More on Manly Church

Relevant to yesterdays post, I found a post by Chris Elrod regarding music in the church. He’s got a point about the feminization of the church. Here are a few concluding paragraphs from his blog on the subject.

The songs of yesterday were hymns about blood, victory and battle put to the beer drinking tunes of the day. Manly stuff that makes me want to go pee in the woods just writing about. Today we sing about love, peace and joy put to music that sounds like The Wiggles. Excuse me while I go watch Oprah and hug myself. To top it off, most preachers seem to get their topical message ideas from watching one episode of The View. May God have mercy on our soul.

This is not an “I’ve-lost-touch-with-today-because-I’m-an-old-fart” or pro “Wild-At-Heart” cultural thing. I’ve heard these same views expressed by many unchurched, artistic 20-something men. Musically they want AC/DC and we give them Celine Dion. Lyrically they want Tom Clancy and we give them Danielle Steel. Spiritually they want Braveheart and we give them Sleepless In Seattle. Everywhere I turn there’s this…estrogen…feel to church. It’s all so safe, sappy and sad.

If the church is going to be relevant in the coming generations we’ve got to get back to reaching men…and helping them become Godly husbands and fathers. In order for the church to reach men we’ve got to have music on Sundays that has the lyrical depth of John Newton, the musical kick of Guns N’ Roses and led by a man that looks like Ted Nugent. In order for the church to reach men we’ve got to have sermons that hit like a NFL linebacker, spoken in a voice as bold as a WCW wrestler and led by a man that acts like…John The Baptist. If there’s one thing that today’s society of broken marriages and children with no father figure has taught us…it’s that we need more manly churches!!!

Happy Resurrection Sunday.

All Christians are Hypocrites

Hypocrite:
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings 1Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

The buzz is buzzing about the Rev. Ted Haggard, now ex pastor of New Life Church, story that he is accused 2By Mike Jones, gay prostitute of having gay sex with Mike Jones. Jones jerked Haggard out of the alleged closet because his opposition to a gay marriage referendum on the Colorado ballot next Tuesday. The buzz is, “How can such a prominent evangelical Christian be such a hypocrite.” 3Some saner voices out there are Mark Waltz who as an evangelical, himself (like me), expresses his embarrassment over this feeding frenzy and Scoop who proffers the idea that this exposure might be a positive turning point in Haggard’s life Read more

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
2 By Mike Jones, gay prostitute
3 Some saner voices out there are Mark Waltz who as an evangelical, himself (like me), expresses his embarrassment over this feeding frenzy and Scoop who proffers the idea that this exposure might be a positive turning point in Haggard’s life

A Word of Caution

From A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian D. McLaren, p. 170

We must, therefore, never underestimate our power to be wrong when talking about God, when thinking about God, when imagining God…