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“I think someone is at the door,” Nickie said.
The door was locked because our bookstore wasn’t open, but I ran and opened it for the man standing there. I invited him in and he began looking around. He was middle-aged, and said his name was Tim.
Then two young guys, who were friends of Tim, also knocked on the door. When I realized they went to a nearby high school, this immediately grabbed my attention.
“Are you guys Christians?” I asked.
“Yes,” they both replied enthusiastically.
“Are there other Christians at your school?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve been wanting to start a group for guys,” Tim inserted, “but I’m new at this, I’m still learning myself, so I know I’m not the one to lead it.”
“Well,” I said, “I’ve actually been praying about starting a Bible study for high school guys. But the problem is I don’t know any guys to invite.”
“Oh, we can invite the guys if you can lead the study!” they said.
“And I’ll provide pizza,” I replied.
With excitement Tim asked, “So you’re saying that you’ve been praying about starting a Bible study with high school guys, and we just ‘happened’ to walk in the door wanting to start a group for high school guys? This is crazy!”
The truth is I had been praying specifically about this since last summer—praying in particular about high school guys. They are young and have a lot to learn, and nothing is more interesting than the Word of God. My idea was to have a Bible study each week after school here at Noah’s Archive (the Bright Lights office bookstore) and also provide pizza. But I didn’t have the time or contacts to make it happen. So I just prayed. I wasn’t sure it was a prayer God would answer. I am behind on everything else God has given me to do, so why would He give me more? But I prayed anyway because our world needs strong, godly men.
And now here were three guys who randomly walked in our bookstore wanting to start a Bible study for high school guys! Tim was so excited about what God was doing that tears were streaming down his face. We all instantly understood that God had just miraculously arranged what we were all independently praying for.
“Let’s all keep praying about it and see what God does!” I said.
What God has done has been truly awesome. We’ve been meeting on Monday nights, and we call our group “Just Men.” The guys specified that it should be short and sweet, only one hour from 6:00 to 7:00. They also specified that after we read the Bible, they wanted to discuss other “guy things” like dating.
The first week we had five guys and me and Tim. The group has been growing and now (seven weeks later), if everyone came, we would have 20 guys and eat seven pizzas. 🙂 Some are believers and some are not. We have finished 2 Timothy, and now we’re in John chapter 3. We’ve had great discussions about dating, lust, anger, repentance, and forgiveness. They decided that an hour wasn’t enough and asked if we could go until 7:30.
I am very encouraged by the spiritual interest and hunger of these young men! They say that Monday is their favorite night of the week.
I don’t know what God is going to do with this group or where it is leading, but all the guys are excited about it and want to make it grow. They are a zealous bunch of Just Men.
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