But this growth, and producing fruit, “comes in counterintuitive ways,” the lead pastor of The Journey further outlined. Fruit grows very painfully because there is a “civil war going on inside of us. We want to please God and obey, but we fall short.”

Day two of Desiring God ministry’s annual conference continued at the Minneapolis Convention Center Tuesday with author and speaker Darrin Patrick, who spoke about building and training men for local missions, in a culture where many males are stuck in arrested development.

Patrick’s book Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission explores how in today’s society a growing number of males prolong their adolescence, choosing instead to live between childhood and adulthood.

The theme of his book tied in to that of the conference, which is exploring the leadership role of men in both ministry and culture, titled: “God, Manhood & Ministry – Building Men for the Body of Christ.”

Patrick used the book of Galatians as the context for his talk on manhood and how the church can go about building leaders. The Apostle Paul writes in chapter five that, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.” The question men are asking these days, Patrick said, is: “How can I be free?”

The answer is that “spiritual fruit equals spiritual freedom, and spiritual freedom equals biblical masculinity,” he said.

But often men who are searching for this spiritual freedom look for it in the wrong places. They think if they just obey their heart they will be free. Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, they believe if they just do their best, and follow the rules that will set them free, Patrick noted.

This type of legalism is wrong, and “undercuts justification and sanctification,” he explained. Instead, men must understand the idea that God changes us as we obey Him.

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