Men Are Dying a Slow Death (And No One’s Talking About It)

Honestly, if you're in on the idea of I would like to learn how to grow as a man of God, then this podcast is for you. Okay? So I think as long as you're there, then we can do something with us. Hey, everybody. My name is Landon, and welcome to the Gaining Ground Podcast. I'm here with my dad, Drew Sherman. Dad, what's up? I'm here, man. So excited to be here. That's right. And Gaining Ground is a brand new initiative that we're starting. We're very, very excited about a podcast specifically for men. And we're going to talk about how to grow. Okay. How to grow. That's what we're excited about. This came from something God has been doing in my life over the last couple of months. And in particular, the last couple of years, just burden placed on my life to help men grow in every single area of their life. Yeah. Well, I think the reality is like, if you look at the cultural temperature on men or masculinity, like you've got one side telling you to be unapologetic about being a man and who you are, and honestly, probably giving you an excuse to be a complete jerk. Yeah. Savage. Yeah. And then another side that's saying, if you represent anything that's masculine, then you're toxic, right? Like five years ago, there was a differentiation between toxic masculinity and masculinity. And now, what I'm seeing is there's that gap between those two things, at least in perception, is pretty narrow. So, one side is mocking masculinity. The other side is exaggerating it. One says, be soft. The other says, be savage. What's the middle ground, especially for someone who wants to grow in their relationship with Christ? That's what we have to determine here. And I want to be clear, like, you know, masculinity and I don't think it has anything to do with your hobbies. No, it doesn't. Masculinity. We wanted to believe that, but it doesn't. Stereotype for somebody that's masculine is you like to hunt, you like to fish, you like college football, you know, shout out to the SEC, Texas A&M. Pretty much Landon Sherman. Really? Really? I mean, that's what you like. Well, it is what I like, but I'm just saying, man, I think like, what I care about is growth. Yeah. That's what I care about.

Yep. And that's what gaining ground is all about. My wife, Mackenzie, she makes fun of me all the time for being like a ADD with my hobbies. And there's a reason I'm telling this story. And what I mean by that is like, I'll get real excited about playing golf and I'll become obsessed with it and try to learn everything. And then it's pickleball. And if it's not pickleball, then it's running a high rocks race, which for what it's worth, if you're considering running a high rocks, don't do it. It's absolutely terrible. Hunting. Yeah. All that stuff. Right. And here's what I've learned though, over the years, my hobby is growing. Yeah. That's my hobby. That's what I care about. Anything I'm involved in, anybody that invites me to be involved in, be a part of something, man, I want to grow it. And what I've learned over the years is there's a lot of great things about that. And then there's some hard things about that too. Like at the end of the day, um, a mentor told me one time land in the days of competing with men are over, you know, and that's that comparison trap that, that so many of us find ourselves in and, and where I'm at, like when I'm in a healthy space is if I'm growing and the only one I'm competing with for lack of a better phrase is myself. But the, don't you think that poison pill of comparison is what's killing men today? I mean, yeah, it can. And I think it's whatever it's social media or the way they compare themselves to people, they see, I don't know, on TV or whatever. I think the voice of shame is loud and proud. Well, you got like, like, I don't know what y'all's Instagram, uh, for you pages. Mine is like, uh, like first of all, it's like brisket. And then there's like dudes who are, I don't know who it is. Like I've silenced all of them now on all my accounts or whatever. It's like salespeople that are standing in front of a group of dudes and yelling at them and telling them they suck because they're lazy. And you know, that if they, uh, if they would just spend more time grinding, then they would be successful. Their kids only need 20 minutes of their time, which is a lie. Yeah. That's not good. So you've got like that end, which I think the word you used, it was savage. And then you've got this like apathy, which we've defined as the, like the antithesis to the gaining ground concept is drift. Yeah. It's not dramatic. It's subtle,

but it's deadly. And what I mean by that is like, you know, we're both in the context of being church leaders and, um, like I've never seen a dude that's wanted to do right. They just family and read the Bible and commit to the church and all those sorts of things. And then all of a sudden they go 180 degrees and they start worshiping Satan. Right. Like I've yet to see that happen. What I have seen happen and what I've experienced in my own life is it's the slow drift that can rob you of you and your family's future. Don't you think at the core of that is there's sometimes exhaustion? 100%. I think tired turns passive, passive turns stuck. I mean, I just think that, and it's a lot of it has to do with the busyness and pace that's expected of everybody. Yeah. And to like be pointed and define drift, what I mean by drift is if you are not actively taking steps to grow and become more like Christ, you become a candidate for drift. And what that can mean is you used to be taking your family to church and all of a sudden you missed one weekend, that one weekend turned into two, two turned into 10. You used to spend time with the Lord, reading your Bible, getting into it.

You were leading your wife and then all of a sudden those things became difficult, they became unimportant and then you're drifting. Like we all know, have you ever been at the beach and you're in the water and whether you like even realize it or even mean to, like a lot of times I'll get like a marker on the beach, hey, that blue tent. Yeah. And all of a sudden I look up at the blue tent and I'm like, okay, I'm 10 yards to the right of the blue tent. Yeah. And then I look up and I'm 30 yards to the right. Yeah. And then 50 yards to the right and 100 yards to the right. And if you're not actively anchored, like you're gonna drift. Yeah. And so that's what this podcast is. And so often what causes that drift is what preoccupation of something else. Right, right. It's a big deal. What do you mean by preoccupation? Well, I mean, I just think that like, you mentioned guys drifting spiritually at church. I think that is, I've been a pastor for 39 years now and I've been a pastor at the church that I'm at right now, Compass Church for 25 years. I think one of the most disappointing things

and most discouraging things, and for me as a leader, one of the most helpless things for me is watching people drift away from faith. And I feel like no matter what I try and do, it's still up to them. And it is, I don't know why I'm always surprised when I see somebody fade away from their faith, but I am. So you gotta make a decision. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't happen unintentionally. I can't want it for them, they have to want it. Yeah. You know, and I wanna just take one moment and say this and then I wanna get into like the passage of scripture that is our- Was the inspiration for Gaining Ground. Yeah, the inspiration for this. It would be, all right, if you're all in on Jesus and you wanna grow and you wanna follow Him and lead your family, this idea of Gaining Ground, you're going, hey, love it, I'm in. I might be already doing that. Right. Let's go. Right. If you're not sure yet about Jesus. Yeah. Or you're not even sure about this whole Christianity thing and you don't know who we are. The Bible.

All of those sorts of things. Here's what I would wanna invite you to is, man, you don't have to believe a word I say, you don't have to believe a word my dad says, but we wanna invite you to learn more about the person of Jesus Christ and whether or not He's somebody that you should follow. Yeah, amen. Because that, at the end of the day, is you follow something. Everybody does. Yeah, we all worship something. I don't care how, you know, masculine and strong and leader in Taipei and out in front and whatever, you know, leadership verbiage you wanna use. We all follow something. Yeah. And unintentionally, you're either drifting towards or away from that. What I want is for all of us to reverse that, to be intentionally moving towards the person of Christ. Yeah. So, all right. So if we're talking about like who this thing is for, man, first of all, it's for me. Yeah. Okay, because I drift and I wanna gain ground and, you know, I'm never gonna ask anybody else to do anything I'm not willing to do.

But like when I see guys that I know in my life and I know, you know, I know them personally, and I think there's a couple groups of people that this hits and I hope it's everybody, but I wanna get real specific. The first guy is like the person who everybody on the outside, if you're looking at him are going, hey, that guy's good. Yeah, he's got it going on. Like he's crushing it. You know, he's climbing the corporate ladder and. in the workplace, uh, relationship. Yeah. There's bumps and bruises along the way, but, but they're, they're doing well. Um, and I think, and I think the, the, the key thing is, um, they know how to grow in every other area of their life. Right. You can take steps relationally. You're, you're dating somebody, then you get engaged and you get married. Then you start having kids. Yeah. Um, you, you can take steps in, in your workplace. You get a raise, you get a new position, you know, you acquire a company, whatever. Um, but, but I think there's a man that's listening to this right now that is crushing in the workplace. And then they come in the church and listen to a sermon and they're going, what the heck do I do? Yeah. How do I apply this? How do I apply this?

How do I grow here? What do I, and they may even want to, but they got no idea what a roadmap looks like of, I know how to, you know, kick butt and take names in the marketplace. I don't know how to do that here. And we want to give, we want to give all of our listeners a path forward on how to gain ground in their faith. That's why we're here. Okay. So that's, that's, that's kind of guy. Number one, guy. Number two is, is somebody who's like, uh, maybe, maybe unsure about all of this. And you know that Jesus, sure. I mean, he sounds like a cool guy, but he wants to believe it. Yeah, I think, I think at heart of heart, it's like, sure. I would like to believe that that's real and true, but, but I don't know if I can do that. And here's why, because I know me. Like I know what I've screwed up. I know who I am, you know, and all the thoughts that I carry around in my head. And, and what I could tell you about the person of Jesus, if you read the Bible, um, is that there is nobody that has drifted too far that God could not bring them back. Okay. Um, I, I have a chance to be involved in like a, uh, prison ministry called God behind bars. And, um, man, let me tell you, like, I've seen some dudes who, um, have drifted on the other side of the flipping planet and they decide one day that they're going to make a decision and make a change and God meets them there. He meets them there. Oftentimes he meets them in their greatest period of brokenness.

And, and that can happen for you. And so if you're kicking the tires on this thing, first of all, thank you. Keep kicking them. My encouragement to you is let's figure out together who the real Jesus is. And if he's worthy of you giving him control of your life, the driver's seat of your life, it may feel like a fight to do that. That's what you're in anyway. And so you may as well have him with you. If you read the story of Jesus, he created more space and more grace and more room for people who were just working it out than he did. He had, didn't have much tolerance at all for religious leaders and for people with pride, but for people that were trying to figure it out, uh, you just gave him a little bit and he was there. And so, so look, um, whether or not you identify with those two characters, honestly, if you're in on the idea of, I would like to learn how to grow as a man of God, then this podcast is for you. Okay. So, so I think as long as you're there, then, then we can do something with us. You know, you know what I've like, and I think we've dad, we've talked about like, all right, so you've got the, the apathetic, I don't want to get out of my bed, you know, I don't, I don't care about the, I don't care about things of faith or, or whatever, right. Somebody who's not growing in their faith, right. Or in Aaron life in general. And then you've got like the, the other side, the one eighties of dude, it's, it's hustle or nothing. Right. Like it is hustle or bust and you're working a million hours a week and, and, you know, but it doesn't matter because you're the king of the castle and all those sorts of things.

I'm doing 75 hard and I'm going for it. Dude, shout out to 75 hard. I've done that before. It is not, that sucks. It's not fun at all. Yeah, I did like 15 hard. 15 hard. What happened? Did you just 15 days? That was decided. I'm going to hang it up. Yeah. I'm done. All right. You know, I've had a good run. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Anyways, my point behind that is sometimes we, we think those two things are, uh, Disconnected. Right. You're either one or the other. Yeah. Truth is what I've learned. And I've, I know this because I've been there. Uh, one can lead to the other. Yeah, no question. And what I mean by that is like, you can be in a space where dude, you're just drifting and somebody inspires you.

And all of a sudden your tail's on fire and you're in a, you're up at 4 AM and posting about it, uh, you know, cause it doesn't count unless you post about it and, and you're doing the whole workout thing and. trying to grow and making your sales quota and all of those sorts of things. And, and look, I'm not saying any of that stuff is bad. What I am saying though, is you had to figure out if that's sustainable or not. Yeah. Because the truth is, is every single one of us is limited. Like, like I, I have to sleep. I got to get energy. Um, I got to have stuff that gives me life too. And what I've seen in the cycle is a lot of times dudes will get fired up and they'll go all in and I'm going to grow and change my life. And then a year later, they're burned out. Which is, I think why we want to help guys find that middle ground where they can grow incrementally, not overnight. It's, it's subtle as well, but it takes time. It's not dramatic. So that, so that the people in their life that matter the most, their family, coworkers, um, for close friends can see the differences in them as they grow. Because when we get encouraged, that's when we want to grow more. Right. Yeah. When we, when I, when somebody says, Hey man, you're, you're crushing it. You're doing well. I want to get better. And so, and, and what, you know, community is a big part of that. So we want to help men to be more consistent. We're going to talk about consistency. We want them to take responsibility for their life.

We're going to talk about being responsible. We're talking about seeking wisdom. I'm just so excited about the journey we're going to take men on. You know, dad, one thing that like I find myself saying, and this is kind of tied to that whole, um, you know, there's two areas where like, you look, you appear apathetic or you appear like you're crushing it and then all of a sudden you wear yourself out, what we're asking people to be is somewhere in the middle. Right. Yeah. Where you do rest, you recognize that you're somebody who has limits, but you're also, you're working hard and you're working intentionally. And, um, you know, I find myself saying all the time, like, Hey, it's just a busy season. You ever said that? Yes. The term that I used to say to, to your mom, all the things, honey, when things settle down, we're going to get on top of that. When things settle down, we're going to get all these debts paid off. When things settle down, we're going to save up for that vacation. When things settle down, we're going to get the house in order. Or, Hey, it's just a busy week. And what I learned is my busy week, all of a sudden that week ended. And then the next one got busier and a busy week stacks on a busy week and a busy week stacks on a busy week. And I heard a pastor say one time, um, Hey, you haven't created a busy season. You've created a busy climate. Yeah. Busy life. A busy life. Now that's the tension point with gaining ground, right?

Right. Here's the deal. I told you, I want to grow. I want to win. It doesn't matter if it's a monopoly or ping pong. Okay. I want to win. You're right. You do. And in order to grow, you have to be diligent and it takes time. And how do you find time in a life where there seems to be no margin? And I think, I think this is a great time for you to tell everyone kind of the inspiration for gaining ground because it, it, it came to you, uh, on your way to Arizona one day. Yeah. So I was, uh, I was driving. Um, I was 22 years old and I was driving down the 10 freeway, um, going from Dallas to Phoenix on my way to, uh, Christchurch of the Valley. Um, shout out to Ashley Woolrich. Amazing. And Don Wilson. Don Wilson, Mark Moore, great guys. Yeah. Phenomenal, phenomenal church. One of the best in America, in my opinion. Yep. Anyway, um, my wife and I, we were just like taking some time to dream, which for what it's worth, fellas, if you're not taking your time, take some time with your wife to like set aside to actively dream, you should do that. It's really fun conversation.

And one of the things that came up was what if we started a podcast one day and, you know, and of course, every 22 year old wants to start a podcast. And the reason I didn't is cause, uh, I wanted to make sure I was ready to be able to actually have something worthwhile to say, uh, which is part of the reason why I invited you on this. But, but man, it came down to this passage of scripture, um, that, you know, if, if you could like drill down gaining ground to one thing in a nutshell, um, it would be first Timothy chapter four verse Timothy chapter four and really, um, verses 11 through 16. And so the context for this, if you, if you really want to like get into it, you got the apostle Paul, who is the most prolific church planner in history. Um, and he's in prison and he's writing to his protege, his son in the faith, uh, Timothy. Okay. So Paul is in, Paul is in prison and he's, uh, he's writing to his protege and Timothy after this, he'd go plant a church in Ephesus, correct? Yes. And it became a very successful church. Yeah. So big old church from not mistaken. Yeah. I mean, by those standards, absolutely huge. Timothy did not have a dad or at least that we know about. Uh, he had a, a. spiritual father in Paul, and then a, but his most important spiritual influence was? His grandma and his mother. Named? Lois and Eunice. Two fantastic names.

Shout out to Lois and Eunice today, baby. Yeah. Name your daughters after them. I highly doubt anybody named Lois or Eunice is listening to this podcast, but. Yeah, me neither. If they are, I appreciate you two and everything you're doing for planet Earth. Way to go. Yeah. So Paul is writing to Timothy, and this is like his, hey, before you go out in the tunnel and you go play the game, this is like his last speech. And here's what he says. And man, I think it's so brilliant. He tells Timothy, command and teach these things. And then there's the verse that everybody gets when they graduate high school and your mom or your aunt or whoever, you know, gives you a note card and tells you this. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct and love and faith and purity. I wanna know what you think about that, but here's what comes to my mind. First of all, Paul tells Timothy to command and teach these things. What things? The gospel. Okay, so they've realized, and this is the platform

and the bedrock of gaining ground, that they know like this kid's got gifts. He's got a gift. God has given that to him. Yeah. And one of the things I want every single person to realize is like, you've been given a spiritual gift or gifts. Like there are things that God designed within you that he wants to utilize, but it takes intentionality to develop those things. Yeah, it takes work, it takes time, it takes diligence. Let me ask you this. Do you think most guys in our church, if I said, hey, what is your spiritual gift, they'd even know what to tell you? I mean, there'll be a few, but no, I don't think they would know. Why not? They'd have to look it up. I don't know. I just don't think they think about it. And I think part of it is they separate their careers, their secular life, their vocation and faith. They separate them. Okay. They compartmentalize them. Right. And so this is what they know over here, what they're good at, what they're gifted at in terms of maybe they're great at sales.

Growing a business. Maybe they're great at numbers. Maybe they're great at leading people, but they don't think about that in the spiritual realm all that much, which is really, that's discouraging. But that's a big piece we want, like we want to help on earth, right? Stop compartmentalizing. And so you've got Paul telling Timothy, hey, dude, you've got some gifts. Then he tells him, let nobody despise you for your youth. Set an example for the believers. And I just want to say to anybody who's in their, I don't know, teens, 20s, 30s, I want you to hear this. Man, you can set an example wherever you're at. Absolutely. Even for people who are older than you. Now, there's a wisdom that is necessary and a humility that is necessary to know when you need to shut up and listen to instruction, but also don't discount yourself and sit on the sidelines for 10 or 15 years when God wants to do something through you today. I had 50 people over at my house the other night for a vision night. And we casted this vision and told people what God has been doing in our church. But we had Coit, if he's part of our student ministry, get up and speak.

Man, I love Coit. That kid is awesome. I had Coit Clement get up and speak. And he spoke for like three minutes. And afterward, I'm asking people, what'd you think of the vision, you know, that I casted, you know, and all this? And they're like, oh my gosh, Coit was amazing. He was incredible. And I'm like, okay, let me ask you now. What did you think? Gosh, Coit just, I had tears to my eyes listening to Coit. And I'm like, Coit was incredible. Yep. Yeah. And I think what's cool about that is Paul talks about young people setting examples, right? In speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Yeah, gold standards. It doesn't say set an example by being successful. Or masculine. Now, Coit is successful. But the reason they noticed him was because like his speech, his conduct, the way he carried himself, love, faith, purity, like he nails all those things. You could see love and purity in his heart. And so I think those are so important. And that's a great grading scale for like how to know we're winning. You wanna talk about intentional growth,

grade yourself on those things. So then Paul continues and he says, hey, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching. Don't neglect the gift you have, which was given to you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Now you got, don't neglect the gift that was given to you, which means by the way, he has a gift. And if you're listening to this podcast, you do too. Yeah. Then you've got older men in the church, elders, who are helping reveal that gift and confirm that gift. Paul's saying, don't neglect it. I think one of the biggest issues with the church, and I even hesitate to say this because, man, I hate when people paint with broad brushstrokes because what I know is my church is different than the church down the street and the church down the streets, you know, we're different than them and all those sorts of things. And everybody's, for the most part, trying to do the best they possibly can. But to your point earlier, a lot of guys don't understand that there's a gift that's been put like in their heart and God wants them to help develop it and then bring it here, like to the body of Christ. I will just say this, and you probably don't want me to say this, Landon, but being able to watch you here at our church the last three to four years, develop your gift, I've always known you were a great leader. I knew you'd be a great leader because of that desire to grow and lead, but you've become an incredible communicator too. And it's just fun for me as a dad to watch my son grow as a communicator and a leader, I just got to say that.

Well, that's very nice of you. Yeah, you're crushing it. Can I ask you, like, do you feel like, uh, that when, when you were able to identify that and then I was able to say yes to that, do you think it has created a more well-rounded church? And the reason I asked that is because I want everybody that's listening to this to be able to think about themselves and what that is and be able to say yes to that and then serve the people that you're around. There's no question because with you and I teaching primarily, uh, you know, we're kind of dividing the teaching at Compass, at the Colleyville campus, at least. Uh, it's been amazing because they can see two different men. Hopefully they see godly men who are at two different seasons of their life. You got a house full of kids and, uh, I've got an empty nest, which I wish it wasn't as empty. I wish you would bring the kids over more often. But anyway, uh, no, you do a good job with that actually. Listen, dude, I'll be there. I'll bring those kids anytime you guys want. All right. We want them all the time. Okay. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. You guys do the rest thing really well. That's a good point. We do have a lot of margin in our life. So, okay. You got this kid, he's got a gift. It's been revealed. Then verse 15, which you wanted me to read a little earlier.

Now I will practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. So Timothy is instructed to find that gift, practice that gift, immerse yourself in them, AKA develop it, grow, gain ground. And that last, um, that last phrase, so that all may see your progress. Like I had to, I couldn't get over that. And honestly, I told you about the note that's been on my phone for a decade or whatever. That's the phrase. So that all may see your progress. Because I had this thought of why would Paul, why did he need that? Why did it have to be necessary? And I realized as I studied this more and more, when you, and let's just use you, when you dad devote yourself to the things of God, and the best part is anybody can do this in a church or not, devote yourself to the things of God. You grow, you immerse yourself in it, meaning you commit to it. When that happens, when you live in that, you're better, but I get better too. Yeah. Right. That's why he says, so that all may see your progress. When men respond to the call of God on their life, put on the armor of God, right, Ephesians six, and then are unashamed about living that way. Guess who gets better? Everyone gets better. Everybody. So that all may see your progress. It's not so we can pat you on the back and say, Hey, way to go, buddy. You did it now. Encouragement is important, right?

We should do that, but that's not the, that's not Paul's intention. It's, it's you build other people up when you live your faith and when you grow. And it's so crucial. The last verse there in that chapter, first Timothy four, verse 16, watch your life and doctrine closely, persevere in them, because if you do, you will save, listen, both yourself and your hearers, the people who are following you. That's powerful. So I would think, well, let me put it this way based on this passage. I don't know who would sign up for that or who wouldn't sign up for that. I'm sorry. Like, uh, I mean, you gotta be pretty firm in the camp of, I think this is all BS. Okay. And there might be people that think that, but, but anybody it's like, Hey, God's put something in your heart, uh, that you're pretty good at. We're going to help you reveal it, then confirm it. Then if you practice it, everybody wins. I don't know who wouldn't sign up for that. And it may be slow and subtle growth, but we're gaining ground little by little. Okay. Son, hand me that cleat. I want to say one story. We've got time for a story. I think. So this, this one, right? Yeah. This cleat right here. Do you even know what it is? It's like a, it's like a, it's like a little, it's like a little, it's, it's I don't. And I'm being honest, I don't know what that is.

like a little, it's like a little, it's like a little, it's like a little, it's There's a man in our church that got this at a silent auction, like a little, it's like a little, it's like a little, it's like a little cleat. and he gave it to me. And I'll tell you why he gave it to me. Yeah. Because you were in high school, and Landon was a running back at Colleyville High School. And you were, he was a good running back. We won't go into that, but he was good. Yeah. Panther fight never dies. I'm still dealing with the concussions. And yeah, and this is the cleat that was worn by Tony Dorsett, a cowboy great, at a game that he played in, in January the 3rd. It was January 3rd against the Minnesota Vikings, 1983. And it's the, he had the longest run from scrimmage. He was at the half yard mark, and he ran and got a touchdown, 99 and a half yards. And he was wearing this cleat, and I watched it on YouTube. And you could see this exact cleat, and he signed it. This is the cleat that he wore. Unbelievable. This cleat is so amazing. Do you know what this is? Uh, what am I looking at? The dirt? It's chalk dust from when he scored the touchdown. That's amazing. This is an incredible piece of sports memorabilia. Why do I bring it up? That looks so uncomfortable. It looks very uncomfortable. You can tell technology's gotten better in the last 40 years.

My plantar fasciitis would be an issue. But the reason I bring this up, I think this is so crucial. Guys, we're not asking you to gain 99 and a half yards on the... We're not asking you to do that. Um, we're asking you to gain little incremental yards. We want you to grow. Okay? It could be just a little, every day, just a little bit every day, a little bit every week. We're not asking you to score a touchdown on, on the half yard mark and go 99 and a half yards. That's been done one time in the history of the NFL. Yeah. But every day, growing in our faith. That's a really good point. You know, and to keep with like the sports metaphors, the Indianapolis Colts had a coach. Um, he got fired, unfortunately. He's a great guy. Chuck Pagano. No. No? Was it Chuck? I think it was Frank Reich. Yeah, Frank Reich. Frank Reich. That's right. Chuck was before him. He also got fired. Coaching, tough... Yeah, tough profession. Shout out to you coaches.

Um, it just said get 1% better every day. Every day. And to me, that has made a huge difference in my life because like, like I want to go from one to 30. And if I go from one to 15 and I wanted to go to 30, I feel like I failed and that's not true at all. That's not true at all. And so for the guy that's sitting here going like, dude, I would love to lead my family. I would love to be faithful. I would love to do all those things you're talking about, but I don't know that I can. Listen, all we're saying is if you can buy into this thing, um, like we can grow together and get 1% better every single day to becoming more and more like Christ. Look, look, before we get into next steps, and I think we need to give everybody some next steps. I just want to say this. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Luke 13, and it's the parable of the fig tree. And it's just this unbelievable moment in scripture where this man has this fig tree growing in a vineyard and he goes by it every day and there's no fruit. And for three years, there's no fruit. So he tells the gardener, hey, cut this fig tree down. It's not bearing fruit. And I love the simplicity of scripture in Luke 13, where the gardener who actually is the Lord, he's God in this parable. Jesus is telling a story about the Father God.

And Father God looks and says, well, what if we were to wait one more year? What if we were to care for it and nurture it? What if we were just patient with it? And I guess I just want every man to understand this is the heart of God. This is the heart of God. God is willing to wait on you. He's willing to be patient with you. He's willing to meet you where you are. You don't need to hear a voice of shame or guilt or condemnation. He is ready. He is ready to embrace you. The Bible says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. And so I just want men to know, we're not talking about gaining 99 and a half yards on the first play. Just slow, steady growth. And we're going to be with you here all the way. I love that parable. Uh, and for what it's worth, I probably would have tried to cut down a fig tree too, because fig trees are kind of gross. Yeah. Although fig dunes are amazing. So what's up with that? I don't know. Uh, that means it's probably not figs. It's kind of like, I don't like tomatoes, but I love salsa. That kind of thing. You don't like tomatoes?

I don't, but I like salsa. And I like, like marinara, but I don't just like to eat a tomato. That's gross. They're soggy and weird. Nobody just eats tomatoes. Like you don't eat them like you eat an apple. Like baby boomers do. But anyway, just go. Psychopaths do. No, they love to slice tomatoes and eat them. I'm serious. It's a thing. Well, I like tomatoes. Like I like, uh, what's that? Italian thing, the mozzarella. Anyway, what were you saying about fig trees? Oh, okay. So, here's what it looks like to fail. Okay, and then also what it looks like to succeed. Yeah. Because I know there are people that are listening to this right now, and you're going, dude, I have tried. Yeah. Everything you guys are talking about, I've tried to do that. Yeah. What does that parable say? Three years, right?

Yeah. And God steps in and goes, hey, wait a minute. Yeah. Let's give this a little more time. Yeah. And here's what I want to encourage the guy with that's like going, dude, I wanna do right, but I don't know that I can. The Apostle Paul calls himself, in the scriptures, the chief of sinners. Yeah. That is a guy that wrote one third of the New Testament, and who I can't wait to meet one day when I get to heaven. Yeah. And as I mentioned earlier, I have seen people who society would call the worst of the worst, and we'll never see the other side of prison bars, come back and follow Jesus. Yeah. They all had one thing in common. They kept moving towards his direction. That's right. And if they take five steps forward and four steps back, they still took one, right? And Landon, what are the stakes of a person who doesn't move toward God just a little bit? What do you mean by that? I mean, I'm just like, there's a lot at stake here. It's so important that we at least let the Lord know

we're open to growing. That's all I'm saying. I mean, I think what it comes down to me is like, do you wanna live a life that counts? Yeah. And the answer is we all do. Yeah, we wanna build it. How many more celebrities do we need to listen to that say, hey, I got to the top of the mountain and I realized it sucks? Yeah. I mean, I don't, you know, for me, that's where I'm at. And I realized more is always a moving target. You ever noticed that? Yeah, exactly. Like the more I wanted today that I, I'm sorry, the more I wanted yesterday I got today ain't enough for tomorrow. Well, it's like that interview with Tom Brady when he said, Tom, do you think there's more? And he said, man, I hope so. I hope so. I hope so. Gosh, I hope there's more out there. And so I just wanna say to the dude that's sitting there going, dude, like, I don't know if I have what it takes to do this. Yes, you do. Yes, you do.

You just got to keep moving in steps in the direction of Jesus. And point B of why we're doing this, if you're doing that with a team, how much better is that? Yeah, you got to get in community. You got to do it, which is why, which is why a big piece of like why we're doing this is because we hope it leads to a community of people where you've got guys around you that are helping you take steps forward. And so, you know, if you think of it like a bowling alley, you know, we haven't been bowling in forever, but you got like those, what do they call those things? Bumpers? Yeah. Where you got other men who are helped, like on the side of you when you start to get off the rails and they're helping moving you in the right direction. Bumper bowling is the only way to go. You know, I think it was, I think it was Groeschel that said this, I think, which, I mean, it's a pretty good. Pretty good bet. Yeah, because he says a lot of great things, but it was in the context of organizations, I think. And he was talking about how you can do, you'll be surprised at how little you can do in a year and how much you can do in five years. In five years, yeah.

And I wanna use that as an encouragement because there could be somebody that heard that and goes, oh man, I'm really trying to get better. You're telling me I ain't gonna grow this year? Well, no. If you buy into this, you will grow this year. But you gotta understand, it is a lifelong decision. Like, this ain't a microwave. It requires, as this text says, diligence. If you're battling alcoholism, man, it could take a minute. Yep. And it's gonna be a fight, and you're gonna need the Lord to meet you in those dark moments. But if you got people around you that are celebrating one day, and one turned to two, and two turned to three, and three turns to four, and four turns to three months, then you're gonna be able to look back five years from now and go, man, I cannot believe what God did in my life. And you'll be able to look back at a moment when you decided, hey, I'm done drifting, I'm gonna gain some ground. So let's talk about next steps. What do we need them to do? Well, I think there's a couple things. First of all, you can expect that we're gonna be here every other week. And I think we're gonna talk about a lot of

what we hope is helpful stuff, and we'll probably bring some guests on that know more than we do about these subjects. We've got a website as well, gaininggroundmen.com. Gaininggroundmen.com. Gaininggroundmen.com, and there's gonna be some helpful information on there. Hey, our vision for this, and we're kind of building a plane in the air on this, but the vision is that you'd be able to find a group of men who are also bought into this. And you're able to gain ground together. And so you can find information on all that stuff there. Um, and obviously we'll release that on all our channels whenever we have, uh, the right things to communicate. And then ultimately sometime our dream is that we'll be able to gather anyone who cares about this all together in one place sometime in the fall of 26. So subscribe to the podcast. Oh, I forgot about that. Right. That's every, what a rookie mistake. Yeah. That was a little bit of a mistake. That's why I'm here. Yeah. I'm the same season voice and we never forget. I forgot about that. Everybody says like, and subscribe. I've never been able to say that like, and subscribe, like, and subscribe the podcast.

I think this went well. I do too. Yeah. You crushed it. Yeah. You did fine. Okay. Thanks. I'll take that. All right, guys, we appreciate this. We appreciate this. Thank you for your time. We'll be back to you for, uh, uh, our second episode and excited to see what guy's going to do. Thank you. Hey, thanks for joining us on the gaining ground podcast. If you enjoyed today's content, it would help us a ton. If you could like this video, uh, click the subscribe button and turn on your notifications. So you never miss an episode. Uh, if you're looking for more resources or how to get connected, please feel free to look in the description below. Find our website, gaining ground, men.com. We'd love to connect with you there. We'll see you next time.