How it all started . . .
By: J. Huffman - Founding Pastor @ MANUP
MANUP started with 128 men gathered at The Moviehouse in Austin TX on a Sunday night in June 2013. I had just come through the toughest season of my life as a pastor, husband, and father. I was broken, healing, and humbled to be standing in front of my "Church Friends" sharing my story of brokenness and redemption.
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I had been a pastor for 20 years and I had the scars to prove it. My daddy was a pastor, my 2 brothers were pastors, and that's all I had ever known. But standing in front of those men @ the iMax theater - my heart began to break for the struggles that men face and have no-one to talk to.
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I asked the men that night to fill out a green response card if they wanted to meet for breakfast or coffee and share their story with me . . . 28 MEN asked for a meeting. MANUP was born that night.
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I had been a pastor for 20 years and I had the scars to prove it. My daddy was a pastor, my 2 brothers were pastors, and that's all I had ever known. But standing in front of those men @ the iMax theater - my heart began to break for the struggles that men face and have no-one to talk to.
-
I asked the men that night to fill out a green response card if they wanted to meet for breakfast or coffee and share their story with me . . . 28 MEN asked for a meeting. MANUP was born that night.
Our 1st Series . . .
After meeting with each of the 28 men who responded, we began to talk about launching a bible study just for men. Not just for church men, or committed men, but ANY MAN who wanted to join us at the table. We hosted our very first MANUP series @ Black Walnut in January 2014 and with 48 men that room was crowded, hot, and loud. It was beautiful.
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Seeing men connect with God and other men was my new passion. Watching them open a bible for the first time or share something with their brother they had never shared before . . . was priceless. We shared breakfast, spent some time in prayer, and studied the men of the Bible - Adam, Gideon, Nehemiah, and more. Something was stirring in me that was bigger than a neighborhood bible study.
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Imagine if we could do this every single week instead of a few times per year? Imagine men having a safe place at the table to be heard, known, and loved? Imagine the fathers, sons, neighbors, and friends who would not only study the Bible together but share everyday life with each other.
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Imagine a ministry just for men called MANUP.
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Seeing men connect with God and other men was my new passion. Watching them open a bible for the first time or share something with their brother they had never shared before . . . was priceless. We shared breakfast, spent some time in prayer, and studied the men of the Bible - Adam, Gideon, Nehemiah, and more. Something was stirring in me that was bigger than a neighborhood bible study.
-
Imagine if we could do this every single week instead of a few times per year? Imagine men having a safe place at the table to be heard, known, and loved? Imagine the fathers, sons, neighbors, and friends who would not only study the Bible together but share everyday life with each other.
-
Imagine a ministry just for men called MANUP.
Our 1st Campus . . .
For the next 3 years we hosted bible study groups all over town - in coffee shops, board rooms, restaurants, and class rooms. But after each of those 5-week series were over, I would long for more. The men keep asking, "why can't we do this every week?"
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We can't do this every week . . . because I have another job!
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My primary job during the early years of MANUP was leading a nonprofit ministry I had started after leaving the church called LifePastor. Most of my week was spent counseling families, sitting with men, and serving as a part-time chaplain at 4 companies here in Austin. But God was stirring.
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After meeting and praying with my LifePastor Board of Directors for several months, we knew that God was calling us to go ALL IN on launching a weekly gathering for men. In January 2017, we launched our very first MANUP campus @ River Place Country Club in Northwest Austin.
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We can't do this every week . . . because I have another job!
-
My primary job during the early years of MANUP was leading a nonprofit ministry I had started after leaving the church called LifePastor. Most of my week was spent counseling families, sitting with men, and serving as a part-time chaplain at 4 companies here in Austin. But God was stirring.
-
After meeting and praying with my LifePastor Board of Directors for several months, we knew that God was calling us to go ALL IN on launching a weekly gathering for men. In January 2017, we launched our very first MANUP campus @ River Place Country Club in Northwest Austin.
What's Next . . .
God's favor and blessing was with us in those early days and God began to grow our ministry into what we call our "MANUP Family." Week after week, God would bond our hearts and lives together as we shared the highs and lows that life threw at us. Things were good and we were content.
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But what about the dream of hosting more than a neighborhood bible study? What if God was calling us to start the same thing in neighborhoods all over the city of Austin? What if what we started wasn't just for us, but was for every single man we could reach - in our city, online, & beyond.
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In September 2019 we launched our second campus in Lakeway TX - just across the river. God was birthing another MANUP family for his glory and we were so excited . . . until COVID-19 hit!
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Everything came to a screeching halt in March 2020 when a global pandemic forced us to close down our weekly meetings. Now what? Was that it . . . is MANUP over?
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ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! We believe that God is refining our men and challenging us to depend on him more than we ever have. We believe that God will use this season to teach us, stretch us, and challenge us to share the life-changing truths of Jesus in our own neighborhoods. We believe that God is distilling what is important and challenging us to stay with it and SEE WHAT HE DOES!!!
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That's our story - what's yours?
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But what about the dream of hosting more than a neighborhood bible study? What if God was calling us to start the same thing in neighborhoods all over the city of Austin? What if what we started wasn't just for us, but was for every single man we could reach - in our city, online, & beyond.
-
In September 2019 we launched our second campus in Lakeway TX - just across the river. God was birthing another MANUP family for his glory and we were so excited . . . until COVID-19 hit!
-
Everything came to a screeching halt in March 2020 when a global pandemic forced us to close down our weekly meetings. Now what? Was that it . . . is MANUP over?
-
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! We believe that God is refining our men and challenging us to depend on him more than we ever have. We believe that God will use this season to teach us, stretch us, and challenge us to share the life-changing truths of Jesus in our own neighborhoods. We believe that God is distilling what is important and challenging us to stay with it and SEE WHAT HE DOES!!!
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That's our story - what's yours?