Fight Club

Before I start, I just want to explain something.  The reason my blog is rather plain is because I am colorblind.  I use Red and Black because I can see those colors, and I know they go well together.  If someone wants to help me make this blog more aesthetically pleasing, I'm willing to meet and accept help :)

I'm breaking Rule #1 with this post, but I really don't care.  We're doing the world a disservice if we keep what God is doing through us contained in the WFBC Basement.

In August 2009, I got a call from a good buddy of mine inviting me to something called "Fight Club" at Watkinsville First Baptist Church.  He said it was "right up my alley".  He picked me up from my apartment, and drove me to WFBC.  I had gone to WFBC once before that, but hadn't returned.  I had been attending Athens Church, and was just starting a Community Group there.  Fight Club was indeed up my alley.  The College Pastor at WFBC, "General" Vic Doss, started Fight Club because God gave him a desire to grow a group of men to be totally sold out for God.  Our motto is "Be Men, Fight Sin, Love Jesus, Lead Well".  That truly sums it up.  We started a journey that night, and after 2 full school years of attending (I seriously do not think I have missed one night except in the summer) I am blown away by what God has done.  I've seen good friends get married and engaged to wonderful women, knowing full well what training they have received, and that is a huge praise for me.  I have seen boys become men.  General Vic's plan at the outset was to put an older man in front of us to share his testimony.  We referred to it as veterans teaching green recruits.  My concept of my own masculinity had been utterly destroyed, so I drank in everything I learned and stepped up to every challenge every time I could.  One of the first men to share his life with us was "Papa" Fred Schuller.  I owe a lot to this man.  Through the course of the years we had other older men step up, like John Deans, to lead and share their lives with us.  That format continued throughout the first year with some topical teaching from General Vic thrown in.  Then in the summer of 2010, I remember the night, we were talking about how so many Freshman boys were coming in for Orientation who would be swept up into other organizations quickly and not seek to grow in Christ.  Indeed, most may not have even known Him.  I don't remember exactly who mentioned that we should go talk to them about Jesus and invite them to church, but I remember General Vic saying "Ok, we'll go tomorrow." and that was that.  About a year later, among all of us, we've spoken to close to, or over, 1000 guys on campus in a personal setting.  While I don't remember whose idea it was to start talking to guys on campus, I do know we would have fizzled out if it weren't for John Deans kicking us in the pants and providing materials for us to keep the materials and presentation fresh.  John and Vic hatched the idea for the 21-Day Challenge last October where we handed out 500 New Testaments to guys at the Tate Student Center and challenged them to read one chapter of John a day for 21 days and to pray a prayer before each chapter saying, "God, if you're real and Jesus is the way, then reveal Yourself to me in a way that I can understand."  Hence, the challenge.  When we ran out of the first 500, we got 500 more...and then 500 more :)  In the epic words of my good friend Chad, "This is what Christian men do!"  This past April we teamed up with the girls from the WFBC College Ministry and Team United, the athletic ministry at UGA, and took over the Tate Plaza for "The Great Exchange".  I was one of many students to share their testimony from the platform to students walking by, and there were many others in the crowd carrying on personal conversations with students who stopped to listen.  It was a huge event that wouldn't have happened without John Deans being faithful to the calling God put on his heart.  Though the formal meetings are over for this school year, and we seek to try a new format next school year, I am blown away.

I know a lot of Fight Club guys are reading my blog, and I thank you brothers!  I was honored to teach and share my testimony in front of the group this year, and it was so humbling.  I had failed in my masculinity.  I had failed to protect the girl I said I cared about.  I had failed miserably.  God was in the process of building me back, and Fight Club was more than I ever could have hoped for.  Up til that point in 2009 I had been trying to recover and grow on my own, and God knew I needed brothers beside me.  I walked into that Basement and I only knew the guy who brought me.  Most of the guys were WFBC regulars, so I felt rather out of place.  I had brought my stick, and was accepted for it.  From the first explanation of General Vic's plan for the group, I knew I was hooked.  I remember the night General Vic gave us a card with accountability questions and told us to pair up with someone and actually hold each other accountable.  He told us that if we didn't do that, then we shouldn't bother to come back.  He either wanted us to be serious about dying to ourselves and growing in Christ, or to not waste our time or his.  I needed that kick in the pants.  I paired up with my good friend and began meeting weekly.  I was also meeting with my best friend weekly.  Maybe I'll brag on my best friend more once I get his permission to.  Still, something was missing.  I only saw these guys once a week, and I didn't really know them.  They all knew each other and had developed their own bonds.  I still felt like an outsider.  God took care of that last year by telling me to jump into WFBC fully.  Now, Fight Club was started for college-age guys and we had adult men who were leaders.  I came in as a 25-yr old grad student so I was kinda in between.  It didn't matter.  I got involved in the Underground (WFBC's middle school youth group) and high school guys started coming to Fight Club too.  We are looking for men, regardless of age.  In fact, seeing these high school guys get serious ministers to me in a way I cannot describe.  I was a broken, beaten, bloody boy when I first stepped into that basement.  I didn't deserve what I got through Fight Club.  I know I'm nowhere near perfect, and I'm still growing, but I truly feel like a man now.  I'm trained and fighting.  I'm not just defensive, I'm on the offensive. 

We talked about a man needing 3 things:  1) A Will to Obey, 2) A Work to Do, and 3) A Woman to Love.  I have a strong will to obey now.  God has made me fearless, and I'm ready to do whatever He calls me to do.  That leads into my work to do.  Right now my work is to make an A in my class and serve well in my part-time job.  I also will serve my church family if they need me.  As for the 3rd one...well...I have no clue.  My previous failure had me feeling unworthy for the longest time.  I know I'll never be worthy, and I'm not guaranteed a wife.  Still, God laid her on my heart in 2009 and I have been praying for her.  I have no idea who she is.  It's a good thing my purpose hinges on #1 and not #3.  Matthew 6:33 says to seek Him first and then all these things will be added.  He doesn't specify which things, but He promises that they will be good.  He also promises to finish what He started.  I hope to one day join the ranks of my Fight Club brothers who have "out-kicked their coverage" as General Vic puts it.

So that's just a brief overview.  I need to give a huge shout out to my brother in arms Aaron Yankey for encouraging me to write.  Aaron is a wordsmith...that's the best way I can put it.  He definitely provides a literary, rhetorical and oratory example for me to follow.  God has an army, and I'm so blessed to have my place in the shield wall.

For the Kingdom,
Stuart