jonesy

I had received some awesome encouragement during men’s group and wanted to give an old-fashioned praise report.  We were discussing Job and as we tend to get sometimes intense and not always careful on our volume.  A man walked up and asked if we had an open chair to which few of answered, yes.  He introduced himself as Frank and explained that his family was in the car, but wanted to join us and asked the time and interval we met.  It was really encouraging to have some confirmation that this group could have a positive influence on others, but also that our often loud moments discussing scripture where not offensive.

My old men’s group got back together for the first time in 11 months on Saturday, August 15^th after I stepped down from leadership of the group.  We decided to meet at the location where the group was meeting 5 years ago when I first joined, Panera Bread in Oswego.  It was an encouraging seeing 10 of the 15 guys I invited showed up to get this started once again.  This group of men has been through ups and downs and has come back together as though we were always there and had never stopped. I realized this group had really become more than a bunch of guys who meet to discuss the topic of the week or because a church encouraged us to meet regularly to experience community.  We are a group of men from many different churches, if we attend at all, that has and is experiencing real community and not a pulpit buzzword. We have actually grown into each other’s lives and dare I say it have grown to be brothers.

I am looking forward to the early Saturday mornings, once again.