NASHVILLE, Tenn. –– Central Texas Conference churches that want to expand their ministries to men may receive helpful guidance from Mark Bramson, a member of First United Methodist Church in Mansfield and president of the Waxahachie District United Methodist Men.
 
Bramson was certified in absentia as a men’s ministry specialist by the General Commission on United Methodist Men during a March 5 commissioning service in Nashville.
 
Following an intensive training experience, Bramson may now lead a 12-hour training course titled “Understanding Men’s Ministry.” The course is based upon content and materials used by Orlando, Fla. based-Man in the Mirror in a 2½-day learning seminar. The condensed curriculum is packaged in four 3-hour sections.
 
“I believe that God has been leading me toward men’s ministry through the events of my life,” says Bramson. “My life is like many men, having some very faithful years and some where I strayed, including years in an unhappy marriage. I believe these events have contributed to my ability to relate well to men and to provide the good news of Jesus with them.”
 
After receiving a correspondence diploma from Logos Christian College in Ponte Vedra, Fla., Bramson attended Tyndale Theological Seminary in Fort Worth where he majored in biblical counseling.
 
“Over the years I have had some amazing personal encounters with God through prayer, and have been invigorated by his presence to continue to seek and serve Him,” he says.
 
Bramson recalls experiences with the Methodist Youth Fellowship in the 1960s and 1970s. “My pastor back then seemed to think that I had a calling to go into ministry, and took me to a conference for prospective seminary students at Perkins School at Southern Methodist University when I was only 14 or 15. I was awed to hear famous football legend Calvin Hill speak to young men and women about serving God. Those events have been in my heart and mind often over the years.”
 
In the three years Bramson has been a member of First UMC, he has served as a Sunday school teacher and president of United Methodist Men.
 
A graduate of Basic and Advanced Lay Speaking courses, he has led a monthly Sunday evening service. He now teaches Basic Lay-Speaking courses.
 
As a district president of United Methodist Men, Bramson says he continues to study Scripture and read books about men’s ministry. “In addition, I have been contacting leaders in other districts and states where men’s ministry is being practiced strongly,” he says. “I pray to be a servant to our churches, to our denomination, and to our Lord as a men’s ministry specialist.”