DAMASCUS
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Our mission://
Kingdom warriors encouraging men daily to become fully armored disciples of Jesus.
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Why we are called Damascus://
In Acts 9, Saul, who later becomes Paul, encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus. This encounter shipwrecked all Saul understood about himself and his life’s mission.
He was left in the city of Damascus physically blind, confused, and concerned.
In this state he needed help, so God called a man named Ananias to help him.
The Holy Spirit through Ananias helped Saul receive healing and learn who he was and what God’s plan for his life would be.
At Damascus we make ourselves available for the role of Ananias and partner with the Holy Spirit to help men connect the dots on what to do next after they have surrendered to Jesus.
Healing, equipping, and training with the goal that a well-armed and mature man of God will confidently and humbly step into his called mission.
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Our values://
Christ-centered love, encouraging men daily
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Our goal://
To partner with the local church in the discipleship and spiritual development of men who have encountered and surrendered to Jesus.
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What we believe://
All creation and everything in it were created by God through Jesus.
– John 1:1-5.
Man sinned and was separated from God.
– Genesis 3
God reconciled man back to himself through his son Jesus.
– John 3:16
We as believers are the temple to the Holy Spirit as a seal of our salvation.
– Ephesians1:13,14
God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one.
– Mark 1:9-11
The church’s role is to advance God’s plan of salvation on the earth by sharing the gospel, making disciples, and demonstrating to the world the love we have for each other as believers and with Jesus our Savior.
– Matthew 28:19-20
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Our history://
In 2005 a small group of spiritually hungry men gathered in a coffee shop in Bricktown in downtown Oklahoma City.
Like many men in the church today, we were searching for more; something was missing from our experience as believers up to this point.
As we met week after week, we found ourselves getting closer and closer to Jesus and each other.
Something clicked in all of us, and for the first time we were experiencing what it was to be in a Christ-centered brotherhood.
We were thriving in a place, moving towards freedom and power in Jesus.
We all came from different places with different experiences, but we all shared the same kind of wounds and brokenness.
One man used to cook meth, a few had spent time in prison, several of us came from broken homes and addiction, and others had experienced the pain of divorce.
At the same table, we had men who came from loving, Christ-centered homes and had grown up in the church but still struggled with deep questions about identity and purpose.
As our group grew from 5 men to over 40 or 50 each week the church denominations surprisingly played no part, our men came from all kinds of different churches, at one time 13 different churches and their denominations were represented at a single meeting.
We realized that this was what unity in the body looked like.
As we gathered weekly in downtown Oklahoma City week after week, diving into God’s word and searching for answers to life’s questions, God began to do something in us.
He was training us to help men find their way.
We began to get a vision for helping men learn the basic disciplines needed to connect to Jesus and grow in their faith to become more and more effective as warriors of Christ.
These areas were primarily about identity in Christ Jesus, what our mission or purpose was supposed to be in and for the Body, with a strong emphasis on how to walk in the Spirit through the basic disciplines set out for every believer in the Bible.
From 2005 to 2010 we met on Mondays at a restaurant, then in the upper room of a beer saloon, and after that in a sports bar; we were just looking to disciple men wherever we found them.
It was during this time that one of our men moved to Texas and started a second Damascus group in Fort Worth.
We could not see it at the time, but God had a plan to grow us in a way we could not imagine.
The growth journey was littered with struggle and even some tragedy along the way.
At one point the two groups separated by the Red River lingered and dwindled down in size, and it seemed that our ministry was winding down.
In 2015, with new leadership and vision, God breathed new life and power back into Damascus.
A fresh wind blew, and the group in Texas began to explode, so much so that another group had to be birthed and men deployed to lead a third new group.
This was the beginning of how we would multiply as we moved forward.
It wasn’t long before Damascus had grown from just 5 men around a table in a coffee shop in OKC to nine groups spread out across Texas and Oklahoma.
We continually grow in the vision of seeing small groups of 5-10 men in 1000 cities, encouraging men daily to be fully armored disciples of Jesus.
Our Ministry was founded in 2005 by a small group of dedicated men chasing after Jesus, with the original vision of meeting men where they were at and leading them to grow stronger in their relationship with Jesus, overcoming some of the basic struggles life has to offer, and some of the complex ones too.
The man God chose to bring this vision to life was Daris McGlory, who served as our primary leader from 2005-20014.
The Holy Spirit through Darius laid the groundwork for what Damascus is today and will be in the future.
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Darious Mcglory://
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The leaders today are Lynn Seaton (Administrator), Frank Stotts (Elder for Oklahoma), Lance Hyde (Elder for Texas and Director of Operations), and Jim Kimbrough (Elder for Oklahoma and Texas and Chairman of the Board of Directors).
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Lynn Seaton://
Frank Stotts://
Frank is happily married to his wife Brandi of 27 years, and has been a follower of Jesus for 30 years. He has learned to live in recovery and freedom from addiction, is an ordained pastor, and has served as a singles pastor and a youth pastor. Frank has been serving Damascus men’s ministry for the last 20 years and currently leads the Oklahoma City Alpha Company.
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Jim Kimbrough://
Jim Kimbrough is happily married to his wife, Melissa, of 30 years, and they have had 4 boys. Jim has been a follower of Jesus since he was 14, and he is an ordained pastor in the Vineyard, having been involved in almost every kind of ministry in the Church, from children’s pastor to youth pastor, small group leader, and associate pastor. Jim has helped plant 4 churches and has trained short-term mission groups in Europe. He is a certified spiritual director and has his bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries from Mid-America Christian University. He is a Parenting the Love and Logic Way facilitator and is involved with his church’s inner healing ministry. Jim is currently the senior leader of Damascus Man Ministries and is a manager of maintenance operations with the United States Post Office.
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Lance Hyde://
Lance Hyde is married to his wife, Carrie, and they live in Fort Worth, TX. They have 4 kids and 3 grandkids. Lance was called and saved by God at age 7, but like a lot of people, his parents were not equipped to water his relationship with Jesus, and he never matured. A child of divorce, abuse, and instability growing up, Lance grew up disconnected from God. At the age of 27 Lance rededicated his life to his savior. Joining Life.Church in 1998, he has served and is still serving as a volunteer at the Fort Worth and Keller, Texas, campuses. He has served for almost 6 years as an on-campus chaplain for a post-prison ministry in Oklahoma City. He worked for almost 20 years in the food service industry before retiring in 2012. In 2009 he started the Texas chapter of Damascus. In 2017, Lance stepped into the role of director of operations for Damascus and holds that position today.
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