Lance Guest Speaker At Men Following Christ Meeting
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Don Clemens-
“Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” E. M. Bounds’ statement coincides naturally with the evangelistic philosophy of Men Following Christ, and the historical significance of its upcoming event.
Men Following Christ is an independent ministry of Christ followers from 35 different churches and many denominations. The organization has three sole purposes. They are dedicated to living their lives for Christ, resulting in strong relationships and striving to establish and encourage fellow brothers to create disciple groups in their own churches, as well as be examples in their communities.
This ministry first began in 1999, when Don Clemens and Rod Mayer met and discovered that they had many similarities in their beliefs and vision for their community, including a desire to see men grow spiritually in a world where this was not the norm.
They first formed Hillside Ministries with the mission to witness 4,000 men in fellowship with Christ on the hillside where evangelist Billy Sunday once preached. In 2000 they renamed their group Men For Christ after Youth For Christ, and eventually, in 2002, came to find the name Men Following Christ suited the ministry well.
This ministry holds monthly meetings that usually consist of breakfast, fellowship, personal testimonies, worship and a guest speaker.
For this particular upcoming event, special guest speaker Larry Lance will share a message.
Born in Three Rivers, Mich., Lance attended Centreville (Mich.) High School, where he excelled in basketball, football and golf. In addition to remaining number one on the golf team for three years, he was named all-conference in basketball and football in 1971. He attended Huntington University from 1975-79, where he received a bachelor of science degree in education and minored in psychology. He pursued basketball for one year and golf all four years.
Lance has been a part of Youth For Christ for 36 years as a campus life director, ministry coordinator, executive director, vice president and is currently the CEO over the Fort Wayne area. He has received numerous awards, including the YFC/USA Presidential Bob Cook Mobilization Award, the Sam Hanna Award, the Channel 15 Outstanding Citizen Award, the Alumnus of the Year at Huntington University and the Gold Medallion Award from Huntington University. He has also served on the Youth for Christ/USA National board, the Huntington University board, the Haiti Mission Board, published the devotional book “Xtreme Faith,” and co-authored several Youth For Christ training publications.
This particular upcoming event, hosted by Men Following Christ, is held to honor a particular anniversary. On July 13, 1949, Billy Graham was among 40 to 50 men who had been praying for five hours straight in the middle of a busy week. This particular session was held in the Rainbow Room of the Westminster Hotel in Winona Lake.
What came out of this all-night prayer meeting was the founding of Youth For Christ, with a young Billy Graham as their first paid staff person.
Graham was planning to have his first crusade in Los Angeles that fall, and he was encouraged by the men praying. At this particular point in time, there was a change in the atmosphere of the Rainbow Room – the Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of the men gathered there. The men were praising, praying, quoting Scripture and praying for one another. The hearts of these men were wholly opened to the Lord and each of the men laid hands on Graham and prayed for “a fresh touch to anoint him for [his] work.” Graham, with deep conviction, quoted from Joel 3:13, “Put in your sickle, for the harvest is ripe ...”, pouring out his heart in sorrow for the sins of the world. Each of the men stayed with him for at least another hour in prayer.
In 2004, at 86, Graham returned from his 416th worldwide crusade, with the result of reaching 210 million people. The memory of the prayers spoken in the Rainbow Room may not have been recognized at the time as clearly significant in the great success of Billy Graham’s crusades, but each man that witnessed the prayer and power of the Holy Spirit would never forget such a time of closeness with the Lord. One might think of Deuteronomy 4:7, which says, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”
On behalf of Men Following Christ, the public is invited to join in a special prayer meeting under the pavilion in the Village at Winona from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. Breakfast, fellowship, worship and a message from Lance will be given on this special occasion in honor of the 74th anniversary of Graham’s prayer meeting.
For more information about Men Following Christ, contact Clemens at 574-453-1555 or visit its website www.menfollowingchrist.org
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“Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” E. M. Bounds’ statement coincides naturally with the evangelistic philosophy of Men Following Christ, and the historical significance of its upcoming event.
Men Following Christ is an independent ministry of Christ followers from 35 different churches and many denominations. The organization has three sole purposes. They are dedicated to living their lives for Christ, resulting in strong relationships and striving to establish and encourage fellow brothers to create disciple groups in their own churches, as well as be examples in their communities.
This ministry first began in 1999, when Don Clemens and Rod Mayer met and discovered that they had many similarities in their beliefs and vision for their community, including a desire to see men grow spiritually in a world where this was not the norm.
They first formed Hillside Ministries with the mission to witness 4,000 men in fellowship with Christ on the hillside where evangelist Billy Sunday once preached. In 2000 they renamed their group Men For Christ after Youth For Christ, and eventually, in 2002, came to find the name Men Following Christ suited the ministry well.
This ministry holds monthly meetings that usually consist of breakfast, fellowship, personal testimonies, worship and a guest speaker.
For this particular upcoming event, special guest speaker Larry Lance will share a message.
Born in Three Rivers, Mich., Lance attended Centreville (Mich.) High School, where he excelled in basketball, football and golf. In addition to remaining number one on the golf team for three years, he was named all-conference in basketball and football in 1971. He attended Huntington University from 1975-79, where he received a bachelor of science degree in education and minored in psychology. He pursued basketball for one year and golf all four years.
Lance has been a part of Youth For Christ for 36 years as a campus life director, ministry coordinator, executive director, vice president and is currently the CEO over the Fort Wayne area. He has received numerous awards, including the YFC/USA Presidential Bob Cook Mobilization Award, the Sam Hanna Award, the Channel 15 Outstanding Citizen Award, the Alumnus of the Year at Huntington University and the Gold Medallion Award from Huntington University. He has also served on the Youth for Christ/USA National board, the Huntington University board, the Haiti Mission Board, published the devotional book “Xtreme Faith,” and co-authored several Youth For Christ training publications.
This particular upcoming event, hosted by Men Following Christ, is held to honor a particular anniversary. On July 13, 1949, Billy Graham was among 40 to 50 men who had been praying for five hours straight in the middle of a busy week. This particular session was held in the Rainbow Room of the Westminster Hotel in Winona Lake.
What came out of this all-night prayer meeting was the founding of Youth For Christ, with a young Billy Graham as their first paid staff person.
Graham was planning to have his first crusade in Los Angeles that fall, and he was encouraged by the men praying. At this particular point in time, there was a change in the atmosphere of the Rainbow Room – the Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of the men gathered there. The men were praising, praying, quoting Scripture and praying for one another. The hearts of these men were wholly opened to the Lord and each of the men laid hands on Graham and prayed for “a fresh touch to anoint him for [his] work.” Graham, with deep conviction, quoted from Joel 3:13, “Put in your sickle, for the harvest is ripe ...”, pouring out his heart in sorrow for the sins of the world. Each of the men stayed with him for at least another hour in prayer.
In 2004, at 86, Graham returned from his 416th worldwide crusade, with the result of reaching 210 million people. The memory of the prayers spoken in the Rainbow Room may not have been recognized at the time as clearly significant in the great success of Billy Graham’s crusades, but each man that witnessed the prayer and power of the Holy Spirit would never forget such a time of closeness with the Lord. One might think of Deuteronomy 4:7, which says, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”
On behalf of Men Following Christ, the public is invited to join in a special prayer meeting under the pavilion in the Village at Winona from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. Breakfast, fellowship, worship and a message from Lance will be given on this special occasion in honor of the 74th anniversary of Graham’s prayer meeting.
For more information about Men Following Christ, contact Clemens at 574-453-1555 or visit its website www.menfollowingchrist.org
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