“Well,” he said, answering his own question, “since you’ve been with the company for nine years, I can make sure you get a nine month severance. And if you want, you can house your new venture out of the corporate office rent free.”

Holy #%$*! I mean, cannoli!

Well, I used that severance to help launch Every Man Ministries (EMM) in the spring of 2000. God is using the EMM team to help spark a revolution in men’s ministry, spiritually freeing hundreds of thousands of men and igniting the church worldwide through conferences, campaigns, pastors’ trainings, books, and resources.

Charles Spurgeon expressed, for all men who dare to be obedient, the untold power of a small decision for God when he observed, “We do not know all that we are doing when we risk for our faith. Great wheels turn on little axles.” Yes, my brotha! I had no idea how big a small decision to do what God was asking me to do would be for my own life, and eventually for countless other men.

Ditching the “Safe” Life

Predictability. Control. Safety. Comfort.

The book in your hands is about exploring God’s feelings on how those subjects fit, or better yet, don’t fit in your quest toward becoming God’s man. In fact, when you look at this climber graphic behind text, that’s a signal to pause and consider ways to apply the principles of risk in your own life.

As with all God’s men, the first disciples had their own “Oh, mama” moments with Christ. Each was on a journey to fulfill God’s purposes for his life. Aware of this, Jesus knew he had to address the whole issue of risky commitment if the disciples were to succeed in their mission after He’d conquered the Cross. He was direct and uncomfortably honest:

Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn’t say things like that.

Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.” (Mark 8:31–35, NLT)

Satan had already tried to sabotage Jesus at the outset of His ministry through promises of pleasure and power and protection.