I just tripped across a goldmine

I don't know about you, but when we hold a life group connection it is easy to connect couples in couples groups, easier to connect women in women's groups, and a little bit of a challenge to connect men in men's groups.

Okay... it's a BIG challenge to connect men in men's groups.

Now, we've discovered a pretty good workaround. When we run a short-term on-campus "experience" for men we regularly get 25 to 35 guys to show up and end up starting 2 or 3 groups that often are solid and make it off campus to continue meeting.

But all in all, it is a pretty big challenge to get men connected in men's groups.

With me? I know I'm not alone.

And that's why, when I got a seat in the Reaching and Engaging Men breakout at RE:GROUP 18 I was hopeful.

Of course, I've been in a lot of breakouts. And often they only tease at potential.

This breakout felt different from the outset! And an early line in the patter between speakers grabbed my attention: "Men's groups are up 3 times in 3 years." Hello!

The next thing I heard was a set of very familiar words. Preferred future. Vision. Destination. Bearings. Path.

Immediately, I'm thinking "these guys are smart. They think like me ;-)"

And then I read the vision:

"Our vision is to be a community of men who are fully alive.

• Rooted in Jesus

• Known by a few

• Engaged in their unique calling"

Uh oh. I think I'm hooked. This idea has potential.

Here's the essence of the idea:

Recruit an initial group of your highest caliber men (9s and 10s)  into a group that will meet monthly for 9 months (a three hour meeting). Read a book a month and have monthly assignments. They'll also have one to ones, an overnight retreat, a full day commencement,

When they finish, they'll each pick up a group of men who have been "nominated" by life group leaders and applied to participate in an upcoming Leadership Development Group (LDG).

The LDGs meet monthly for 9 months. Essentially, they replicate the experience of the first group of men.

Note: If you've been along for much of the journey here at MarkHowellLive.com, you know most of what I write about are rapid start ideas and strategies that enable unconnected people to be connected in waves (Church-wide campaigns, life group connections, short-term on-campus strategies, etc.). Clearly, this strategy is a slow growth concept. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Full disclosure: You see this for what it is, right? It's a mentoring concept. Still, it sounds like something that will scale and fairly quickly ramp into an overwhelming tidal wave of potential.

Conclusion (for now): be sure you're subscribed to my updatesI believe this is the missing piece we've been looking for. It's not a quick fix. It will take work. But I think this is a game-changer. If you want to keep up with progress, !