NCS New Canaan

Founding Chapter

Becoming Free To Heal the World (J. Kevin Butcher – 10/16/20 – NCS New England Chapters)

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[The weekend of Oct 16-18, 2020 was meant to be the 2020 NCS New England Retreat, and J. Kevin Butcher was scheduled to be our Spiritual Guide. Our theme was to be Embrace an “F-Word”: Freedom. The COVID pandemic changed all that, but Kevin graciously and generously agreed to speak to a joint meeting of the NCS New England Chapters on what would have been the first day of the 2020 Retreat (the Retreat is rescheduled for November 5-7, 2021 with Kevin).]

Kevin Butcher is like us because he is an NCS brother (a member of NCS Grosse Pointe). He is like us because he is a man. He is like us because he has struggled with the difference between “knowing Jesus” and “knowing ABOUT Jesus” (and we all know that the lyrics of the NCS theme song “Knowing You” by Graham Kendrick says it is about “knowing Jesus”). He is like us because he spent years filling the emptiness in his heart with all the wrong stuff (none of which works). Kevin shares with tremendous NCS vulnerability his “performance” life and where it led him.

But Kevin Butcher is unlike many of us because he finally “got it”. As he says, our lives begin when we realize God loves us. Butcher explains that we can’t live out the commandment in John 13:34 to love others as Jesus loves us if we have not realized Jesus’s love–not “knowing” in our head He loves us but “experiencing” His love. Kevin emphasizes through stories from his own experience how much the world is broken and hurting, how much people are looking for the healing love of Jesus, even if they don’t know it, and how healing the love of Jesus can be when poured out by us.

Butcher runs through a thought-provoking and heart-wrenching list of the types of things men use to fill the emptiness. He shares that these are “signs” and not things to “fix”–they are “signs” that we are still living in bondage, which means we may be “functional” but we are not “free”.

As we begin to get lost in the pain of seeing ourselves on (or all over) that list, Kevin then provides a path to freedom–the freedom necessary to heal a broken and hurting world by truly loving others as Jesus loves us. That path is focused on three key relationships:

  • Our relationship with ourself (hint: we have to stop lying to ourselves about ourselves)
  • Our relationship with God (hint: we have to see God is an Abba father who loves us)
  • Our relationship with others (hint: we need to move toward one another in the body of Christ to bring and receive healing through love).

Kevin Butcher is coming out with a new book to be released April 6, 2021 called “Free”. Click HERE to visit Kevin’s page at Tyndale House Publishers.

There is another song by Graham Kendrick (who wrote the NCS theme “Knowing You”) that perfectly captures John 13:34–it is called “Love Each Other”. Together, these two songs are a wonderful accompaniment to Kevin’s message. Here are the official lyric videos.

Faith in the Midst of False Accusation and Hatred (Dr. Carter Page – 9/18/20 – Joint Meeting of the Three Oldest NCS Chapters)

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The New Canaan Society is a faith-centered organization focused on Jesus, but it is not a political or religious organization. Because NCS is a place for all men to feel welcome, regardless of religious denomination, political leaning or anything else that tends to divide rather than unite, politics must be left at the door. Whatever your views may be about the politics that drove the various dynamics and circumstances that impacted the life of Carter Page, try to suspend those to hear a story about a brother—a fellow human being–who was put through an almost incomprehensible trial, and about a God who has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Page respectfully left politics at the door during this talk to a joint meeting of the three oldest NCS chapters–NCS New Canaan (the founding Chapter), NCS Orlando (started in 2003) and NCS Winston-Salem (started in 2005).

With tremendous humility, Carter Page shares how is faith was central to his “survival” while under investigation for several years by the FBI, the Department of Justice and other government arms (based upon what have now been shown to be false accusations pursued through a corrupted legal process). During those years, he was the subject of death threats and often lived in isolation, moving frequently. He notes that recent declassifications of information reveal one of his hotel rooms was even broken into by FBI agents. As horrible as that sounds, Page does not dwell on the difficulties (in fact, he barely mentions them) or bad-mouth his accusers.

Carter describes his Catholic education and his Naval Academy education and how it helped prepare him for the trials he would eventually face. He also shares some of the life principles and Biblical passages that he leaned upon during his ordeal. Page talks about the Biblical focus on “truth”, the importance of keeping things in perspective, and the power of remembering what truly matters and being able to maintain a sense of humor in the face of adversaries, whether investigators or news personalities. He also explains how he grew from the ordeal.

Carter Page is the author of the recently published book Abuse and Power: How an Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against the President (click link to find on Amazon)

In Chapter Two of his book, Page writes “What happened to me . . . can happen to anyone.” The book’s dedication reads “To the honest members of the U.S. Intelligence Community, law enforcement, and the media–may their brave professionalism continue to shine as a beacon of hope amidst the destruction“

Setting a New Default (Nigel Mumford – 5/15/20 – NCS New Canaan/Manchester/Virginia Beach)

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In the midst of the “Covid crisis”, Rev. Nigel Mumford explores where we go when we are stressed–how we respond when our “buttons” are pushed or our “triggers” are triggered–and how we can be healed from those buttons and triggers. By looking to Matthew 6:33 (“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”), Nigel helps us understand how to set a “new default” through God’s healing of our past. He vulnerably shares from his own life traumas, including those suffered as a British Royal Marine Commando, as well as his near-death experience with Swine Flu when he was in a coma for three weeks and in the ICU for three months.

Through examples from his own life as well as experiences from his global healing ministry, Nigel unpacks two sayings “Hurt people hurt people, but healed hurt people heal people” and “Don’t let your past ruin your present or your future.”

In an extensive Q&A session at the end, Nigel addresses questions about topics such as: healing from the trauma of Covid-19; sharing your deepest fears and hurts; strengthening marriages; going through a near-death experience; fearing death; the difference between forgiving, reconciling and healing; and quarantining alone.

Donations to Nigel’s ministry may be made at www.byhiswoundsministry.org

Nigel has just published a new book on healing titled “This Is Where Your Healing Begins”. Click this link to purchase a copy: https://amzn.to/2LvP5ML

Live to Forgive Through Empathy (Jason Romano – 11/22/19 – NCS New Canaan)

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With tremendous transparency and authenticity, Jason Romano shares the painful story of estrangement from his father. He takes us on a journey from childhood to the depths of hurt, resentment, unforgiveness and bondage, and then explains how that journey finally took a God-orchestrated turn toward forgiveness, freedom and healing. Romano also reflects on the rampant unforgiveness in our society and the damage it is doing.

In recounting the journey, Romano admits how difficult it is to truly forgive as Jesus forgives us. He vulnerably shares how for many years he responded to hurt by hurting back from a place of bitterness and anger. He finally came to understand that forgiveness is not about the other person–it is about you. But most importantly, he came to understand that the key to forgiveness is empathy–what Romano now calls “the antidote to life”. Romano shares that being able to finally have empathy for, and forgive, his father, started him on a life of forgiveness.

A Musical Path to Spaceless Embrace (Dan Haseltine – 4/26/19 – NCS New Canaan)

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Dan Haseltine tells us that a songwriter’s job is to describe the world as it is and as it it could be, and he presents his vision of both.

Starting with a painfully vulnerable description of his childhood, Haseltine explains how a dysfunctional and volatile family life pushed him to music, and how music led him to mission. He transparently shares the generational brokenness that resulted in him growing up without access to a father, and then reveals how watching the Live Aid concert in 1985 transformed his understanding of rock and roll and permanently fused in his mind “music” and “mission”.

After describing the unlikely genesis of Jars of Clay at a small college in southern Illinois, Haseltine explains how the band was led to use its platform of musical success to embrace mission by starting the charity Blood:Water.

In telling this story, Haseltine reveals two lessons he has learned about humanity. First, that human beings often try to control or destroy things we do not understand, and second, that we long for “spaceless embrace” with each other but continually drive wedges between ourselves. Haseltine then offers his vision of the world “as it could be”.

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