SAMSON SOCIETY
The Samson Society is a company of Christian men who are serious about authentic brotherhood, wholeness and purity.
The Samson Society are men who acknowledge that by nature we are:
Natural loners — who have recognized the dangers of isolation and are determined to escape them,
Natural wanderers — who are now finding spiritual peace and
prosperity at home,
Natural liars — who are now finding freedom in the truth,
Natural judges — who are learning how to judge ourselves aright,
Natural strongmen — who are experiencing God’s strength as we admit our weaknesses.
As Christian husbands, fathers and singles we meet at other times for worship, teaching, counseling, accountability, and prayer. With the Samson Society, however, we meet to talk. Our purpose is to assist one another in our common journey. We do so by sharing honestly within a safe environment our own personal experience as men, along with the challenges and encouragements of daily Christian living in a fallen world.
There seems to be a common misconception concerning Samson Society of Convergence Church which needs to be addressed.
After reading Nate Larkin’s book, Samson and the Pirate Monks, I knew that I needed to start a Samson chapter at Convergence Church.
If you read Nate’s book and come away from it thinking that this was just a book about a former pastor who struggled with a sexual addiction, you have missed the point. The whole focus of the book is on relationships and what can happen to a man who is not walking in open, transparent relationships with other men. This is the whole purpose of Samson.
Samson is about a group of men who meet on a regular (weekly) basis in a safe, non-judgmental environment for the purpose of learning not only how to live out of our hearts, but how to share out of our hearts as well. Most men don’t know how to do that. Most of us are internal processors who—when we do talk—give our loved ones the edited version. For many of us, we’ve never been allowed to share our thoughts, emotions, and struggles without condemnation, or we’ve been hit with simplistic religious answers that don’t work. For that reason we hide. And most of us are really good at it.
I can tell you from experience, that is a setup for failure.
In Samson, we know that living a life of purity and wholeness can only be done by walking in the light, sharing honestly where we are at with other men. Are there battles with porn and other addictions represented in the room? Of course, and those struggles are brought into the light because we know that that’s how real healing happens. But this is simply a by-product of transparency. The real purpose and benefit to those who attend is a safe environment for learning how to live out of their hearts and build meaningful, healthy relationships.
Tom Dermott
Founder of the Samson Society of Convergence Church