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By Dorothy Brotherton
THIS Band of Brothers is not the group of World War II
heroes made famous by the mini-series of that name – but a group of
men involved in a different kind of war.
David MacLean of Kelowna heads the Band of Brothers
ministry in B.C., which holds what he calls ‘boot camps.’ These
are four-day ‘advances’ (not retreats) – for men only.
“When we use the term ‘boot camp,’
it’s military – but not about physical warfare. It’s
about warfare set against our hearts,” said MacLean.
The camps target help for a man in the quest to recover
his masculine soul. The concept is based on John Eldredge’s book, Wild at Heart, which spawned the
Colorado-based Wild at Heart boot camps established by Eldredge and his
team, Ransomed Heart.
Six years ago, MacLean was about to turn 40, and used
his mid-life juncture to give himself anew to God’s plan for him. He
and a friend went to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, then
to a Marketplace Ministry conference. His friend bought Eldredge’s
book, opened the front cover and showed MacLean two quotes which popped his
eyes open.
One, by the renowned ‘Rough Rider,’ Teddy
Roosevelt, urges men to “dare mighty things”; and the other,
from Matthew 11:12, refers to John the Baptist as one of the
“forceful men” whom Christ commended.
“Those are mine!” said MacLean, who had
memorized both quotes years ago. He read Wild at
Heart, also. “For me, it was like the
pieces of the puzzle came together.”
He bought a case of books, gave them to friends,
attended one of Eldredge’s boot camps, and asked him to bring the
program to Canada. Eldredge surprised him by saying, “You do
it.”
That began a prayerful dialogue, which resulted in the
first men’s boot camp in B.C. four years ago. Two are held each year
at retreat facilities – at Capernwray on Thetis Island, or Rockridge
Canyon, a Young Life camp at Princeton. Fifty men enrolled in the first,
and 120 in the last.
There are 500 in the Band of Brothers data base. The
leadership team includes MacLean, Stephen Davis, Ben Nyland and Brad Gay,
from Kelowna, Victoria and Vancouver. Surprisingly, Eldredge doesn’t
exercise control over the B.C. group.
MacLean explained, “In business, if you have a
model that works, you franchise it. That’s not how this works. The
message gets rooted in you.”
He said Eldredge trusts that “we, as men, can
walk with God – and hear what God is saying to us.”
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MacLean has also run a successful firm for 11 years,
MacLean Group Marketing. “One of the diabolical lies that has
castrated the body of Christ is that there are full-time ministers –
and then everybody else works to support that,” said MacLean.
The boot camps, which he calls his commission from God,
“aim to help men see their place in this epic adventure,”
MacLean noted. “It’s about taking back the ground that we have
surrendered to the enemy of our souls. We are fiercely going after the
hearts of men.”
The boot camps speak the language of men, explained
MacLean, with no religious jargon.
Sessions are structured around movie clips that
illustrate biblical truths. “Movies are modern stories. We understand
life in the context of story.”
Biblical teaching, anecdotal teaching, personal
sharing, and alone times with God are all used. The men are asked to spend
time asking the Lord a certain question, and listening to him.
“That’s where eternal changes take place,” said MacLean.
Boot camps are not father-son retreats, because they
are too personal, he noted. But part of his vision is to develop a concept
for father-son weekends, when the sons are invited “into the
community of men.”
He’d also like to hold commissioning times for
men. These would be for small groups of men who have been to two boot
camps. “We’d have a weekend commissioning them as men, and into
their calling as ambassadors.”
The next Brothers boot camp is set for November
6–9 in Princeton.
Contact: bandofbrothers.ca.
September 2008
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