NCS New Canaan

Founding Chapter

Miracles of Men in Relationship (David Grizzle – 9/9/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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With tremendous NCS transparency, David Grizzle shares how he has experienced and witnessed the miracles that can happen when men are in deep, grace-filled and accountable relationships with each other.

On the eve of the Memorial Service for NCS brudder BJ Weber, Grizzle explains the very special relationship he had with BJ, going back to the first day BJ arrived in New York City. David talks about how, with BJ’s help, he learned compassion through “borrowed suffering”.

David vulnerably describes the irrational anxiety and panic attacks he felt and suffered during the COVID pandemic, not because of the pandemic but because of the devastating impact it had on markets, financial portfolios and businesses he was overseeing as a Board member. He shares how he began to recognize the power of idols in his life, and how he was able to find peace by finally forgiving himself.

Finally, David explains why he believes that men need other men–not only to help pull each other out of the “holes” we dig ourselves into but also to help each other reach all that God intends for us.

How God Can Transform Pain into a Gift (Eugene Schneeberg – 6/10/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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With NCS vulnerability and humor, Eugene Schneeberg shares the 20-year journey to find his father, and he reveals how God can transform our pain into a gift.

Although Schneeberg never did meet get to meet his father, Eugene describes the circuitous path to discovering his father’s identity and meeting his relatives.

Schneeberg also talks about the various Godly men–particularly his father-in-law–that God brought into his life to show him the love of his heavenly Father. Eugene explains how they shaped his ability to be a loving father to his own four children.

Pointing to Genesis 50:20, Schneeberg describes how God transformed his pain to a gift by breaking his heart for the fatherless and for kids in detention and then leading him on an extraordinary journey. In addition to writing a book titled I Never Met My Father: My Journey from Fatherless to Fatherhood, Eugene’s painful past led to:

  • Being appointed by President Barak Obama as the Director of Faith Based Partnerships for the Justice Department.
  • Leading DOJ’s efforts as part of the President Obama’s Responsible Fatherhood Initiative, and the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, which resulted in over $30 million dollars in new grants for Juvenile Justice Involved Young Fathers and an increased focus on Empowering Parents within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
  • Co-chairing the Obama Administration’s efforts to support and improve outcomes for Children of Incarcerated Parents.
  • Helping lead the Attorney General Eric Holder’s Federal Reentry Council.
  • Helping expand DOJ’s Youth Violence Prevention efforts helping to build the capacity of more than 30 major US Cities to combat youth violence.

Navigating the Narrow Gate (Tom Cole – 4/29/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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With amazing wisdom and humility gained on life’s journey, Tom Cole shares the ups and downs that have allowed God to shape him, as well as the role the New Canaan Society and the friendships he has found in NCS brudders have played in his story. He reveals with tremendous vulnerability how his greatest personal growth came through the hardest moments of life.

From a painful and public divorce to two heart attacks, Tom talks about the importance of his faith in Jesus to his ability to weather difficult storms. He explains how the first heart attack ultimately led to his book “The Narrow Gate: Fatherly Advice for Navigating the Pathway to Your Best Life“. Lying on a hospital gurney not knowing if he was going home to Jesus, Tom shares that the “dominant” thought was he had not poured enough wisdom into his kids.

Tom takes us through a few of the chapters, starting with what he has learned about the source of real joy and happiness–deep relationship with God and others. He explains why money and achievement do not bring happiness.

He also explains the importance of sharing our stories–not only so that others can walk with us through them, but so that we can make a connection with those who need us to walk with them through their stories.

He ties it all back to the core of NCS–growing deeper in friendship with Jesus and friendship with others by “showing up”–“showing up” not for what you can get but because you might be able to impact the life of another man. Tom transparently tells stories of how he has “shown up” for others and how others have “shown up” and walked with him through life’s valleys.

Newly retired from a long and successful career in investment banking, Tom describes navigating the transition to a new season of life. He also explains the importance of being present to the moment, living one day at a time, even as we reflect on the past and plan for the future.

This is God-inspired wisdom for leading a life walking in the Way of Jesus–wisdom from a father to his children, from a brother to his brothers, and from a friend to his friends.

If any man truly wants to be an NCS brudder, he needs to listen to this God-inspired wisdom on what we mean by “showing up”.​

Early in his talk, Tom refers to “a message from our sponsor”. He showed a video produced by Chick-fil-A as an employee training tool. You can watch it below.

The Path of Faithfulness and Dangerous Questions (Pastor Alfred Watts – 2/18/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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Pastor Alfred Watts shares the amazing journey of faith and faithfulness that took a kid from inner city New Haven to the elite boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall to Cornell University to Howard University Law School to a Federal Court clerkship to some of the most prestigious law firms on Wall Street to becoming the senior pastor of a vibrant church in Milford, CT.

Pastor Watts explains that the most important lesson his father taught him was to remember God’s command, challenge and promise in Malachi 3:10-12 (NLT):

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

He shares how he faithfully gave “a penny from every dime, a dime from every dollar“, from his first job earning $150/week to his career as a Wall Street corporate lawyer and beyond.

Pastor Watts tells about the amazing blessing and provision that has come into this life. He describes how God guided him along the path, even transparently admitting the times he strayed from trusting God’s provision or delayed in his obedience and the way his heavenly Father guided him back.

He also explains how he was able to balance the demands of A Wall Street legal career with serving in his church and prioritizing his family. He talks about the boundaries he established and how he knew it was time to change jobs.

Watts also reveals how he asked God one of those “dangerous questions”. In October 2000, he cried out to the Lord, “I want to know what you can do with one man completely sold out to you!” One month later, he was asked to become the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church. Pastor Watts left the legal profession and was officially installed as Senior Pastor on June 17, 2001.

It is an amazing story of one man’s faithfulness to God’s commands and directions and God’s faithfulness to His word and a faithful man.

Let Us Play the Man (Ken Fish – 12/17/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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Ken Fish is not known for mincing words or dumbing down Biblical truth to make it more palatable. He laments that fatherhood is in crisis in our world, and looking to the words of Joab in 2 Samuel 10:12 KJV (“Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God“), he issues an urgent “call to action” for men to “play the man”–or “man-up”–as fathers. We must do it for the sake of our families, our cities and our nation.

Ken shares that, as he travels the world, the #1 prayer request from women in every nation and every country is for God to bring “a Godly man who will lead my household”. He explains ways in which many men are failing to fill the Biblical role of fathers as “priests” of their family and lays out a straightforward Scriptural path to turn things around and “raise a generation of the righteous”:

  • Be of Good Courage.
  • Play the Man.
  • Give Yourself To Others

Ken asserts that the best way for Satan to destroy a country is to destroy families, and the best way to destroy families is to destroy fathers. He also explains why the restoration of righteous fathers is a necessary condition to revival.

Emphasizing that the key to this simple three-point formula is the execution, Fish walks through various Biblical passages that provide guidance on fatherhood and manhood.

You may support Ken’s ministry at this link: https://orbisministries.org/support-orbis/

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