Fight Club Ignites Fire in Goshen Men
Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 21, 2012
For the last 12 weeks, men at Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Ind., have been participating in Fight Club, a program developed by the staff of the church that is designed to reach men where they are. “It is an incredible discipleship journey,” says Pastor Jim Brown. “It has all the components of discipleship plus all the stuff that makes men come alive.”
It was advertised as a brand new, life-changing ministry for men. If you wanted to be part of it, then come to an informational meeting at midnight on the specified Monday night.
“Yes, we met at midnight,” says Pastor Jim, “and 323 men came to that informational meeting, which had many elements to it.”
Every participant signed a creed that required them to not talk about Fight Club to people outside of the group. They were given weekly assignments that had to be accomplished. If they weren’t, strikes were accumulated.
“We finished with 145 men,” says Jim. There were 225 men who began the journey. “Men did these assignments with hopes that their actions made a difference.”
Between meetings, the men connected through a password-protected closed website.
“It lit a fire in men and turned our church upside down,” says Pastor Jim, who developed the program from scratch, often writing it as they went. “It lined up well with what I have been saying for 16 years at Grace Community, if you get the man, you get the family. You get the family, you the community. You get the community, you get the world.”
The 12 weeks culminated with an awards ceremony when the men received a shirt with the creed on it and a leather bracelet bearing the Fight Club logo. The videos on this page are from that ceremony.
Currently he and his staff is working on developing the program so that it may be used by other churches.
“I have never been more excited about anything in my entire life!” he adds, as he prepares for another 12 week program with a new group of men.
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My wife & I have been a part of a lot of different ministry, projects & programs over the last 30 years all over the world: from prison ministry, planting a US church, inner city ministry, “outlaw biker” ministry, spiritual warfare discipleship, financial freedom discipleship, missions in the local church, missions overseas, a gazillion short-term teams…Hands down, bar none “Fight Club” is the best equipping ministry that I’ve every had God’s grace to witness. I pray Pastors everywhere will find the courage only God can give, to go after the men in their flock in ways that break out of the box and set them free to be the men of God Jesus died for. My name’s Ted Rondeau and I’m a “Fight Club Man.”
This experience has been life changing!! Prior to the past 12 weeks I was “That Guy”, coming to church and serving but not fully leading my family or digging into the word with discipline. The group experience is SO empowering and God has change me over the past 12 weeks. It was not always easy and it was not always fun, but in the end it yielded a harvest of righteousness and self discipline!! My name is Tim Stutsman and I AM A FIGHT CLUB MAN!!
I am proud to be one of the original Fight Club men. I have served the Lord for 28 years and I’ve never seen or experienced the power of God and the move of His Spirit like this. It’s beyond revival! It has been both empowering and humbling to see men from all facets of life finally step up and say “No more excuses, no more pretending everything is okay, no more going through the motions.”
These men have not only taken a stand but have genuinely and passionately stormed the frontlines of the battle for our wives, our children, our homes, and our communities. I love Pastor Jim’s vision that “If you get the man, you get the family. If you get the family you get the community. If you get the community you change the world!”
I am very humbled by the experience of being a Fight Club Leader in this opening chapter. I have served in many areas of Grace Community Church, from teaching,mentoring,being involved in men’s ministeries, Leading Celebrate Recovery ministry, being an Elder, being a Deacon, but this by far has been the most gratifying spiritual re-ignition in men I’ve ever encountered. This 12 week journey allowed men to shed masks, be real and become the spiritual head of thier lives, households, at work and where ever they may be, but most importantly the men learned how to reestablish disciplines that the busy lifestyles have choked out. I feel these men are the begining chapter of Knights of the 21st century which will bring our world back to where God intended us to be following Jesus Christ and his cause to seek and save the lost, fighting for brothers, our sons, our daughters, our wives and our homes. I am David Pinion and I am a FIGHT CLUB MAN!
As a wife of a fight club member I wanted to give my side of the ministry. In the last 12 weeks, my husband has been a true leader to our family. It has felt great as a wife to know that my husband was fighting for us and stepping up to what God had always intended his role as husband and father to be. The ripple effect has been seen greatly in our 11 year old son. He has asked to partake in monthly fasts with his dad, has picked up the bible on numerous occasions in the last 12 weeks( on his own accord!!) to read, and has said multiple times to his father and in our morning prayers that he is so proud of his dad for completing fight club. My husband has blazed a path, a path that we didn’t realize had perhaps grown up a bit with weeds. Even my 6 year old son voluntarily did a 24 hour fast yesterday with his older brother and father! My older son took his brother aside when the little one got hungry and read the bible to him and prayed with him. This would never have happened before my 11 year old saw the example that his dad has laid while being in fight club. We are so thankful in so many ways for this awesome ministry. It is not only impacting a generation of men now, but the future generation of husbands and fathers!! Praise God!
I have been a Christian for a long time but I have not really lived like it. Just before the fight club started my wife came to me and told me (after 25 years of marriage) that she did not love me anymore and had not for a long time. I was devastated and had no idea. That was the hardest thing I had ever heard. By the way she also told me that she was also committed to our marriage and was not going anywhere. Then we started in a small group at church and for some reason I opened up with the group on our 2nd meeting. Then fight club started and WOW things started to change and we have been on a whirl wind every since. I can not even begin to tell you how long she had waited to have me be the leader in our marriage and our family. I did not do a very good job of being a husband or a father but that has all changed. The power of men fighting for me and with GOD as our leader who can stop us. It is a matter of discipline and being pushed by the fight club members and my accountable partner. I have rebuilt my relationship with my wife (she now loves me again
and have started to rebuild my relationship with both my kids. I will never go back to being the guy I was before fight club because I know that every man in the fight club has my back and I have theirs as well. My prayer is that all the pastors of churches everywhere will want to train there men to be come the men that God intended them to be. My name is Dallas Haney and I am a FIGHT CLUB MAN
Fight club has totaly transformed my life. I truly believe that we could see revival all across this great nation as this concept grabs hold in the local church. This program met me right where i stood and instilled much needed disciplines in my life. The Lord has regained my FULL attention and is doing marvelous things in my life as a result of Fight Club!!!