Weekly meetings available to you are as follows:

Tuesday at 6:30 PM, Truitt Baptist Church - Pearl. Call Matt Flint at (601) 260-8518 or email him at matthewflint.makes@gmail.com.

Wednesday at 6:00 PM, First Baptist Church Jackson - Summit Counseling Suite - 431 North State St. Jackson. Call Don Waller at 601-946-1290 or email him at don@wallerbros.com.

Monday at 6:30 PM , Vertical Church - 521 Gluckstadt Road Madison, MS 39110. Mr. Roane Hunter, facilitator, LifeWorks Counseling.

Wednesday at 7:00 PM, Crossgates Baptist Church. Brandon Reach out to Matthew Lehman at (601)-214-4077 for further info.

Sunday night at 6:00 PM, Grace Crossing Baptist Church - 598 Yandell Rd. Canton. Call Joe McCalman at 601-201-5608 or email him at cookandnoonie@gmail.com.


Wednesday, August 30, 2023

"I Found Jesus In Prison..." Ethan #9


"For it is true, we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted.  And so, it's those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love them completely without completely understanding."

 

Norman Maclean ~ A River Runs Through It
 
 

Recommended Reading

Rediscovering the Joy of Writing: Six Lessons for a Lifelong Habit | Desiring God

Writing has been integral to my ongoing recovery.  Writing forces one to wrangle thoughts / feelings into a disciplined flow by exploiting the written word as a conduit for stating / explaining one's state of mind.

I have found that grasping / corraling one's state of mind is powerfully beneficial relative to provoking positive change. 

2023 National Samson Society Retreat - Van, Texas - Be Encouraged To Attend!

 

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Being Inspired By That "Normal" Samson Guy

I've been thinking back on my tenure as a Samson guy.  

The second local Samson Society meeting I regularly (2017) attended was consistently graced by the presence of a man who simply didn't fall into the assumed / typical "Samson Society guy" categories.  This man didn't struggle with sexual sin or alcohol / recreational drugs.  His marriage was flourishing, and he had a steady income via a longstanding career.  And this had been the case throughout his life.

The reason he was so loyal to the group was how impressed he was relative to the authenticity of the men involved.  

This man was middle-aged (at the time), and overall, his demeanor was quiet / reserved.  I recall he was a burly guy, clean-shaven, and moreso blue versus white-collar (he was likely not a college graduate). 

This man was a deacon at the church where the meeting was hosted.  He'd caught wind of the meeting at its outset, was intrigued and decided to attend.  From there, he never ceased attending each and every Sunday evening.

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If you attend a Samson Society intensive or National Retreat, there'll not be men there like this guy.  No indeed.

But there are guys here locally who support this ministry simply due to their hunger for authenticity / circles therein.  

Mississippi, being essentially the buckle of the Bible belt, is scant relative to supporting safe spaces for men to open up (about whatever's on their heart).  

I'll never forget that guy.  

Thanks Randy.

You made me feel more normal than you'll ever know.

Recommended Reading - Let's Discuss Buttplay Sans Shame

Study Claims More American Men Are Being Hospitalized For Having Foreign Objects Stuck Inside Their Rectum • Hollywood Unlocked

The reason men are into buttplay is not necessarily because they're homosexual / have same sex attraction.  That's a stereotypical generalization.  The reason lies in individual guy's relationship to their anus / rectum.

As we all know, this part of their body is only just a hair lower than a guy's scrotum.  Naturally, proximity to genitalia often results in experimentation - especially at adolescence (in tandem with discovering masturbation).  As such, that experimentation can result in discovering this "dirty" part isn't necessarily immune to tactile / erotic stimulation (inserting digits / objects).

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It was during a Samson Society intensive weekend a few years back when I first divulged (publicly) using anal sex toys unashamedly.  I mentioned it within a story (which I'd penned) that I was tasked with reading.  It was one of two tales (story of shame / story of blessing) that each man had been asked to write in advance of the weekend "share time".  I don't recall which of the two stories contained this particular detail (I certainly didn't expound on it).

A fellow Samson attendee and I were chatting later on (the following day), and he began weeping (tears of deep-seated shame) whilst privately acknowledging being able to relate to my buttplay travails.  I came away feeling conflicted as a result.  On the one hand, I was glad to have had the courage to share, but too, that particular detail, to me, wasn't meant as a bombshell confession.  

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I'll never forget Silas 1.0 blessing my admittance to using anal sex toys regularly.  We were en route back to Jackson from Lafayette, LA where I'd accompanied him to his DUI arraignment (June 2016).  I came away feeling seen and heard.  Soon thereafter, I gifted him a stainless steel buttplug with a thankful heart.

We never spoke of my interest in buttplay again, and that was absolutely fine by me.  Simply knowing that I'd had the courage to divulge this to someone I trusted so completely...that, by far was enough.

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Anatomically, the rectum isn't at all like the vagina.  It's not designed to be penetrated.  As such, it's very easy for men to injure themselves.  Sometimes to the degree that surgery is needed relative to correction / healing.

Years ago, I won a local essay contest, and as a result, had the privilege of befriending one of the other writers (at the awards ceremony).  I felt compelled to share my story (over a meal) with this young man, and as a result, he opened up similarly.  As a result, he was the first guy I had the privilege to meet who had the courage to admit to receiving a tear in his anal sphincter (due to being sodomized by a well-endowed man).  He went on to describe the ordeal in enough detail for me to realize just how unique the anus / rectum truly is.  What I mean by that is this:  It's certainly a pleasurable part of the body to stimulate, but again, as stated above, it's not at all like the vagina.

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Sodomy between men is sin (as is fellatio, mutual masturbation between men).  Women who enjoy being sodomized should no doubt reserve this activity for their husband, and hopefully, he's in agreement with her wishes.  I don't believe there're all that many husbands enamored with the notion of penetrating their wives in any other location than their vagina / mouth.  Nonetheless, no doubt, there're couples who make sodomy part of their bedroom routine.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) or "The Gay Cowboy Movie" starring Heath Ledger / Jake Gyllenhaal is a recommended film to screen.  It fully fleshes out the consequences of men crossing flesh lines (becoming sexual).  

There's a scene in that film where Heath Ledger's character, Ennis Del Mar, attempts to forcefully sodomize his wife whilst being intimate, and this is supposedly a consequence of his ongoing backwoods shenanigans with his close friend, Jack Twist (played by Gyllenhaal). 

What's interesting about both that scene as well as the (one) sex scene between the two men is how unnatural / forced it obviously is (pragmatically) for them to participate in.

I truly appreciated the filmmakers for realistically displaying this.

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Yes, there are women who experience pain / discomfort during vaginal intercourse.  Based on my understanding of this, many of these women are having a physiological response to being penetrated that's rooted in underlying emotional issues stemming from any number of culprits (anxiety, body issues, past abuse / assault, etc.)  Too, there're women who have physical issues that also can cause pain / discomfort.  

But the majority of women do not experience this.

The vagina is a self-lubricating, warm pleasure hole for a man's penis to repeatedly penetrate.  And though there're a small percentage of women who can actually be brought to orgasm via this repetitive experience, most need a little help from their clitoris.  Hence, the gentlemanly approach to vaginal intercourse is to allow her to orgasm FIRST.  

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For those of you who've never experienced dialoguing with your Silas / other Samson brothers regarding a personal topic like buttplay, my hope is that you'll someday take that leap.  Especially if you're participating therein, and simply know within your heart that you need to be heard / acknowledged regarding the matter.  Releasing that and not being judged for it is a massive gift.

I've heard so many stories involving everything from nipple play (self-stimulation) to "inflating one's belly" whilst masturbating, and all of these somehow get lumped together into dark, shame-filled corners of men's psyches (which oftentimes provoke ample tears).  Corners that can very well end up serving as jumping off points for risky, dangerous behaviors.  Behaviors that can lead to serious injury, if not death, because they tend to mutate within that darkness.

Be encouraged to bring everything into the light in due time.  Never forget that the men within this community are just as male as you are.


"Reflections Of Sanity" - JR Everhart

When someone lashes out at me, the first thing I think is, “What place of pain is this aggression coming from?”  Hurt people typically hurt other people.  And a person that refuses to feel the pain of their suffering will most certainly take out that pain on anyone that gets in their way.  I’m someone that has struggled with anger and bitterness most of my life.  I lived my life running from the sorrow that seemed to cloud my world, and all it did was turn me into someone I couldn’t tolerate.  I hated who I was for decades, but I was paralyzed to do anything about it.  I didn’t know how to find my way out of the dark forest of bitterness that I had found myself within.  Hence, I initially drank and hopped on the rollercoaster of prescription meds in order to try and find some peace.  From there, I chose to use women like mindless toys from a child’s toy box.  None of these falsehoods made anything better; in fact, it only got worse. 

I did finally reach out for professional help.  I started seeing a Christian counselor which lead me to a Christian 12-step program.  That was almost 11 years ago.  I wish I could say God waved his hand over my life and from there, I was perfectly fixed.  But that’s not how it worked for me.  The complexities woven into / throughout my story were intricate, therefore they took years of very uncomfortable self-inventory to properly examine.  I am a completely different person now.  As such, God's great love has transformed my heart.  I’m no longer a person reacting to the world around me, but instead, a stable actor in the narrative of life.  

I wish I could say everything pivoted towards peaches and cream at the moment I chose sobriety, but that wasn’t the case.  I found myself having to walk through a third divorce, and I must admit that there are days (still) I think about drinking again.  Yesterday was one of those days.  

Being sober and walking in wholeness doesn’t deter life’s challenges from trying to blow you out of the car you’re riding in.  Why?  Because wholeness does not mean immunity.  What it does mean is that I know how not to react to the troubles of this world like a pissed off 8-year-old.  It means that I’ve learned to stop and breathe before responding to inconvenience.  And that I value healthy connection with my support system around me more than isolation (which tends to lead to self-hatred).  

Self-control looks a little different for everyone, but ultimately, it leads to the same sane response in lieu of chaos.  To summarize, my life is now manageable.  It's not perfect - by any stretch of the imagination - but it is manageable.  God is with me and his love for me is not based on how well I can behave / follow all the rules.  Instead, it's based on what his son has done for me at the cross of Calvary.  Self-control is zero fun, and in all honesty, my flesh hates it, but I am so grateful for the seatbelt that it represents within my life.  

In closing, it’s never been about perfection.  Perfection is an illusion.  Instead, for me, it’s about progress.  Praise be to God in heaven for his glorious mercy and grace.  I am nothing without it. 

Thursday, August 24, 2023

"The No Bull Briefing" - August 2023

 

Discover New Brothers at the Samson Summit

In honor of our tenth national retreat, Samson is throwing a Texas-sized party! Join us the first weekend in November for our annual retreat, featuring The Place We Find Ourselves podcast host Adam Young.
  • When: November 3-5, 2023
  • Where: Sky Ranch in Van, Texas
  • Bunkhouse spots are $350
  • Down time activities include a high ropes course, mini golf, climbing walls, zip lines, sand volleyball, indoor or outdoor basketball, ping pong, and so much more! There will be opportunities for any person to engage in fellowship and deepen friendships with fellow Samson brothers during the weekend. Plus, there will be the always loved authentic conversations around a campfire. 
REGISTER

Join Nate at the Pure Desires Summit

The recovery and healing journey is motivated by something deep within us. Maybe it was a secret we’ve held or the broken heart of being betrayed. It could even be the heavy burden of shame that addiction or betrayal carry.
Not only is the human heart central to our bodies and survival, but in many ways, it plays the same role in our healing and recovery. Scripture tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Healing the heart from the effects of sexual brokenness and betrayal trauma is essential to this journey—because the hope of healing comes from the heart.
Your heart is one of the most important parts of who you are—it contains your true authentic self, your deepest emotions, and the essence of who God created you to be.
LEARN MORE

Mourning the Passing of a Samson Brother

Stephen Bertram Lisle of Franklin, Tennessee, passed away on August 11, 2023, at the age of 58.
Stephen, a Texan through and through, was born in Lufkin, Texas, about three hours from Dallas, home of his beloved Cowboys. He grew up idolizing legends like Coach Tom Landry and quarterback Roger Staubach, and was never happier than when the Cowboys won.
Tragedy struck when Stephen’s parents, Bertram Ira Lisle and Charlsie Rice Lisle, were killed in a plane crash in 1984, just shy of Stephen’s 20th birthday.
Stephen went on to earn a BS in Business Administration from LaSalle University in 1998. He had a widely varied career, mostly in technology, and most recently as a Voice and Security Architect with Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Stephen and ex-wife Pamela raised two beautiful daughters, Emily and Caroline, now young adults. He loved traveling, especially with his family, and had a keen eye for finding fine restaurants and great food. He also loved music and movies.
He had a heart for social justice ad particularly with men struggling with addiction; in recent years, he often shared his home with them. Stephen recently joined his friend and mentor, Bill Rapier, on a mission trip to Africa, where he served with African Leadership Development.
Stephen is survived by daughters Emily Melissa Lisle and Caroline Alyssa Lisle; sisters Laurie Lisle-Ritschl and Linda Lisle-Elento (Wendell); eight nephews; and one niece.

Subscribe to Samson House

Samson House is now offering a low-cost subscription to all members of the Samson Society. This subscription is not mandatory. As you know, there are no dues or fees for Samson Society membership. Samson meetings — online meetings as well as local ones  —  will always be free. 
We are asking ALL current members to subscribe to SamsonHouse.org (use password NoBullBrotherhood to access this website) at the modest monthly rate of $7.95.
We will be grateful if you can commit more, of course, and whatever you contribute above the small monthly subscription amount will be fully tax-deductible.
JOIN SAMSON HOUSE

Regional Retreat Opportunities

Planning a regional Samson retreat? Let us know at samsonhouseoffice@gmail.com or drop it on the #upcoming_event channel on Slack so we can help you spread the word!

Monthly Resource Corner

Each month, Samson Society will promote a resource that you may find helpful on your journey. Feel free to share any podcast episodes, blog posts, books, or documentaries that you find enlightening! 

The Pause App

A simple way to connect with God in the middle of your busy day from John Eldredge, the New York Times Best Selling Author of Wild at Heart and Captivating. 
Based on the One Minute Pause chapter of his new books “Get Your Life Back” and “Resilient”, this app invites you into the simple practice of releasing everything to God, restoring your union with God and inviting him to fill you.
LEARN MORE

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