Men gather for Rise Up! retreat
By Jessica Brodie
COLUMBIA—Jesus took 12 ordinary men and changed the world. Imagine what he can do with us if we can surrender our hearts and make ourselves fully available to him.
“So let’s rise up! Let’s rise up and make a difference in this world. Let’s rise up, and if our hearts are together, we can do this.”
With those words, Bishop Leonard Fairley helped kick off “Rise Up! Rise Up! Steps of a Good Man,” a daylong men’s spiritual retreat held at Journey United Methodist Church, Columbia.
Two hundred men and scouts from across South Carolina gathered for the retreat, which featured a lineup of speakers designed to fill men spiritually with powerful wisdom and faith inspiration.
In addition to Fairley, speakers included Bishop L. Jonathan Holston, now of the Alabama-West Florida Conference; Bishop James Swanson, General Commission on United Methodist Men general secretary; Steven Scheid, GCUMMen scouting coordinator; and the Rev. Sterling Eaton, GCUMMen director of men’s ministry.
The day prior, men also had the opportunity to participate in a golf tournament at The Spur at Northwoods Golf Course and a “Cigars and Scriptures” fellowship event Friday evening at the church. A weekend Scout Jamboree ran concurrently with the men’s retreat as a way to involve youth and younger men, with many of the sessions overlapping.
Kenny Bingham, South Carolina UMMen president, said the event was “a great success,” especially with three bishops on the teaching lineup.
“It was a God-centered and Spirit-filled day,” Bingham said.
Herman Lightsey, president of National Association of Conference Presidents for UMMen and a member of Ashland UMC, Columbia, agreed. He noted South Carolina men seem ready to embrace new ways they can work together and be the church God needs.
“I think men are ready to put the past behind us and march forward,” Lightsey said.
‘An opportunity to be godly men’
The “Rise Up!” theme was taken from Psalm 37:23-25, which shares how the Lord strengthens the steps of those who walk with him, encouraging men to keep on pushing even when they stumble.
The morning started with songs from the men of St Mark UMC, North, then greetings from Dr. George Ashford, Journey’s senior pastor.
Ashford lifted up the successful Cigars and Scriptures event held the evening before, which drew more than 60 men to the gathering and saw two men recommit their lives to Christ.
“We are responsible for each other; we are more together. And when we come together with all our gifts and graces, God blesses that body,” Ashford said to applause.
Fairley also issued a welcome to the men, stating that what he saw at Cigars and Scriptures “is what heaven is going to look like.”
Holston preached the opening session, urging men to do all they can to be all-in when it comes to church leadership and participation. After all, he said, the next generation is watching.
“The church is stronger when its men are active and present because our young men and boys follow what they see,” Holston said to a chorus of amens. “If they can’t see us, they can’t know us to follow us.”
Holston encouraged the men to write down the names of three men they should have brought with them to the retreat. Then when they get home, invite those men to a small group at church.
“We have an opportunity to be godly men in a place where godly men are needed,” Holston said. “Our young men are suffering, and we’re sitting behind closed doors. If we’re going to rise up, we can’t rise up thinking we’re the only people on the block.”
Holston closed by calling the men to embrace three values: courage, commitment and compassion.
Listening and leadership
Next, the scouts headed downstairs for a session with Scheid and Eaton while Swanson shared a word with the men what it means to listen to what God has to say.
Swanson shared how there is a big difference between hearing someone and genuinely listening to them.
“Listening costs you nothing but time, and it’s part of what we’re called to do,” he said, noting that Satan tries to keep us from hearing what God wants us to hear.
Prayer can help increase our ability to listen and hear in a godly manner.
Then Fairley taught the men about building teams that can inspire change. He shared how our best example of what it means to model true transformational leadership is in Jesus Christ himself. After all, Jesus took 12 flawed men and created a team that changed the world.
“How did he call his team together? He walked and said ‘Follow me,’ and grown men dropped everything followed him,” Fairley said.
Jesus led by example, and that’s what we must do, too. Jesus also began on the margins, which is also where we must begin.
He urged the men to let the evidence of Jesus in their lives—the passion and fire that Jesus ignites—to shine so brightly people can’t help but notice.
Making a difference
After lunch, men and scouts gathered for an intergenerational game led by Scheid and Eaton. Young men sat at tables with older men, and together each table collectively tried to define the meaning behind popular generational slang. “Far out,” “groovy” and “bees knees,” for the older generations, stacked up against younger slang such as “no cap,” “glow up,” “sus” and “vibe check.”
After, Scheid explained the deeper point of the game, which was that only in the blending of relationships, older men and younger men, can we truly understand what the whole body needs.
“We can’t win without each other,” Scheid said. “We’re incomplete when we’re all gray or all young.”
The day wrapped with an overview about the GCUMMen’s new men’s app, followed by a mass communion service.
Fairley closed by reminding the men that the point of the day was all for Jesus.
“It’s about winning souls to Jesus, not about saving an institution,” Fairley said. “This event is not about making a difference in your own life but so you can make a difference in someone else’s life.”
Next year’s retreat will again pair men and scouts in a weekend event Feb. 20-22. The theme is Building Bridges.”