Hi friends! On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will begin part 7 of Travis’s faith journey. For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below. As a recap, in part 6, after a month of seeking God in prayer, Travis knew he was called to continue doing men’s ministry. This time, however, he had humbled himself and asked God to take it over. He knew it was no longer his, but God’s. With that, Element26 was launched. For those men that are interested, please check out the Element26 website and see if you would like to attend one of their events in Tennessee or Florida. You can click the link here Men's Ministry | Element26 Men's Ministry or go to their website at www.element26men.com. Since this is a man’s testimony, my husband, Jeff, will narrate Travis’s story. If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below. Also, please consider doing a free or paid subscription to Draw Near to Me so you don’t miss any future content. With that, let’s dive into part 7 of Travis’s story. Enjoy!
Giving God the men’s ministry made all the difference. Once I released control, it was as if He was like, “OK, now that you’re out of the way, we can do something with this.” For the first event as Element26, we changed the format, brought in speakers, and had worship at the campsite. That year around 53 to 57 guys showed up. I tried hard for years to get more guys to come, but at the most we had 18 men. In the first year it was God’s, attendance had already tripled our previous maximum. It was amazing.
After our first Element26 retreat, someone asked me what I was going to do when the ministry took off. I kinda laughed. The thought of growing big was unbelievable to me. In my vision and heart, I did not want to do more than 100 guys. However, I knew that it was God’s ministry and not mine, so instead I replied, “You know, we’ll just see what God does with it.” Over the years, the ministry grew. After that initial year, we moved the retreat to a different location. Soon, it started to take off.
One of my favorite Element26 stories, which is important to my own story, began with three guys named Raul, Ray, and Ronaldo. They were brothers. While Raul and Ray were believers, their brother that lived in Virginia, Ronaldo, was not. In fact, he didn’t want to have anything to do with God.
One day, Ray got a hold of me to talk about the upcoming retreat. He said, “Hey, I talked Ronaldo into coming to this men’s retreat, but don’t tell Raul. We’re gonna surprise him.” Ray had kind of tricked his brother, Ronaldo, into coming to the retreat. He told him it was a guys weekend where they were just gonna hang out around fire pits and all.
When Ronaldo showed up, he realized that it was not just a men’s gathering, it was a Christian men’s retreat. He was not interested in that aspect of the event. So, on the first night he walked out on the speaker for the evening. As a matter of fact, when we gathered around the fire pits that night he clearly said, “Listen, I'm here to see my brothers. I’m not talking about Jesus. I’m not doing all of this.”
Saturday rolled around and for the first time we did baptisms at the retreat. Several guys came up to be baptized. It was a really cool moment.
That night, we had another speaker present. Once again, Ronaldo walked out on the speaker. Unexpectedly, he suddenly came back in and walked straight to the front. He was balling. I later found out that when he stepped out, he had called his wife and told her, “There’s something going on here. I don’t know what it is.” She told him to embrace it instead of fighting it.
When Ronaldo came back in, he came forward and gave his life to Christ that night. His brothers were just hoping to plant a seed during that retreat, but no one was expecting this. One additional guy also came forward and surrendered to Christ. Both wanted to get baptized then and there. We took them both outside to the baptismal that was still set up. It was about 33 degrees at that point. That was how at 10:30 at night on this mountain top, in freezing cold water, Ronaldo was baptized.
Even though this was his story, the reason it was so important to me was because of what that moment did in me. When Ronaldo first came to the retreat and found out it was a Christian event, he didn’t want anything to do with it or Jesus. Then, there we were on Saturday night baptizing him. When he came up out of that water, we got this picture of him. He’s an old Marine, so when he emerged out of the water, he was flexing and screaming, with water coming off of him. It was such a cool image.
As I watched Ronaldo resurface from being baptized, a memory flashed before me. My mind immediately went back to that day in the hospital when my son was born extremely premature and fighting for his life. It was the day when I slammed my Bible shut and I asked God, “What good could you possibly do out of this?” I realized that I was now witnessing the good God would do. I was watching this guy that now had his salvation. His eternity was secured. All of it tied back to those years ago in that hospital room with my son. It was what eventually led me down the path into men’s ministry and hosting that very retreat where Ronaldo was saved.
We’ve seen God move in so many ways through the retreats and not just in salvations. We have seen marriages restored that were about as gone as could be. Men have walked away from pornography, from drugs, and from other addictions. So many aspects of life have been transformed. People’s lives have been put back together.
A few years ago, we had our retreat in Tennessee and about 217 guys showed up. By that time, we had also launched a retreat down in Florida as well. There were about 175 men at that event. On the very first night, during the very first worship song of that Florida retreat, I stood there and began crying. My oldest son walked over and put his arm around me. He said, “Dad, this is the first song. What’s wrong with you?” I told him, “Look at this. Look at what’s happening. We prayed that this would be God’s ministry and that He would bring the men that needed to be here. Look at what God is doing through this.”
I knew I couldn’t be prideful about this ministry even if I wanted to be. When I tried to run it, it was failing miserably, but when God took over all these doors opened. There were so many stories of things that have happened behind the scenes to grow Element26. Things that people have provided and what God’s done for this ministry.
I felt the impact of seeing everything going on in Tennessee and now in Florida. It wasn’t about the numbers that had grown beyond my initial vision, it was knowing and believing that God had sent the men that needed to be there. Seeing so many men there that were broken, combined with the power of witnessing what God was doing, was a mix of emotions.
The guys make fun of me all the time for getting teared up, but it all goes back to that hospital room and asking God what good He could possibly do. Each time I see one of these men step forward to get baptized, it breaks me down every time. It’s an honor. It is humbling to be a part of it. But God did not just stop there. He has worked in my own personal life as well.
To be continued.
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