Man in the Mirror Calls Out America’s Men

Men, you are the colleagues and friends with whom we are standing shoulder to shoulder to advance the cause of men’s discipleship. The following is a four-minute elevator speech you can pick and choose from to explain who Man in the Mirror is and what we’re here to do:

• The “men problem” in America has become a crisis that is virtually out of control. The collateral damage among families is staggering. Men under 40 are especially vulnerable to an alien worldview that is gutting the institutions of marriage and family. Our government agencies, social sector organizations and businesses are overrun trying to cope with the downstream damage of an increasingly fatherless, angry and dysfunctional generation.
• Unfortunately, we also have a “church problem.” The mission of the church, of course, is to make disciples. We love the church. But the vast majority of churches we talk to are struggling to consistently make male disciples. As a result, they have not been able to cope with the changing climate among men. Their leadership resources are often depleted, and most of them need fresh ideas. Churches know there can be no meaningful solution to the problems our world faces unless men are equipped to be godly men, husbands, fathers and citizens.

How can we solve these two problems? We know what needs to be done, and we have a plan. Our plan is based on 25-plus years of attention focused on these two problems.

• Churches that use our No Man Left Behind model see a 48 percent increase in men attending in, on average, 2 ½ years and an 84 percent increase in men’s discipleship in that same period. When these results passed statistical analysis, we realized God was calling us to proliferate this to as many churches as want it.
• Hence, our goal is to engage and train as many churches as we can on how to effectively use this model and the Journey to Biblical Manhood—a flexible plan that empowers a church to disciple all of their men over time.
• Our plan to reach these churches is to deploy 330 full-time area directors—boots on the ground to work with pastors and leaders, each with a territory of 1,000 churches. An area director’s job description is to build relationships with 100 churches in three years and equip them each to disciple 10 or more new men per year.

This plan, God willing, will result in the following projected outcomes by 2020:

• A total of 330 area directors (one for each 1,000 churches). So far we have hired 53 men
• A total of 1 million-plus new disciples for less than $5 each of front-end investment to HQ
• A total of $2 billion in new giving (assumes $2,000 per new disciple of new or additional giving)
• A ministry with the capacity to produce 500,000 new disciples annually
• A total of 19,000 churches actively engaged (6 percent of all churches)

We think this is smart money. Making disciples is God’s designated way to release the power of His gospel on every problem facing our men and their marriages, families, churches, workplaces and communities. We believe that if God gives us success, this would fuel a culture change to reverse the moral and spiritual erosion of our men and their families for the next generation. Anything less than a plan to disciple every willing man in every church is a moral failure of historic proportion.

We need a few financially blessed individuals or families to stand with us to make this happen. I would like to get a sense for how you see these problems and explore how you can help with the second round of financing, both personally and/or by introducing us to likeminded Christians.

About Man in the Mirror

• Our vision is “for every church to disciple every man.”
• Our mission is “helping churches more effectively disciple men.”
• We started in 1986 with a Bible study that has grown to 10,000 men today.
• The Bible study led to the book, The Man in the Mirror, with over 3 million copies in print.
• The book led to Pat Morley leaving his business to start Man in the Mirror in 1991.
• Since 1991, the ministry has worked with 35,000 churches to impact 12 million men through 1,300 seminars, 9 million-plus books distributed, 2 million-plus Bible study video downloads, 11,500 leaders trained in nearly 4,000 churches, and partnerships with 12 denominations representing 145,000 of America’s 330,000 churches.

Click here for more information about Man in the Mirror and how your church can get involved.

Pat Morley is the founder and CEO of Man in the Mirror. After building one of Florida’s 100 largest privately held companies, in 1991 he founded Man in the Mirror, a nonprofit organization to help men find meaning and purpose in life. Dr. Morley is the best-selling author of The Man in the Mirror, No Man Left Behind, Dad in the Mirror and A Man’s Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines.