God and Men in the Backyard: John Guist
A while back, I was given a book called Why Men Hate Church. In our area, there are quite a few “manly men.” They have hard jobs. They’re tough. I’ve had jobs like that — I get it — but I didn’t quite know how to approach that. I was asking the Lord, “What do I do?”
Later I got an ad in the mail: If you bought 10 cigars, you could get a free humidor to hold them. I thought, “I like cigars.” I don’t love them or anything, but I enjoy them. And so I got these 10 cigars, and then I bought 10 more cigars. Then I had it: Cigar Night. In my backyard.
The first Cigar Night, between 17 and 20 guys showed up — some from our church and some from around the Farmington area. One of the guys that showed up is a city official. We started talking, and he confessed he had never seen any of the movies that we would generally talk about, sort of “manly movies.” He lived with three women in his family, so he was always outvoted on movie nights. We started adding a movie night to the backyard hangouts.
What’s great about Cigar Night is that it really seems like God is behind it. I don’t know what it is about cigars, or the yard … I don’t know … but the conversations we’ve had have been profound and deep as friendships grow. It isn’t that typical inch-deep guy talk. And the event has grown. We’ve had a Cigar/Movie Night in my yard when it’s 10 degrees outside, a couple of fires going, an outdoor movie, a canopy to block the wind. And we have an absolute blast.
John Guist
Middle Creek Vineyard Church
Farmington, Minnesota
A while back, I was given a book called Why Men Hate Church. In our area, there are quite a few “manly men.” They have hard jobs. They’re tough. I’ve had jobs like that — I get it — but I didn’t quite know how to approach that. I was asking the Lord, “What do I do?”
Later I got an ad in the mail: If you bought 10 cigars, you could get a free humidor to hold them. I thought, “I like cigars.” I don’t love them or anything, but I enjoy them. And so I got these 10 cigars, and then I bought 10 more cigars. Then I had it: Cigar Night. In my backyard.
The first Cigar Night, between 17 and 20 guys showed up — some from our church and some from around the Farmington area. One of the guys that showed up is a city official. We started talking, and he confessed he had never seen any of the movies that we would generally talk about, sort of “manly movies.” He lived with three women in his family, so he was always outvoted on movie nights. We started adding a movie night to the backyard hangouts.
What’s great about Cigar Night is that it really seems like God is behind it. I don’t know what it is about cigars, or the yard … I don’t know … but the conversations we’ve had have been profound and deep as friendships grow. It isn’t that typical inch-deep guy talk. And the event has grown. We’ve had a Cigar/Movie Night in my yard when it’s 10 degrees outside, a couple of fires going, an outdoor movie, a canopy to block the wind. And we have an absolute blast.
John Guist
Middle Creek Vineyard Church
Farmington, Minnesota
