00;00;14;00 – 00;00;39;07
Wendell
Welcome to Act Like Men, the Men’s Leadership Podcast. This is number one. The maiden voyage, if you will. This is a podcast designed to be a resource to pastors ministry leaders as they build out an engaging ministry with their men. Why do we do this? Because every man deserves an opportunity to become an authentic, biblically based man of God.

00;00;40;14 – 00;01;04;16
Wendell
Act Like Men Podcast is sponsored by Men’s Ministry Catalyst a ministry. It has 41st year and designed to do exactly what we just said. Guide Churches, Guide Church leadership as they build an engaging ministry with their men. Good day, everyone. My name is Wendell Martin. I am the executive director of Men’s Ministry Catalyst. It’s so great to have you join us here today.

00;01;05;05 – 00;01;09;01
Wendell
I want to introduce you to my co-host, Dale Yuri. Dale, welcome.

00;01;09;11 – 00;01;10;07
Dale
Good to be with you.

00;01;10;24 – 00;01;19;01
Wendell
So we have an interesting topic today and our maiden voyage is why this podcast, there’s so many good podcasts already available.

00;01;19;19 – 00;01;42;19
Dale
You know, that’s true. And in this myriad of all of these different options out there, the question is, why is it that we find that men struggle more than ever before? You know, the reality is that Christian men are much different sometimes from their non-Christian friends. And I think that’s why it’s important to put some information out that will help guys truly act like men.

00;01;43;03 – 00;02;06;01
Wendell
It’s great. It’s a tough reality, though, Dale, as you just mentioned, let me just run through a few statistics on men. 95% of men say they do not have a close male friend. That’s nine and a half out of ten. And you don’t have everything. Call it two in the morning, the older two in the morning adage, men commit suicide four times higher than do women.

00;02;06;10 – 00;02;15;05
Wendell
93% of all people incarcerated are men. 85% of those have no father figure in their life.

00;02;15;10 – 00;02;16;17
Dale
That’s very telling.

00;02;17;12 – 00;02;54;04
Wendell
It is. And that’s a scary one right there. OK, let’s go to the church for a minute. Fewer than 1% of males participate in church ministries to men. Fewer than 10% of churches sustain a vibrant ministry with their men. Back to the suicide for a minute. 63% of youth suicides come from fatherless homes. So the sum total of all this absentee fathers have been identified as one of the most significant family or social problems facing America today.

00;02;54;14 – 00;03;20;26
Dale
You know, Wendell, if we were able to address at least one of those problems, we could make a dent in this issue. And the problem But we’re looking at all of these holistically because I think they all contribute or at least are connected and solving the problem by giving men a biblical example of what manhood should look like is so important, so key, because I think it’s been lost in our culture.

00;03;21;12 – 00;03;45;10
Wendell
It has to that’s that’s perfect. The purpose of what we’re trying to do here in this podcast, and that’s really the whole purpose of this podcast, is to establish why we’re doing what we’re doing is to address some of these issues that we just raised and to help churches and guide them through their process. It’s a resource as they build out an engaging ministry with their men.

00;03;45;21 – 00;04;15;29
Wendell
Yes, because you got to go back to our foundational statement. We’re doing this because every man deserves an operates ability to become an US centric, biblically based man of God. Hey man, we’re not 41st year and realize that we cannot and more importantly, should not build a ministry outside of the local church. Missouri’s chocolate has made a strong commitment to resource churches who build an engaging ministry to their men.

00;04;16;22 – 00;04;25;16
Wendell
We have a wealth of experience and a lot of resources that the leaders of many of these churches can make use of as they move forward.

00;04;25;28 – 00;04;44;11
Dale
You know, Wendell, I think obviously there’s like we talked about this myriad of different options that are out there. But what do you feel? What are some of the most effective resources that a men’s ministry leader or even a church could bring in to help their church have a vibrant men’s ministry?

00;04;44;24 – 00;05;06;06
Wendell
Great question, Dale. Where do I start? Right. Yes. The founder of this ministry has written seven teen books. He just finished his eighth book to be published early in the fall. But there are four of those that are real that are a real asset to a local church. Let me tell you about one of them that then I’ll give one other idea as well.

00;05;07;02 – 00;05;37;17
Wendell
The book is called The Spiritual Mentor. It’s the foundation of Why We Do What We Do. Matthew for 19 is the story of Andrew who met Jesus. And then he brought three more people to him. It’s the come and see and then it’s bring others. And that’s truly what spiritual mentorship is. It makes a case for administrative men to focus on creating a path for young men to become disciples of Christ, which in effect is a spiritual mentor.

00;05;38;10 – 00;06;01;13
Wendell
A mentor is used all around the country. It’s used in corporate America. It’s used in non-profits to try to replicate what what is happening in your life into the life of others and help lift them up So that’s really the whole purpose of this is to to allow that process to occur. Well, Jesus loves the Earth in Matthew Taylor.

00;06;01;14 – 00;06;28;21
Wendell
He said this go into all the world. And make disciples again. That’s what’s meant by spiritual mentoring. Mentoring is common. And it’s one man mentoring another in the things of spiritual maturity. This book is foundational for how we support churches. There is one other thing that is extremely important business for catalysts as a six step engagement process that we work with our churches.

00;06;29;06 – 00;06;54;22
Wendell
The assessment step is step number three. Many times churches plan out these wonderful programs filled with groups, breakfast events but often these events don’t tie together, and often they don’t meet the needs of the guys where they are today. So the assessment gives your leadership a chance to see where men say they are, which is important as you’re trying to move them forward.

00;06;55;03 – 00;07;20;15
Wendell
Where men say they are not where you think they are it also allows them to give you insight into challenges they’re facing, where they see themselves spiritually and where they wish to grow. And the last part is it gives you a social perspective so you can see what their interests are. Because when a man is interested socially, he’ll bring his buddies, which is back to Andrew Matthew for.

00;07;21;13 – 00;07;27;10
Wendell
Matt Jesus brought others with him, which is really the bottom line of what we’re trying to do.

00;07;27;27 – 00;07;51;08
Dale
Well, you know, that’s a clear it’s a clear thing that obviously gives us not only a desire for it, but I think you’ve hit on the really key point here You’ve got to know where you’re beginning this journey, you know where you are and get a clear, true status. It’s like anything else. If you walk in and you have your assessment is wrong, you’ll begin in the wrong place or possibly lose some traction early on.

00;07;51;23 – 00;08;12;25
Dale
But finding out where that core starting part, just like any journey and a G.P.S. system that we all use today, the first thing is finding out where I am right now so that I can get to where I need to go. But, Wendell, here’s a key question for you. How do you plan to communicate that this platform is available to pastors and men’s leaders?

00;08;13;22 – 00;08;41;14
Wendell
Great question, Dale. Right now, there are three ideas that we have. One is this Mr. Collins does have a church database. So we’ve been working with over the building him for the last 41 years. Well, communicate that to them personally. And that is our starting point. So is a large number of people on that. Secondly, we do have leadership training which will share this information as well.

00;08;42;02 – 00;09;01;25
Wendell
And the most recent one we did, I there were maybe two or three out of 35 people who were not interested in the podcast. The rest of them said, absolutely, send it. And then the third one is it is we have guests on the program. They have their own platform that could help us get out the message as well.

00;09;02;15 – 00;09;19;12
Wendell
Listen, we know it’s going to take time. We’re not going to move from last to first and listenership in a short period of time. But we have time and we have consistency And those are the two items that we’re going to continue to bring out every week.

00;09;19;22 – 00;09;36;28
Dale
Well, the message is clear, and our target is identified. And I think we’ve got some strategies for not only how we can help and lead those that are leaders of men right now, but how we can give them options and increase their capacity to lead even better in the future.

00;09;37;12 – 00;09;58;06
Wendell
Well, thank you, Jill, for taking on the job of co-hosting with me as we begin this journey. With your background as the military and then business as a pastor and now as a hospice chaplain, I think you’ll have some very unique insights. And I know I’ll benefit from personally and I know I am guaranteeing that our listeners will as well.

00;09;59;10 – 00;10;18;00
Wendell
Now, for the next two episodes, we have our founder, Dr. Jim Grassi, founder and president of Mid-Semester Catalysts, with us on this podcast. He’ll provide some history on the ministry. And we’ll also talk about where men are today, what he has seen to be effective over the years and what he sees for the future.

00;10;18;16 – 00;10;50;16
Dale
You know, I’m I’m excited to hear from Jim again. And as I got to know Jim and read some of his material, heard him speak, but even more heard his heart for how to be a good disciple maker or to be a good disciple or a mentor. I’m encouraged because I’m I think he’s he’s held down this ministry for 41 years and he’s still very much is at the heart of what Men’s Ministry catalyst will be able to accomplish even in the decades to come should the Lord Terry.

00;10;50;23 – 00;10;54;04
Dale
But I’m looking forward to being with Jim in these next couple broadcasts.

00;10;54;19 – 00;11;18;03
Wendell
I have as well. He has a lot of great insight. He’s a man of a lot of passion. And he continues to have clear insight as to our direction. So I like that. I’m looking forward to it as well. Well, Dale, it’s a humbling honor to be able to participate in something that God wants to use to impact the lives of men and for generations to come.

00;11;18;28 – 00;11;37;27
Wendell
Now, much of the material we’re going to go through has been authored by the founder who will be here in the next two episodes. And we want to always give credit where credit is due. If you go to our website, which is Men’s Ministry, Catalyst, dot org, forward slash resources, you can find much of what we’re going to be talking about in the future.

00;11;38;19 – 00;12;05;12
Wendell
Just a reminder, episodes are launched on the first and third Thursdays of every month. If you have not yet subscribe to this disorder website prior to each episode, we’re going to release notes to go with it as well. Thank you for joining You are the reason we exist. We do all of this for pastors and leaders because every man deserves an opportunity to become an authentic, biblically based man of God.