Year End Letter – 2019

As we approach this holiday season let me encourage you to pause from your busy schedules and enjoy this special time of the year. Take time to reminisce with family and friends and be thankful for all of God’s blessings. It is also a time to ponder the greatest miracle of all: the birth of our Savior and Lord—Jesus Christ. We pray you will have a wonderful and blessed Christmas season.

It is also a time to reflect on God’s promises to: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Dt.31:6) We need to claim this promise because our culture is now poised to witness a fight between freedom of religion and those obsessed with promoting cultural changes that will shake the very core of our Christian heritage. Many are worried about what’s ahead for America. But we know where our hope comes from and God’s Word assures us that He is our strength and comfort.

This year has been one of the most dynamic and exciting years in our thirty-nine-year history. Thank you for your prayers and support and standing with us. We could not do the things God places in our path without you and the power of the Holy Spirit. We share this year-end update in keeping with Revelation 1:19: “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”

Church on the Water

Among the many amazing ministry opportunities God gave us in 2019, this summer we had the privilege of providing an innovative program to help develop a new model for pastors on how to reach the un-churched in their communities. The program is called Church on the Water. A vision for such a program has been on my heart ever since God relocated us to Northern Idaho. We held eight services at Willow Club Marina located on the popular Pend Oreille River. We marketed the Sunday service to the community by placing a few flyers at marinas, an article in the local paper, and posters at local cafes.

The MMC exit surveys given to the participants provided some interesting information:

• Approximately 50-60 people from a variety of backgrounds attended each service gaining access to the marina on jet skis, ski boats, fishing boats, and several local campers.
• Thirty-seven percent of the attendees were unchurched.
• Eighteen people either accepted Jesus as their Savior for the first time or rededicated their lives to following our Lord.
• Eight people asked to be baptized in the river following one of our services.
• Approximately 20-25% of the people drove over an hour to visit the area and attend the service. Some heard about it from our Man Up Radio Program.
• A majority indicated they appreciated the direct message from the Word of God and the loving encouragement they received from the MMC Team.

Jamie’s Story

Jamie is a waitress at the Willow Club Marina café (Fat Bass) when we delivered our messages during the summer. She had come from a background that involved some drug usage and the resulting poor decisions that can happen with a confused mind.

Jamie is a single-parent mom who is trying to raise a nine-month-old toddler and a three-year-old. Both little boys desire the affirmation and affection of a father. Unfortunately, their father is in jail awaiting sentencing for drug-related issues. His bad decisions of the past had consequences that have impacted his life and the future of his family. A child’s greatest wish at Christmas and all year is to have a united family where love abounds.

Despite the challenge of Jamie’s circumstances, she settled into her new job as a waitress to keep her family afloat and raise some funds for Christmas. Among her duties was to fold silverware in napkins and make tables ready for the Sunday noon rush at Fat Bass Café. Jamie listened to God’s Word as we preached, and her heart became softened to the things of the Lord.

She told us before her baptism, “The words Dr. Jim said moved my heart. I remembered the teachings of my grandmother and father who talked about Jesus a great deal. During one of the messages when Jim spoke about his compassion for the single moms trying to raise children in a fatherless society, I gave my heart to Jesus during the commitment time.”

“I remember well,” Jamie states, “That God touched me to dedicate my life and family to Jesus. I asked Jim and MMC if he would baptize me and provide me with more information on how my family could follow Jesus.”

Jamie and her two little boys are now attending a local evangelical church we recommended and are looking for godly male role models to help mentor her boys. Thanks to the generosity and support of our faith-partners we have supplied Jamie and hundreds of other seeking people this year with spiritual resources and counsel that will help them in their spiritual development.

Our New Book Act Like Men – Be Strong

There is a direct link to a myriad of social ills such as homelessness, juvenile delinquency, pornography, poverty, crime, orphans, homosexuality, and a host of emotional disorders because of fatherless families. A fatherless family is one where the father is either physically absent or is not emotionally involved in the home or in the lives of his family.

In our new book Act Like Men – Be Strong and the fourteen new booklets developed, we share the disheartening information that has created a devastating impact on our culture. Passionately we share the Good News of how God will sustain and strengthen men to know God more fully. Friends, we have a moral and spiritual war going on that is as equally devastating as nuclear bombs hitting our country.

Men need to rise up and become spiritual warriors for God and their families or this culture is doomed. We need to lovingly project an agenda of hope, strength, courage, and character to the younger men.

We must counter the hate and vile disruptions of the progressive radical extremists who are bent on redefining family and a man’s role in the home and workplace. Elements of our culture aggressively seek to neuter biblical masculinity, calling it “toxic.”

My new book is a clarion call for men to return to authentic, biblical manhood. And a call back to manhood is a call to discipleship with Jesus Christ. One of MMC’s main thrusts for 2020 is to help inspire men to re-engage as the spiritual leaders of their homes, their churches, and their communities.

God is at Work to Transform our Culture!

Because of your support and through partnerships with Promise Keepers, denominations, churches, pastors, and the Man Up Radio Program, Men’s Ministry Catalyst is helping transform our culture. Our work in 2020 is MISSION-CRITICAL to creating disciples and helping churches grow and impact their communities. We want to help churches attract men and motivate them to grow spiritually.

Your past support has enabled MMC to awaken hundreds of pastors and men to the alarming statistics and behavior that testify to the declining interest in faith among men of all ages in our culture.

Because of the generosity and faithful support of a few individuals supporting our 2020 Initiatives, we can match whatever funds you provide. Our goal is to raise $38,500.

• We need to hire a part-time person to assist me with developing new resources and help perpetuate the existing church resources to other ministries.
• We want to expand our radio program’s outreach (Man Up Radio 89.9 FM KYMS) to reach new markets.
• We need marketing funds to promote and distribute our new book Act Like Men – Be Strong and booklets.

A gift of any size is critical because it will help provide the funds, we need to offer resources and support to many churches and to assist in the relaunch of global organizations like Promise Keepers.

Please prayerfully consider this opportunity to give whatever size gift you can as soon as possible. Your quick action will help our team plan for 2020 and know what resources will be available to reach others for Jesus. Thank you so much for your prayers and faithfulness. Click here to give online through our secure website or for instructions on how to donate by mail.

Command those who God has richly blessed in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. – 1 Timothy 6:17-19

In His Service,

Jim Grassi, D. Min. Founder and President

Men’s Ministry Catalyst 2020 Strategic Initiatives.

Please print this and regularly pray for our ministry.

• Utilize the platform God has given MMC with our new book Act Like Men -Be Strong and our fourteen new booklets to become a catalyst of transformation for our culture.
• Assist Promise Keepers with our resources, tools, and biblical perspectives to help churches around the world develop vibrant ministries to men.
• Develop new resource tools to assist pastors in transforming the hearts and spirits of their men to become better husbands, fathers, and disciples of Christ.
• Develop a new devotional book to help people grow in their faith.
• Continue providing six Special Kids Day Events for the disabled.
• Work on a global vision of helping churches discover the importance of one-on-one discipleship.
• Reach the younger generation with God’s Word through direct contact points and social media.
• Continue building godly men through an expanded network of Man Up Radio Programs in the Inland Northwest and Northern California.
• Expand our assistance to local churches that struggle with ministry to men.
• Provide better resource tools and encouragement to support our donors and friends in their personal mission and evangelism.
• Assist local fire and police departments with our encouragement through the MMC Chaplaincy Program and suicide prevention initiatives.

We believe there needs to be an urgency in our message and an intensity in our actions. The Apostle Paul reminds us to “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” – Ephesians 5:14