Tribesmen

Here's an update on Season 3 of the podcast. Due to trademark issues, we are having to rename and rebrand the Tribesmen Podcast. And because of that, Season 3 will be delayed until we can finalize a new name.Help us come up with some ideas for a new name! Post your thoughts in our Facebook group and let us know what you think our new name should be.We'll keep you posted in the group and through our email list on how the process is going. We look forward to even greater things in our future, as we continue to focus on manhood, camaraderie, and freedom, together with you!Thanks for hanging in there with us, men!Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This is a special bonus episode where we want to share with you what’s in the works at Tribesmen. We’ve had a great start over the past 6 months, with 37 episodes and over 2200 downloads so far.We’re grateful for you and for all the ways you’re enjoying the podcast. We love hearing from you and how Tribesmen is benefitting your life and the ways you’re putting it into practice.Coming soon, Don is going to be doing some guest podcasting and blogging to help get the message of Tribesmen out to a wider audience of men. For those listeners and readers, we hope to connect them to Tribesmen using our How Manly Are You? quiz. This summer, we will be beta testing our curriculum to help men be able to launch their own Tribe! If you’d be interested in being part of that testing group, send us an email at info@tribesmen.net and let us know.Lastly, we could use your help! If you’ve got skills in any of the following areas and might be willing to volunteer some time, or leverage your resources and connections on our behalf, email us and let us know:Connections to podcasts and/or blogs with men’s interestBranding/designVideographyStarting a business (legal, tax, intellectual property, etc)Audio editingPodcast publishing (Wordpress, social media, email marketing, etc)Online community engagement (Facebook groups and more)Thanks men! We look forward to the future of this Tribesmen journey with you!Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Allegiance challenge is to kick a bad habit. Learning to be free of the snares that entangle us is an important part of allegiance.We all have our bad habits. It might be a little tick, like saying “um” too many times in your speech. Or maybe something more serious, like drinking one too many at the end of the day.Whatever it is, if you’ve ever tried to stop before, you know how hard it can be. We recommend you follow the advice of author James Clear. In this article, he gives some practical steps to help you replace a bad habit with a good one.Find a partner to hold you accountable or go through it with you. And then jump in our Facebook group and tell us how it goes. Show us some pics. We’d love to celebrate with you!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can download ALL the Manhood Challenges from Season 2 HERE.You can also find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week, we’re wrapping up our series about Jesus. But we’re talking about Jesus as you’ve never heard it before. Not all the wispy religious platitudes you may have heard. We’re talking about Jesus, the man. Specifically, we want you to see Jesus as the man most worthy of following.Today we’re discussing how Jesus had a mission. This is the embodiment of his manliness. It takes everything in him as a man to live and fulfill his mission.Jesus’s mission is the story of the kingdom of God. Mankind is enslaved to the enemy’s kingdom, and Jesus comes to set us free. But he only does so by sacrificing himself. He shows us what it means to live in God’s kingdom and rescue others as well. And he invites us to reign with him in that kingdom.We see this mission lived out when Jesus heals a paralyzed man (Matthew 9). He shows he has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins. In Jesus’s kingdom, life is fully restored.Nowhere is his mission more fully realized than in his resurrection (Luke 24). Just when his followers think all hope is lost, Jesus comes back. He defeats death, but he does so in a way that still leaves opportunity for us to be involved in his mission. It is now our turn to extend the life-giving hand of rescue to others.Jesus was and is the greatest man who ever lived. You cannot find a more worthy man to follow. We urge you to make Jesus your King. Listen to the end of the podcast for a guide on how to do so.Call To Action!If you’ve benefited from listening to the Tribesmen Podcast, we’d like to ask you to consider giving back. Visit our Donate page to find out how you can make a donation through Cash App. If you’re a new user, you can even get cash back, and we’ll get an additional referral bonus!Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Skill challenge is to change a tire. This is a skill that every man should have, and now’s the time to work on it, whether your tire is flat or not.If you’ve never changed a tire before, you probably have the dread feeling in the back of your mind about “what if” your tire goes flat and you need to change it but you don’t know how. Now’s the time to learn. We’ve got a great “Dad, How do I?” video for you to watch to help you learn.If you know how to change a tire and feel comfortable with your skill level, then challenge yourself to teach someone else how. Offer your skills to the men around you. Maybe in a small group. Maybe through your office. Maybe in a Facebook group or Slack channel that you’re part of. Just let people know you’re willing to teach, and see if anyone takes you up on it.Find a partner to hold you accountable. And then jump in our Facebook group and tell us how it goes. Show us some pics. We’d love to celebrate with you!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week, we’re continuing our series about Jesus. But we’re talking about Jesus as you’ve never heard it before. Not all the wispy religious platitudes you may have heard. We’re talking about Jesus, the man. Specifically, we want you to see Jesus as the man most worthy of following.Today we’re discussing how Jesus had a man’s body. And because he was a man, we’re talking about the fact that Jesus had a penis. We’re talking about this, because it’s an aspect of Jesus that never gets talked about. Because Jesus was a man, he had all the parts that a man does, and all the impulses that go with it. The Bible is clear (Hebrews 4:15) that he was tempted in every way we are.But we know that Jesus was sinless. And so we tend to separate Jesus from anything sexual. But to do so is to make Jesus into something less than a man. We need to remember that his body didn’t work any differently than ours did.Jesus showed us what it looks like to not use our sexuality for sin. Through his interactions with the women caught in adultery (John 8) and the prostitute at the party (Luke 7), Jesus shows dignity and respect to vulnerable women. He never needs to get anything from them. He never takes advantage of them. He is free to love them and be loved by them in return, without ever having to use them.If you want to be a man who uses his sexuality with integrity, look to Jesus. He’ll show you the way to live free of the snares of temptation and be worthy of honor.Call To Action!Subscribe to the podcast through your podcast player, and then share your favorite episode with a friend. Think of a man who could benefit from hearing the Tribesmen Podcast, and then pass it along!Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Courage challenge is to ask your boss for a raise. This can be a challenging conversation for any man. One that many of us fear. That’s why it makes a good courage challenge.Now, this challenge comes right on the heels of our allegiance challenge to celebrate your boss. So you decide if this is the best timing for you or not. But regardless, look for a way to display courage in your interaction with your employer.If you’re the kind of man who thinks that you shouldn’t ever ask for a raise, you’ll just be given one when you deserve it, then this is especially for you. Your boss may in fact want you to show some initiative in this area, which will communicate your dedication to the organization. The worst they can do is say no, and they might just say yes!Find a partner to hold you accountable. And then jump in our Facebook group and tell us how it went. We’d love to celebrate with you!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week, we’re continuing our series about Jesus. But we’re talking about Jesus as you’ve never heard it before. Not all the wispy religious platitudes you may have heard. We’re talking about Jesus, the man. Specifically, we want you to see Jesus as the man most worthy of following.Today we’re discussing how Jesus had a tribe. A group of men who learned from him and did everything with him. Jesus made a point of sharing his ministry with his tribe of disciples. When he famously fed the crowd of 5000 (John 6), it was actually the disciples who did the feeding. And they marveled at being included in Jesus’s miracle.He chose to spend his final night before his death with his tribe (Luke 22). He creates a new idea of honor by washing their feet and showing humility in serving. He “gets naked” with them by revealing his impending death. A few of them even get to witness his agonizing prayers before his arrest. Jesus valued these friendships above all other relationships in his life.In Tribesmen, we call the leader of a Tribe a chief. A chief cultivates honor among his men by serving them and helping them get better at being men. He develops camaraderie by sharing life with them.If you want to be a man who knows how to live in the company of other men, look to Jesus. He’ll show you how to live with honor and camaraderie - how to live in a Tribe.Call To Action!Leave us a rating and review through Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast host. This will help other people find the podcast. Let people know what your favorite recent episode is, so they know where to jump in.Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Strength challenge is to take the stairs. Wherever you are for the next month, avoid the elevators and escalators, and take the stairs up and down.Strength, as a Mark of Manhood, is about developing the physical ability needed to meet your daily demands without getting winded or exhausted. And, it’s about having the ability to act in cases where extreme physical ability might be needed.Taking the stairs will help you be prepared for those exceptional cases. By exerting yourself a little more than you need to, you train your body to do more than is required. Plus, it’s just good exercise overall.Find a partner to hold you accountable, or to compete with you for your monthly step count. And then jump in our Facebook group and tell us how you did. We’d love to celebrate with you!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week, we’re continuing our series about Jesus. But we’re talking about Jesus as you’ve never heard it before. Not all the wispy religious platitudes you may have heard. We’re talking about Jesus, the man. Specifically, we want you to see Jesus as the man most worthy of following.Today we’re discussing how Jesus had followers. Which means we’re talking about leadership.As men, we love to admire a good leader that we can follow. Examples abound throughout history and story. George Washington, Martin Luther King, Maximus from Gladiator, Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. Jesus was no exception.People followed Jesus in crowds, in small groups, in families, in public, and in secret. His masterful teaching and his powerful miracles inevitably drew a following. But this isn’t what made Jesus a good leader.He demonstrated leadership through his strength to endure and his courage to sacrifice. Whether it was the crowds that wanted to make him king (John 6), or the religious leaders who wanted to trap him (Matthew 22), Jesus never gave them quite what they wanted. Instead, he endured physical suffering and torture, even to the point of death (Luke 23). His courage to sacrifice brought life to others and has inspired followers throughout history.If you want to learn what it means to lead as a man, and to inspire your followers as well, take a look at Jesus. He is a leader of leaders.Call To Action!Sign up for the Tribesmen email list to get reminders about podcast episode releases, and to stay up to date with all our Tribesmen news. To sign up, just fill out the pop-up form on our website homepage.Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Allegiance challenge is to celebrate your boss. This will go a long way towards helping them know that you’ve got their back and you’re on their team.The people in authority over us often lead in ways that go unthanked and unnoticed. Sometimes the best way to show your allegiance is simply to celebrate the person you’re giving it to.Write a card, throw a party, send a singing telegram. It doesn’t matter. Just do something that would be fun and meaningful for your boss. And be sure to point out the things you appreciate about them.Find a partner from your team at work to do this with, or just ask a buddy to hold you accountable to getting it done. And then jump in our Facebook group and tell us all about it. We’d love to celebrate with you!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week, we’re continuing our series about Jesus. But we’re talking about Jesus as you’ve never heard it before. Not all the wispy religious platitudes you may have heard. We’re talking about Jesus, the man. Specifically, we want you to see Jesus as the man most worthy of following.Today we’re discussing how we think Jesus had skills. As one of our 5 Marks of Manhood, skill is something that every man should possess. Jesus is no different.But thinking of Jesus as skilled isn’t something most of us struggle with. Accepting that he had to learn his skills might be. It’s tempting to think that Jesus just sort of showed up on the scene as an expert on everything. He is God after all.The Bible is clear that he had to learn, just like every other man has to learn (Luke 2). Just like his earthly father, he learned the skills of a carpenter. And from a young age, he learned to become a teacher - a master teacher whose teaching we’re still talking about 2000 years later. Jesus’s teaching, like the stories of the prodigal son (Luke 15) and the good Samaritan (Luke 10), continue to change people’s lives.If you want to learn what it means to work at your skills as a man, and then to offer those skills in a way that benefits others, take a look at Jesus. He is truly a master craftsman.Call To Action!Subscribe to the podcast through your podcast player, and then share your favorite episode with a friend. Think of a man who could benefit from hearing the Tribesmen Podcast, and then pass it along!And don’t forget to donate to the podcast, to help us cover the expenses of creating great content for you!Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Skill challenge is to visit a master craftsman. What better way to learn or improve a skill, than to visit an expert?Pick a craft that you’d love to learn, or learn more about. Blacksmithing, carpentry, baking, pottery, handwriting. It doesn’t matter the craft. Just find someone who’s a master at it, and ask to visit them in their element.Set up a time to watch them at their work, and let them know you’d like to ask them some questions. We’ve created some starter questions for you over in our Facebook group. Your goal is to learn some things about how they’ve grown in their craft over time, and what’s helped them to stay the course.Plan your visit, and find another man to go with you. You’ll develop great camaraderie through this shared experience. Tell us about your visit and post some pics in our Facebook group!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week we’re beginning a new series about Jesus. But we’re talking about Jesus as you’ve never heard it before. Not all the wispy religious platitudes you may have heard. We’re talking about Jesus, the man. Specifically, we want you to see Jesus as the man most worthy of following.Today we’re discussing how we think Jesus had guts, which has to be one of the manliest attributes we think of in our favorite characters from stories and film.Jesus shows off his gutsiness when he picks a verbal fight with the religious leaders of his day (John 8). He throws all kinds of verbal insults at them. But he does it in defense of the people he’s come to save. His words take courage and honor.Again, he is bold when he enters the Jewish temple during the last week of his life (Luke 19). Jesus causes what we consider a small riot. He violently drives people out of the temple, in defense of God, his Father. Again, he shows his courage and honor, as well as his allegiance.Is this the Jesus you know? A man capable of anger and violence? He might be different than you’ve imagined him. If you want to be a man with guts, you should take a closer look at Jesus.Call To Action!Leave us a rating and review through Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast host. This will help other people find the podcast. Let people know what your favorite recent episode is, so they know where to jump in.And don’t forget to donate to the podcast, to help us cover the expenses of creating great content for you!Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Courage challenge is to do something physical you’re not good at. Facing a fear or weakness is the essence of courage, and that’s what this challenge is all aboutWe think it should be something physical, because honestly for most men this is a little easier than something emotional or spiritual. Maybe you’re not a good swimmer, and you need to get in the pool and do a few laps. Maybe you’re uncomfortable in nature, so you need to go for a hike. Maybe you never learned to throw a football well, and you need a buddy to help you work on it.As men, we all have areas of inadequacy that we hide from. This is your opportunity to confront one of those areas and change it. Don’t let it be something that continues to cause you to hide!Decide what you’re going to work on, and find another man to help you with it. Post pictures of your progress in our Facebook group and let us know how it’s going!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegianceSupport the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

Today we wrap up our series The Story You’re Living In. We’ve been talking about the ideas that can be so big that they provide enough context for us to order most of our lives around. We can get caught up in them, to the point that they become the driving force for most of our time, thought, and decision making.Each of these big ideas has common story elements. We believe that if a story has these elements, it can become the type of story we get caught up in. Those 4 story elements are:Good in the worldA villain who comes to corrupt/destroy the goodA hero who sacrifices/triumphs to rescue the goodRestoration of the goodSo far in this series, we’ve said every idea we’ve looked at isn’t worthy of our allegiance. This week, we talk about a story that is. It’s the story of the Kingdom of God.This is the original story--the one that the common story elements are derived from. The reason that we get caught up in all the other stories is because they resemble this story.At the center of the story is Jesus. As the hero, he sacrifices himself for us so that we, as the good in the world, might be restored. And then he sets us free to do the same for others.Whether or not this is the story you’re living in, we urge you to consider it with fresh eyes and ears. We believe it is the only story truly worthy of our allegiance. And as Tribesmen, this story will shape everything about the way we relate to each other as men.Call To Action!Sign up for the Tribesmen email list to get reminders about podcast episode releases, and to stay up to date with all our Tribesmen news. To sign up, just fill out the pop-up form on our website homepage.Support the show (https://tribesmen.net/donate)

This week’s Strength challenge is to make progress on the monkey bars. The monkey bars are a great test of grip strength, back strength, and stamina.Figure out where you’re starting from and make progress from there. If you can’t cross any bars, work on doing a dead hang for as long as you can. This will help develop your grip and back strength. Then move on to a two-handed pass, and then a one-handed pass across the bars.For more advanced moves, work on swinging by skipping a bar between each pass. You might add a pull-up or a one-handed hang between each pass for an added challenge.Work on this challenge 2x/week, and make as much progress as you can in 1 month. Post pictures of your progress in our Facebook group and let us know how it’s going!About Manhood ChallengesManhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.You can find more Manhood Challenges on our website:StrengthCourageSkillHonorAllegiance

Porn is the next big area we discuss as we continue our series The Story You’re Living In. These ideas can be so big, in fact, that they provide enough context for us to order most of our lives around. We can get caught up in them, to the point that they become the driving force for most of our time, thought, and decision making.We’re examining each of these big ideas by looking at common story elements that each of them possesses. We believe that if a story has these elements, it can become the type of story we get caught up in. Those 4 story elements are:Good in the worldA villain who comes to corrupt/destroy the goodA hero who sacrifices/triumphs to rescue the goodRestoration of the goodThis week, we talk about how for many men, porn has become the story you’re living in. In the internet age, porn is everywhere. And the statistics of porn use among men are staggering. The lustful allure of sex is nothing new in our age. But combining that with free, unlimited, and anonymous access has created a perfect storm for porn to overwhelm us.Porn becomes such a powerful story because it promises to eliminate any villain. At least for a while. But to keep those benefits, you have to keep returning to the porn. Hence the tendency of many men toward porn addiction. It never satisfies and never brings lasting good to anyone.If porn has become the story you’re living in, we recommend a few things:Be honest and talk about it with another man in your lifeFigure out what you’re using porn to medicateGet help, because you won’t get free aloneCall To Action!If porn is a challenge for you, consider signing up for Covenant Eyes. CE is an internet accountability software that tracks your web usage and reports it to accountability partners whom you select. It won’t solve your porn problems. But it will help foster the kind of honest conversations you need with other men in order to get free.You can sign up for Covenant Eyes through our website at tribesmen.net/resources. (This will take you to an affiliate link, which means if you sign up through us, we will get a financial benefit as well.)

This week’s Allegiance challenge is to ask yourself what voices you’re listening to. Maybe that’s key figures in your life, like your boss, your wife, your pastor. Maybe it’s through the media, like a political pundit or social influencer. It could be God, the American dream, or any number of other things.But whoever or whatever you’re listening to is likely vying for your allegiance. And figuring out where you’re giving your allegiance requires figuring out who you’re listening to.To help you think through it, we’ve posted some questions in our Facebook group that you can use to ask yourself. Post what you come up with, and let us know if this is where you want your allegiance to be or not.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.Manhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.

Kids are the next big area we discuss as we continue our series The Story You’re Living In. These ideas can be so big, in fact, that they provide enough context for us to order most of our lives around. We can get caught up in them, to the point that they become the driving force for most of our time, thought, and decision making.We’re examining each of these big ideas by looking at common story elements that each of them possesses. We believe that if a story has these elements, it can become the type of story we get caught up in. Those 4 story elements are:Good in the worldA villain who comes to corrupt/destroy the goodA hero who sacrifices/triumphs to rescue the goodRestoration of the goodThis week, we talk about how our kids’ activities can become the story you’re living in. The hours spent shuttling back and forth to practices. The money spent on lessons and equipment. The sacrifices to family time for the sake of tournaments and performances. Our kids’ lives can very quickly overwhelm our own.Our kids become the story we’re living in, because we often see the potential for good in their future before they do. And we will stop at almost nothing to make sure they don’t miss out on that preferred future. Even if they don’t see it, we hope that the good it will provide them will be worth it in the end. We hope.If your kids’ activities have taken over your family, we’ve got some tips for you on how to rein things back in.Be honest with your kids that you’re doing too muchSet a healthy activity limit with themHave more seasons with no activity, than seasons with activity.Call To Action!We know you love the Tribesmen Podcast so much, you never want to miss an episode! That’s why you should SUBSCRIBE to the podcast. You can do that through your podcast player, or through the embedded player on each episode’s page on our website.We’d also love it if you SHARE an episode of the podcast with a friend. If you’ve received benefit from the podcast, the best way to pay it forward is by helping other men find out about us. You can share directly from your podcast player, or by sharing the episode posts in our Facebook group.

This week’s Skill challenge is to fix something broken. It could be a leaky faucet, a faulty doorknob, or a hole in your wall. Anything in your domain that’s not functioning like it should is a prime candidate. You know the thing you’ve been avoiding, maybe because you don’t have the time or the knowledge to tackle it? Now’s the time to figure it out and get it done!Get some advice on a wide variety of useful skills by checking out the Dad, how do I? channel on YouTube.Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.Post what’s broken in your world, and how you fixed it, in our Facebook group!Manhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.

Work is the next big idea we discuss as we continue our series The Story You’re Living In. These ideas can be so big, in fact, that they provide enough context for us to order most of our lives around. We can get caught up in them, to the point that they become the driving force for most of our time, thought, and decision making.We’re examining each of these big ideas by looking at common story elements that each of them possesses. We believe that if a story has these elements, it can become the type of story we get caught up in. Those 4 story elements are:Good in the worldA villain who comes to corrupt/destroy the goodA hero who sacrifices/triumphs to rescue the goodRestoration of the goodThis week, we talk about how work can become the story you’re living in. It’s almost a cliche’ to say that men get too involved in their work. But we all know the man, or maybe are the man, whose career has become his whole life.Work embraces our story elements by giving us a vision of how we can make the world better. If we can accomplish that vision, then we get to be the hero of the story! But that can only happen by chaining us to a cycle of never-ending challenges (villains) to overcome. There is undoubtedly prosperity that can come from the story of work. However, it often comes at a high cost to the other priorities in our lives.To close, we give some practical tips on what to do if your work has become the story you’re living in. Namely, you should:Be honest about why you work too muchLimit your work hoursBe someone else’s heroCall To Action!We’d love to connect with you. Come join in the discussion with the Tribesmen community on Facebook. Join our Facebook group and talk about what you’re learning from the podcast and how you’re applying our manhood challenges in your life.

#016. This week’s Courage challenge is to have a hard conversation. Whether it’s in your marriage, at work, with a buddy, or a neighbor, you know which conversations you’ve been avoiding. Courage is about moving toward your fear and acting in the midst of it. Facing that hard conversation will require you to demonstrate courage.Get some tips on how to have a difficult conversation by watching this video. Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.Post what your hard conversation is about, and let us know how it goes in our Facebook group!Manhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.

#015. Sports is the next big idea we discuss as we continue our series The Story You’re Living In. These ideas can be so big, in fact, that they provide enough context for us to order most of our lives around. We can get caught up in them, to the point that they become the driving force for most of our time, thought, and decision making.We’re examining each of these big ideas by looking at common story elements that each of them possesses. We believe that if a story has these elements, it can become the type of story we get caught up in. Those 4 story elements are:Good in the worldA villain who comes to corrupt/destroy the goodA hero who sacrifices/triumphs to rescue the goodRestoration of the goodThis week, we talk about how sports can become the story you’re living in. For men in particular, sports can become all consuming. It can get to the point where all our time, energy, and even decision making revolves around sports.Sports embrace our story elements by promising good when our team wins. That team represents me in some way, and their success is my success. But it forces us to make villains out of our opponents. And it makes heroes out of athletes who can never perform up to our standards of perfection.To close, we give some practical tips on what to do if sports has become the story you’re living in. Namely, you should:Limit your input (amount of sports and sports news you consume)Limit your output (money and energy spent on sports)Limit your time (time used up by watching/playing/coaching sports)Call To Action!Want others to find out about the Tribesmen podcast? One of the best ways you can help is to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. This not only helps other people discover Tribesmen, but also makes them more likely to listen if they see recent, positive reviews.

#014. This week is our first ever Manhood Challenge Friday episode. Manhood Challenges are designed to help you get better at being a man in 1 of our 5 Marks of Manhood. We’ll have a new challenge for you each Friday, but you should focus on doing the ones that are actually a challenge for you.This week’s Strength challenge is a 60 second push up challenge.Measure how many push ups you can do in 60 secondsWork on doing push ups a few times a week for 1 monthRetest yourself in 1 month to see how your strength has increasedMake sure you have proper push up form by watching this video. Remember to partner with a friend, either to do the challenge together, or to hold you accountable to completing it. A manhood challenge isn’t complete unless you have a partner.Post your starting measurements, progress pics/videos, and your final results in our Facebook group!

#013. We begin season 2 with a new series called The Story You’re Living In, where we’re talking about the big ideas in our world. These ideas can be so big, in fact, that they provide enough context for us to order most of our lives around. We can get caught up in them, to the point that they become the driving force for most of our time, thought, and decision making.We’re examining each of these big ideas by looking at common story elements that each of them possesses. We believe that if a story has these elements, it can become the type of story we get caught up in. Those 4 story elements are:There is good in the worldThere is a villain who comes to corrupt/destroy the goodThere is a hero who sacrifices/triumphs to rescue the goodThere is restoration of the goodThis week, we talk about how politics can become the story you’re living in. For men in particular, politics is an enticing narrative to orient all of our thinking and decision making around.We discuss how politics embraces our story elements in ways that make it incredibly powerful, but also that tend to make villains out of the people around us. It also forces us to pin our hopes for triumph on one person who isn’t often worthy or capable of being a hero.To close our discussion, we give some practical tips on what to do if politics has become the story you’re living in. Namely, you should cut down on how much political news you consume, find other topics to talk about with your friends, and get a Tribe of men who will help you see when you’re overdoing it on politics.Call To Action!Sign up for the Tribesmen email list to get reminders about podcast episode releases, and to stay up to date with all our Tribesmen news. To sign up, just fill out the pop-up form on our website homepage.

#012. For the final part of our series on freedom, we’re answering the question, “Why am I?” Freedom is one of the three pillars of Tribesmen, and we can’t have freedom if we don’t understand our purpose.When we talk about freedom, we’re talking about fighting for each other to overcome challenges. But the things we fight for, and the way we fight for them, are crucial to actually obtaining freedom.For most men, figuring out the places in our lives where we aren’t free yet, usually comes down to 1 of 2 areas. The second of those is purpose, the question of why am I?Men without a purpose tend to become rudderless. And a man without purpose can be really dangerous. He still has to find something to orient himself around, and that typically becomes either violence or pleasure, or both. This pretty well describes the extended adolescence of many males in our culture.In a Tribe, we find the answer to “Why am I?” together. It requires us to do two things: Get Naked, and listen to Jesus. If men know my story, they can help identify the themes in it that perhaps point to the larger threads that I’m built around. They can also help me see what’s holding me back from living into those things.And when we listen to Jesus, he helps me find the freedom I need to step fully into the purpose he’s created me for. He made me. He knows best what I should be about. I just need to ask him.Call to Action!We want to hear from you! We’ll be doing some “Ask Me Anything” videos over the 2020 holiday break. Send us your questions about anything you’ve heard us talk about so far, or anything related to Tribesmen topics. Visit tribesmen.net/contact and fill out the form with your AMA questions. We’ll post videos in our Facebook group over the break.Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks of Manhood. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and you can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.Lastly, if you’re following along with these episodes live, we’ll be taking a break over the Christmas holidays. We’ll be back with our first episode of Season 2 on January 5, 2021!

#011. For the first part of our series on freedom, we’re answering the question, “Who am I?” Freedom is one of the three pillars of Tribesmen, and we can’t have freedom if we don’t understand our identity.When we talk about freedom, we’re talking about fighting for each other to overcome challenges. But the things we fight for, and the way we fight for them, are crucial to actually obtaining freedom.For most men, figuring out the places in our lives where we aren’t free yet, usually comes down to 1 of 2 areas. The first of those is identity, the question of who am I?Having confidence in our identities as men is so crucial. At the very least, we should be able to answer the question, “Who am I?” by saying, “I’m a man.” If we’re not there yet, then every other attempt at answering that question is going to fail us in some way.As men, we’re supposed to receive this answer from our fathers. But most of us didn’t get that answer the way we needed it, and so we go looking for an answer in all the wrong places. Whether it’s sports, work, money, or women, men will try to find their identity in anything.In order to find our true identity, we need to get a settled answer to that question of “Who am I?” A Tribe of men can help point us towards manhood. But we also need to hear the answer to that question from someone who has the authority to answer it definitively. This is where Jesus is so necessary in our search for freedom. Only Jesus can give us the kind of lasting freedom we’re really looking for. And it only comes by asking him. We encourage you to spend some time listening to what Jesus has to say to you.Call to Action!We want to hear from you! We’ll be doing some “Ask Me Anything” videos over the 2020 holiday break. Send us your questions about anything you’ve heard us talk about so far, or anything related to Tribesmen topics. Visit tribesmen.net/contact and fill out the form with your AMA questions. We’ll post videos in our Facebook group over the break.Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks of Manhood. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and you can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#010. For the second part of our series on camaraderie, we want you to get naked. Ok, don’t panic. You can keep your clothes on. But we do want things to get a little risky.When it comes to building camaraderie with other men, having shared activity and adventure is necessary, but it will only take us so far. We don’t just need shared experience, we need shared understanding.In order to help each other become the men we were created to be, we need to really know each other well. We need to know how we got to be the way we are. We need to get naked. That’s our phrase for what it means to talk about our lives with the other men around us. To get naked means taking down the guard walls, letting other men see under the hood. It means being fully exposed, not with what’s on the outside, but what’s on the inside.Why is this important? We discuss the necessity of this kind of raw vulnerability with other men. We’re all blind to our own stories, and need other men to help us interpret what’s really going on. We need other men to fight for us, but they can’t do that if they don't know what they’re up against. We need the trust of other men, but we can only get there through vulnerability.If the challenge to get naked is a new way of thinking about how you relate to other men, we get it. Most men aren’t really comfortable with this level of honesty and openness with other guys. In fact, many of us have been taught not to do that or even shamed for it.But if we want to get better at being a man, we need other men around us who can help us get there. The only truly effective way that can happen is if they see us get naked. It’s risky, but trust us, it’s worth it.-----We want to hear from you! We’ll be doing some “Ask Me Anything” videos over the 2020 holiday break. Send us your questions about anything you’ve heard us talk about so far, or anything related to Tribesmen topics. Visit tribesmen.net/contact and fill out the form with your AMA questions. We’ll post videos in our Facebook group over the break.Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks of Manhood. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and you can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#009. This week, we begin a 2-part series on camaraderie. Camaraderie is one of the three big ideas of Tribesmen (along with manhood and freedom), and is what should characterize men as they interact in a group. Camaraderie is about adventuring together to form lasting bonds.So, it’s fitting that we begin our series on camaraderie by talking about adventure. Manly friendships just aren’t all they can be without an element of adventure to them. Ask any man to describe some of his best memories with his friends, and they’ll almost always be about an adventure. We believe that’s because adventure does some pretty great things for a man’s soul, especially a group of men togetherFirst, adventure unites us around shared experience. It creates a story to tell that men will rehash any time they are together with that same group of men. Second, adventure challenges us. Throw in a little bit of risk or danger, or even just the possibility of learning something we’ve never done before, and things get even better.Third, it’s just plain fun! Most adult men don’t get a lot of fun in their lives, especially not with other men. But we need to simply play, to let our souls come alive.We close by challenging you to find some buddies and just pick a small adventure to go do this weekend. Big or small, just make it happen. You’ll be glad you did, probably for years to come!-----We need your help! Leave us a rating and review to help others find the Tribesmen Podcast. 5 star ratings are always appreciated, but not more than honesty. We appreciate your help!Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks of Manhood. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and you can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#008. We wrap up our series on manhood by talking about allegiance, the fifth and final of our 5 Marks of Manhood. For the first three Marks, we dealt with attributes that are more about the man as an individual. With the last two, we’re focusing more on how men relate to others. Since Tribesmen is meant to be understood and practiced in a group context, these last 2 Marks are really significant for us.Allegiance is all about how we relate to those in authority over us. This is an important aspect of manhood, because traditionally men have had to offer their allegiance to someone external to their family. Whoever we choose to give our allegiance to affects not only ourselves but also those that we influence, especially our family.We discuss three significant aspects of allegiance that are important for every man to think through. The first is authority figures, meaning your boss, parent, teacher, or coach, but also broader categories like government and law enforcement. The second is what we call big influences, which can be any activity, substance, or ideology that is dominating your thinking and decision making, like politics, sports, or even things like drugs or porn.Don shares a good bit of his personal story, of how allegiance is the Mark of Manhood that he struggles with the most. Both in his relationships to authority, as well as in addictive behaviors, learning to navigate the things that have control over him as a man has been difficult. He talks about how he has grown in that area by talking about those things openly with other men.The third aspect of allegiance is ultimate allegiance. Who or what is the driving force of your life? This is often a question of faith or spirituality, but can be anything that determines the biggest decisions and direction of your life. At Tribesmen, we believe there’s no better person to give your ultimate allegiance to than Jesus. We don’t ask you to agree to follow along with us, but we do want you to wrestle with the question of ultimate allegiance.As we wrap up our discussion of manhood, we will pick up next week with our next big pillar of Tribesmen: camaraderie.-----We need your help! Help us get the word out about the Tribesmen Podcast by sharing your favorite manhood episode with a friend. Click on the share button in your podcast player, and send it to another man in your life who you think would want to get better at being a man.Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and it will help you measure your manhood in minutes. You can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#007. We continue our series on manhood by talking about honor, the fourth of our 5 Marks of Manhood. For the first three Marks, we dealt with attributes that are more about the man as an individual. With these last two, we’re focusing more on how men relate to others. Since Tribesmen is meant to be understood and practiced in a group context, these last 2 Marks are really significant for us.Honor is probably the most difficult of the Marks to define, because we use the word in a different way than most people use it today. We’re not talking about integrity or accolade. Instead, when a man has honor, we believe that means he represents his Tribe well.Honor is about learning and living by a shared set of values among a group of men. It takes time to learn these things, and only with shared life experience can a man be deemed worthy of honor. A man who isn’t known to other men can’t be deemed honorable, because there isn’t anyone in his life to honor him.We make an important distinction about how honor is still a neutral characteristic, and not about virtue. Men can receive honor from other men for things that the broader culture might consider dishonorable or even immoral. Honor isn’t inherently virtuous. The values men choose to uphold among one another are what make a man upstanding or disgraceful.So why is honor a Mark of Manhood? Well, for most of history and in most cultures, men have naturally lived this way. It is only in our highly individualistic society that honor among men has become something of a lost trait. We believe it needs to be recovered. And the best way to do that, is by being part of a Tribe.-----We need your help! Help us get the word out about the Tribesmen Podcast by joining our email list. You can sign up at https://tribesmen.net. When you get our weekly email on Tuesday, forward it to another man in your life who you think would benefit from listening in each week.Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and it will help you measure your manhood in minutes. You can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#006. We continue our series on manhood by talking about skill, the third of our 5 Marks of Manhood. Skill is probably the easiest mark to identify, as it simply represents the ability to do things effectively. As men, we need to be jacks of all trades. We demonstrate our manhood by being able to come through for others when called upon. We talk about why skill is a mark of manhood, including the idea that men are meant to be depended upon, our skills help us master our domains, and that we need to pass our skills on to others. We share how our lack of skill in certain areas can expose our insecurities as men, revealing where we’re placing our sense of identity.We close by talking about how we can improve in the area of skill. We start by choosing an area we know we’re not skilled enough, and then finding another man to help us tackle it.Don’t forget to check out our resource you can download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and it will help you measure your manhood in minutes. You can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#005. We continue our series on manhood by talking about courage, the second of our 5 Marks of Manhood. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to face our fears and move towards them. We offer our thoughts on why courage is an important part of manhood, including facing external threats, confronting difficulty, and dealing with failure. Failing doesn’t indicate weak manhood, but failing to try does.Shaun shares some of his particular struggles with expressing courage, and talks about how he’s learned to grow in the area that has been most challenging for him. We close by offering some tips on how to become more courageous. Hint: you start by identifying the hard things in your life that you’ve been avoiding.Wondering how you can get better at being a man? Download our free resource “How Manly Are You?” and measure your manhood in minutes. Visit tribesmen.net/manly.

#004. We begin our series on manhood by talking about strength, the first of our 5 Marks of Manhood. Particularly, we’re talking about physical strength, and how the use of our bodies helps us understand what it means to be a man. We offer our thoughts on why strength is such an important aspect of manhood. Our male bodies are built for it. It’s how we learn our impact on the world. And it’s the foundation for all the other Marks of Manhood.We close by talking about what it looks like to be strong, especially in an era that’s obsessed with the appearance of strength. And we offer some brief tips on how to grow in the area of strength.We’re also introducing a new resource for you to download to help you get better at being a man in each of our 5 Marks. It’s called “How Manly Are You?” and it will help you measure your manhood in minutes. You can download it for free at tribesmen.net/manly.

#003. In this final episode of our Intro series, we recap from our first two episodes how there is a crisis in manhood and it affects all aspects of our culture, including our churches. The goal of Tribesmen is to address this by helping men get better at being a man. We believe what men need to thrive can be summed up in three things: manhood, camaraderie, and freedom. Manhood is about gaining skills and abilities that help a man answer the questions of “What does it mean to be a man?” and “How do I know if I am one?” Camaraderie is about adventuring together to form lasting bonds, which requires time spent together in shared activity, as well as depth of relationship. Freedom means fighting for one another to overcome life’s challenges. Learning to fight effectively for the men around you, so that you can all experience freedom is really the goal of Tribesmen. As we wrap up the Intro series, we share how the remainder of season 1 will be about unpacking these three big ideas that men need to thrive.

#002. In this second part of our Intro series, we narrow the focus to talk about the church world. Whether you’re a church man or not, you’ll find this episode insightful. As pastors, we’ve seen firsthand how the crisis in manhood has affected even our churches and the way men connect to faith. We talk about how churches do better with women in almost every area of engagement--from attendance, to volunteering, to group interaction. And we share our thoughts on why this discrepancy exists. We suggest churches’ messaging to men focuses too much on being a better man instead of understanding how to simply be a man. Additionally, most church ministry is designed around the felt needs of women, leaving men struggling to find their place. We think churches, like all areas of our culture, could do better with men by focusing on the things men are wired for, which is what we discuss in the final episode of our intro series.

#001. In this inaugural episode of the Tribesmen Podcast, we discuss our goal of helping you get better at being a man. We introduce the hosts of the show, Don Ross and Shaun Sullivan, and share about our backgrounds. Our stories led both of us on journeys to discover what it means to be a man, and now to a place of wanting to help other men find the same. We share some statistics about men in crisis in our culture today, and how we think a lack of understanding about what it means to be a man is really contributing to these things. And lastly, we talk about what's coming next in our podcast, as we unpack our big themes of manhood, camaraderie, and freedom.