Vince Live In Studio

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How you doing? Hello everybody. This is Vince D'Accio again. We're back live on Facebook and on YouTube and some other platforms. Just a reminder, before I introduce my special guest, if you want to know more about our ministry, please visit otm.co.

We welcome you to go to our website. Lots of good resources there. And if you want to follow up on some of the sessions we've done earlier through livestream, you can go on, if you're on Facebook right now, you can scroll down and see a lot of those videos on our Facebook public page. All you have to do is like the page and you'll become a follower. And the same thing on our YouTube channel.

If you just simply hit the subscribe button, you'll be updated every time we go live. But this is a little different this morning than what we've been doing. I'm in our studio here in Colorado Springs this morning with my good friend Pat McGuire. And we're going to have a discussion here in just a moment. But let me tell you a little bit about Pat.

The reason we're here, by the way, is that we're doing a promo for a new series we have called Essentials for the Journey. You'll be hearing more about this as we go forward. But that is going to be promoted on a lot of different platforms and a lot of different places. And it's the culmination of really 35 years of ministry. And for most of that time, Pat, by the way, has been with me.

He's our producer. He's an Emmy Award winning television producer. And we'll get into some of that stuff maybe as we get into our interview here in just a moment. But he's also been very instrumental in on-target ministries. In fact, Pat, in the very beginning, I think you were the first person that was part of our ministry.

He helped me really start the ministry. What was that back in 1994? 1994. So welcome, Pat McGuire. Give our audience just a little bit of information about you and your background.

And then we'll talk about Ministry of Man in America. Well, I'm not ready for this interview. But anyways, this is very impromptu, guys. So forgive us. We're just kind of making it up as we go.

I started my journey after I got saved when I was 17 years old. And that was 50 years ago. Wow. You're almost as old as me, buddy. I'm getting there.

You're getting there. I haven't quite caught up yet, but I'm working on it. And so after a short stint in going to Bible school and that sort of thing, I went to Old Roberts University to study television, got into television, and ended up in TV news. When it used to be TV news. When it was real news.

Yes. I mean, we would be… None of our stories we get on the air if we were using today's criteria at all. No, that's true. So I repent for that, substitutionally, for the media.

But I did spend quite a number of years doing that. And then I started my own company. And in 92, I was working with a ministry and we were doing Win Our City to Jesus campaign. I remember that. National campaign.

And I was the executive director for that, putting together a lot of different parts of the body of Christ that really hadn't come together up until that time to do that ministry. And in the midst of that, there was this little conference up in Boulder called Promise Keepers. And I was invited to not only exhibit there, but to be part of the leadership and all the pastors over there before the thing started. So there's 20,000 guys showed up and it was quite amazing. And I was just thrilled to share that with Vince.

And my wife was working at the same ministry that Vince was. And we had gotten to know one another fairly well at that time and really got involved in Promise Keepers as one of the first ambassadors, which we quickly found out was what we were really technically unpaid staff. But it was awesome and an awesome ride that we did. And in 94, you were just really praying about what God was doing. And I said, you know, this stuff is really good stuff for men.

And we should, at that time, small groups for men was beginning to really grow. And so you felt like you wanted to step out. And so we stepped out with you to level the path. Initially it was called path levelers. And then I said, you know, let's just get on target on this thing.

And so we changed it to on target and started a seminar and then a weekly thing and then kind of blossom 27 years later. Here we are. Well, it blossomed from there. At the time I was working with a ministry called Every Home for Christ, we had actually moved that ministry year with about 30 families back in 91, but the same time that Focus and the family came and that's where I met Pat. I met, I think I met you at New Life Church.

Yeah, it was right after service. We ended up at McDonald's. And what's interesting is, you know, I stopped and said, hey, Vince, and let me introduce you to my wife, Cindy. And he said, well, let me introduce you to my wife, Cindy. And it was, it was just kind of a divine appointment that happened at that point.

And we've been brothers ever since. Yeah, and it has been an incredible journey. But we started in 1994. Really, that was the birthing of what we call the modern day men's movement. And as we get into this other part of the conversation here, I say to people that only in America, do we call something a movement that does not move.

And I don't mean that in any way to be negative toward promise keepers. In fact, that's where we are a men's ministry. I mean, there are many men's ministries around the country. But I say that is a sad fact that men are actually worse off today than they were when the movement began. And that's not a testimony about those ministries.

It's more of a testimony of the power of our culture to steal men away faster than we're able to save them. And that we've got to figure this out, guys. I mean, we are so blessed of what the God has been able to do through promise keepers, through ministries like on target. But there's so much more that we need to do. But actually, the face of ministry to men has really changed over the years.

And much of those changes as we have viewed them, both Pat and I, have had a tremendous impact on the new direction that we find ourselves going with on target ministries. And I want to talk to that for just a moment. When we go back to the very beginning, a lot of the ministry was happening around events. So, Pat, in your experience in looking over the early days of men's ministry, and then migrating from there to where we are today, what do you think are some of the key takeaways that we have or that we've learned that is helping us sharpen our approach today? What would be your observations about the difference between the early days of ministry to men and where we are now?

Well, I think as far as promise keepers was concerned, which was where I really got introduced to this, but I had been doing small groups with couples and that sort of thing since 1978. And to me, that's where everything happens. So, one of the things that we incorporated on target ministries was, all right, the teaching's great, but getting together and digesting that with other guys was really the most important thing. And so, even in our seminars, you would teach and then we would spend half the time, literally more than half the time of the seminar, having broken up into small groups, because I think we discovered even with promise keepers, there was two tracks on promise keepers. There was the big stadium events, which is coming together, getting guys excited, realizing that you're not alone.

That's biggie. But the second track of it that didn't get quite as much press, because it was harder to do, was the small groups of guys, five guys getting together every week for coffee or breakfast or something and just doing life together, finding out where are you and how can we pray for you this week and that sort of thing. And seeing in those small groups is where the real life of process worked. The ministry part, the teaching part, were almost like, you know, they're subjects to teach us to get us, but then during that week, we're digesting it, we're talking about it, and we're trying to apply it to our life. And I think that process, and I think that's a huge part of what on target does, is the process.

So that today, I think, although the big stadium events, even with COVID, we're not able to do at all, but we're fortunate to be able to even get together at a restaurant right now. Our guys, we've been driving through Chick-fil-A and then parking in the parking lot, getting out the lawn chairs, even when it was like 30 degrees and getting together, because we felt it was that important. And now I think that this whole small group thing is really where the process is happening, even if we have to use Zoom or do this sort of thing, that processing that, talking to each other, doing life together, and us older guys, you know, being a few footsteps ahead, maybe finding the box canyons earlier to say to the younger guys, that ain't the right direction, but maybe you've found a different one. And the intergenerational thing, I think, is the huge part of what's growing in today's men's ministry, or men's ministry in general. Yeah, and I think years ago, Pat and I both realized, in fact, I don't know if you remember this, Pat, but I came back home from a trip back around the year 2000, and I was frustrated because I'm out, and I'm basically a hired gun, just out speaking different places, very rewarding, very satisfying.

And I'm not saying it doesn't make a difference in men's lives, but I'm coming back and I'm wondering what difference did I really make? Because I'm not able to follow or track the men I'm speaking to. And so it was kind of frustrating. And we began to get this idea that in our culture, there is a tendency to event people to death. And we have this idea that somehow just because they attend an event, that their life is going to be transformed.

I'm reminded that a wedding is an event, it's not a marriage. And that there needs to be so much more that happens in order for real life change to take place. And that's where I first came up with that quote, Pat, if you remember years ago, that it takes a relational environment, which is what Pat's talking about, a relational, a healthy relational environment, in order for truth to become transformational. And we realize that and then we put together something called On Target Institute way back there around the year 2000, 2001. And it's dedicated to process driven strategies, not event driven strategies.

Event driven strategies, events are okay as a catalytic kind of a boost. But in order for real life change to take place, there has to be a process in place. So we designed On Target Institute. And in fact, at our church right now, we both attend a church here in Colorado Springs called the Road to Chapel Hills. We're really proud of our church as a men's group called AIM, All In Men.

And it really is just simply a reproduction of the model that we created back in 2000 for On Target Institute, where we get men together early in the morning. We have breakfast, we have a teaching. Now those teachings tend to be about 15, 20 minutes max. In the old days, the teachings were 30, 40, 50 minutes. And what that did is it compressed the amount of time men had to really have discussion.

So we got together and we thought we got to reverse that. So now our teachings are our in studio television teachings are only 12 minutes. Pat puts these 12 minute programs together and then he puts two of them together with wrap arounds and they form a half hour TV program. Matter of fact, I think the NRB network has been showing these broadcasts now for a couple of years and they're thinking about rebroadcasting them again, but they're brief sessions allowing for more discussion time on the other end. So that's kind of what we've been working on here for the past several years.

Well, even going back to the On Target seminars, where we just go Friday night, we did seven sessions. And we said, okay, now get together with four guys you don't know. But by the end of that time, they knew each other very well. And the legacy, I think, was that these groups continued. And a lot of the places that you did go to, it really launched a men's ministry.

And there's one thing that's nice about getting having four or five guys that you're, as Steve Holt says, we become bloodstained allies. We're the bloodstained by the blood of the blood of the lamb by Jesus at the cross. But we're allies with each other in life, so that we can speak to each other, we can we can we can share things within that small group that don't leave the small group. And it's a safe place for guys to happen. And so that is now continued.

And by the way, if you want to join us, we also stream that so you can join with us on that on Tuesday mornings, or whenever you guys can get together and get a couple guys together and do that, or get our curriculum where you can play it off an iPhone or something, even a restaurant, and watch that for 10 minutes and talk about it. So there's a lot of cool stuff. Essentials for the journey is the terrific way to get started. If you guys, I forgot to mention this earlier, if you want to get a copy of this, they're available now and we're shipping them. And if you just go to otm.co on target ministries otm.co and go to the store, the essentials for the journey is in the store, there's a workbook you can get on Amazon, or we can ship them to you from our office as well.

And but if you want to join the live stream, the live stream is actually coming through the road at Chapel Hills. And so what you do is you just go to theroad.org. That's it, theroad.org. Navigate over to a live stream or or sermons and hit aim, AIM, and you'll get right to where those broadcasts are. The past broadcasts are there as well, and you're welcome to see them.

I think it's on YouTube as well, but I think you can get there. Well, if you go to the road at Chapel Hills on YouTube, you'll find them all there as well. That's right, Pat. And so what Pat is talking about in the original seminar, what we did, and I feel to mention this, is we began to realize that oftentimes men especially are more willing to share deeper secrets with men that they don't know than with people that are close to them. So when we first started forming our small groups, we encouraged men to find men in the audience that they did not know or did not know very well, and they would.

And by the end of the time, we formed in groups of four, and by the end of the time, they would come up and say, yeah, and I just shared deep, deep secrets with these guys that I never thought I'd share with anybody. And I think there's something about that dynamic of being with guys, and then as you grow and become blood-stained allies, it is just amazing to watch God move the teaching and the life implication component of that teaching into life application through the healthy relational environment. By the way, just so you know, psychiatrists have suggested that one out of every four people are mentally disturbed. So the way you use that is that if you're in a group of four people, and the other three seem okay to you, well, you get the idea. Anyway.

One of the things that's really important in that, and you become blood-stained allies because you have shared that with each other, and you need to. Some of the guys and myself too, we were carrying stuff and didn't know how to deal with it or didn't even know we were carrying stuff. And so some of that stuff and being able to, one of the other fellows might say something that stimulates, oh, wow, that's something that I haven't dealt with or I need to deal with or whatever. And it really works out because if you hold it inside or the devil just beats you up with this, you're the only one on the planet that has this issue. And if anybody knew, they would totally, everybody, if anybody knew, they would totally reject you and that sort of thing.

And when we're together as blood-stained allies, there is no reason for that. And that's almost what's said there and stays there and stays under the blood as we pray over it. And we've seen some serious healing there and guys being set free, being able to be dads, being able to be fathers, being able to be good sons. And what I loved about what Coach Mack said in 92, he said, we're going to draw a line in the sand here, guys, that whatever has happened in the past, as far as how your father was, a grandfather or whatever and all this stuff, let's draw a line in the sand right now and say, it stops here. And it stops with me.

I'm going to be the best dad. I'm going to be the best son. I'm going to be the best brother, uncle, whatever, that that's going to be now. We're making that difference now. Lord, help us.

I think we sang amazing grace after that and hear 20,000 guys singing amazing grace for the first time. 20,000 guys singing at the same time. Of course, later, we were in auditoriums with 100,000 and so on. And unfortunately, this summer, we won't be able to do that in Dallas with Promise Keepers because of COVID, but it's been redone for next year. So these are all things that I think God is building up to do something new and fresh and us old dudes still get to be part of it.

That's right. And listen, this is timely. What he's saying is timely because we're headed into Father's Day weekend right now. In fact, on Saturday, I'll be publishing a little five minute clip that I did directly for dads on how we are called to be the prophet, priest, and king in our home. And what does that mean when it comes to fathering?

And how many of you guys know that the big problem in our culture today is fatherlessness? I mean, there's a huge vacuum there and it's causing a lot of problems in the generations that are coming up. So very, very important topic. Well, I wanted you to get a chance to meet Pat. He's the one.

This is his studio behind us. This is the place where he makes all the magic happen for on target ministries and all the production and all the resources that you see in the videos that you see that are going out there that have our, this is our studio. And so if the people, Pat wanted to get a hold of you to learn more about what you do or maybe even talk to you about doing something for them, how would they do that? How number is just an email or the company that you go under or your email address, if somebody wanted to just connect with you, what would you tell? Sure, you guys can send me an email to A-POP Media, A-P-O-P-T-V, at Gmail.

I'm sorry, A-POP at Gmail. I don't even know which A-POP at Gmail. A-POP-T-V, at Gmail. A-POP-A-P-O-P-T-V, at Gmail.com. Just think of A-POP.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I caught him by surprise. He wasn't sure how to get a hold of himself. I don't send myself emails. And of course, you guys know if you ever want to get a hold of me, it's just Vince at otm.co and we're happy to hear from you.

And anyway, pleasure being with you guys. I hope this has been a blessing. I'll be back on Friday and we'll be getting into navigating trials and we'll be talking about that. I'll be sharing the story of what our family went through back in 2009 and 2010 where we almost lost my wife, Cindy. We'll be unpacking those over the next three or four sessions and our prayer as always is that it blesses you.

Have a great day and if we don't see you Friday, have a great Father's Day weekend. Blessings to you. Bye-bye for now.