This is Part 2 of the Ignite the Flame series. Read Part 1 here. Listen to Mike introduce this incredible story in a video here.
Change is a process, but sometimes that change progresses quicker than we expect.
Brian Dalrymple didn’t know it, but God was about to ignite something in him that will impact many others.
Brian wrestled with how the Lord was going to use a man like him when he frankly didn’t feel like a leader at all. But then everything started to change… After attending the Casting Crowns concert titled “The Very Next Thing”, Brian began to pray that the Lord would help him find what “the very next thing” was for his life.
Two days later we find Brian at the 2017 Iron Sharpen Iron Conference in Richmond, with Mark Hall’s message fresh on his mind. Brian is no stranger to the conference, having attended in 2014 and 2015. The one-day event consists of two main sessions led by powerful speakers, masculine worship, and equipping workshops on topics specific to men.
This conference quickly proves different from the rest when Brian notices a familiar face on stage during the main session. Brian recognizes Joe, a colleague of his, is on stage with the worship team that morning. Brian makes a point to find him after the main session.
Little did Brian know Joe was actually praying specifically for him that day.
The night before each Iron Sharpens Iron Conference, the volunteers and leaders are given a prayer card with several names of conference attendees. The card Joe received had Brian’s name on it. Joe shares that he knew there couldn’t be another Brian Dalrymple and he was praying they would be able to connect at the conference.
Learn more in this interview with Joe Harvey.
Now with Mark Hall’s message and Joe’s words in mind, Brian attends a Leading Men’s Ministry workshop lead by Noble Warriors director, Mike Young. He sat in Mike’s session and learned about strategies for men’s ministry. Brian, immediately hooked, began learning how to build a fruitful men’s ministry.
“You gotta reach out and get the guys first with some kind of outreach ministry, something that will bring them in, guys from all over, then transition that into some sort of Bible based study, but the true core of men’s ministry is in these little small groups that meet, that continue to meet whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly.”
Again, Brian felt that spark. “That was the very next thing. That was that thing Mark Hall was talking about.”
The fuse was lit and Brian knew this was his “very next thing.” He was being called to start a men’s ministry and he needed to start meeting with the men of his church again.
But where to start? Brian was going to find out.
Stay tuned for more.
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Read the full story at noblewarriors.org/BriansStory.