Mans Ultimate Challenge Second Edition: Being A Man of Virtue In A Culture of Vice

Updated Second Edition of the popular men's discipleship and mentoring book. This book is interactive in that throughout the book you will have opportunities to engage with the text through diagnostic questions, study, memory tables, and even Internet research. This interactive study book is designed to provide practical, biblical wisdom that can be applied immediately, and meaningfully passed on from one man to another through discipleship, mentoring, and most importantly, fatherhood.

Designed for individual use or within a small group, the goal of this book is to provide interactive practical guidance for everyday life rooted in the classic virtues. So why should you care about the virtues as a man? Do carelessness, fear, gluttony, injustice, uncertainty, despair, and indifference sound like a summary of what plaques the modern male? The virtues are nothing new, in fact, these seven virtues and associated properties or sub-virtues not only trace back to the Bible, but to Aristotle, and Plato. The four cardinal virtues of prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance are part of natural law and written on the heart of every man, whereas the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity are infused by the Holy Spirit into the heart of every disciple of Christ.

The theological virtues give the cardinal virtues power as faith provides the motivation, charity the implementation, and hope the destination. Man’s Ultimate Challenge will equip you to live as men of: (1) FORTITUDE and not FEAR; (2) PRUDENCE and not CARELESSNESS; (3) TEMPERANCE and not GLUTTONY; (4) JUSTICE and not INJUSTICE; (5) FAITH and not UNCERTAINTY; (6) HOPE and not DESPAIR; (7) CHARITY and not INDIFFERENCE.

In the end, I hope you feel equipped, challenged, and encouraged to be the man God called you to be. This edition includes updated diagrams, mile markers to break up the book into 25 in-depth studies, and identity spread throughout the book instead of one deep chapter. Men loved the diagrams that visualized the concepts, so I updated some to provide more clarity while adding new ones. Additionally, questions are spread out in the book for small groups so that you do not have to buy yet another book.

 Pete Lackey was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in an area of the city called Beechview. Since accepting Christ in 1995, Pete Lackey has dedicated his life to answering questions that serve as true barriers to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He has built an impressive research library over the years to equip himself and others with topics spanning philosophy, science, various world religions, and the mysterious worlds of the cult and the occult. His specific specialty is comparing and contrasting different belief systems with the Christian worldview in order to demonstrate why Christianity is true. Pete has taught on these topics in numerous venues including churches and universities around the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Pete attended Southern Evangelical Seminary, works full time as an engineer, and served on staff at McLean Bible Church for seven years as the Director of Marriage & Family and as the Director of Preparing for Marriage. Pete trained hundreds of volunteer leaders on leadership principles and handling difficult conversations. Pete and his wife of over twenty years led the Preparing For Marriage course at McLean Bible where several hundred engaged couples learned how to build a marriage on a strong biblical foundation. As adult children of divorced parents, they bring a unique passion and perspective on the importance of a strong marriage built around a Christian worldview.

With his library, passion, and experience answering questions, he will either have the answer or know where to go to get the answer to your questions. Moreover, Pete skillfully knows how to get to the real question behind the question by unpacking your worldview assumptions. Pete believes that only the Christian worldview provides satisfying answers to the deep questions of every human heart. As Ravi Zacharias rightly noted, all question boil down to questions of origins, meaning, destiny, and purpose.