The Gathering of Men Luncheon - Meeting for Over Twenty Years

Rodney Wood sent you a video: "Pete Maravich - GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER EVER (ESPN NBA DOCUMENTARY)"

Rodney Wood has shared a video with you on YouTube Pete Maravich - GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER EVER (ESPN NBA DOCUMENTARY) by Basketball Doc Pete Maravich - GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER EVER (ESPN NBA DOCUMENTARY) NBA Hall of Famer "Pistol Pete" Maravich was a spectacular showman who helped open up the game of basketball in the 1970s. After a legendary college career at Louisiana State, he played 10 productive seasons in the NBA, earning five trips to the NBA All-Star Game and one league scoring title. Maravich wasn't the first player to dribble behind his back or make a deft between-the-legs pass. But his playground moves, circus shots, and hotdog passes were considered outrageous during his era and, perhaps because he cultivated a freewheeling image, some basketball purists felt he was more style than substance. But Maravich produced huge numbers, first as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history and later as a potent force for both the Atlanta Hawks and the New Orleans Jazz. Maravich holds nearly every major NCAA scoring record, including most career points (3,667), highest career scoring average (44.2 ppg), most field goals made (1,387) and attempted (3,166), and most career 50-point games (28). And he accomplished all this without the benefit of the three-point basket, which wasn't introduced into the college game until the 1986-87 season. Help center • Email options • Report spam ©2015 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

The Man Who Held God in His Arms

Dear friends,

I well remember the first infant that I ever held in my arms:  Holland Pryor Greene, the newly-born daughter (October 24, 1973) of our friends Tom and Cathy Greene.  While sitting in that light brown, wooden rocking chair at Tom and Cathy’s house with Bec kneeling close at my side, I was afraid to move, even the slightest bit, as I held this tiny, greatly treasured little girl in my arms.  (As I was writing this, I decided to see if I could find that picture.  As you can see, I found it!)

So what prompted me to reflect once again, as I have many times before, on that marvelous moment with little Holland (now Mrs. Breaux Nader of Baton Rouge) over forty years ago in the Greene home?  My return to that rocking chair came as I was pondering the experience of a brother of ours who also once held an infant in his arms.  I am of course speaking of  that dear, old saint Simeon.  

 

It happened, on a certain day in the Lord's temple, that as Simeon was looking about, he suddenly caught sight of the long-long-awaited One – the Deliverer!  What he saw was not a young man striding across the temple floor with the bearing of leadership about him.  No, what captured his eye was an infant, a newborn who was being carried in his young mother's arms as she and her husband had come, in obedience to the Law, to present their infant Son to the Lord.  I have tried to imagine how the old saint must have felt as he made his way toward the mother and father and their baby.  And when he approached them, what did he say?  "May I hold the child, please?"  Was that what he said?  His lips must have quivered with each word.  His aged eyes must have glazed.  His hands surely must have trembled with the kind of fear that one has when he is about to hold something very, very precious.  As he carefully, gently received this cherished infant from his mother, Simeon fully understood that he was holding the Promised One of whom Moses and the Prophets had spoken and who had been the expectation of Israel for centuries upon centuries.  But what  our dear old brother could not have known was this:  he was actually cradling his Creator.  The Infant in his arms was the Infinite.  Simeon was holding the One who holds the entire universe.    

Concerning our brother Simeon’s identity, the Scriptures only tell us that he "was a man in Jerusalem," although some scholars believe that he was a priest. However, there is something of great importance that Dr. Luke makes strikingly clear about our dear brother.  Luke says that “the Holy Spirit was upon him” and that “by the Spirit” he had received a personal revelation that he would not die before seeing the Messiah and that “he came in the Spirit (that is, in an extraordinary Spirit-given state such as that of the Apostle John in Revelation 1:10) into the temple.”  Simeon, the man in Jerusalem, was a man of the Spirit!   And the Spirit had formed his character – he was “righteous and devout” – and had filled his heart with longing – he was “looking for the consolation of Israel.” 

In the 1970’s, some of you were among the millions of university students all over America (and in other countries) whom God was calling into the blessed life of the Spirit.  Oh, what great days those were!  We could look at one another and see that the Holy Spirit was forming our character, even as He promised He would.  And He was stirring our hearts with such a love for our Savior that we were constantly “looking for” Him to appear “in the clouds” with His holy angels and all the saints of heaven!

What the Holy Spirit was doing to us, all those years ago, is very well summed up in that one descriptor of Simeon:  he was “devout.”  What does this mean?  In the Greek, we have a combining of terms meaning “well” and “take hold.”  To be devout is to “take hold well” of God – to embrace Him well! 

Brothers and sisters, as some of you may know, on Monday, February 2^nd, Christians all over the world will be celebrating “The Presentation of Our Lord” and will be returning with Simeon to that moment when he held God in his arms.  May the Holy Spirit so work in your heart and mine that not only on Monday but on every day we will embrace Him well.   Today we can hold Him in our hearts; one day soon we’ll hold Him in our very arms!   

In the love of our Savior,

Rod and Bec

2014 - Thankful to Be in our Lord's Service

Bec and Rod at Top of the Louisiana State Capitol
During 2014 Session of the Legislature

2014 Session of Louisiana Legislature

Grateful for the Privilege of being a Contributing Author
 to this work, which was edited by Chuck Garriott

Langham Preaching - TANZANIA
Rev. Elkana Gonda (Country Coordinator), RW,
and Rev. Tony Swanson, long-time African Inland Mission leader
in Tanzania, who has handled all of the administration
for our seminars since 2006 

Monday Morning for Men

The Design and Distortion of Manhood, Part 2

Genesis, Chapters 1-3

(Based on Robert Lewis’ Quest for Authentic Manhood)

Today we are going to turn to Genesis again and give more thought to God’s design of manhood.  Man was wired to lead.  Then came that devastating distortion of manhood in the Garden of Eden. 

But before we talk about male leadership, we must be very clear about one thing:   Male domination is a personal moral failure; it is not a teaching of the Bible.  So what does the Bible teach? 

God makes it clear that his original design for the man was for leadership.  Turn to Genesis 2.

• Man was created first, and God had a purpose in doing this.  Genesis 2:7 “The Lord formed the man . . . .”  Genesis 2:22 “Then the Lord made a woman from the rib He had taken from the man.”  By this order of creation, God was indicating to the man and the woman that the man would be the leader.  For implications of this, see 1 Timothy 2:12 where the Apostle Paul says, “But I do not allow a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over a man but to remain silent.”  Why?  In the very next verse, vs. 13, Paul says, “For it was the man who was created first and then the women.”  Divine Order is the reason that women should not be in positions where they teach or exercise authority over men. 
• Before Eve was created, God gave His spoken Word to the man.   Genesis 2:15-17
• When God created the woman, he called her “helper.”  Genesis 2:18, 20
• The man (ish) named his helper, saying, “She shall be called woman (ishah).”  Genesis 2:23 Naming indicates having authority over.  Examples:  The man named the animals (Gen. 2:19-20);

God renamed men and women in the Bible, thereby indicating that they would continue their lives under His authority:  Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, and Simon to Peter. 

·          The man is to be the initiator in the establishment of the marriage relationship.  “. . . a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.”  This role of initiator is the one for which he has been wired by God.  The woman is wired for the man to take initiative in his relationship with her.  When it is the woman who is the initiator, we have a reversal, an attempt to re-wire the marriage. 

The man’s passivity allowed for the tragic reversal that led to a distortion of his role and disaster for all human beings.  Turn to Genesis 3. 

• Satan says that God is a liar:  “You surely shall not die.”  (Genesis 3:4)
• Satan says that God is not good:  “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (Genesis 3:5)
• The man is passive.  He does NOTHING!  He apparently is standing right there listening to the dialogue between his wife and the DEVIL! 
• God holds the man accountable. Gen. 3:8-9
• The man paints himself as a VICTIM!  “The woman you put here with me” Genesis 3:11-12

                  “Sometimes it’s 

lonely out front.”

(These are the words that my wife 

Becky Wood once said to me as she reflected on

all the years that I had sought to carry out my calling as the leader of our family. 

 She has passed these words on to her sons, and with her glad permission,

I continue to pass them onto husbands everywhere. – RW)

• Adam’s curse is based on the reversal of God’s created order:  “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree . . .”   Genesis 3:17-19
• It was the failure of the man that brought about the fall of man.  Romans 5:19 says, “. . . through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners.”
• But Romans 5:19 also says, “. . . through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous.”

One final note from Genesis:  After the fall, in Genesis 3:20, we see that Adam renamed his wife, Eve, mother of the living.  What is the significance of this?  Our sin against God has not brought about the rescinding of our call to leadership.  It is true that we do it imperfectly.  But we can look to Him for His abundant grace, and we can lovingly lead our wives and children.  

AMAZINGLY TRANSFORMED YOUNG WOMEN. . . 

Rescued From Human Trafficking

Father Jeff Bayhi at St. Peter's Square:  Father Jeff has always ministered among the "least 

of these."  For seven years, he served the poorest of the poor with Mother Teresa in Calcutta.

Currently he is the pastor of a large parish in Zachary, LA and is a chaplain at Angola State Prison

where he spends many hours with inmates each week.    

    

Sister Eugenia Bonetti oversees a worldwide effort against 

human trafficking.  Sister Eugenia received the International

Women of Courage Award in 2007.  This award was established

in that year by U.S. Secretrary of State Condoleezza Rice on

International Women's Day and is presented annually.  It was 

our privilege to be with Sister Eugenia and her colleagues.  

Bobby Gaston, Ph. D. (LA Sheriff's Association), Senator Ronnie Johns, Australian Ambassador to the Vatican John McCarthy, Colonel Mike Edmonson (LA State Police), Fr. Jeff Bayhi, and myself

                    Bec and Sister Eugenia in a meeting at the Vatican

     Col. Mike holding  a child of one of the 

     young women at a safehouse 

Dear friends,

It’s great to be home for a few days.  Bec and I have just returned from our mission to Rome concerning human trafficking, and this Thursday, October 30^th, we will be leaving for Tanzania where I will be leading a conference with the national leaders of the Expository Preaching Movement of Tanzania (Langham Preaching), which we first established in 2005.

The days between this international travel have been quite full, speaking to men – The Gathering of Men here in Baton Rouge as well as Monday Morning for Men in Ruston – and other opportunities in ministry, including work with members of two pastor search committees (Presbyterian and Baptist) in their efforts to establish links to candidates for those pastorates.  I am very grateful to our Lord for the privilege He continues to give me to serve alongside brothers and sisters from all denominations. 

AMAZING TRANSFORMATION OF YOUNG WOMEN:  As I mentioned in last month’s letter, Bec and I were invited by Fr. Jeff Bayhi to go to Rome to meet with Sister Eugenia Bonetti and Vatican officials concerning the possibility of establishing a safehouse here in the Baton Rouge area.  Also in the group were Senator Ronnie Johns, Col. Mike Edmonson (Superintendent of the State Police) and his wife Suzanne, Bobby Gaston (LA Sheriff’s Association) and his wife Suzan Gaston, Ph.D. ( Program Coordinator of a special outreach for youth at LSU’s College of Education) who for many years has been involved in work with “at risk” children.    

Our time in Italy was extremely profitable.  In addition to other privileges and opportunities, our group’s dinner guests on our first night there were John McCarthy, Australian Ambassador to the Vatican, and his wife Christine.  John has been assigned by the Pope to serve as his liaison with all those who are involved in the global effort to eradicate human trafficking.  John and Christine were very warmly engaging people, and John was keenly focused on each question or suggestion that came from our group.  This was the start of a blessed week which was highlighted by our experiences in the safehouses with the Sisters and the women (and in some cases their children) who have been rescued and wonderfully transformed.  These young women, who were from Eastern Europe and West Africa, were strikingly happy and outgoing – absolutely delightful to be around.  I was utterly amazed at the extent of their transformation.  In one city, we visited their fabric shop where they employed their new skills as seamstresses.  They were confident and very much enjoying their work.  There was never a hint of the horrible brokenness they had once known.  I found myself thinking, “I would that all Christians would have such lovely countenances.” 

I’ll briefly share only one story.  A young Nigerian woman had been one of seven girls who had been told that they were being sponsored to attend university in Europe.  It is easy to imagine how happy these young girls must have been as they said their goodbyes to their parents and siblings and friends and boarded the plane together.  But when they arrived in Europe, they stepped off into the clutches of the evil men who were waiting to drag them away into a nightmare whose horrors I will only describe in a few words:  stripped, evaluated, sold, sold again, sexually used over and over and over again every day, day after day.  But then, while out on the street, one of these girls saw Sister Rita.   As she told us her story, she said, “I saw God.”  Sister Rita reached out, took her hand, and brought her into the “family” where she came under the loving care of the nuns who have given all that they are to girls like this one.

Under Father Jeff’s guidance, further steps are now being taken to see a work developed here in Baton Rouge for girls 17 and under.  It is hoped that by next April everything will be in place and that Sister Eugenia and some of her colleagues will visit our city in support of this work.  I should point out that these Sisters made it very clear that they are respectful of the religious affiliations of all of the girls whom they serve.  So please pray for the involvement of all denominations here in our city.  Also, please pray for the little girls and teenagers who are being abused even at this moment, as I close this letter. 

                                                                                    In our Savior’s love,

                                                                                    Rod and Bec

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:  We are in the final quarter of the year.  We would be very grateful for any support that you might provide for our work.   It is much needed.   

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:  We are in the final quarter of the year.  We would be very grateful for any support that you might provide for our work.   It is much needed.   

          Meeting at the Vatican

               Bec and Sister Eugenia

     Australian Ambassador John McCarthy

             Rod and Senator Ronnie Johns

Senator Ronnie Johns, Bobby Gaston Ph.D., Sister Eugenia, and 

Suzan Gaston, Ph.D., in meeting at the Vatican

Senator Ronnie Johns offers appreciative and supportive words to the sisters 

Col. Mike Edmonson listening to Sister Eugenia 

as she addresses our group from Louisiana 

                                 Sister Rita, a woman of great strength, courage, and 

                                 lovingkindness who established the very first of the

                                 safehouses in Italy about twenty years ago

                                                 Sister Eugenia and Bec

Sister Eugenia and Sister Monica (far right)

with two of the sisters at one of the safehouses

we visited                                                          

Col. Mike Edmonson and his wife Suzanne

Wednesday Papal Audience at St. Peter's Square