The first time I entered a church for a ‘typical’ Sunday service, I was scared. Don’t get me wrong; I had been to weddings, christenings and remembrance services before, but going to church for no reason was something different.

It all happened around eleven years ago, and by this point, my wife Shelly had become a Christian at Holy Trinity Church in Ripon.

Unbeknown to me she had been taking our two children to Sunday school. However, this particular Sunday she was going shopping and wanted me to take them to church instead.

To be honest, I was reluctant to do this, but for our children’s sake, I agreed.

I can remember planning a strategy of how not to spend much time in church. My plan was to drop the kids off quickly, head to the nearest pub to read the paper, and pick the kids up afterwards.

I thought it was a foolproof plan but didn’t count on a fiery blond-haired woman welcoming me when entering the church. I entered the building with much unease. It didn’t help that my two children Tayla and Curtis ran off downstairs leaving me to be led by one of Shelly’s friends to a seat inside. I couldn’t refuse. It was so awkward. I would have felt more at home entering an adult shop or a casino in all honesty.

During the nest two months I witnessed the change that God had made in Shelly’s life. I knew I had got to the point where I also wanted to give my life to God. The walk towards God wasn’t an easy one, and the decision to follow Jesus wasn’t easy either, but now I wouldn’t want to be on any other path than the narrow one.

I soon learnt one of the most popular teachings in the Bible for myself. As the angel said to Mary: “Do not be afraid” so did the Lord whisper that same thing to me. Everyday I am discovering more and more what it means to live with God on my side. The Bible says that because I gave my life to Jesus, God is now “For me and not against me.”

I am sure that many more guys would jump at the chance to know more about this God.

Why not join us on the 21st of this month at the Forum Hall, Wythenshawe, Manchester, for a National Men’s Day in partnership with New Wine. It would be a great place for any blokes to take their first steps with their creator. It will also be a cracking event for Christian men to develop their walk with God.

Get yourself booked in here.

See you there guys.

Deano.

My son Curtis is 16-years-old and stands as tall as me. And every time I come home after being away for a week, he wants to wrestle. We both know not to fight in front of my wife, Shelly, because she cannot stand watching us play fight every week and has no idea why we would want to in the first place. I’ve tried to explain why my son and I feel the need to wrestle, but she still doesn’t understand it.

So, I’ve been thinking about it.

I can remember on numerous occasions fighting with my step dad when I was younger. It was just something we did. A bit like the family in the film ‘Police Academy’ where the dad and son are always trying to get one up on each other. I think it may be a way to masculinity and trying to find each other’s strengths and weaknesses through the process. I know with each time I fight with my son, he is getting stronger, and I have to come to terms with that. But we do have an unwritten code that we don’t punch each other in the face.

Lets be honest, its perfectly fine to have a man wrestle from time to time. And its probably very healthy to test each other. I love the story of how Jacob wrestled with God, and would not let go until he was blessed.

The fights between me and my son take place in a safe environment. I know that he isn’t going to start scrapping with Tom, Dick or Harry on the street, just as I didn’t when growing up, but I also know that he can defend himself when needed.

However, I need to tell you that as a Christian man, there is one fight I cannot avoid. Paul the Apostle called it the “Good Fight”. The fight for faith. The fight to discipline my own faith, and protect the faith of those around me.

So my challenge to you guys is simply this. In 2012, what will you be fighting for?

Stubbington, near Portsmouth, was recently CVM’s port of call for yet another fun-filled, packed out Regional Day. The night before a Regional Day, the team usually stays in a Travel Inn close by to chill out, eat food and frequent a local pub. This evening was no exception.

What followed a good meal of ribs in barbecue sauce was a nice glass of Baileys and some good friendly chatter. As Carl and I sat there on one side of the pub, parallel to us was another duo of mates. They were debating giving up smoking and suddenly we became involved in the conversation. As time went on, not only did we get an offer from one of these blokes for a drink, but ended up talking about life and the challenges brought on by the recession.

The conversation moved from politics to religion, which should rarely be brought together over a few tipples of the strong stuff. But things didn’t go the way you think they might have.

One of our newly made friends began opening up and telling Carl and I about how he was struggling to make ends meet He explained how he was having to downsize his business and make a real lifestyle change. He was finding it hard as the main breadwinner to have failed to bring in enough to keep his family in the life they were accustomed to.

He soon concluded his thoughts with: “It’s all about the money”. Carl and I simultaneously replied “No its not, it’s about family’.

We didn’t pull any punches in mentioning that we were Christians and that we ran a national men’s ministry. We carried on making our faith known and being open to the Holy Spirit as I shared my failings in business as well.

And as a man’s man, I decided to talk to him about Mary Poppins. When I was in London with my family a while back, we caught the West End show of the Disney feature film live on stage. And what jumped out for me whilst struggling to make ends meet and being in so much debt, was that I could take refuge in a scene from this show. The scene is when the father loses his job due to the children causing havoc at the bank and then realizing that they are about to lose everything. But suddenly, the reassurance of the mother comes in the middle of a particular harrowing moment. She quite boldly exclaims that: “As long as we are together, that is all that counts”.

This scene helped me through the time of uncertainty. And amazingly, it somehow hit home for the bloke in this bar who was struggling. He opened his eyes to the fact that there was more to life than money and material things.

We mentioned Jesus on numerous occasions that night and now have to leave it with God to follow it through. But hopefully, with Carl and I unashamedly making Him known with everything we do and say, we planted a seed in this chap’s heart. We now pray that something has happens because we didn’t back down from the basic stuff of Jesus. We hope that what we said, even though it included a scene from a fairytale, changes his life. Only God knows. But we do that know that Jesus loved to use stories to point people to the truth, so let’s not be afraid to do the same.

Cheers.

(By Dean Gray: CVM MD)

The problem I have when I get closer to God and venture out to do that great commission; is the target on my back gets bigger. (And what selling point is that to my mates?) Recently I’ve been wondering what actual benefits are we to gain in this life by accepting that a) Jesus died for us, and b) God loves us and has a better plan for us?

If I’m being honest, I want it to be easy to follow God and to focus on Him alone. But it’s not easy. When I am following Him, puny distractions always seem to come my way. And when I look back on these distractions, I see that they are like chaff, here today and gone tomorrow. The problem is that these distractions often prevent me from doing what I believe is right.

What I am learning more and more is that following Jesus will always mean enduring hardship. Though it seems topsy turvy to think like this, I cannot deny what I see in Scripture. And yes I’d like to see the hidden benefits within the great commission, but the verse just seems to be pretty straightforward. Matthew 28:19 Jesus said: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you to the very end of the age.”

So where does that leave us? My boiler still breaks down and affects my family, my washing machine packs up at the same time and I’m no longer thinking about the Great Commission, but I’m left wondering ‘why God?’

There are so many teachings on what it means to follow Jesus in the modern world leaving us with no choice but to revisit the original source more than ever.

Reading it aloud I can’t help but think that maybe the great commission is as selfless as it sounds. Maybe the whole thing is not about me at all, but about him. And even as I ponder this I recall how God provided me with a deposit for a house when I needed it, and how God provided me with a job when I needed it and how God provided a way to pay off all my debts when my business failed…when I needed it.

It’s funny how God doesn’t forget me in this adventure, which is quite simply all about him.

Deano.

Well there I was working quite happily in Afghanistan with over six months to go until the end of my contract. After some spiritual kick up the bum from a few friends of mine I was back on track with God and disciplined enough to be in the word everyday, this was also spurred on through lent and a sermon I heard from one of the US Army chaplains talking about ‘Giving God the first fruits’.

This was translated to me to get my life in order and start giving God the first part of my day and not waiting till the end of the day when I was tired and full up on God’s gifts that He had given me. So I got up earlier, not easy at first, and started praying, and then reading the Bible and using a study. It got easier as do many things after time of perseverance and effort.

It was a strange time of spiritual growth, not only with me, but with a core group of friends that I had made where I was based. We had just set up a church for the contractors from a shared belief that it was needed due to the fact that the Military had their military chaplaincy and we didn’t want to take more resources away from the ones who were doing the nitty gritty stuff.

Through this time also, I was getting a sense of God telling me that He had more for me. Its strange when you are happy in what you are doing and quite happy that things were in the right place that God then spurs you on or moves you on. You see I had been in touch with Carl Beech, who heads up Christian Vision for Men over a course of two years with an intention of meeting up to discuss men’s ministry. But with me being away four times a year, only being in the UK for about eight weeks a year and Carl being on the road most of the time, this was proving difficult.

The time had come though when we had booked into Spring Harvest as a family and then found out that Carl was going to be there the same week. It was also apparent that the seminar that my wife and I wanted to go to was in fact the one that Carl was co running with Tarn called the ‘doing zone’. Brilliant, this meant that we could meet up over a beer and catch up.

I attended a blokes seminar and waited behind to catch up with Carl. After a greeting mans hug, the next words that came from Carl mouth were ‘when are you coming back from Afghanistan’ in which I replied ‘December this year, why?’. The following conversation was nothing in which I would ever imagine but the exact plan that God was sharing with me previously. Those words were ‘CVM has some vacancies, would you be interested?’.

The following days/weeks after many discussions and prayers were exciting and to cut a long story short, I can say that I am now a member of the CVM team. Amazing, I am now working for God and for something that I have great passion about, to see men saved through the power of the cross and what Jesus sacrificed His life for.

What I am trying to say and what I have found with my walk with God is that when you are trying your hardest to be with God and trying your hardest to impress God, this is the time when you need to learn that you have much to learn. When you are looking you are not in the right place, but its in the ‘not looking’ and just ‘being’ when you find that God wants more for you and when its time to move on with what God wants you to do.

This is the place where God ultimately wants you to be. ‘Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.’ Luke 10:27