Midlife Men on a Mission

FPC Midlife Men on a Mission Make News

by Lann Malesky

FPC’s Midlife Men were featured in the September issue of Presbyterians Today as an example of people “Following God in mission.” The following is the story, written by Lann Malesky, that appeared in the magazine:

        “Men venture beyond their comfort zones to help in Honduras.

        “At 3:30 a.m. one day last October a group of men from Fairfax Presbyterian Church met to embark on a mission trip to La Entrada, Honduras. Bleary-eyed, they loaded bags of medications, electrical supplies and luggage for the flight to Central America.

        “A year earlier their pastor, Henry Brinton, had challenged the men to ‘embark on a brand new and exciting mission project.’ He assured them that there were ‘absolutely no limits to what we can do as we follow God in mission.’

        “Thirteen men went to Honduras in 2004 and 12 made a second trip a year later. A third trip is coming up this November.

        “In 2004 the men worked on a Youth for Christ camp and delivered medical supplies to a mountain clinic. They also attended Sunday worship at a boarding school for about 400 impoverished teens, whose joyful response to the music captivated the visitors.

        “Last year the men helped build a dining hall at the Rancho Vida camp, lugging 95-pound bags of cement and buckets of water, mixing concrete by hand and hefting it up a scaffold to complete a 90-foot long continuous beam. They installed an electrical generator that had been sitting idle for over two years, giving the boarding school desperately needed emergency power. In the evening they studied how Jesus’ parables in Matthew related to their experiences.

        “The men left knowing that much work remained. But they had seen the fruits of following God in mission.”

        When they depart for their third mission trip on November 4 this year, the Midlife Men expect to have 20 participants joining them, including two “Kids of Midlifers,” Sam Brinton, Henry’s son, and Ian Ward, Brad’s son.