I’d love to speak at more “outreach” men’s conferences and parish events.. What’s an “outreach” event? It’s a conference designed with a conscious concern for those on the outside, or on the periphery, of parish life. The Calgary and Detroit men’s conferences are two of the many good examples of this “outreach” effort. At an “outreach” event the core faithful aren’t just concerned with their own interests, as much as the needs of others. Surprisingly, the core group experiences spiritual growth ten times more when they engage in an outreach vs. attending an ingrown type of event.

Catholics might be wise to take a couple of plays from the Evangelical Protestant playbook. As a Protestant church planter, I was taught that special events were primary ways of bringing those on the outside to the inside of church life. At church growth seminars we were even presented with a mathematical formula that estimated the percentage of annual church growth in new members by the number of special events scheduled. At one of the most popular of these church growth seminars, I was taught how to schedule special events and special services designed to reach out to inactive Catholics.

As a Catholic, it doesn’t upset me nearly as much that Protestants are doing this, as that Catholics seem unconcerned with the huge number of inactive Catholics in their communities.

So how do you get the men who really need it to a special outreach event? You invite them personally. Better yet, two or three men invite them personally. Let me tell you a story about an incredible experience I had with Carpenter Shop I.

You see, my TV show for fathers on EWTN called, The Carpenter’s Shop, is actually my second Carpenter’s Shop ministry. My Protestant youth ministry was also called The Carpenter’s Shop. I started with about 75 church kids in a youth group. We developed a vision for reaching the youth throughout our city.

We scheduled a special event in The Carpenter’s Shop shortly after school started in the fall. I told my youth group that God had called them to be an army to reach other kids whose eternal destiny was at stake. I had 10,000 business cards printed. One side said, “You are invited…” The other side of the card said, “The Carpenter’s Shop” and listed the date, time, and place for the youth ministry. Our goal for the first week of the fall term was to extend 10,000 personal invitations. That averaged 133 invitations per teen in my youth group.

Well, the plan exceeded our expectations. Our special event was flooded with visitors. One teen told me, “By the first period on the first day of school I had been given four or five of these (as he showed me a handful of cards), so I thought I’d better come and check this place out.” We scheduled more special outreach events so that the newcomers could invite their friends. We ended up reaching youth not only throughout our city, but also extending to a two-county area.

What happened to my core group? Several of the leaders in my first Carpenter’s Shop became ministers, missionaries, and lay leaders. My core group, rather than becoming ingrown, grew by leaps and bounds as they discipled the constant stream of newcomers.

So here’s my challenge. Why can’t your parish event extend 10,000 personal invitations for your men’s conference? Okay, I can anticipate the excuses. You can at least extend 3,000 to 5,000 personal invitations. As Catholics, you can nuclear power your “invitation invasion” week(s) by having extensive Eucharistic adoration and prayer throughout the duration of your outreach. There are many wives who would be willing to pray for the men inviting as well as for those invited.

I remember a conference coordinator for a Catholic men’s conference repeatedly saying to me, “I can’t believe he’s here, I can’t believe he’s here.” His atheist college roommate responded to a personal conference invitation that he never dreamed would result in a response.

Remember, I’m talking about personal invitations using a simple piece of literature. Don’t depend upon a promotion strategy of just sending flyers to parish secretaries along with a request to stuff them into the Sunday bulletin. This strategy equals encryption for ensuring that no one learns of the conference.

There are great rewards for those who reach out to others in the name of Christ. Here are two:

	My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.    James 5:19-20
	And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.    Daniel 12:3

There’s one more reward that I must mention. Imagine the experience of joining with the throne room of heaven during an ecstatic burst of rejoicing by God and a multitude of his angels. Amazingly, God will share this joy with you if you assist in the recovery of a lost sinner. There is nothing quite like this joyful experience. Carefully read the parable of the lost sheep.

	Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:
	“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’
	Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.      Luke 15:1-7

Three More Conference Tips

1. Do pay a lot of attention to local, state, and national sport’s calendars, especially football. It helps those men really needing such a conference to attend.

2. Don’t ask me, or anyone else, to talk for 8 hours, or more. Believe it or not, I can talk for 8 hours – I’m a former Protestant minister, but this guarantees that only the inner circle of the “faithful few” will attend. Here’s the rub. While the inner circle of the “faithful few” are happy with their hours and hours of spiritual nourishment, the thousands of lukewarm Catholic men living in mortal sin in the surrounding communities will probably not attend.

3. Don’t try to coordinate a men’s conference if you are a parish staff member, or a solitary lay leader, until you have the active involvement of a lay team and the parish priest. A men’s conference without a “Band of Brothers” and an involved priest willing to use the event as an outreach to other men, almost guarantees a smaller event attended by the faithful few. (Also see the article “Band of Brothers”)