Ensley Men Blog

Ensley Alliance Church (Pensacola, FL) is a small growing congregation with an average Sunday morning attendance of 65. We have connections with about 30 men ranging in commitment from the community to the core. We launched our men's ministry in January 2008.

A word of caution: We are applying the principles of men's ministry in our unique situation. You will have to determine how to implement those principles in your unique situation. The intent of this blog is let you watch the development of men's ministry at Ensley. You will get to see what works and what does not. We promise to let it all hang out. We hope that this blog will help get your creative juices flowing.

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March 2010

Seven men participated in a workday doing fence repair and continuing the playground project the church is constructing for the community.

Three men attended a No Man Left Behind Essentials workshop. During the workshop it was decided to reconstitute the leadership team and develop a strategy for an all-inclusive men's ministry. We also formulated a plan for creating, capturing and sustaining momentum.

Fifteen men attended our quarterly men's breakfast. Our speaker was Escambia County Sheriff, David Morgan. He spoke on what it means to be a Christian in the marketplace.

January 2010

Review of 2009:

• Held quarterly breakfasts - two with speakers ( Tom Barbour- Waveland, MS and Chuck Brewster - Pensacola, FL) and two workdays.
• Launched a men's small group averaging 5 to seven men.
• Five men attended men's retreat (goal was 15)
• Raised $1000 for Newman vehicle (Mali, West Africa)
• Spent a day in Waveland, MS, helping the Christian Life Center.
• Hosted a two hour "Surviving the Economic Meltdown" seminar

Goals not achieved: We did not address our man code nor did we hold any recreational events.

September 2009

The leadership team continued planning events for the coming year. We held our quarterly breakfast in Waveland, MS, in conjunction with a workday. We assisted the Christian Life Center prepare the thrift store for opening and assisted in maintenance of staff and church facilities.

August 2009

The leadership team met for our annual planning meeting. We set goals for the coming year and dates for our quarterly men's breakfasts.

June 2009

Chuch Brewster, director of Champions of Honor men's ministry spoke at our annual Father and Son Breakfast. Twenty-five men attended including six from our sister church, New Creations Ministries.

May 2009

Five men attended the Southern District men's retreat. Work schedules and illness kept our attendance down from the previous year.

March 2009

• Decided to study men of the Old Testament at men's small group.
• Newman Vehicle Special: $59241.
• Seven men attended the March 21 breakfast/workday. We moved the breakfast to 7:30 AM which may be too early for Saturday. Two men joined us later for work.

• Attendance at the men's small group increased to eight.
• Two men attended Reaching Every Man seminar.
• Newman Vehicle Special: $568.69

• Fourteen men attended the Breakfast on January 17.
• Five men attended the Saturday evening small group.
• Four men signed up for the Reaching Every Man Seminar - February 5
• Finalized plans on the Valentine dinner on February 14.
• Decided to hold the June Father and Son Breakfast on June 6 to accommodate Chuck Brewster's schedule (and our budget).
• Newman Vehicle Fund: $196.

• Continued planning the January Breakfast and Valentines Dinner.
• Agreed to use Life Concepts (www.Godsquad.org) for the small group.
• Appointed John Brill to oversee the Newman Vehicle Special ministry.
• Average attendance at First Wednesday meeting during 2008: 10
• End of the year balance was $206.87.

• Set the budget request for 2009 at $700.
• Identified seven men plus the leadership team as candidates for the small group.
• Continued planning for the January breakfast and Valentines Dinner.
• Suggested a speaker for our June Father and Son breakfast.
• Were encouraged by progress toward our 2008 goals.

• Announced that the Rev. Tom Barbour, director of the Christian Life Center, Waveland, MS, to be the speaker at our January breakfast
• Began planning a Valentines dinner for February 14.
• Discussed holding a financial management seminar in 2009.
• Announced receipt of $100 to jump start the Newman Vehicle Special.
• Deferred the start of the small group until January 10.
• Identified work projects around the church.

• Reviewed results of the Planning Retreat.
• Set October 4 as the launch for discipling the leadership team.
• Agreed to open the small group up to other men in the church who might be interested.
• Discussed potential speakers for upcoming men's breakfasts.
• Eight men attended breakfast. The men selected Barry and Terry Newman's vehicle special as our mission project. Lessons learned: we need to do a better job estimating the number of men planning to attend breakfasts; we need to improve planning and encourage teamwork for our workday projects.

• Developed a plan for encouraging giving to the approved mission special (to be decided upon September 27, 2008).
• Defined long-range objectives and identified ways of achieving those objectives.
• Established goals for 2009. Developed a 2008-09 calendar.
• Reviewed the 2008 activities survey and identified three activities that should capture the attention of most of the men.
• Developed activity planning guidelines to provide event leaders an understanding of why we have events encourage consistency in meeting overarching objectives across a broad variety of activities.
• Prepared an event planning worksheet for the September 27 breakfast and workday.

July 2008

• Discussed ways of overcoming our financial deficit due to men's breakfast expenses.
• Set August 8-9 for a leadership team planning retreat.
• Set dates for five 2008-09 events including a Valentines Day dinner.
• Planned survey of men to determine activity/hobby interests

June 2008

Fourteen men attended of 28 who bought tickets for the men's breakfast. The response was. generally positive. Lessons learned included better matching the speaker to our congregation and not depending on other churches for boosting participation. Three men attended who usually limit participation to Sunday morning. Two men really connected with the speaker.

May 2008

• Nine men attended (up from three the year before). Good feedback on the speaker. The men had a good time traveling to and from the retreat.
• Discussed enlistment for next year's men's retreat.
• Decided to proceed with plans for a June 29 men's breakfast with Dennis Puleo from Man in the Mirror as speaker.
• Identified projects for the upcoming workday.
• Identified potential missions specials for presentation to the men for a decision.
• Discussed establishing a one-on-one discipling ministry until we can launch small groups.
• Developed ideas for our mission and vision
  

April 2008

• Defined measuring success in terms of changed lives (Man in the Mirror Weekly Brief #273, March 24, 2008)
• Announced that the "Ensley Men: Leading the Way" T-shirts have been ordered.
• Planned the next men's breakfast forJune 15 Planned an April workday
• Discussed ideas for mission and vision and core value statements:
• Identified the needs of Ensley men:

• Identified the needs of the men in the Ensley community.

March 2008

• Introduced the prayer chair in our First Wednesday meeting for men who want men interceding for them in concerted prayer.
• Selected the color for our t-shirts and the logo (Ensley Men: Leading the Way with the wordless Alliance logo).
• Completed session three of the Blueprint Manual (Foundations for Men's Ministry)
• Planned for 10 men at the breakfast, fifteen showed up! Many came early and enjoyed fellowship!
• Distributed brochures for the men's retreat. Completed five work projects.
• Learned that a Vietnamese fellowship of about 20 would join our congregation. We will need to work on ways of integrating the men into our men's ministry.

• Set the menu for the march 15 men's breakfast Identified projects for the March 15 workday
• Discussed ways to encourage men to attend the May 2-3 district men's retreat
• Discussed purchasing shirts for our men and considered several options for the logo.
• Completed session two of the Blueprint Manual (A Strategy for Discipling Men).

• First Wednesday Meeting. Nine men met. We will use the following format for the next few months.

• The congregation elected Les Tripp as Alliance Men President
• Les met with Pastor Bob Young determine what his position was on men's ministry and what he wanted to see from the ministry. Pastor Bob stated that men's ministry was key to the health of the church. In addition, he stated that he wanted:

• With the pastors concurrence, Les asked three men to be a part of the leadership team. All three agreed!