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When Ray Raya was just a child, he witnessed a relative commit murder. Growing up in a neighborhood of gangs and criminals, Ray's childhood home was once shot until it looked "like swiss cheese." He overheard a teacher once say of him, "He's never going to amount to anything because he's a dirty Mexican." This is where Ray's story began—but it's not where it ended. And you can help write new endings for men just like him. Ray never experienced genuine love or affection. His father hugged him only once in his lifetime and never said "I love you." After...

Does a man's simple prayer make a difference? If it does, why don't we pray more? Does going out of our way for another person matter? If it does, why don't we do it more? Author Mel Robbins recently made this statement: "The strongest emotion that stops people from taking a step toward their dreams is the sense that it just won't matter." Let me share how one man's seemingly small action echoed through decades. Some years ago in Kingman, Arizona, a father and mother were desperate. Their son was in an extremely difficult position—lost, struggling, living far from them...

The weight of ministry never seems to lighten, does it? Every pastor knows the feeling—just when you have one crisis handled, three more appear. That's exactly where we found ourselves one year at the annual CMN event we call Lions Roar. Just before the event, a desperate prison chaplain called: 'Our inmates are hungry to keep studying CMN curriculum, but we need more books.' That's when God moved through ordinary men with extraordinary hearts... On the last day of the event, we asked the men to give something from their pockets --their lunch money, coffee money, emergency stash, whatever. Then...

Jose was a mess. A bad guy. So bad that his wife Maria prayed every morning, "Dear God, please make me a widow." Wow! She believed he would never change - that her life was better with him dead. We were all stunned as she shared their story. But God never gave up on Jose. One day a friend at work invited him to a CMN men's group. He told him it was a success group. How to get ahead in life. (Which is true and a brilliant ask.) That first evening at that group Jose gave his life to...

This is one remarkable and amazing story. I was just on a zoom call with a group of pastors and leaders who are concerned about the disengaged and disenfranchised men in their community - men who perhaps confess Christ but never come around - whose families call the church when they have a need, but it seems most of today's men can't be bothered. The pastors and men's leaders were deeply. moved by a story I told them of the pizza man, so I'll tell you as well. It was one simple act by a friend. A man invited a...