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July 8, 2026 · 31 min · Sleeping Giant
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Since 2000 Every Man Ministries has been activating men worldwide to live out their truest identity in Christ through its discipleship resources, live events, and steaming platform.
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Building Strong Funnels: Pain, Purpose, People, Power, Play 0:11 Hey, guys. Welcome to session 4 of the sleeping giant training experience. In this session, we're gonna be covering steps 3 and 4 in the process. Building strong funnels0:23 that resonate with men and connects men, and building a strong spiritual pathway that is meaningful, sticky, and produces a lot of leaders for your church. So let's start our0:35 discussion of building strong funnels with a question. Okay? Here it is. Why don't men come to church sponsored things for men? See, we asked this question of0:46 ourselves at my church, and then we kept asking that question until we had thrown out just about every old way of appealing to men in order to get them connected to our0:58 leader development process. And as we did that, we came face to face with an unpleasant reality that our funnels or our the the things we relied1:10 upon for reaching and connecting men, they just weren't strong enough. Out went the pancake breakfast funnel, out went the Monday night football funnel, out went the expensive and adventurous1:22 men's retreat funnels. And in came the most unlikely funnel that changed our ministry. In came more men than we ever expected. In came the1:33 next generation of called leaders, and in came waves of transformation through our men. What funnel came in and did all that?1:45 The pain. You see, we just didn't stumble onto this powerful vehicle for reaching men. It was there the whole time in our own lives and in the lives of men in our congregation.1:58 Now we read the research, and we did our homework like many of you, and we made the attempts to deal with what we call pressing men's issues with special groups or or classes.2:10 What we hadn't done is build a platform that makes the core pains of men the starting point, not just for some men, but for every man in our church2:22 to begin the life and leader leader development journey with us. So we already had plenty of men. Okay? Which means we also had plenty of2:34 real needs living and breathing right there below the water lines in our congregation that we could trigger a response in for help. And so we reasoned that,2:46 okay, this mother load of pain's just sitting there like an untapped, you know, gold mine, why not tap it? So to test our theory, we approached our pastor and asked him if we could have some of2:58 our men give their testimonies alongside his message on Father's Day. Each guy talked about how his men's group was helping him to get a a win in an area he was3:09 struggling with. And then at the end of his testimony, in the message, he would say, so if you're like me, sign up for a men's core health group and, drop it in the offering3:21 basket. Now what do you think happened? Well, 900 men fell into our laps through that pain funnel and started the process of leader development the3:33 next week. Now when I give you that number, don't get lost in the number. Let me make it into a fraction. That approach resonated with nearly 1 3rd3:45 of the entire male attendance that weekend, k, that activated on on 1 or more core health issues. So what did we learn? K. It3:57 was a stunningly and surprisingly welcome confirmation of the sleeping giant premise. But it wasn't because we created anything or appealed to their intellect. We simply called4:09 out what was already present and inside them waiting to be addressed. And that's what strong funnels and magnets for men are are designed to do within a church culture. K?4:21 You you you ask yourself, what are the urgent and unresolved problems men are facing and need help with? Then you build platforms and you build4:33 testimonies and you build bridges and then provide multiple opportunities for them to just say yes to winning transformation in that area. And the men4:44 who come in through what we're calling the funnels of pain and felt needs to what we call the get in and get healthy platform. You know who those guys are? They're leaders in process.4:56 And let me tell you why. We assume this for the simple reason that something inside of these guys is compelling them and drawing them to be a better man or to be God's5:08 man. And we believe that spark is divine. A divine calling to a larger and transcendent purpose that he may only dimly5:20 see through the lens of his need now, but will soon morph and change beyond self help and self preservation to a true purpose and5:32 calling. So what happened with our 900? Well, 300 of the 900 came all the way through our process and into leadership out of that moment, and5:44 I believe it changed the leadership structure of our church. So when it comes to creating what we call magnets that attract men into your process, here's what you gotta5:56 remember, guys. Men are like icebergs. You only see the tip. Okay? Men love to project the image of strong and busy and purposeful and content6:07 even when they feel the exact opposite. They feel weak, bored with life, and depressed. So why start with the discussion of men and icebergs? The answer6:19 is simple but very profound for what we're talking about in this session. K? It's you can build your ministry based on the tip of a man, or you can6:31 base your ministry on the reality below. Now we know this will shock you, but here it goes. Men6:42 lie. Men are the masters of self protection and self preservation. And those 2 those 2 tendencies can be both the Achilles heel6:55 of men's ministry or the solid rocket fuel of your men's ministry. And here's what I mean. Whether you're trying to attract customers to a business product or men in your congregation7:07 and community to your church, you gotta ask 1 question before you do anything. And it's this, what are the urgent unresolved,7:18 keyword unresolved, unresolved problems men have that they need help with? You see, if you haven't got a handle on the answer to that question, don't expect a lot of men to show up7:30 or keep showing up or get other men to participate in what you're offering. Now 1 of the most stinging points of the parable of the7:42 good Samaritan was that Jesus was exposing the superficiality of the religious guys, the Levite and the priest, who instead of attending to the need in7:54 front of them, gave spiritual reasons for acting inconsistently in the face of an obvious and simple need that a man had. And this8:06 observation by Jesus is worth drilling down on when we talk about building strong funnels that get men on your pathway. So while you and I or most of us8:18 wouldn't associate ourselves with being the Levite or the priest in the parable of the good Samaritan, the fact is is that most men's ministries in the local church are built very consistently with the way the8:29 Levite and the priest thought and responded to the man in need. That is their ministry mentality was that men had to come to them on their terms8:41 versus them proactively seeing and engaging men based on their big needs. Now, churches continue8:54 to want men to come to their existing men's structures, most of the time oblivious to the real battles and needs their men are really facing. So what happens? Good intentions,9:06 good information, good events, okay music fail to enter the real lives and needs of men in the congregation and the community. So9:18 men come in, they participate, they act, then they go out. And so there they lay, privately suffering, gasping for air, while men's ministry in the local9:29 church walks right by on the other side of the street. Now what does that do in a man's head? It's a huge disconnect just like it would be a huge disconnect for the Samaritan to9:41 watch people walk by him. K? To this end, the key phrase in the parable of the good Samaritan are the words of Jesus when he says, when he saw the9:53 man's condition, his heart went out to him. You see, to see another man's condition, you have to identify with that condition as a man and10:05 as a human being. But to identify as a man and as a human being, we have to be willing to risk examination and exposure of yourself. Otherwise, you can't identify. Now10:17 how does it relate to your men? When men perceive that their needs are being seen and that the core team and the leadership of men's ministries hearts are going out to them,10:29 there's a strong connection. If the men in your congregation don't see or perceive us doing that, then they disconnect. And that's what we learned before and after our Father's Day experiment.10:41 When you build your men's ministry to attract people that resemble and reflect the interest and needs of the core team, by default, you alienate men in the congregation, men in the crowd, and men in the10:53 community. They're not like you. But the irony is that churches build events and ministries like they're exactly dealing with the same things. And what's the result? We end up11:04 structuring men's ministry to attract the 10 percent we already have at the expense of the 90 percent we don't have. So here's a question.The Sleeping Giant Spiritual Pathway: Get In, Get Healthy, Get Strong 11:16 What funnels fit the 90 percent you need to get into your process versus the 10 percent that you already have? Right now, we're gonna talk about the11:28 5 funnels that we have found to be the strongest funnels for attracting and keeping the 90 percent and bringing them into your core leadership. So let's talk11:40 about the 1st funnel. 1st funnel that we found is a magnet for men is pain. I've alluded to it. Relational pain, moral pain, or spiritual pain connected11:52 to marriage, family, character, temptation, or isolation. Men know that if they don't do relationships right, they're not doing life right. And12:04 that means they have to grow up. They have to go from being a boy to being a man. So when you think about the pain funnel, think about a life preserver. And the local church can be the 1 who12:15 rescues that man from himself. Okay? So the 1st funnel is pain. The 2nd strong magnet and funnel is purpose. Okay? And what do you need to know about that? Well, men are hardwired by12:27 God to be responsive to cause, to battle, to loyalty, to transcendence, something great, and justice. All you have to do is think12:39 Superman. K? Everybody had a variation of the pajamas. Well, why? Because men are into purpose. K? The 3rd magnet or strong funnel after12:51 after, pain and, after purpose is people. K? Men long get this. Men long for true fraternity,13:03 team, acceptance, affirmation, and the accountability that that brings in a strong relational context. But here's the deal. Most have never experienced13:16 strong masculine intimacy. But here's here's what you have to remember. They crave it. They crave that relationship even though they've never experienced. Okay? So13:27 people. The 4th strong funnel is power. K? Men are hardwired for a few things. Significance, influence, greatness,13:39 position, and leadership. And you know what I noticed about Jesus? Jesus didn't diminish that desire, k, for greatness. He just reframed it and13:51 redefined it in the New Testament. So Jesus actually took advantage of that desire for greatness and repurposed it and created a group of forceful men. So that's the 4th strong14:03 magnet is power, and then the 5th strong magnet is play. Guess what? Men learn well when they're they're laughing, they're having fun, they're risking, they're adventuring14:15 with other men. In fact, when you get them laughing and having fun, they're most open to learning. K? They're just not sure. Most men, they're not sure if their normal self,14:27 their laughing self, their risking self, their adventuresome self is welcomed at church. So, our experience is to shock them and laugh and risk and14:39 adventure together. And guess what? You get them. Now with these 5 funnels, here's what I want you to know. All your events, all your activities, all your topics, your teaching, your14:51 tools, your processes, k? Listen, must drip with these themes in order to resonate practically and powerfully with men. You want you want15:04 that comfort. You want that assurance that strong funnels provide on the front end of your men's processes. Okay? And I can't tell you how many15:15 times I have said to men of all backgrounds and levels of maturity who wanna get involved in men's ministry, all I say is this, go to get in and get healthy, and then we'll talk.15:27 And I say that to them because I know that it's there in their process that they're gonna explore core issues with men, k, that men are dealing with. They're gonna dive into God's word. They're gonna15:39 get that purpose piece. They're gonna practice biblical openness and confession with other men. They're gonna get that people piece. They're gonna transform through fellowship and accountability. They're gonna be15:49 connected with 1 of my leaders and hear the vision of leadership we have for them. That's the power piece. They're gonna begin to be followed relationally through the process. And listen, I know because I know my16:01 leaders. They're gonna laugh hard, and they're gonna start adventuring with some other great men. Now the next step in the sleeping giant process after building16:12 strong funnels considers the question that every man who comes in through 1 of your funnels into your ministry is automatically asking whether he's verbalizing it or not. And here's what16:24 he's asking. Now that you got me, what are you gonna do with me? I want you to meet a certain group of guys. I I call them the rocket16:36 booster boys. Alright? Who are they? These are guys who after being inspired spiritually and motivated personally and activated emotionally. K? Eventually, they16:48 plummet to earth as the fuel of their initial salvation or their reignition as God's man wears off. You see, these guys believe initially that they've escaped the17:00 atmosphere, right, of low level living, low level character, low level significance for something truly supernatural and transcendent only to be thwarted in their journey by17:12 an unexpected engine stall they didn't see coming. And their stories include a lot of the qualities I'm gonna talk about next, with the exception of maybe a few. ButGet Going: Deploying Leaders and Reproducing Ministry 17:23 here's what the rocket booster boy looks like. K? Strong decision for Christ. Enthusiastic start and positive outlook on on the days to come. Super high motivation. In fact, they say, oh,17:35 man. I'm on fire. Okay? Then begins a search for a church with men's ministry. Maybe they participate in a few events, but they don't really17:47 match the strength of their salvation or ignition experience. K? So they they self select out, then no regular connection to other men for the purposes of spiritual growth,17:59 normal pressures of life. And guess what? Now they're stuck with being a Christian, normal pressures, and they go back to the old ways of dealing with that pressure,18:11 okay, which feels bad. They're maybe attending a church, but they're not activated in a church. And then guess what happens? Their passion starts going down. And then eventually,18:23 the rocket booster boy resume resumes life the way he was living before he was a lever a believer. Okay? And what does that create in him? Frustration and18:35 confusion over why in church they don't have a men's pathway or vision or something meaningful for him. So let's talk18:47 about a strong spiritual pathway, and we're gonna talk about 1 right now. K? The 1st place on the sleeping giant spiritual pathway is this, get18:59 in. And what does that mean? It means that you get into relationship with God and with other men who share your convictions. So get in. The 2nd place on the Sleeping Giant spiritual pathway19:10 is get healthy. K? What does that mean? That means get healthy in your relationships, in your family, in your marriage, and with other people. Get healthy relationally, get healthy morally as a19:22 man. K? So that's a 2nd stop. 3rd stop, get strong. Get in, get healthy, get strong. What does that mean? Well, biblically and spiritually. Become a disciple.19:35 Find spiritual disciplines, experience spiritual power. Get strong. Get in, get healthy, get strong. And the last step is get going. K? That's the end game.19:47 Get going into your personal leadership expressions of ministry and mission. So when we talk about, what men's ministry is20:00 to men, we say, hey. We want you to get in. We want you to get healthy, get strong, and we want you to get going. Did you notice that that communicates a beginning and it communicates an end?20:12 4 simple words that capture everything that we're about. It captures what the process is and it captures the end game with guys who want to participate.20:24 And that's the best thing about the Sleeping Giant spiritual pathway. Not a lot of explanation is required. These men understand those words in healthy,20:36 strong, and going without a lot of thinking. But since you're training, let's touch on each 1 in a little bit more detail. 1st, get in. K?20:48 In men's culture, every man's got a guy. Right? We got a guy who can fix your car, write your next home loan, help they manage your money. But most men don't got a guy that helps them21:00 win battles for spiritual and relational health. And so the Sleeping Giant model emphasizes getting guys in with other guys who share a personal commitment to grow personally21:12 and spiritually. Could be a weekly men's group. Could be the men in your couple's group meeting on a separate day of the week. Could be some guys from work having coffee once a week. You see, we know that when21:24 a man commits to pursuing and deepening male friendships, he's gonna sustain his momentum and avoid being a rocket booster boy, and he's gonna achieve personal changes21:36 faster than he ever could by himself. So what we do is we make sure there's many get in platforms for a man to connect with other men. You see, getting in starts21:48 his journey from inspiration to progression. K? Our next call after get in provides direction and meaning once guys get connected. They'll naturally22:00 wanna know, okay. I'm in. What now? Time for pathway step number 2, which is get healthy. Step 2 of the process involves like what we talked about earlier earlier.22:12 Defining and meeting the felt needs of men and helping them get a win, listen, that's meaningful to them. K? The reason the get healthy phase, is in22:24 the pathway, is because if you don't address the the real and relevant issues in a man's life, if those stay untouched and you bring a guy along,22:36 everything else that he learns or accomplishes through your connection to that guy is gonna be short lived in both his life and in the in the church context. I mean, here's the22:47 deal. An unfree and unhealed guy who's more knowledgeable is simply a more knowledgeable roadside bomb waiting to go off later when you make him a leader. Why?23:00 Because of unaddressed character issues. We've all seen it. The guy implodes on your watch. You never knew what was going on. Why? Because we didn't care enough to find out if23:12 he was healthy 1st. And the excuse of, well, I had no idea, that doesn't resonate. The fact of the matter is that your process allowed him23:23 to enter leadership without an x-ray of his character. So what is Get Healthy? In a group context, Get Healthy is, men going23:35 after core health in their own character and their own relationships 1st in the sleeping giant pathway. K? This involves an open discussion of temptation and23:47 compromise. That's moral health. It involves an open discussion of his view of women and marriage. That's marital health. It involves a discussion of his leadership in the home. That's family health. And23:59 it involves, an open discussion of how masculine friendship and accountability work in his life. That's relational health. Now, true health in those core areas is the24:10 difference between what we feel is an authentic leader and a synthetic leader. More importantly, and listen, the Bible requires core health and strong leadership in24:22 each of those categories prior to selection for church leadership. If you wanna go to the Bible, just go to 1st Timothy 3 and read verses 1 through 5 that talk24:34 about the requirements for a leader. So once a church has defined and met the felt needs of a man, the the transformation and the transformational24:46 capital that's earned by the church in that man's life needs to be spent on the next step, leadership development and spiritual training. So24:58 that's why we have pathway step number 3, and that's get strong. And here's how it works together with the other 2, with a solid baseline of health intact, And a vision25:10 for his continued involvement has to be cast, and a process of discipleship must be in place that prepares him for deployment into his ministry within your church and into the mission25:21 field in the world. And that call, get strong, will involve a higher stake in the vision of the church, a higher commitment, and a higher cost to him personally.25:33 K? The get strong phase of the pathway is all about what we call making a god's man. Right? So in an established relational context coming through the pathway, the25:45 focus here is exploring and experiencing the core beliefs and behaviors of god's man. And it's a natural progression from transformation to activation25:57 to leadership training. Practically, what your men will feel is they will feel themselves going to the next level of commitment personally, spiritually, and practically in ministry. In in the26:09 get strong phase, they are packing on serious spiritual muscle. They're packing on disciplines as well as engaging different resources and relationships that26:20 center, listen, on strong spiritual formation. Now what's the goal of Get Strong? The goal of Get Strong is an aggressive spiritual expression of 2 things, the26:32 great commandment and the great commission evidenced in his life. And this evidence will be reflected in his commitment to 4 things. Christ likeness. K?26:44 He's a God's man committed to God's dream of personal transformation in his life on a daily basis. It'll be reflected in a conquering faith. He'll become a god's man who will consistently risk in the direction of god's26:56 purposes and promises to advance the kingdom. It'll be reflected in his ability to confront evil. He'll be a god's man who knows how to fight evil within himself and in all domains of27:08 his life. And then number 4, it'll be evidenced by him cooperating on a daily basis with the holy spirit. A god's man who soars above cultural27:20 masculinity through a spirit filled and a spirit formed life. So that's what we're after. And once he's fully trained in those ways, there's only 1 call left for a27:32 strong man. Time for the next step, which is get going. It's the it's the proverbial, hey. The birds gotta leave the nest. The birds gotta start flapping its wings. The birds gotta start27:43 flying into maturity and its purpose. So when you look at the whole process, the 1st steps in the process define and met the core needs of men. That's get in and get healthy. The27:55 next phase captured his motivation created by his transformations, with a forceful vision and call to spiritual growth. That's get strong. And then the last most natural transition is deploySession Wrap-Up: Build Funnels and Pathways for Transformation 28:07 this guy to serve the church and aggressively share the gospel in all ways possible within his life context. Get going. And in the sleeping giant model, a trained28:19 god's man should be responsible for ministry. He should be reproducing leaders, and he should be replacing pastoral staff in the execution and28:31 delivery of the ministry to the people. Now what does the the man feel as he gets going? Well, the message to the man coming from this process is this. The church28:43 wants you at your post and needs you at your post to succeed. And unlike, get in, get healthy, get strong, we don't engineer get going like the others because what we've learned28:55 is the fact that churches typically don't lack ministry or mission opportunities for their people, but they do lack the men and muscle to drive them. So get going is29:07 the call to get off their blessed assurance and get into the adventure of advancing the kingdom. So in you in the sleeping giant process, what do we want for29:18 men? We want men to move meaningfully from a place of inspiration to solid progression. We don't want any rocket booster boys. We don't want the29:30 frustration for the man. We don't want to waste momentum for the church. And the way we do that is we build strong funnels combined with a strong spiritual pathway underneath them to29:42 prevent those stumbles and replace them with stepping stones into your leadership community. So as a result of this session, just start to tell your29:54 men what it's all about In healthy, strong, and going, and keep saying it. Okay? And then support that process30:06 with good men, good material, good mentoring. Watch what happens. Your pathway provides you with a leadership engine, but your people connecting with men while30:17 they're experiencing your pathway, that's what we're gonna talk about next because they represent the gap between success and failure. We will see you back in30:29 session 5.In this video 0:00 Building Strong Funnels: Pain, Purpose, People, Power, Play11:11 The Sleeping Giant Spiritual Pathway: Get In, Get Healthy, Get Strong17:16 Get Going: Deploying Leaders and Reproducing Ministry28:01 Session Wrap-Up: Build Funnels and Pathways for Transformation
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