I believe every man has something inside of him which drives him to become a man who leaves a significant impact on our world. My quest for significance has driven me to the place where I am today. In my attempt to follow the calling the Lord has placed on my heart I have started an organization called Men of Jesus. My passion is leadership and to see the people of our world led based on the Truth which God has given us since the day of our creation. For me significance lies in the ability to lead based on God’s Truth. I firmly believe that when people follow a leader; regardless of their worldly position of leadership; who leads based on the Truth which is Christ, they will be directly and eternally impacted for God. This can easily be said in the following statement. As followers of Christ we are to not only lead other believers but we are to lead our world. When the people of this world are lead by a true authentic follower of Christ they will be changed, their eyes will be opened, they will see Christ living in that person and they will at the least become aware of the presence of God in their world today.
There are many great men out there who are calling men to impact the lives of other men one by one. They are suggesting spiritual reproduction through one on one discipleship. I completely agree with, support and take part in following this approach. The relationship Paul and Timothy had is nearly always referenced. It teaches that the spiritually mature should mentor and disciple others so that they too can become mature. Then they are to do the same for others. It’s a kind of pay it forward principle. Invest in the lives of other men and have them do the same. Then we will have more great men out there to spread the word of God. This philosophy is critical to the continued growth of men who are in our Churches today.
I want to express my concern about the men who are not in our Churches today. I heard a very scary statistic a few months back while I was watching an Acquire the Fire conference on TV. It said that of our current youth today less than four percent of them are bible believing Christians. Less than Four percent! Where is our world going to be when that generation is leading it? The United States will no longer be a Christian nation in 20 years. We are on the verge of losing that right now. I want you to think about what life in our country will look like when Christians are no longer a majority. It’s hard for most American born Christians to think about living in a society where their faith is anything but the most prevalent. Most of us have no clue what that would be like. We have no concept of the type of religious persecution we would no doubt begin to face. The need for leaders of significance is about to become painfully obvious.
Let’s take this discussion to a place that hits home with all guys. How many of us have Christian leader in our work place today? I mean you specifically report to a Manager or Director who is a Christian. Chances are that if you don’t work somewhere in the Church or a Christian organization you don’t have a Christian leader. I had the opportunity to ask that question recently at an Iron Sharpens Iron conference which Men of Jesus helped to sponsor. In the five minutes I had to address the men at the conference I asked them to raise their hand if they had a Christian leader at work. About 15 – 20 hands went up out of around 400 men. I then asked those who worked in a Church or any other Christian organization to put their hands down. We were left with somewhere between 6-8 hands. Out of the 400 or so guys there about 8 who worked for a Christian outside of the Church. That’s about 2%.
Let’s fast forward twenty years. Now consider this, if only four percent of today’s youth are bible believing Christians. Twenty years from now how many people in this world will have a leader in their work place who demonstrates authentic quality’s of Christ in a way that makes them aware of God’s existence in their world. The answer is unknown but I would guess it to be less than ½ of one percent. There will virtually be no one who works outside of the Church who is being lead by a Man of Jesus.
That is why the vision of Men of Jesus is to see men lead our world by following Christ. We have a responsibility to ensure that our world is lead by Christian leaders. John Maxwell made a statement that I love; he said that leaders must ask themselves whether they are working for survival, success of significance. I am going to suggest that we as followers of Christ; had better ensure that we first have leaders of whom to ask that question. Otherwise we won’t get past survival.
For more information about Men of Jesus visit us online at http://www.menofjesus.org/.
Ryan Reeves
President and Founder
Men of Jesus
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