GUIDELINES - HOPE Fires for Men

What is it? These times around a fire are an authentic, recurring gathering where men experience God through the stories of other men. All around a fire.

These four guidelines shape our time around the fire:

1. Fires aren't religious.

Leave your religious and professional credentials behind (political platforms too). God gets center stage and His Kingdom sets the agenda - not in any religious way, but on the level of the heart. In the end, there is nothing more valuable for a man than his true heart connecting more deeply with the true heart of God.

2. Your story matters.

Fires are a space for men to share stories, struggles, dreams, and questions. A place for us to experience God together through the ancient practice of story-telling. We are all students, learning together what becoming wholehearted, mature men means. Teaching is not the point. If a man is inadvertently teaching instead of storytelling, there is permission to invite him to course-correct.

3. No BS allowed.

Fires are a space for authenticity. The mission is to create a soul-safe, nonjudgmental space for all men to be welcomed and honored. It's essential to lead by example - no posing, hiding, or faking it. All of us will be tempted to pose. Vulnerability, courage, strength, and love are held in the highest regard. Each man has permission to show up exactly as he is: nothing to hide and nothing to prove.

4. Confidentiality is essential.

What is shared at a Fire stays at a Fire!

Fires are a space for us to practice and play at being sons of God in authentic community. The essence of the Fires is to learn, grow, and practice, becoming sons together. In order to foster that environment, every man's story is safe among these men and around these flames.