The Man in the Mirror Blog

There is a God we want, and there is a God who is. They are not the same God. The turning point of our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want, and start seeking the God who is.

If the Great Commission is true, our plans are not too big; they are too small.

The secret of contentment is not getting what you want, but wanting what you get. 

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Men’s Statistics Gathered by Man in the Mirror (with sources)

• 113,000,000 men in America 15 years of age and older.[1]
• 69,000,000 of these men make no profession of faith in Christ.[2]
• Only 6,000,000 men are involved in discipleship or spiritual formation—1in 18 men. Imagine putting a football team on the field, and only one player had studied the playbook.[3]
• As many as 70% of men seek out pornography.
• As many Christians will divorce as non-Christians (34% vs. 33% according to Barna).
• 40% to 50% of recent marriages will end in divorce according to the United States Census Bureau.[4]
• 4 out of 5 students in evangelical churches will drop out of church by their senior year in high school (Howard Hendricks).
• We have become a fatherless nation. 33%[5] of the 72 million children in America will go to bed tonight without their biological father in the home.
• 73% of households with children under 18 headed by married couples (vs. 91% in 1960); 27% households headed by single parents.[6]
• Nuclear families comprise less than 23.5% of households.[7]
• 40% of Busters raised by divorced or separated parents.[8]
• More than 50% children born in 1990s spend part childhood in single parent home.[9] [10]
• Two years after a divorce only 53% of children see their non-custodial parent on a monthly basis. Ten years after the divorce on 28% have monthly contact. [11]
• 66% children born in America will not live with both biological parents through the age of eighteen.[12]
• 62% mothers with children under three employed. 72% mothers with children under 18 hold jobs. Therefore, 59% of kids come home to an empty house. Nobody is home! 80% of woman’s salary goes to work-related costs, an expensive hobby.[13]
• · In one 25 year study, 40% of children from divorced homes never married (vs. 16% intact families).[14] 
• · Fatherless children are 5 times as likely to live in poverty, repeat a grade, and have emotional problems.[15] 

• 93% of all people incarcerated are men, and 85% of them have no father figure. Prison worker Bill Glass says that of the thousands of prisoners he has met in 25 years of service, not one of them genuinely loved their dad. [16]
• 50% of children from broken homes have not seen their father in over a year.
•  One third of all babies born to unmarried women (vs. 3.8% in 1940).[17] 

• The United States leads the world in single parent families.[18]
• Church attendance by generations: 50% Builders, 43% Boomers, 28% Busters.[19]
• According to surveys by Religion in American Life, only 2% or 3% of people attended Church because of advertising, while 85% went after being invited by a friend or relative.
• Church consultant Carl George explains that every trained group leader results in ten new people in the church. This alone is ample reason to develop a relationship-based ministry to men. (Theology and Philosophy of Ministry)
• "Seventy percent of all people who become Christians do so by the age of eighteen." --Barna Research Group
• 45% of men live with children.[20]
• According to surveys by Religion in American Life, only 2% or 3% of people  attended Church because of advertising, while 85% went after being invited by a friend or relative.
• The AARP recently released (June 2004) a study that indicated divorces after age 40 are initiated by women 66% of the time. The top three reasons for women were: physical or emotional abuse (23 percent), drug and alcohol abuse (18 percent) and infidelity (17 percent). Men said they sought divorces because they fell out of love (17 percent), they had different values or lifestyles (14 percent) or infidelity (14 percent).
• Interesting/valuable sources for statistics on men:

1. http://religions.pewforum.org/
2. http://barna.org/
3. http://www.census.gov/

Note: Man in the Mirror encourages its constituents to use statistics that have well-researched sources only.  Unfortunately, there are statistics being used today in Christendom that are not based on solid research. An example of this is the percentage of families who will attend church if the child/mother/father attends first. No primary source exists for this oft-reported statistic. Just remember, 37% of all statistics are made up…Or is it 49%...  Man in the Mirror, March 25, 2008

Man in the Mirror: Serving Pastors, Training Leaders, Transforming Men. Until every church disciples every man. 

Ministry to Men Research

Looking at the state of our nations ministry to men

Man in the Mirror is partnering up with a research team to conduct a national assessment on ministry to men. Your participation is voluntary as well as extremely welcomed. For your time, you will be helping us better understand the state of ministry to men across the nation. Please click on the link below and take 15 minutes out of your busy day to fill out this anonymous online survey.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/mensministryusa

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.  Psalm 115:1

Man in the Mirror’s - Books! by the Box program has distributed approximately 9,000,000 high quality Christian books - and now, DVDs - since its inception in 2000. More than two dozen authors and 40 books have been included in the project over the years. All books are distributed by leaders just like you in their churches, neighborhoods, workplaces and families.

More details: https://www.maninthemirror.org/store//1/shopbrowse

Please feel free to share this encouraging praise report with your friends and family.

We’re making a difference!

It's launch day for Man in the Mirror to hire 330 Area Directors. I'd like to enlist your help. Here's a blurb that I'd appreciate you reposting (there's also a tweet & email to send on website, click "Get the Word Out"):

Man in the Mirror, the ministry that Patrick Morley founded 25 years ago is taking their ministry to the next level by hiring 330 men as Area Directors. This is an amazing opportunity that a lot of men should consider. Check out this web site to find out more: http://www.mimareadirectors.org/  Even if this is not for you – pass it along. If you tell one of the 330 men who end up being hired about this opportunity, they are going to be grateful forever. -- Patrick Morley

Excerpts from Godly Counsel: Scriptures For Today’s World by Dr. Brian Campbell

I Am A Child Of God

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:26)

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Rom 8:15-16)

I Am Made In God’s Image

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)

I Am God’s Temple

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  (1 Cor 3:16)

I Am God’s Hand-Crafted Creation

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14)

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2;10)

God Created Me A Little Lower Than The Heavenly Beings

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)

I Am Christ’s Ambassador On Earth

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20)

As God’s fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. (2 Cor 6:1)

I Am A Citizen Of Heaven

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Phil 3:20)

I Am A New Creation In Christ

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17)

I Am Being Transformed Into Christ’s Likeness

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  (2 Cor 3:18)

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.  (1 Cor 15:49)

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.        (1 John 4:17)

I Am Christ’s Friend

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  (John 15:15)

I Have Been Chosen By God

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16)

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Cor 1:21-22)

I Am A Saint

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:1)

I Am A member Of Christ’s Body

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Cor 12;27)

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”. (John 15:5)

God Listens To My Prayers

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 16:23)

I Am An Heir To The Kingdom

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Rom 8:17)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14)

I Am Strong In Christ

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Phil 4:13)

Christ Died For Me

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)

My Sins Are Forgiven

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. (Rom 4:8)

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

I Am Free Of Condemnation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (Rom 8:1)

The Holy Spirit Lives In Me

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Rom 5:5)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  (John 6:63)

Because Of Christ’s Sacrifice, I Am Righteous, Holy and Blameless Before God.

Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4)

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Rom 8:10)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Rom 6:22)

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  (Eph 1:4)

God Loves Me

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

I Cannot Be Separated From The Love Of God

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)

I Have A Purpose

Jesus replied: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Matt 22:37-39)

I Have A God Directed Mission

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11)

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  (Mark 16:15)

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  (Matt 28:19-20)