by Jim Trebilcox, guest columnist
For years the Salvation Army in the Southern California division held an annual men’s retreat weekend. We followed a traditional script: men getting together for “fellowship” with sessions on “How to be a happy Christian husband for your happy Christian wife in your happy Christian home.” These were valuable sessions with good speakers, but attendance at the camps was dwindling every year. It became so bad that the church was ready to discontinue the men’s retreats.
So this year we tried something new.
Continue reading Revamped Men’s Retreat Brings Guys Back
Have you heard about this church that’s building itself on a military metaphor? It’s led by a general, not a bishop. Their clergy are not referred to as pastors, priests or vicars – instead it’s captain, major, colonel and commander. Officers go through seven years of training and are barred from earning outside income. This church even tells officers whom they can and cannot marry.
Membership requirements are rigorous. When you join this church, you are referred to as a soldier. You must sign a declaration of faith and practice known as Articles of War, and you are required to give volunteer service to the church. You’re required to abstain from all tobacco, illegal drugs and alcohol. The organization’s magazine is called War Cry!
Sounds like some weird cult, doesn’t it? So what’s the name of this unusual church?
Continue reading The Power of a Masculine Leadership Model
Men are not spiritually lazy, as some have suggested. Men want to serve God. The problem is the modern church does not need men’s gifts, or holds them in contempt, equating them with sin. What if Mary had viewed the gifts of the wise men this way?
Wise man: Greetings! We bring you gifts from the East.
Mary: OK, whatcha got?
Wise man: Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Mary: Phew! I’ll take the gold, but you can keep that smelly stuff.
This is how the church treats men. We love men’s gold, but we have no use for their smelly stuff. Competition? Goal orientation? Performance? Power? These things stink up the church! I challenge you to answer this question: how might a man use these kinds of gifts in the local church? Your brain probably hurts just thinking about it.
Continue reading Let Men Use Their Gifts
