Wildmen: A Band of Brothers

It isn't often that you see an independent, successful men's ministry. I realize that some will say, "Hey, I'm in one!" A few more will say, "Well, we've got a good one at my church." I'm glad you do. Really. But I've lost count of the number of Christian women who talk to me with That Look behind their eyes. They have That Look when the men in their lives don't have much connection with Jesus or even Christian men. They have That Look when the men in their lives don't give them Godly affirmation and guidance. (Men have their own version of That Look, for the same reasons - but that isn't this post.)

(My inner engineer demands a definition of "successful men's ministry," so here's where I'm coming from: A group of men who grow in the practice of being little Christs. Head-learning is a small part. Heart-sharing is a huge part. Actions of compassion, service and worship occur from more from desire than duty, although both play a part. And none of the above is guilted or coerced - if someone's there because they think they have to be, they're in the wrong place. Finally, and this is important, fun.)

Bill Losasso, pastor of Pathways Community Church, which I blogged here, suggested I call Jan Broucinek for a good-news story.

In 2003, a few men decided to do a "Forty Days of Purpose" study. When they finished, it was a "hey, that was great, spending time with you guys...I don't wanna quit, let's do something else." They took up John Eldredge's book Wild at Heart to see what else God might do with a few men. Eventually they adopted the name Wildmen. Actually, their wives kept using the name, and it stuck. And if the wives were talking it up...well, the word got around that this was good stuff.

They kept doing successive studies and kept outgrowing facilities, which is a nice problem to have. The long story short is that there are Wildmen allies (more church-specific) and Wildmen outposts (church-independent) scattered around in several places, mostly in the Bay area but a few further north.

You can learn a lot more from their website, or drop Jan an email. But in short, these are small groups that offer encouragement, accountability, teaching, practice, and the occasional special event. (Anything called boot camp's gotta be fun!) For guys with a porn problem, there are groups ("Pure Desire") that can aid recovery.

They've found a kind of interesting niche - part parachurch organization, part church-men's-group-planter even. In this huge metro area (4 million people in the Bay area), people drive and gather only when they want to - and apparently, men want to. Now that's a miracle.

Jan gave me a quote that I really want to hang on to. Abraham Lincoln said, "Every man over forty is responsible for his face." Honest Abe also said, "I don't like that man. I'm going to have to get to know him better."

There are very few things in America that are wilder than taking responsibility for our attitudes and actions, and choosing to get to know "that ass over there" better. Sometimes we can find that there's more to the ass than, well, his ass. He might have a face behind his face. He might look like...me.

Do the wild thing. Please.