Dear Friends,
We were in the drive thru line at Starbucks listening to my ipod when Ryan shouted from the back, “My theme song is AC/Dc’s 'Highway to Hell’.” Curious I replied, “Well now that you are hanging with us it is Guns 'N Roses', ‘Knockin on Heavens Door’.” Ryan has spent most of the summer at our house and numerous mornings we have found him crashed on our couch or in James’ bunk bed.
A week later Ryan approached me with a question, “Hey I want to be baptized so that my life stands for something.” Again I responded, “First you need to stand for something and then we will baptize you.” One day later my oldest son James led him to Christ and he was baptized that night! His new theme song is Pillars “Shine.” The chorus goes something like this: “Whoa, Heaven let your light shine down on me. Let it Shine.”
A young man who was on the highway to hell answered Heaven’s knock and is now ready to shine for the King! Ryan is on his way to becoming a man. I LOVE IT!
This summer has been a learning curve with our 18 men who are journeying with me in the Great Hunt for God Inc. As Oregon’s short summer ripped men out of their routines in order to take advantage of the sun with their families, our meetings were poorly attended. Men, deeply committed to our vision were forced to work longs hours in harvest as farmers, wake up fro work at 2:30 Am and Timber Company Owners and spent time on family vacations as spiritual leaders. We changed the meeting day to compensate for these things, but we continue to struggle with attendance through the summer. Summer, coupled with the fact that we have only been together since January of 2011 compelled us to moved our launch date several months back
We look at life though American, fast-paced lenses, which is quite different than the culture in which Jesus ministered. To our eyes Jesus' methods seem slow and small, but over 2000 years later it remains and flourishes unlike many of the Dot Com companies we saw come to power in the nineties. Using Robert E. Coleman’s book, The Master Plan of Evangelism as our model of Jesus’ style of leadership has opened my eyes to see that our ways are far from the ways of Christ. I have been with the 18 men less than a year and I am learning (on the fly) that if we are going to build our lives together we need more time; even if our American mindset wants to go for it. Jesus was with his guys for three years and he still lost one so who am I to say I need less time with more men than Jesus! It is ludicrous to think so.
The good news is that our board is fully in place and we are ready to sign papers any day now. Our board members are: Ben “BJ” Sullivan (McMinnville, Or.), Matthew Smith (Bend, Or.), Kerrie Palmer (McMinnville, Or.), Gary McCusker (Parker, Colorado), and yours truly.
I am now on Twitter so you can follow me as “JimWRamos”. I post a daily man quote, blog update, and prayer for men of a different country, and state. I think it is a valuable tool for men.
Please continue to pray for an opportunity I have at the end of the month as I fly into Denver, Colorado to speak at a men's conference from September 30 to October 2. They are seeking more than a weekend high and are looking for a long term connection to each other. I will also be meeting with key men from this group in hopes of launching The GH4G. There I have a fly fishing meeting with a man who is deeply connected to The Promise Keepers movement so pray that God does some cool things through that conversation, and that I catch fish!
Inspiring Men to Be One,
Jim
