Why I started Shepherd Men. About 5 years ago, I was in college and in a nihilistic pit. My faith was weak, I had no purpose, and I was living for myself. One day, after a night of drinking, I was sitting in my filthy apartment, in my underwear playing Fortnite and eating pizza. I got up to go to the bathroom. As I walked into the hallway, I shimmied past the sticky beer pong table in the hallway and shook my head at the new hole in the wall that someone must have put there the night before. After I used the bathroom and as I was washing my hands, I looked up in the mirror and saw a stranger looking back at me. I was a decent kid in high school who called himself a Christian and was at school on a baseball scholarship. That was not who was staring back at me in the mirror. The person staring back was out of shape, undisciplined, and frankly lost. I used to have such a fire and passion for life. Where did that go? Who am I? Is this all there is to life? These were all questions I was asking myself while staring in that mirror. At about that time, I received an answer. It was more of a feeling than actual words, but it was the type of feeling that spoke volumes. If I had to put it into words, it would be something like "GO." It was so simple, but I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. What I did know is that it was time to make a change. I left college and went back home. When I left college, I wasn't sure exactly what I should do, but I knew I just needed to try. I made mistakes, pursued dead-end projects, and still drank from time to time, but the point was that now I was trying again. I hadn't done that in probably 3 years. Here I am, 5 years later. I am starting this community, back in church, getting married this summer and my hunger for God has never been higher. Throughout this process, there have been 2 practices that God has consistently used to transform my life; 1. The discipline of studying the Bible. 2. The discipline of physical fitness. The one thing I have been missing is men to pursue God with. That is why I am starting this community. To share what I've learned (and continue to learn) but to also learn from other men myself.

“On Exercise" by St. Nektarios of Aegina "The aim of exercise is not to produce athletes for the games, but, rather, perfectly formed men capable of any undertaking, for it is well-known that exercise by means of habit renders one more ready for struggles, and more industrious through a familiarity with hard work. Hence, moderation in exercise is required in order to maintain prudence— that is to say, a harmonic balance in the development of the powers of soul and body, so that the former may rule over the body and the latter may readily fulfill the commands it is given."