Launching Year Five at Living Word    

It's hard to believe but we are in our 5th year of Men's Fraternity at Living Word Community Church.  Being able to touch the lives of men and help them enter into a real relationship with Christ.  We are in our 3rd week and we have 80 men engaged.  As in past years we are offering the sessions on Wednesday morning at 6 AM and Thursday nights at 7:30 PM.   Most of our men come from Living Word Community Church, but we welcome men from outside Living Word.

        We are offering  the foundational Quest for Authentic Manhood. This course lays the groundwork for men to get a clear understanding of how God sees manhood and how we need to live as men.  We provide a large group session where we watch a video of Robert Lewis presenting the concepts for the day and then we break into small groups to answer a couple of questions.

      We are also pleased to announce that we are offering the popular Winning at Work and Home.  Men's Frat brothers Bill and Ed will be presenting a combination of the Robert Lewis video as well as their own observations and experiences relating to being and authentic man in the work place as well as with your family.  They have a great perspective on this journey we are on and you won't want to miss their timely and interesting perspectives.


      Come and join us and bring a friend with you.

Die to Self

The past two weeks at Living Word Community Church have had some powerful messages entitled "The Cost of Following".  Last week Pastor Brian challenged us with 'Cost of Following Jesus' and this week Pastor Steve talked about the 'Cost of Love'.  It sure sounded a lot like the Men's Fraternity material "Living At Work and Home".  The theme of 'Die to Self' is a strong one and as a man it is one that I am not always very good at. 

The two items Steve nailed to the cross that I struggle with the most are my time and my convenience.  I want to control the circumstances of my giving and my sacrifice.  I don't want to get stretched beyond what I think is appropriate.  My attitude can go south pretty quickly and I start to feel sorry for myself, I am giving so much, sacrificing all that I am and either they want more than I want to give or don't appreciate the fact that I am giving what I am.  Have you ever had those thoughts?  You work hard to provide for your family and use that to justify the fact that you are tired when you get home and don't want to engage with your wife or kids.  That's when your time and convenience truly become a real sacrifice.  A sacrifice for others like Pastor Brian preached, a sacrifice, an inconvenience, a bother, a pain and yet isn't God calling us to do that for others.  It really isn't about me, it IS about my family, my wife and others around me. 

Think about it.  How are you sacrificing and is it a grudging sacrifice or a willing sacrifice? 

The Storms of Life

Hurricane Irene is pummeling the east coast this weekend.  It has been a long time since we have had a storm of this magnitude and devastation.  Wind and rain are not that uncommon in central Pennsylvania.  They come and go, in some cases do some damage but it is usually isolated and seldom devastating.  But in the case of a hurricane it is widespread and massive.  This storm will likely cost billions of dollars all in a matter of about 48 hours. 

Not unlike our lives.  We go along and have our challenges and difficulties, the struggles that make things hard but we manage to get along.  Occasionally there is the really tough storm that knocks us down and it is pretty hard to get back up.  The Quest for Authentic Manhood helps us recover from the "Irenes" of life.  If you haven't been part of Men's Frat this might be the year to get involved.  Check us out.

Launching Men's Fraternity 2011-2012

This past year has gone by so fast.  We are in the final days of summer with it's vacations at the shore, mountains or other exotic places.  These past few weeks have been highlighted by the first earthquake in York in many years and Hurricane Irene which is bearing down on us as I write this.  All that being said we are about to launch year number four of Men's Fraternity at Living Word Community Church.  This year we will be have the Quest for Authentic Manhood again and introducing the third course in the Men's Fraternity series, The Great Adventure. 

Both courses will be available beginning September 14th at 6 AM and September 15th at 7:00 PM.  The format will be just as it has been with a larger group presentation followed by small group interaction.  The best part of Men's Frat is that we experience that we are not the only one's on the journey.  There are a number of other guys who are experiencing the same life challenges that we are.  Check out the Living Word website for more information and better yet, click on the registration link.  It's going to be another great year.

We Are Marshall

We are on a trip to Nashville to see our daughter Mechele and her husband Mike.  We have three of our grandkids with us which is always a blessing.  We decided to take the 13 hour drive from York in our mini-van and took the West Virginia/Kentucky route.  This is a route I had not taken before and was surprised to drive through Huntington, West Virginia which is the home of Marshall University.  That brought back memories of our July leadership retreat at the "DeRemer Retreat Center".


Seeing the community that had gone through so much trauma back in the 1970's.  The football program was a key aspect of their community, everyone was focused on the team and it was an important identifier and image for them.  Almost the whole team and the coach, athletic director, major supporters etc, were all killed in a plane crash.  It devastated the community but they rallied together and created a new team to support out of the ashes.  It was a great reminder of a couple of things, 1) how tragedy, even though difficult and challenging, can bring out incredible things in a community or a person, 2)  how we need each other to make it through the hard things in life, and 3) it takes vision and focusing on the greater transcendent cause to make that difference.

Men's Fraternity is very much like that.  Even though we, thankfully have not gone through a tragedy like Marshall University has we are all going through our own challenges.  As brothers we need to work together and to support each other and to live the four pillars of manhood. 1) reject passivity, 2) accept responsibility, 3) lead courageously, and 4) expect God's greater reward. That's what Men's Frat is all about.  Looking forward to a great year.

Registration Starts for Men's Fraternity

This morning at Living Word the 2010-11 registration process began. There are a number of ministries that are available for both small and mid sized groups. We have about 20 men who have already signed up and there is room for a lot more.

Make sure that as you register if there is someone you would like to have in your small group, make sure that you put their name(s). If you have some men you know would benefit from what we offer in Men's Fraternity, make it a point to invite them to join you either Wednesday morning or Thursday evening. It may be one of the best invitations you have ever made.

Here is the link for registration through the church website   http://www.lwccyork.com/events/menu.asp

2010-2011 Core Competencies

The leadership team just finalized our core competency events for this next year.  We also put dates on those events that will be finalized in the weeks to come.  For you planning purposes here they are


1) Men's Fraternity Participants Spouse Orientation - October 14, 2010.  This will be an opportunity for spouses to find out what Men's Frat is about and what their husband is involved in on either Wednesday morning or Thursday night

2) Core Team Spouse Orientation - November 10, 2010.  This will be a chance for both a social gathering to get to know each other better and a chance to share with them what we do as a core team for Men's Frat

3) Winter Retreat - January 7-8, 2011 - This event is designed to update our direction and purpose for the rest of the Men's Frat year.  It also provides the chance to bond together and assess how the first half of the year went

4) Commissioning Ceremony - April 7, 2011.  This is an important part where we recognize the completion of Men's Fraternity.  It is a celebration and acknowledgment of what God is doing in Men's Frat for this year.

5) Core Team Summer Retreat - July 15-17, 2011.  This is a critical event that all members of the leadership team need to participate in.  This is the time that we focus on the next year and what God has for us.  The interaction with each of the leaders is critical and allows us to step up as a group to whatever God has for us this next year.

There are a number of items that are not listed that we have historically done as a ministry. That does not mean that we will not be doing those items it only means that they will not be the emphasis of the core team.  It is hoped that a group of men will step up and make sure that these events continue.  The core team will not be 'expected' to be at these events but certainly encouraged to be there.  We will be doing more work on those items in the weeks and months to come.