My dad... and, we're running FULL speed!

Saturday, August 27 was a significant day...August 27 marks the nine-year anniversary of our father's home-going. General Patton wrote to his son on D-Day these words, "If I should go don’t worry but set yourself to do better than I have." Dad said over and over again to all of those who followed his ministry, "If I can raise up men to get their ten thousands where I’ve got my thousands, I will consider my life a success."

In the same spirit my dad put into motion... we're moving quickly – FULL SPEED!

The past few months CMN leaders from many nations have traveled over 150,000 miles around the world doing the ministry to men! I’ve personally met face to face with over 6000 leaders and men from Belize to Fiji to London to Lima. Thousands of men’s lives touched, challenged, changed—resulting in women, children, churches being healed, nurtured, released into their destiny.

And now—at our Dallas offices, the CMN Communications Center is about to become a reality. We’ve prayerfully taken a massive step of faith...we've signed a long-term lease on half of an executive building and yesterday we received the keys! We need a financial miracle to help us—every $100, every $250, helps turn on lights, buy desks, get accessed to high speed internet lines, install digital media platforms and much more. Please be involved - Thank you for your generosity.

Dad left nine years ago - and now, here we are still today—making it happen. Was Ed Cole’s life a success? Yes! You and I make it a success every day with what we do. Let’s not be weary in well doing—let’s reach men for Christ and never tire of the sacrifice it takes to experience the thrill of seeing a man’s life changed, or seeing the face of a child saying, “That’s my dad!” Nothing like it in all the earth. Nothing better. Let’s keep doing it!

Please pray about joining all the guys, your brothers from across the world, in Dallas at Lions Roar... this is a pivotal year for the ministry to men, and for the world.

The website is www.lionsroar2011.com

Love you my friend!
Paul

NZ, SYDNEY - 'SOURCE'

Just had amazing week in New Zealand last week with Mike Parks, Richard Eames and team - tremendous momentum happening! Great CMN event in Auckland - guys from across New Zealand joined up... amazing.
Sydney has been tremendous this week - C3 OxfordFalls BONFIRE NIGHT with the guys was awesome! Over 300 men around a 20foot wall of fire - how great is that!? Photos coming... attended Hillsong Conference with great friends Robert/Karyn Barriger with Taylor and Chana - Brian and Bobbie Houston are stunning leaders, highly motivating conference - you must attend some year - 25 years now and going strong!

Here's a short devo note - I think you'll like it - on 'Your Source'

What is Your Source?

God promised Abraham a son – and, he finally had one.
Fourteen years too early.

The issue was Abraham’s impatience, his fear, listening to wrong advice and the son he produced was Ishmael...A child that would bring grief to Abraham’s lineage to this very day. He had a son, but the source was Abraham, not God.

When God is the source, our lives produce eternal results, are protected by His peace and contain the power of His promise.

When we are the source, the product is finite, subject to sin and out of sync.

Psalm 46 says to ‘be still (wait) and know that I am God." Micah 7 says “I wait confidently." It is a constant instruction to us from God’s Word...wait for His timing.

Abraham couldn’t wait and he produced a stressor, not a successor. For you and me, it’s one of life’s most difficult areas.

Check what you’re about to do next week – is it His timing, or yours?

Who are you listening to – is it wise counsel or just mere advice?

Are you the source, or is God?

Grace/peace
Go strong!
Paul

Whewww.....

A LOT IS GOING ON!
Follow me on Twitter - paullouiscole - that way you'll stay current on what's happening... there isn't a day that something new doesn't happen!!
Since I last updated this blog we've been through Europe, Peru, Brazil and across the USA.
From Belize we went to Baton Rouge to be at the ARC conference, amazing group of leaders, then dashed over to Cleveland, Tennessee to meet with the dynamic leaders of the Church of God - great friends, and a new friendship utilizing the "Majoring in Men" curriculum!
Then it was two great Pastors training events in Dallas - with great results...
Brazil was an amazing week in April as 2800 leaders gathered with University of the Family - tremendous results - over 2500 churches now using our discipling materials!
From Brazil it was events in Orlando and Phoenix and then jumping on a plane for Europe.
WOW - England was amazing, tremendous breakthroughs - then Paris with a far beyond our expectation series of meetings with pastors and leaders... then Aachen, Germany with men from 8 nations attending a special strategy summit... then, Amsterdam and meeting with key leaders... from there - it was home for 12 hours and off to Peru...
Peru is an amazing place, what the men are doing is remarkable ... powerful, spoke at Robert Barriger's men's conference, met with key leaders from Argentina and Ecuador... tremendous!
Then, back and few days later (and a few hours sleep) we were off to Portland, Maine for a great weekend event and then back for last Saturday's D/FW men's event...
God is leading us into the greatest times of growth we have ever seen - a lot is happening...
please pray with us - please get on our email list - and follow me on twitter - that's really all the time I have to communicate - I get that done and I'm in another meeting... the average pastor would have spoken 22 times this year - we've done over 100 sessions in just 5 months!
THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS PUT INTO OUR HANDS! TOGETHER YOU AND I ARE GOING AFTER THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING IN CHRIST!!

Love you...
will try to get some photos up tonight...
be blessed!
Paul

DISPATCH FROM BELIZE

The Belize outreach was a major success! We made strong inroads into the culture of this desperately hurting nation in Central America. Meetings with key business leaders, national political leaders and church leaders all gave us great hope that this beautiful nation can be revived! Thank you to all who gave financially to make this happen – it was a powerful time, and great results were seen.

Belize needs a men’s movement - over 80% of all children are born outside marriage, the average income level is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere (over 30% live in total poverty), the per-capita murder rate is 700% higher than the U.S. and drug usage is epidemic. This is a nation that has spiritually resisted most efforts to reform, restore and revive. It needs the RESURRECTION power of Christ to change the hearts of the men!

Rob Carman, international Christian leader, gave a passionate introduction to our mission at the Kiwanis meeting in Belize City, then followed that with dynamic messages all week. Ed Preston from Oregon, a ‘Gideon’s 300’ partner, was strongly received in the business event we conducted, titled “Creating a Motivated Team”. Omar Reyes, a Pastor from Forth Worth, introduced us to key business and church leaders from across the nation. We conducted meetings across the nation, and will hit the other key cities next time we’re there this year.

We had great discussions and a time of fellowship with the mayor of the national capital city Belmopan, met with business leaders in key cities and hosted an evening with key pastors from across the nation.

Our host, key connect is dynamic missions leader Scott Stirm. He’s been in Belize for over 20 years… a passionately dedicated man. His coordination and insights, key contacts and generous spirit made this a highly successful outreach. And, we will be returning to Belize regularly over the next three years.

Please pray for Belize, and go with us in 2012 for one of the three outreaches we will conduct. For friends in North America, it is a short journey – and one that you can do with some other men, young leaders and teens.



Belize can be a model for taking cultures from dysfunctional to healthy, from ashes to beauty. Pray with us for great wisdom, favor and protection… the enemy will not give up without a great fight.

Thank you for praying for this outreach, thank you for giving financially to the Lord, the men and families of Belize will forever be profoundly grateful to you.

Keep the fire hot!
Your friend, brother and ally,
Grace/Peace
Paul

5 Ways to Kill Your Men's Ministry!

Here are five ways to guarantee your ministry to men will die this year.

Of course, you will want to make sure you don’t do them! Let me know what you would add to this list. We’ll make it part of a teaching section on the CMN website.

1. Make sure the senior pastor is not involved
The pulpit is the propulsion center of the church. What is celebrated from the pulpit will be part of the life of the church. What is neglected will have no energy, and many will see it as secondary in importance. The DNA of the pastor fills the life of the church, and the pastor’s commitment gives life to the ministry to men. We are taking men to a particular place—to a passionate, committed lifestyle of following Christ. This singular purpose is to be at the heart of every pastor, biblically. Discipling men was at the core of the life of Jesus, and it must be our center priority.

2. Make fellowship a priority
Fellowship is always the by-product of purpose, never the goal. The focus must be maintained. It’s about building men strong spiritually. Keep the main thing the main thing. Have fun, hang out, do fun events, but — make the process the center of your purpose…everything continually points in to that, building strong men. We do events to bring profile and energy to the men’s movement, but that’s not the focus of a ministry to men, it’s the highly visible place that introduces men to your ministry to men.

3. Try not to offend anyone
If you back off the passion of reaching and building strong men, you will not get anything done. Iron does sharpen iron. Sermons don’t set men free, truth does.

Confront men with the life of Christ! What is it to be a real man, to be like Jesus. Don’t back off calling men to a higher level of living. Don’t lower the ministry to the level of your men’s lives. Bring them up to the life of an overcomer. That challenge may make men uncomfortable, but it’s what they need to break out of a ‘normal’ life.

The pain of staying the same must become greater than the pain of changing to move men to decisions that will bring transformation.

4. Guys are busy, don’t ask too much from them
The best guys are always busy…that’s why they get stuff done. Men who are not busy are not men of vision and capacity. For some of your men, you will have to help them adjust their priorities, if they’ve made the smaller things larger in their lives. Jesus called men who were working. They were busy people. He never called a man who was just hanging out.

5. Just let things happen
The ministry to men takes hard work. Nothing just happens... if you wait to see what will happen, that's what will happen, nothing. Here’s a great timeline of how to create and sustain momentum: prayer, planning, preparation, perseverance and perspiration…then, you’ve got to repeat it again, and then, repeat again.

“The very greatest things — great thoughts, discoveries, inventions — have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.” -Samuel Smiles, Scottish Author

Put a system for discipling men into place, equip your leaders, empower them, THEN — watch, measure, adjust, push, lead and encourage.

YOU CAN DO THIS!

And, it’s what we are about as followers of Christ.

Build men, Build churches, Transform nations!
Make it a great month!

grace/peace
Paul

2011 Strong start... January amazing.

I'll post more in the next few days - but, the past 30 days has been amazing... events in South Carolina, Houston, Orlando - meetings on top of meetings - great stuff going on around the world! Strong reports from Europe, Argentina, Phoenix and Tulsa!
Events coming up soon in Jackson, Mississippi - Shawnee, Oklahoma - Christiana, Pennsylvania - Belize - and more...

Website for CMN has changed to www.christianmensnetwork.com - the www.cmnworld.com site will redirect - but, right now, they're working on that...

Found a great quote this morning...
“The very greatest things – great thoughts, discoveries, inventions – have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.” -Samuel Smiles, Scottish Author (1812-1904)

So true.

Have a strong week!

Paul

THREE KEYS TO MOMENTUM!

CONSISTENT. CONSTANT. CLEAR.

These three elements will help you build a powerful men’s movement in your church. To have a fixed focus, to stay engaged and to have a clear goal.
Men follow leaders who have a sense of where they are going. Focus gives us the space to put our full energy into something. If there is no clear focus, men tend to hold back. In the book “Daring” we talk about it in depth.
To stay engaged is the role of a strong leader…don’t give up, back off or waver in your commitment. Regardless of your own feelings, Proverbs 16 says it is the role of a man to commit his heart to a task, and then the answer comes from God. We commit, he fulfills. Success is the result of constancy of purpose.
Clarity is not a common thing in our world. There are a hundred opinions on every issue, and the obfuscation, manipulation of facts is a trademark of many national discussions. Clarity comes from the Word of God. The Bible provides a clear path for life… your men’s movement must be Bible centered, not fellowship centered. Fellowship is always the byproduct of purpose.

Minister to men where they are at… then take them where they need to go. Work with the men who are in front of you. Don’t look over their heads, looking for the ones you hope will be there. God has always used the man who was overlooked by the world, to do some of the greatest works for the kingdom.

Give your men clear goals that can be reached. Engage them for a 6 week course, or a 3 month study… it has an ending. Then have them do it again. It takes time to make a rugged disciple.
Your ultimate goal should be to get men studying God’s Word with other men. Small groups are the place where men can find the security to share what they are really dealing with.

Whatever you do… just start. It won’t happen until you do that.

Christian Men’s Network is here to help.

Grace/Peace
Paul