065 Herb Reese on God’s heart for single moms and widows

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Herb Reese had been leading teams of men to serve widows and single moms for over ten years, but when his brother-in-law died and left his sister without someone to care for her and her daughters, he realized that his next bold step needed to be taking his ministry full time.

Who is Herb Reese? Herb Reese is the president of New Commandment Men’s Ministry, a ministry that encourages men in the church to meet the physical needs of widows and single moms through establishing long-term relationships with them. A graduate of UCLA and Dallas Theological Seminary, Herb has completed post-graduate work at the University of Texas – Dallas and at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. And even more than being theologically-trained, Herb has the heart of a Biblical warrior. He has pastored three churches over the last twenty years before stepping into men’s ministry full-time. Herb has three grown children with his wife, Patti, and together they live in Arvada, Colorado.

Herb’s mission is pretty simple: obey the commandment of God to love widows and orphans as Christ loves us. He works to establish thriving men’s ministries in churches across the nation and in other countries where men identify with, commit to, and sacrifice for the neediest of people in our communities.

Quotes:

“Men are under-utilized in the church. Most churches have very weak men’s ministry, and this provides immediate focus for the men’s ministry. And men need to know how to relate to women who are not their wives and not their daughters in a non-sexual way.” — Herb

“God becomes human to identify with man, He commits to man forever in that his love never ends, and He sacrifices His son for us. So we encourage these men to identify with the women they are serving, committing to be there for them, and sacrificing for them; in essence to love as Christ loves us.” — Herb

“Everyone knows we are supposed to serve single moms and widows. They just don’t know how to do it.” — Herb

“Find one person and learn and experience the experience of Christ for that person. Then, use that template for the rest of the people in your church.” — Herb

Action Steps:

• Romans 6 calls us to present ourselves to God and our bodies as instruments of righteousness. Any ministry that enables men to be these righteous instruments is one searching out the heart of God here on earth.
• Serving widows and single mothers is our opportunity to worship Christ.
• It’s our responsibility to prepare ourselves for the ministry Christ has for us. We cannot blame anyone else for not equipping us well.
• Christ calls us into permanent, ongoing ministry in His name. He wants us to identify, commit, and sacrifice for the neediest of his children.
• Death often gives birth to something new. In Herb’s case, the death of his brother-in-law showed Herb just how necessary a ministry like New Commandment was.

Resources mentioned:

• Official website: newcommandment.org
• Email Herb directly: herbreese@yahoo.com
• Sign up for Herb’s newsletter in the pop-up on his site and receive a free copy of his ebook, The One Amazing Thing that God Wants to Do with Men.
• Connect with New Commandment Men’s Ministries on Facebook.