Category: Basic Training

Another of the foundations for my God Buddy concept was understanding God’s design for masculinity, which came from a study I attended called The Quest for Authentic Manhood.  I was invited to attend The Quest by another guy in my neighborhood who also worshiped at my local church at the time. Rick participated in the first week of series at another church the previous week and was so excited that he even offered to pick me up! The thought of learning about manhood based on the model of Jesus Christ and the Word of God was very intriguing to me so — despite not looking forward to starting at 6:00 am each Wednesday morning during the winter, I joined Rick for what became an in-depth look up into the biblical model for manhood.   About Men’s Fraternity and The Quest Men’s Fraternity is the original curriculum authored by Dr. Robert Lewis,

In this current series of posts about some of the foundations in the development of my God Buddy concept, I included my recognition for the need to read and study to become a more godly man. Another book I read early on was John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart which helped me understand God’s design for my manhood. While Eldridge’s book has been positively reviewed for its influence on Christian men, it has also been soundly critiqued for stereotypes of masculinity and femininity in a way that some consider incomplete, culturally dictated, and old-fashioned. Personally, I found the book confirmed what I was beginning to see and read about: there is growing confusion about manhood and a trend in men becoming more passive, passionless, and even culturally neutered in some regards. After reading articles about the “decline of men” and the “wounded male psyche”, I felt Eldridge’s book rightfully describes the

This current series of posts about some foundational aspects that helped me develop this God Buddy concept started with my favorite Bible verse (Proverbs 27:17): “As I Iron sharpens iron, so one man shall sharpen another”. I also wrote about recognizing the need to increase my reading and studying to learn about becoming a better man, husband, and father and thus more godly man. Another important step in my growth as a godly man was attending a Christian men’s conference called PromiseKeepers. In the fall of 2002, a group of men from our church drove to St. Louis for one of the PK stadium events. PromiseKeepers is an organization dedicated to introducing men to Jesus Christ to help them grow as Christians based on Seven Promises that I will outline later in this post. But first, let me provide some background on the PromiseKeepers movement so you understand its impact.