Brotherhood and Faith: The Foundation of Relentless

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

Well, hey, it’s Mike Trim with Crawford Media Group. I’m here with Paul Cole. Paul is the current president of Christian Men’s Network. We want to talk about Relentless. It’s the Colorado Men’s Summit that’s coming May 1st and May 2nd down in Parker, Colorado. Hey, Paul, thanks for taking the time with us.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:18

It’s great being with you, Mike. And you and I have talked about some of these things before, and it continues to be a theme across America, which is where are all the men?

SPEAKER 01 : 0:29

What are they doing, Paul? Are they sitting on their hands on the couch playing video games?

SPEAKER 02 : 0:36

You know what I said to some people the other day? I said, we are Christmas Network. We are an organization that is going after the greatest unreached people group in America. It’s called Immature Men. And everybody knows one.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:56

When I say that, somebody will go, oh yeah, no, I know that guy. They do. In their family or friend or someone they think of at their church where they think, that guy’s not, he’s not connected. He’s not.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:07

Yeah, so Relentless is about building men who lead. And so I’m fired up about it. May 1st and 2nd, Crossroads Community Church and everybody, everybody listening to Crawford Media right now is leaning in and going, Mike, thank you for putting this on the air. Because I’m sending my son, my husband’s coming, I’m going, whatever the case may be. I mean, this is a clarion call to men who desire to see the state and this nation turn its face towards God and not go the wrong direction, which is where we seem to be headed.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:49

Paul, there are people out there that will say that’s not a good thing. And we’ve heard the folks that are hating on Christian men and what that looks like. Talk to us about that real quick and just what it really looks like instead of what they’re told through the media. Yeah, well, here’s the thing.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:06

A man who’s actually a follower of Christ, Mike, Would live Christ-like is what the way we would say it. To be a real man is to be like Jesus Christ. Jesus cared for the people in the margins. You look at his healing walking along a street. Who was it? A man in the margins, blind man, sitting on the street begging. Nobody’s helping him. Jesus stops, heals him over and over and over. The interactions Jesus had were with people in the margins, people who felt like, man, this thing, I see all these things on Instagram. I’m not getting any of that. And what’s my life supposed to be about? And so that’s what Jesus did. So when we talk about doing what we’re doing with Relentless and this event, it’s about sparking this thing inside of us which says, hey, as a group of men, we’re gonna stand up for righteousness. Joel chapter three, verse nine says, wake up the mighty men, prepare for battle. And let me give you one just quick thing, Mike, that really for me speaks of why we have to rise up as men. Fatherlessness is the leading indicator of poverty today. in every county in America. The number one indicator, if you say, oh man, this is a pocket of poverty or this is this, poverty, fatherlessness comes from the immaturity of men. And so when you see these kinds of issues, I mean, this goes back to, I mean, you go back with Washington, D.C. and some of the people who’ve been in power for years and years and years, I think of Al Gore. Al Gore I don’t know, when was he vice president? Long time ago, right? A couple decades. I mean, yeah, when TV was still in black and white. So here’s Al Gore. Yeah, I know. Al Gore, this was before iPhones. Al Gore instituted all these people in Washington, D.C. to talk about fatherlessness because it was a key issue then. It’s a key issue today. How do we change the future of this nation? We change it by changing the hearts of men.

SPEAKER 01 : 4:25

We’re speaking with Paul Cole. Paul is the president of Christian Men’s Network. The website’s cmn.men, cmn.men. The Colorado’s Men’s Summit is at Crossroads Community Church, Crossroads Community in Parker, May 1st and 2nd. And Paul, you talked about that guy that’s kind of disengaged. And I was really surprised that you said he’s married. He was older than I thought. And he’s probably playing video games down in the basement while his kids are sleeping or whatever. So talk to us about that.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:59

You know, you and I were talking about this before we started talking with our friends here on Crawford. And the thing is that what shocked me some time ago when I researched this is that the average gamer in the United States. He’s 34 years old. And somebody says, well, why? I said, why is it that age? I said, well, because that’s the guy who has a good job and can afford to buy the armor and the things he needs for his different games. It’s fascinating to me because then you begin to look at the fact that our country, culture, has given men permission to stay immature a long time. So we have one out of every four men who are 29 years old in America, one out of every four men at the age of 29 are living with their mom. These are not, I mean, this is not some evangelist came up with a stat. These are stats that come out of Pew Research, come out of Harvard, Stanford, all the research colleges, and there is a concern in general culture. But we know the answer, Mike. The answer was when men are activated in Christ, they find their identity. And let me just give you a little thing on that. Identity is the story you tell yourself about yourself. And most men are telling themselves a story that somebody else wrote the words to. See, the issue for you and me as men is the fight between good and evil. Satan… knows your name, but identifies you or defines you by your sin. Jesus knows your sin, but defines you by your name. Because your name comes from knowing Christ.

SPEAKER 01 : 6:56

And Paul, I know you believe this and would add this is relentless is a chance to be with other men. And there’s nothing like being with other men together, worshiping Jesus and to get to these types of issues, to kind of examine, all right, if I’m an older guy, have I kind of given up on mentoring and speaking into the lives of that 35-year-old or younger or older, somebody younger than me? It’s just when you’re together as men, it’s just different, and you can really, there’s a power that kind of launches you to take action.

SPEAKER 02 : 7:33

Yeah, it is the power of brotherhood. And brotherhood, we see, I mean, that’s why we as men, that’s why we go play in softball leagues in our lives. That’s why we go play rec basketball. That’s why we go ride dirt bikes together or fix up our Jeeps and go out on the trails. We very rarely do it alone. We always like going with somebody. There is nothing like it with a group of men who know Jesus Christ or men who lean into it And we’ve got a lot of men that will bring friends who have never encountered, you know, like a church setting. They have no idea what happens there. And the exciting thing about Relentless is that it really is about building a life that’s at the next level from where you are today. That’s what that event’s about. It’s not a kumbaya thing. This is not your grandpa’s, you know, hangout thing. Hey, how about some biscuits and gravy and… Turn to Amos chapter two. I don’t know. I don’t know if Amos even has two chapters, but here’s the thing is that this is about brotherhood, man. This is about finding some guys that are comrades together, compadres, and we need each other as men. And that’s why we’re gathering together because you know what our families need? Some men who rise up. You know what our churches need? Some men who are strong in our faith. You know what our community needs? Some men who aren’t flaking out, but some men who stand up. You know what the women in our lives need? Some men who are protectors, not predators.

SPEAKER 01 : 9:15

That’s what relentless is about. Paul, talk for just a minute because these go so fast on these interviews. So guys that step up, what’s an example of what that looks like?

SPEAKER 02 : 9:29

Yeah, I think that’s a really good question. To me, it would be like my friend Brent, who, I mean, he messed up, man. And he was going the wrong direction, kind of split up with his wife and ends up in a men’s group. Right. And he ends up in this group. The guy says, hey, come on along. It’s about success. He goes, I want to be successful. Goes to the group and they start talking. He comes back the next week and they’re going through the book, Maximize Manhood. And all of a sudden it hits him. And he looks at everybody in the group and says, hey, I was the problem. It wasn’t her. So what does a stalwart man do? He accepts responsibility. That’s maturity. He says, you know what? I’m calling my wife. I’m going to tell her it was me. I blamed everything on her. And Brent went back to his wife. I mean, it took a little while. They walked through it. They’re back together again. He’s a pilot. He’s serving in his church. They’re an incredible young couple. And that’s what it means, man. And that’s what this thing’s about. It’s about men accepting responsibility for the world around them.

SPEAKER 01 : 10:45

That’s so good. That’s being willing to apologize when you really need to apologize and you were wrong. Stuff like that, right? Yeah. Yeah, that’s what being a man who has some guts does. Yeah, yeah. Well, there’s nothing like being with other men. And the video that was produced, I don’t know if that was your team or the church’s team, but oh my goodness. Yeah, it was our team. If you watch that and you don’t immediately sign up yourself and your son. other friends, your son’s friends, I don’t care, everybody, for relentless, then I don’t know what to tell you. It’s only a minute. So, you know, we know guys. Your team knows guys. They know five-minute video is probably not going to cut it. So it’s one minute. It’s on the Crossroads websites. Visit Crossroads.com. So visit Crossroads.com. Go to their event page. You’ll see Colorado Men’s Summit. Watch that video, and you’ll be there. It will be not a question in your mind.

SPEAKER 02 : 11:44

Yeah, and then you can find that on the Christian Men’s Network Facebook and a number of other places. If you’re a church or a men’s leader, you know, get a hold of us and we’ll send you a copy of it.

SPEAKER 01 : 11:55

Well, Paul, your final, we have enough time for kind of like the final challenge for a minute or so as to what you tell the guys that, I’m too busy, I got kids, this is, you know, I got video games to play, whatever. They need to be there.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:08

You know, you and I were talking about it some time ago. You know, we’ll spend… You know, if we want to go fishing, let’s drive two hours. It doesn’t matter to get to the right spot. So you invest a 45-minute drive or a 30-minute drive or whatever Crossroads is from you. Put in a few dollars, which helps pay for the food that we’re going to give you. And it’s an investment, a small investment of time for a lifetime of change and to see your dreams come to pass.

SPEAKER 01 : 12:38

That’s really good. And, brother, I would add that you want to see your wife light up, go to this. You want to see your kids say, Dad’s doing something to really engage with us better and be a better dad, go to this. Go to Relentless. Yeah.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:56

Yeah, it’s going to be epic.

SPEAKER 01 : 12:57

Okay. So they can get tickets by going to Crossroads and also to your Facebook page. Is that the way it works, Paul? Yeah.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:05

Yeah, cmn.net. Just click on events. They can click on it there. CNN. Don’t go to CNN. They’re not going to help you. It’s CMN, Christian Men’s Network, cmn.men. And then over to Crossroads, which is visitcrossroads.com.

SPEAKER 01 : 13:22

Exactly, exactly. It’s May 1st, May 2nd, Relentless Two-Day Men’s Summit. Some amazing speakers, including Paul. So you got a little taste of that today with him. And Steve Trevino, part of his team. And Otto Kelly. There’s some great guys already scheduled and more to come. So visitcrossroads.com, cmn.men. Yeah. And get to that thing. Get your friends. Get your kids involved. Those of you who have young men, a lot of you do, get them there. So, Paul, thanks for taking the time with us. You’re a blessing.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:52

All right, Mike, and to all our friends in Crawford Media, we love you guys. Blessings to you. Thanks, brother.