Stephen Ashton

Stephen Ashton
Stephen Ashton is the National Director of Marketing for Trail Life USA and serves as an adjunct professor at Clarks Summit University and Anchor Christian University. Prior to his work at Trail Life, he spent 15 years working with at-risk youth in residential therapeutic wilderness programs and served as the Vice-President of the Wilderness Road Therapeutic Camping Association. An author and a speaker, he has written for journals and published a book chronicling the foundations of therapeutic camping. He frequently speaks on the topics of fatherhood, biblical masculinity, outdoor education, and wilderness therapy. Stephen lives in South Carolina with his wife and 4 sons.
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Stephen Ashton

Mentoring Leadership Masculinity

Men Are the Method

“The Church is looking for better methods. God is looking for better men.” —E.M. Bounds There’s a defining moment in every story of faith—the moment God calls His servant to step forward and take action. The air is thick with uncertainty. The task seems too great. And yet, into trembling hands, God places His purpose.
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Stephen Ashton

Mentoring Leadership Masculinity

REAL Manhood

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." — 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Our world is confused about masculinity. Some celebrate a version of manhood that glorifies dominance and selfish power. Others try to erase manhood altogether, taming boys into passivity and ...
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Stephen Ashton

Leadership Masculinity

3 Ways to Engage Men and Grow Your Church

Engaging Men to Grow the Church How do you grow a church? Is it better programs? A sharper sermon series? More polished music or better coffee in the lobby?
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Stephen Ashton

Mentoring Leadership Masculinity

Three Factors to Forge Manliness

“Let childhood and boyhood be prolonged, let manhood be postponed, but let manliness be promptly developed.” - George Walter Fiske
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Stephen Ashton

Mentoring Leadership Masculinity

7 Transformational Men's Ministry Ideas That Actually Work

When most people search for men’s ministry ideas, they’re looking for activities to keep men involved—a breakfast, a retreat, maybe a golf outing. Those have their place, but if we’re honest, many of them don’t move the needle. They get men to show up, but they don’t awaken the heart of a man. They don’t engage men in ...
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Stephen Ashton

Parenting Let Boys be Boys

Delaying Manhood, Developing Manliness

Let Boys Be Boys There was a time when boyhood was an untamed, unhurried thing. When creek beds turned into racetracks for hand-carved boats, the tops of hay bales became mountain peaks to be conquered, and backyard disputes ended in a wrestling match and a handshake.
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Stephen Ashton

Parenting Masculinity

Off the Trail:  Step into the Unknown

There’s something about the masculine soul that craves risk and adventure. Men weren’t created for monotony. In a world that often feels too structured and predictable, there is deep longing to step outside the box, break free from the mundane, embrace the unpredictable, and rise to the challenge. It isn’t ...
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Stephen Ashton

Masculinity History

Jim Elliot

"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." —Jesus (John 15:13)— "Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God," chronicled Jim Elliot in his journal. "We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth ...
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Stephen Ashton

Masculinity History

William Bradford

"Our fathers were Englishmen who came over the great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. ... Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them that have been ...
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