#91 – Creating a Spiritual Family Legacy

Guest: Don Paterson

Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

We have all heard of families whose Christian faith points back many generations. We as men, fathers in our families, want this to extend to our kids, their kids, and keep going to even future generations. Psalm 78:1-7, starting in verse 5, says this: “He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them, even the children yet to be born.”

Our guest today will walk us through what he has done to do just this with his family. He has 3 boys and 5 grandchildren. All of whom are Christ followers.

Creating a Spiritual legacy for your family starts with us as men. The basic premise is that our wives want us to be the spiritual leaders of our family. Our wives may be more biblically literate, spend more time in prayer and Bible reading than we do, and we may feel very insecure in our spiritual journey when it comes to Spiritual leadership. Despite any reasons why you, as a man, are insecure in this process, it is our role to simply take initiative to ensure these processes are happening in your family. It has the potential to change your family for generations to come.

As we think about what we, as men, can do to initiate this process, let’s look at a few practical steps:

1. Your personal relationship with God becomes a very high priority.
2. You and your wife should find time and ways to pray and study the Word together.
3. It is important for your family to pray together, beyond the prayer at meal time.
4. Ask your family questions around the dinner table, like “Where did you see God working today”?
5. Tribal stories – family stories where you have seen God intervene in a spiritual context. Tell and retell these stories to future generations.

If you want to connect with Don Paterson directly, reach out via email: donp0018@gmail.com

As a reminder, these podcasts are released on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. For additional podcasts, go to: https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/

#90 – All In Marriage

Guest: Rob Thorpe

Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Rob Thorpe has spoken at dozens of ISI Men’s Conferences over the last decade, as well as the national ISI Marriage Conference. He has held dozens of marriage-related workshops, classes, and retreats for churches in multiple states. Rob counts it his greatest privilege and honor that he and his wife Billie have been married almost 50 years and couldn’t be prouder of their three awesome adult sons and their thirteen amazing grandchildren.

Rob began this ministry by having couples who were younger than them mentor them in their relationship. From there, it moved to a life group for young couples, which then moved to conferences and ultimately to several books.

Rob has several key points:

1. You cannot learn your way to a great marriage, which most of us try.
   1. It starts with walking closer and closer with God. The closer we get to God, the better we will honor and love our wives the way God intends for us to do.
   2. Getting closer to God and His word helps us to understand that Spiritual Warfare is a part of your life as a believer and even more so as a married believer. Satan attacked the first couple, and as we know, it had devastating consequences. Nothing is more important to our enemy than to attack marriages and split us apart, which impacts our children and grandchildren.
2. Marriage is God’s workshop for showing us how selfish we can be. Men, we can all be selfish by making other things more important than our marriage, or even just not being engaged fully in our marriage. Let’s make marriage the most important relationship in our lives, beyond our relationship with God.
3. Love is a verb, meaning it requires action.
   1. We need to do something to demonstrate our love for our wives every day.
   2. We need to be proactive in meeting needs, heading off incoming problems.
   3. We need to reach out for help early rather than bluff our way to divorce.

Marriage is the primary institution that God created. Men, let’s step into this and love and honor our wives and protect our marriages at all costs. God’s heart will be pleased with us as we do just that. Praying for you.

Questions to consider about your marriage:

1. Ask your wife how you are doing as a husband. What one thing can I do for you that you will appreciate and so I am able to demonstrate my love for you?
2. What challenge is in your marriage? What one thing can you do today to take initiative to resolve this challenge? Seek a marriage mentor for yourself,

If you want to connect with Rob Thorpe directly, reach out via email:

Marriagesthatmatter@gmail.com

As a reminder, these podcasts are released on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. For additional podcasts, go to: https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/

#89 – Impacting Men Deeply

Guest: Reza Zadeh

Director, Men’s Ministry Catalyst

Act Like Men- Men’s Leadership Podcast

Podcast Show Notes

Great story from our guest today. Originally from Iran, he grew up as a Muslim in Southern California. It was through sports and Athletes in Action (AIA) that Reza came to know Jesus. Since Jesus impacted his life so deeply, he chose to answer the ministry call on his life to impact others through pastoring, Athletes in Action, sharing the Word in churches, camps, golf courses, and coaching.

What do many men deal with in their process of coming to Christ and maturing in their faith?

Identity – Everyone wrestles with the idea of what their identity is. We are conditioned in our society to create our own identity – after all, we are self-made men, correct? As men of God, we do want to find our identity in Christ, but we often fail to understand that our identity is not something we achieve; it is something we receive from God.

Father – How do we view our earthly father? Often, we translate that view to our heavenly Father. If we have had an absent, abusive, neglectful, or a father we were unable to please, we translate that to what we think about God our Father. It is important to see God as He is presented in the Bible, not necessarily in our human experience. Sometimes having a mentor, or close friend, that we can utilize to help build a positive and correct view of our Heavenly Father. How you see God as your Father does make a massive impact on your life.

Shame – someone said that shame is the language the enemy speaks. Lying is what the enemy does. Shame says I am bad because of what I have done. It is not conviction that leads us to make changes, it is a condition that causes us to live under the impact of thinking we are bad…no hope, with no ability to be anything other than bad. Guilt says I did something bad and is a motivator to help you make changes. The truth is, I am a child of God. I need to repent and make changes, but God loves me, can forgive me, and place the identity of a man of God within me. You are not your sin – you are a child of the living God.

Men – today, replace lies with truth. Our engagement with God and open dialogue with trusted men of God can make a massive impact in your life.

Today, live your identity in Christ and pursue the truth of God about you, found in the Word of God. YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE LIVING GOD!!

If you want to connect with Reza Zadeh directly, visit https://www.rezazadeh.co

As a reminder, these podcasts are released on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. For additional podcasts, go to: https://mensministrycatalyst.org/podcasts/