What True Character Is Capable Of…

“For He is a living God and He endures forever;
His kingdom will not be destroyed, His dominion will never end.
He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the Heavens and on the Earth.
He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
– Daniel 6:26-27

Photo via Creative Commons, Tambako the Jaguar

This declaration came from the mouth of a pagan king after Daniel emerged from the den of lions unscathed. Not only did Darius declare the truth about God but he also prophesied about the Kingdom. He even testified of God’s goodness and miraculous work.

It says a lot about what upright and true character is capable of; it can change nations and transform kings and kingdoms.

The amount of faith that Daniel had in the pit, for God to shut the mouths of the lions, would’ve been… A LOT. It says, “no wound was found on him, because he had trusted God” (Daniel 6:23).

I wonder if I would’ve had the same kind of faith? If I were Daniel, I would’ve thought that God would allow me to die so that I would become a martyr and be testified about.

Instead, God knew – and I think Daniel knew too – that the miraculous would transform the kingdom.

It makes me wonder if I’m really positioning and posturing myself in places where I’m giving pagan kings that chance to testify about the goodness of God.

“Lord, make me an instrument…”

 

16 Days to Launch and Why I Need Your Help

I know that it’s been months since I’ve written and shared anything about my life – but in my defense – I got married six months ago and I’m still trying to figure out the pace of life. And even though I want to slap myself across the face for neglecting the stewardship of what was a growing talent, I’m going to go ahead and extend some grace to myself and say “it’s okay.”

But I digress; this is not why I write today.

If you’ve known me at all in the last 3-4 years, then you know that I have a passionate soul about the injustice of human trafficking, both on a local and global scale. I’ve dedicated months of time and large amounts of energy in the last few years at addressing the issue, one of those being the rough birth of an idea: 3N1 MEN.

What is 3N1 MEN?

I started 3N1 MEN in early 2012 as an effort to get men involved in fighting the issue of human trafficking in the state of Georgia. After a lot of conversations with leaders in the abolition movement, we decided that the best role for men would be to become actual men of character and integrity, so I proceeded to help men establish systems of accountability to do just that.

The problem? Men don’t like asking for help and most men think they already have it all together.

That’s when I decided to launch a three-pronged focus to 3N1 Men; we’d empower me to fight human trafficking through advocacy, education, and accountability.

Seemed to work well.

So Why Haven’t I Heard Much About This?

Well, I did get MARRIED (insert major life-change) and I got a big promotion at work just a few months after that (more on that this week). Life got ahead of me. And as a result, my efforts with 3N1 MEN got distracted. Thankfully, an email from a dear friend was the kick-in-the-pants I needed to get the ball rolling again.

In 20 days 16 days I launch the new and improved 3N1 MEN! I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to do this. Improvements have been a long-time coming.

As a result, I’m in need of A LOT of help, which is why I’m writing this blog post today.

How Can I Help You with 3N1 MEN?

The easiest way to understand a lot of these improvements without giving them all away is this: imagine 3N1 MEN begin the online epicenter for news, resources, articles, and opportunities for men seeking ways to fight human trafficking.

Can you imagine that? Good. That’s what I’m going for.

So with that vision in mind, here are some roles I need filled for a strictly VOLUNTEER team of people:

- Writers. One of the biggest needs is that we need a team of [talented] individuals to crank out several articles a week. Topics will vary, but will fall under advocacy, education, and accountability. Each writer will be asked to contribute 2-3 articles each week.

- Online Advocates. We need a team of people committed to sharing our materials via the interwebs (sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other places). This is a relatively simple task. Ultimately, this team will play an enormous role when we launch our campaigns.

- Researchers. We also need a team of people committed to scouring news sites, online resources centers, and more for the latest information on abolition and human trafficking. These are things like new bills being passed, local and international busts, stories from survivors, and more. Each researcher will be asked to contribute 10 finds each week.

- Graphic Designer. I know that this is a stretch, but we could really use someone helping us with some killer graphic designs for our campaigns, subsequent logo needs, and more. Not sure the time this will demand from someone, but likely only an hour a week.

Do any of these roles sound like you? THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I don’t care if you’re male or female, whether you have 20 hours or two hours a week that you can commit – I need your help.

If you want to commit to helping me empower men to fight human trafficking in the most effective way possible, shoot me an email at matthew.la.snyder[at]gmail.com. I will reply to you ASAP.

And for those of you that just want updates on the soon-to-be rapid growth of 3N1 MEN, you can join our newsletter list here.

Follow 3N1 MEN on Facebook and Twitter

Deep Gratitude

Ultimately, I’m indebted to your support over the past several years and all that I’m doing to combat the issue of human trafficking in the way that I feel the LORD has directed me to do it. You are my biggest fans. I couldn’t be more thankful!

Blessings,

Matt

 

Come Unto Me

When was the last time you read something so convicting and humiliatingly true that it made you squeamish and uncomfortable? Oswald Chambers “woke me up” this morning with his thoughts on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew. It was too good to not share:

 

“Come unto Me.” — Matthew 11.28

Is it not humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things we will not come to Jesus Christ about. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words – “Come unto Me.” In every degree in which you are not real, you will dispute rather than come, you will quibble rather than come, you will go through sorrow rather than come, you will do anything rather than come the last lap of unutterable foolishness – “Just as I am.” As long as you have the tiniest bit of spiritual impertinence, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do a big thing, and all He is telling you to do is to “come.”

“Come unto Me.” When you hear those words you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, anything at all that will put the axe at the root of the thing which is preventing you from getting through. You will never get further until you are willing to do that one thing. The Holy Spirit will locate the one impregnable thing in you, but He cannot budge it unless you are will to let Him.

How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away with the feeling – Oh, well, I have done it this time! And yet you go away with nothing, whilst all the time God has stood with outstretched hands not only to take you, but for you to take Him. Think of the invincible, unconquerable, unwearying patience of Jesus – “Come unto Me.”

I Repent

I’ve made the mistake of associating “ministry” with working for a non-profit or a church.

I’ve made the mistake of feeling as if I can only love others in the context of environments where I’m free to discuss matters of faith.

I’ve made the mistake of thinking that if I’m not dedicating at least 40+ hours a week to the expansion of God’s Kingdom through the Church, that I’m a failure as a Christian.

I’ve made the mistake of mis-defining “Church”.

I’ve made the mistake of letting my faith grow cold because I wanted it to happen to me, not through me.

I’ve made the mistake of allowing the tough times to keep me from moving forward.

I’ve made the mistake of not dreaming with God and allowing my ability to create with Him become weak.

I’ve made the mistake of allowing prophecies to go unspoken because I fear how others will respond.

I’ve made the mistake of not feeding my passion fuel.

I’ve made the mistake of not leading others towards Christ because I wanted to remain “relevant” to the popular opinion around me.

I’ve made the mistake of believing God sees my sin and hates me for it.

I’ve made the mistake of not standing up for justice.

I’ve made the mistake of letting circumstance mandate the expression of true manly character and integrity.

I’ve made the mistake of not loving patiently.

I’ve made the mistake of not thinking His grace is sufficient.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes.  In fact, all of these mistakes I have made within the last month. I can let them define me or I can learn from them.

I’m going to learn from them.

 

How to Live Out Your Calling and Write About It

I wrote this three years ago for Quaker Life magazine. I felt it an appropriate blog post to let you all know that I’m back!

– matt

How to Live Out Your Calling and Write About It

Sometimes I think it’s easy to reduce the Kingdom of God down to a matter of talk and forfeit it of its right to manifested power.  It’s a common problem in the Church today.  We have pastors, music ministers, youth pastors, every kind of clergyman, and even the ‘laymen’ standing in front of congregations week after week and speaking a message that half of them don’t even believe.  Why?  They’ve never seen the message’s power.

I’m guilty of being one of those guys.

For years I stood in front of the pre-mature, undeveloped, searching, and lost souls of America’s youth and flattered them with a message that I had never truly understood.  I had never gotten around the theology of all of it because I never even understood what I was really saying.  I was regurgitating a message that I had heard time after time myself, convinced that it was the only reality that there was, that it was absolute truth when, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at all.

Deep down I was aching for more understanding.  I was hoping to be exposed to the secret message that was hiding behind our lousy doctrines and theology.  I wanted an encounter with the Spirit of the living and active God of today – the one that the Bible boasts about but I had never seen, touched, or experienced.

And so I left. Continue reading →