Preamble

Our 2010 BHAG ("Big Holy Audacious Goal") was "to reach 10,000,000 men  for Christ by 2010." We pause to celebrate that, through God's grace and power, this goal has been met.
 
Now we are asking God to show us what comes next. We've been in a highly iterative process to determine a new long term plan. We will invest the next 10 years -- an entire decade of our lives -- based on the decisions we are about to make. We will likely spend $50,000,000 of budget on this strategy. We want to make as certain as possible that we are doing the will of God -- no one here wants anything else. 
 
What you are about to read is the work of dozens of people. I want to thank everyone who has already left fingerprints on this 10 year plan. However, it's still in wet cement pending any final comments YOU may have. So please, send me any questions, comments, or suggested edits to patrickmorley@maninthemirror.org. 

Executive Summary

 
The purpose of this document is to put the vision, mission, and our Big Holy Audacious Goal ("BHAG") in perspective and understand what each of these concepts mean in context.

VISION:For every church to disciple every man
MISSION STATEMENT:Serving Pastors. Training Leaders. Transforming Men.
BHAG: 10,000,000 men leading powerful transformed lives by 2020

What is the problem we are trying to solve? It is the "men problem"-a problem that has been well documented. You can hear about it on Oprah, read about it in Time, and watch the destruction it creates on Dr. Phil.

Men have become one of our largest neglected people groups. When you look at the men in our churches, do you see men leading powerful transformed lives? There are inspiring exceptions, but for the most part we don't. Why is that? In Matthew 22:29, Jesus told some confused religious leaders, "The problem is that you do not know the Scriptures and you do not know the power of God."

Many men are barely hanging on. Psychographically, they are tired. They often have a lingering feeling something isn't quite right about their lives. Often their lives are coming unglued. And it is common for them to feel like nobody really cares. They lead lukewarm, defeated lives.

To make matters worse, men's ministry is not a top priority in any denomination based on the actual allocation of intellectual and financial resources.

What is the solution? The solution is "for every church to disciple every man." To pull this off will require nothing short of a Discipleship Reformation. And we think there is strong evidence to think such a reformation has already begun. We are passionate about a Reformation of Men's Discipleship. That's the only systemic way to solve the "men problem"-to pave the way for millions of men to become disciples who lead powerful lives transformed by Christ. This is why we exist. It is the thing we are uniquely positioned and equipped to attempt.

VISION: For every church to disciple every man

How can we, together, reform men's discipleship? The solution is to serve, inspire, and equip pastors and their leaders to disciple men to lead powerful transformed lives. This is our mission-how we go about reforming men's discipleship in the church (body of Christ). We have developed expertise in how to serve pastors and train leaders. Likewise, we have an extensive body of knowledge about what men actually need to find authentic biblical manhood and heart transformation.

MISSION STATEMENT: Serving Pastors. Training Leaders. Transforming Men.

What concrete achievement will most contribute to achieving the vision of reforming men's discipleship? We believe in setting big holy audacious goals. We believe that a coalition of properly trained and inspired churches, pastors, and leaders who are "true believers" in, and passionate about, the No Man Left Behind Model can lead to a church-based reformation of men's discipleship that results in millions of lost or lukewarm men leading powerful transformed lives in Christ Jesus. The NMLB Model is a systematic method to disciple men using events, curricula, and programs from any source. Our dream is a coalition of 1,000,000 churches, pastors, and leaders who disciple 10,000,000 men to lead powerful transformed lives by the end of 2020. It's a goal that is, of course, too big unless God ordains it.

BHAG: 10,000,000 men leading powerful transformed lives by 2020.

What is our strategy to accomplish such a feat? We believe that if we can mobilize 1,000,000 leaders from churches to spiritually train 10,000,000 men in one-on-one and small group relationships that meet throughout our communities, with a special emphasis on younger men and men who are not yet biblical Christians, and unite those leaders into a community for support, encouragement, and resources -- then that will reform men's discipleship in the church and that, in turn, will change the world. The centerpiece of this strategy is "The Journey to Biblical Manhood" -- a simultaneously highly structured/highly flexible method of discipleship that focuses on the major areas of spiritual development. The main emphasis is on grace-based learning and behavioral objectives. We will launch a pilot for The Journey to Biblical Manhood at the 2010 Annual Summit (Thursday eve, January 28, 2010 through Saturday noon, January 30, 2010). Here are the five parts of the strategy:

How do we define success? We define success as a reformation of men's discipleship, pastors and their leaders inspired and equipped to disciple men, and men leading powerful transformed lives. Success is not just talking and teaching about how to change men's lives, but that men's lives are actually changed. Our dream goal is a coalition of 1,000,000 churches, pastors, and leaders who disciple 10,000,000 men to lead powerful transformed lives by 2020.

How will we measure success? We measure our success in transformed lives. We don't just measure our success by how many stores sell our toothpaste, but by how many tubes of toothpaste we sell. We will count the number of No Man Left Behind Coalition members and the number of men they disciple to lead transformed lives. Each member that becomes part of the No Man Left Behind Coalition will complete a benchmarking survey to establish the starting number for the number of their men leading powerful transformed lives -- defined as meeting these three qualifications: called to live in Christ (born again), equipped to live like Christ (ongoing spiritual growth in relationships with other disciples), and sent to live for Christ (neighbor love, abiding in Christ, evangelism, and serving others). These surveys will be updated at set intervals to measure progress toward the BHAG. Our metrics are "number of coalition members and number of men discipled to lead powerful transformed lives."

What is a powerful transformed man? A powerful transformed man is one who grasps the gospel and is grasped by the gospel, is living in right relationship with God and right relationship with others, has a growing knowledge of Christ and his Word, is growing in sanctification, and lives out biblical manhood in his roles, tasks, character, beliefs, and relationships. The journey to biblical manhood can be summarized in many ways -- it is an amalgamation of "transformed" relationships, roles, characteristics, qualities, priorities, purposes, and tasks.  One of the best summaries is Romans 12:2,

So do not conform any longer to the beliefs and customs of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind. Then you will be able to understand what God's perfect will is for your life (paraphrase).