Men's Fraternity Graduation 2008

For the past 24 weeks, my husband has been getting up on Thursday mornings to show up at church at 6:00 AM. He, along with about 300 other guys from our community took part in what is called "Men's Fraternity: The Quest For Authentic Manhood." They would gather for a corporate teaching, and then separate into small groups for discussion. They each had a book with fill-ins during the message, and places for personal notes. During these past six months, they have explored what the Bible says about being an authentic man, as well as past wounds that needed healing. It's been a learning experience and therapy session at times.

This Saturday, was their graduation. Each man had to complete a "Man Plan" in order to take part in the ceremony. There were 215 guys in all, graduating this weekend (about 90 per service). Joe graduated during Saturday night services. I was his accompanying witness. It was pretty awesome, and our church made a big deal out of it. Our pastor was crying the whole time, and so were a lot of the guys and their families. Our kids were able to watch him, which was really cool. Here are a few pics the kids took, and a little video too.




Here we are walking down the aisle toward the stage. Everyone was standing and clapping while all of the guys' names were scrolling on the big screens with processional music. Joe is in front of me in the red Hawaiian shirt with a goatee.



You can see Joe's face right behind the grey haired guy with the black Hawaiian shirt.

I had to give a date to this graduation, because there will be two more in the coming years. The second "Men's Fraternity" will begin in October. It will be interesting to see what more God has in store for my man and for the men of our church.

If you're interested in Men's Fraternity, I have included the link on my sidebar.