A Report From Brother John Norton

Dear Brothers,

We had a wonderful 3Q Assembly meeting at Epiphany on 8 September. Mother Betsy led the Eucharist. Fr. J.D. Brown gave an interesting and short homily. The Epiphany men were great hosts and provided a fine breakfast. All of us that attended were filled with the spirit of brotherhood.

The key speaker, Lt. General Rick Lynch (Ret.), spoke on spiritual fitness based on his books, Adapt or Die and Work Hard, Pray Hard, based on his 35 years in leading men and women and his service in retirement as a mentor to young men and veterans. He said many things worth repeating so I’ll try to give those of you who could not attend just a summary.

A key focus and outlook for our Brotherhood as well as our church is evangelism. Rick said that mentor-ship is a key tool we cam use to learn something personal about a person so that we can developed a relationship and then give them an invitation to attend a brotherhood meeting. That seems so simple, I know, but how many of us do that to invite men into our activities? He said that he asks three questions in planning anything so he can make it better. “Are we doing the right things? Are we doing things right? What are we missing?” That is good advice for us as we work on our evangelism outreach to grow the attendance and membership activity in our chapters and parishes.  And leadership is also a key that works best when many pitch in to support our rector and our brotherhood chapters. A Boy Scout friend of mine has a saying that applies – many hands make light work.

I look forward to more fellowship with you all again at our 4Q Assembly on Saturday, December 1 at Holy Trinity in Garland. Bring a new brother with you to hear Bishop Sumner share his wisdom on our role as men in our church today.

Blessings,