The City

This will be my third year going to the Peak Challenge.  It was started by some guys at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Omaha, NE about six years ago as part of a larger men’s experience called Band of Brothers.  It has since spread to Kansas City, MO; Council Bluffs, IA; and, hopefully soon, Houston.  I’ve done various and sundry retreats, but I can say without reservation that this is one of the most powerful men’s experiences I’ve had.  

For instance, last year one of the men from Omaha wanted desperately to bring his son, Alex, on the trip.  No problem, except that Alex has cerebral palsy.  Camping with a special needs teen was going to be a challenge, for sure, but the Band of Brothers men rose to the challenge and went further than Alex’s father had expected.  We fashioned a litter and CARRIED Alex up the mountain.  It was one of the most incredible witnesses I have ever seen.

The mountain we were hiking that year is just outside Breckenridge and is very popular (i.e., busy).  The trails on these mountains are always narrow, so we were worried about being a perpetual traffic jam.  But God was on that mountain that day.  Everyone we passed by and who passed us was delighted to stop and move to the side.  They remarked openly about how incredible it was we were doing this for Alex.  Several folks pulled out their cell phones and called their friends and spouses to tell them about the incredible thing they had seen.  One fella, my father overheard, told his wife, “It was just like in the Bible where that guy cuts a hole in the roof of the house below and lowered his son in to see Jesus because it was too crowded.”

THAT is what Kingdom men do.  We are powerful, and we use the power the Spirit gives us to advance the Kingdom.  We are bold and daring.  We didn’t preach at people as we went up and down the mountain.  We didn’t need to.  God worked on the hearts of passersby, and they preached for us.  The guy who called his wife made that call in the presence of probably 20 or 30 people who were not with the Band of Brothers.  Those people told others further up the mountain that we were coming and to watch out for these really cool people doing this really cool thing.  Like ripples in a pond word spread all over the mountain, and we hardly needed to say anything.  We advanced the Kingdom with nary a word.  We were living the Kingdom adventure, and that’s all that was needed.

I’m not going to promise this kind of thing will happen on the upcoming Peak Challenge trip, or any other for that matter.  But I can promise that if you open your mind and your heart to the possibility that God might be working on you like a potter on his clay, you will experience something new and different and bold.

Click here for a video about Team Alex and the Peak Challenge. 

Click here to read the 14ers trip report and the comments of total strangers.

Click here for a K-LOVE radio interview with Dave Reddel, the BoB organizer.

Sean,
You can contact both of us at (email address removed).  I get Bobby’s at this e-mail
also.  That way I can make sure we all get there when we’re supposed to.
Thanks!  Looking forward to our training.
Margaret

Thanks Jason, I printed this one out so I can refer back to it, when i need the reminder. 

Thanks for the link. I really wanted to hear this again.

Thanks to whoever for making these a available for all of our students! I’m using it in class and sending them home with the kids today!

Sent from my iPhone