Stillwater Community Center at 8th Ave and Duck St. The men's group meets every second Thursday here in room 121 at 6:45, to discuss men's issues in light of a Biblical perspective. Photo: City of Stillwater.
Members of the men's Christian community group "Convergence", started by Mr. Terry Carpenter, held their eleventh monthly meeting on September 12, bright and early at 6:45 a.m. in the Stillwater Community Center, room 121.
After enjoying complimentary morning coffee, about 50 men gathered until 7 a.m., and then Mr. Carpenter opened the meeting with some announcements before inviting Lead Pastor Wilson Van Hooser of Grace Presbyterian to come forward.
Pastor Wilson opened with a sermon on Matthew 6: 19-26, continuing the groups theme from Matthew on the Sermon on the Mount. He preached on the theme of "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," and challenged listeners to think by asking questions like, "What functionally holds fast to your heart? What do we worry about most? Money or spiritual maturity?"
Mr. Carpenter then invited Mr. Steve Irby to come up for a Q&A session. "Steve Irby has been a friend of mine for a number of years, somebody I've admired and has lived the life he professes," said Mr. Carpenter.
Mr. Irby described himself as a "hometown boy" who grew up here in Stillwater and saw his father's architecture business from a young age. When asked about a bible verse important to him, Mr. Irby responded, "I didn't become a Christian until I was about 27–and the first verse that really caught my attention was in Habakkuk (2:4), 'the just shall live by faith.'
"We think we can get older and wiser and got things covered, but not really. And so, we need God every day, and we live our life by faith and trust in Him in every situation."
When asked what he would say to people who would describe him as a self-made man, he responded, "In my life, I would say I'm a God-made man because the opportunities that have come my way in business and that I've taken advantage of, frankly, I had nothing to do with them."
Mr. Irby summed up his advice for success with, "Serve God, and be content with what you have and let Him deal with the rest. He says, 'All these things will be added to you' ya know, so it's a matter of what you put first, where's your treasure, what's most important?"
Terry Carpenter started the men's group almost a year ago to bring men from various Christian faiths in the community together to read the Bible and talk about men's issues.
Mr. Kevin Zacharias will present for next month's meeting on his journey with cancer and how "he let Jesus worry about that instead of him," said Mr. Carpenter. The next meeting will be held on Thursday morning, October 10. Men are welcome to attend.
