-Producer, Kevin Ernst, our Development Producer and Sach Oliver, Chairman of Journey Feature Films. It was fun, enlightening and created quite a buzz among the men. If anyone had doubts about our involvement in this movie project, I think they were put to rest. They caught the same vison we have been seeing. And there was a collective sense of awe and responsibility over the task of making sure the moviegoers are going to be able to find Journey groups.
It truly was an amazing weekend. Rocky commented that it was surreal. The Holy Spirit used the worship music, so wonderfully led by Zach Hedges, Nathan Roten, Evan O’Dell, Irving Atrixco, Drew Smithers and Stephen Cummings. He used our speakers, Josh Sherley, Nate Sweeney, Rocky Fleming, Frank Khalil and Henry Gutierrez. He used our Equipping Seminar leaders, each with a different gift and perspective of expressions of our ministry. He used our Prayer Medics and Group Leaders to be His servants to give their lives away last weekend on behalf of others. And we had such a great team of godly, servant leaders on our Summit planning committee. Special thanks to Kyle Neely, Mike Hearne, Dave Eichinger, Michael Daoust, Scott Lawson, Dave Roberts, Andy Collar, Bob Markoski, Paul Holzmer, David Welton, Lyle Pettijohn, Josh Sherley and Eric Pate.
So, for all who attended, God Bless You, and we will be praying for you as you head back into the spiritual battlefield. For all the rest, we missed you. Thank you for praying for this.
And MARK YOUR CALENDARS for the next Influencers Men’s International Summit.
April 23-26, 2026
Hume Lake, California
Also, we will be providing access to some of the talks and content from this weekend in the coming weeks, so be on the lookout for it. And to see some of the pictures men took, go to our Influencers Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=InfluencersGlobalMinistries&set=a.817275340445415