Originally Posted by Mike Young April 2006

I just completed The Quest for Authentic Manhood with four groups of men. There was only one homework assignment… Write out a Personal Manhood Plan. The results were powerful and inspiring. I thought I would share some excerpts with you.

• I personally want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with each of my children, individually. I want to share with each of my children, individually, my personal testimony. I want my children to see God in me.
• I need to continue to work toward giving my wife the support emotionally that she needs. She has given up an outside career to pursue an eternally rewarding pursuit yet day to day may see no reward. I will acknowledge her efforts at a special dinner and will work with her to develop a faith plan for our family.
• I will pray with my wife regularly and try to be a helper and not a user in our relationship.
• I will work to continue the lessons I have learned about being intentional in expressing my love to my wife. I have been and will continue to be more intentional about weekly time with her.
• In the next three weeks I will begin to make sure the family is ready to leave 15 minutes before church starts.
• While I have provided well, I have never been adept at living below our means. That is a failure that I have not made a sufficient effort to fix and will do so by December of this year.
• I want to be remembered as a Christ-bearer. I want to shine the light of God’s love so that people will get the aroma of God and see a difference between my life and the world. I want my children to go on a missions trip with me to another country. I want my family to find ways to serve those around us and be in the habit of helping others.
• I will continue to spend time daily in the Word and in prayer to fuel my spiritual growth.
• I will try to connect spiritually with each of my sons this year.
• My wife is the spiritual leader in the house but I do intend to take over the position by August. I will strive to demonstrate this by having quiet time with God daily and by praying with my wife on a daily basis. I will do a better job showing my wife how much I love and respect her and admire the many qualities she has.
• My desire is to keep on giving and forgiving for God’s glory!
• I have given my life to Him and through serving Him and striving to strengthen that relationship, I have found a renewed marriage relationship.
• Before this class I guess my mindset was the worldly view of a man, but now I know what God expects a REAL man to be. A spiritual leader, a provider, a father, a husband, and I accept these responsibilities. I now pray with my family at night, in the morning, at suppertime and anytime it is needed instead of pushing that responsibility on to my wife.
• I need to measure my relationships with other men to ensure they are healthy and not idolization
• I want to be able to help others in the quest for Manhood. I want to always be the man God wants me to be.
• I will take time, every day to talk with my wife about her day (and genuinely listen), I will share with my wife this manhood plan, so that she can keep me accountable, I will pray for my wife, I will pray with my wife.
• I need to continue to grow as a father and a husband through the word of God.
• I want to share abundant life with my wife. I want her to feel loved, nurtured, encouraged and held in high esteem. I want to sacrifice for and serve her as Christ sacrificed for and served the Church.
• I feel like my life’s mission is to work with early teens to help prevent and steer away form the lifestyle that could have ruined my whole life.
• I will get married again and will cherish her like God wants. I will work hard to keep my walk with God most important in my life.
• I will take a stand for my faith on the job, standing firm to biblical values and principles constantly.
• I will try to set a good example of what a father and man should be for my daughters.

I hope you are inspired and encouraged by the commitments these men have made. I sure was.