A team of men from Rooty Hill Anglican Church is resourcing and training other Christian men to put on effective men's breakfast events.
Sam Berberian is one of a dozen Rooty Hill men helping churches across Sydney run breakfasts that are reaching men for Jesus.
Three men from Rooty Hill Anglican Church helped Huskisson Anglican Church run a men's breakfast in a local community centre last Saturday that was attended by over 80 men.
"It was great. We got there at about 7:30am. We started cooking by 8am. All the food was ready by the advertised start time of 8:45am," Mr Berberian says.
Mr Berberian says the two-and-a-half hour drive from his home in Bossley Park was no deterrent to assisting a church down south in the Shoalhaven area.
"We are prepared to take everything and anything needed to run one, so we brought all of the food and we can bring tables and chairs if needed," he says.
The rector of Huskisson, the Rev Ray Goldman says he was impressed by the enthusiasm of the Rooty Hill men.
"The Rooty Hill guys are incredible with their enthusiasm and eagerness to serve," he says.
"Sam sent me an email earlier in the week saying "three sleeps to go'. Here is a man excited about up getting up at four in morning to get bread then travelling three hours to serve. It's terrific having people like that."
Mr Goldman says the church has not run a large scale evangelistic men's breakfast for several years, yet with over 80 men attending, the event broke the record for number of men at a Rooty Hill-run breakfast.
"There were quite a few non-Christians there and I was happy with the way guys from church stepped out and invited men who don't normally come to church," Mr Goldman says.
Evangelism Ministries Director Jim Ramsay spoke at the men's breakfast which featured a banquet style menu of sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, tomatoes, croissants, spreads and even local honey brought in by some of the local men.
"It's marvellous that these three men from Rooty Hill do this act of service to help train and encourage other men," he says.
Experience at Rooty Hill
Rooty Hill has been running successful men's breakfasts attended by around 60 men for the past eight years and this year has commenced helping other churches to do the same.
"The ministry we offer is to set up and run the breakfast so other churches can see how it's done, how long things take and what needs to be bought so it is easy for them to continue to do the ministry in the future," Mr Berberian says.
The Rooty Hill men have teamed up with Jim Ramsay twice this year, once for the Huskisson men's breakfast and once for a breakfast in Merrylands earlier this year.
"We were aware of other churches who wanted our help so we started helping others this year and we already know of others who want our help next year."
Although Mr Berberian is a family man and an importer-exporter who spends weeks at a time travelling overseas for work, he says his ministry is a priority.
"When the men of the church get that servant heart you find it helps so many other ministries, everything from growth groups, to men's breakfast teams, to set-up and pack-up teams," he says.
"I know growth groups, Sunday attendance and men's ministry has been a blessing to me and I have seen the benefits in others too."
For assistance on running a men's breakfast at your church call Evangelism Ministries on 02) 9265 1582.
