Future Men - Stages of Manhood

In case you missed our Future Men event on October 30, 2009, we have a video of Bill White giving a summary of the key concepts, on our Grace YouTube channel.  "We want our parents to be thinking . . . that our little boys are future men."

From our Men's Roundtable teaching ("borrowed" from Robert Lewis), here is a Biblical definition of manhood: 

"A real man is one who . . . 

1. Rejects Passivity,
2. Accepts Responsibility, 
3. Leads Courageously, and
4. Expects God's Reward."
   

If this is what a real man looks like, how do we get there?  Bill walks us through the 3 main stages of going from boys to men.

1. Authority.  God's authority needs to be established, as well as the authority He's delegated to parents, teachers, and other leaders.  When an authority tells a child to "do this," he needs to be taught to obey quickly, completely, and happily. 
2. Responsibility.  During this stage, your son needs to to learn to "handle his deal."  They need to be challenged and respected.  
3. Partnership.  By this stage, you are no longer standing over your son, but you are standing alongside him.

You can download the full teaching on our website, either on our Children's Ministry site, or on the Grace Church teaching page (look under Equipping Events). 

What's next?

1. We have some video answers of questions that were asked about raising "future men" that we'll post over the next few weeks.
2. Mark your calendars for April 16-17, for our Transitions Parenting Conference.  It will be a Friday evening, Saturday morning event.  More details to come shortly!