He finished by saying, “If men start making different moral choices, the country will change.” How many other communities around the world could say the same thing? From leading nations to providing for families, men are needed to plant churches, equip future leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

A vast army is being raised, and troops are being delivered to global hotspots in record numbers. For example, Rick Warren’s Global PEACE Plan network is mobilizing one billion believers to “go” as Jesus commanded and slay these global giants. The deployment has already begun.

Over the next couple of decades it will be the most powerful show of force the church has mounted in history. And men will be at the center of this movement. The biggest needs will be met not by politicians, by the United Nations, or by throwing money to poor countries. They will be met by God’s people. Rick believes, as I do, that our team has the widest and best distribution network in the world—it’s called the church.

And the world is waiting for its redeemers (little r) who can tell the good news of the Redeemer. Men will be the tip of the spear on many fronts of this titanic kingdom advance.

Will you be in play?

Stepping Off Spiritual Ledges

“Dad,” Ryan said, “Jenna wants to jump off.”

“What?”

“She said she wants to jump into the ocean.”

Disbelieving, I asked Jenna myself to shake her into reality. “Jenna, you want to jump off that ledge with me into the ocean?”

“Yep.” It seemed desire trumped dissuasion. Ryan and I were having too much fun to resist, she was watching, and there was no height requirement.

“Great! Let’s go,” I said, half expecting her to bail out once she looked down.

Not a chance.

The drop into the ocean was seven times higher than my little princess was tall. And I need to emphasize “princess.” Jenna’s world is that of Polly Pocket, Groovy Girl dolls, ballet, art class, and Dora the Explorer—not dropping into quarter pipes like her older brother or diving into the ocean from a twenty-foot ledge. Jenna’s previous record height was two feet of elevation in a backyard pool. So for her, this was a titanic leap into the deep blue.

“One. Two. Three. Go!” On the “Go!” signal Jenna jumped off, dropped twenty feet straight down in all of one and a half seconds, and then plunged five feet underwater.

After surfacing, she used her first breath to exclaim with a huge smile, “That was fun, let’s do it again.” Of course, right?

This became more than a cute story or proud parenting moment as we climbed that ladder out of the ocean and started walking up the stairs for round two when I asked her, “So what were you feeling before you jumped off, Jenna?”