Discovering What It Means to Be a Man

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to successfully fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The flight took him thirty-three hours, thirty minutes and thirty seconds.

Lindbergh didn’t sleep for nearly 55 hours. His flight from New York to Paris required him to dodge storm clouds at 10,000 feet and skim over wave tops as low as 10 feet. He continually had to alter his altitude to keep ice from building on The Spirit of St. Louis, and he had to fly blind through thick fog for several hours.

Completing difficult tasks like that requires unusual toughness. Pastor Mark Batterson uses Lindbergh as an example of the kind of qualities that a man needs to be a successful husband, father, worker, and follower of Christ.

He needs some grit, some toughness.

But he needs a lot of other qualities as well, like passion, vision, and moral courage. A man’s roles in the culture and in the home are important. But those roles are getting lost in confusion.

What does it mean to be a man?

What defines masculinity?

Mark Batterson is with us on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Discovering What It Means to Be a Man.” You can listen on your local radio station, online, on iTunes, via Podcast, or take us with you on our free phone app, or watch the program on our YouTube channel.

Mark believes that being a man is defined by exhibiting seven virtue. With every virtue, Mark uses an example from history to make a point:

Charles Lindbergh (Tough love)
Teddy Roosevelt (Childlike wonder)
Louis Zamperini (Will power)
John Muir (Raw passion)
John Wesley Powell (True grit)
Andrew Jackson (Clear vision)
Jesus Christ (Moral courage)

He’ll tell us the stories of these men, and explain what men can learn from them to become better husbands, better fathers, and better influences in their communities by exemplifying integrity, true strength, and love.

We’re talking with Mark about his book Play the Man: Becoming The Man God Created You To Be. We’d love to give you a copy for a pledge to support Focus on the Family on a monthly basis.

Even if a one-time donation is all you can make right now, we’ll still send you a copy. But your monthly contributions help us budget more effectively and steward God’s resources as efficiently as possible. Thank you for your prayerful and financial support.

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., which has eight campuses.