My pastor preaches a message about David's mighty men, i wanted to post the outline for it, as it would have gone great with the theme this week. But i found another good one, so here it is.

Call to Arms
Eph. 6:13-19

In the Bible Christianity is likened to an Army. God is the commander; we are to supply our service.

Why? Because we face a Battle and because that battle is:

1. It is Inevitable – it will come and can’t be avoided
a. Unless you are a conscientious objector or AWOL
b. It brings troubles and trials 1 peter 4:12-14
c. Gal. 5:17 you fight within yourself

2. It is Individual – you have to do it by yourself
a. David did not use Saul’s Armour
b. David did not let his brothers talk him out of it
c. Like boxers that have others help with training and promotion of the fight, but the

fight is fight by individuals

3. It is Intense – It will keep you busy
a. He will not put more on you then you can handle

4. It is Important – What you will be judged on is only what you do down here.
a. So act like it is important
b. Be fit for the battle, Christ was fit
c. Don’t do it with mouth service


This picture was sent to me in an email, the sender swore that the picture is untouched, looks pretty neat, like God is reaching down with His hands and opening the clouds.

I don't have a clue who this guy is or what he has written in the past, but this is a great article and is a must read. It kind is going to be the theme of this Sundays blog. I don't even recognize all the names or groups he mentions, but it is a good article.

We Need A More Manly Church
I don't like most worship music and/or worship leaders today. There...I said it. I know this may come as a shock to folks that normally read this blog because I write about music a lot! However, I really don't get into modern praise music or most of the people that lead it...and write it.
The biggest problem for me is that I'm a man...and most of the worship culture in America today seems to be for...women. I prefer manly men singing manly songs about a manly God. However, many of the worship leaders I've seen lately are wearing t-shirts imprinted with girly graphics (not to mention skinny women's jeans), drinking stupid-named sissy coffee, strumming an acoustic guitar and singing songs in some kind of high-pitched feminine voice that sounds like Air Supply on pot. It all sounds like Coldplay or...freakin' Gordon Lighfoot...two pretty wussy music artists.
For instance, I was watching a live worship DVD the other day...and all the "guys" were just...well...pretty...and prissy...sort of in a Freddie Mercury/Richard Simmons kind of way. I liked some of their music until I saw the DVD and then my stomach couldn't handle it. I mean, the lead singer was wearing more make-up than my wife. I know they have to use some make-up in videos for the cameras...but this guy would make Boy George feel uncomfortable.
I think this has a lot to do with the reason that men have stopped coming to church...the music and the message...is not for them. Church is being done to attract women. I's not just the worship leaders that are doing it, pastors are just as guilty these days because many have started preaching "felt needs" (awwww, isn't that sweet) instead of the Word of God. Then you put sappy, say-the-same-words-20-times music with it...and you've got a Mary Kay party. We've got to "man up" in the church today!
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!!!
http://chriselrod.typepad.com/chris_elrod_dot_com/2007/03/let_me_make_two.html

WHERE MEN ARE A MINORITY
Every major Christian tradition in the USA has more female members than male; this is reflected in their attendance at worship as well, a new survey of 35,000 adults finds. Percentage of denomination that is male:
Evangelical Protestant: 47%
Mainline Protestant: 46%
Historically Black Protestant: 40%
Roman Catholic: 46%
Mormon: 44%
Jehovah's Witness: 40%
Orthodox: 46%
Percentage of memebers who say they attend services at least once a week:
Evangelical ProtestantMale: 46%Female: 54%
Mainline ProtestantMale: 31%Female: 38%
Historically Black ProtestantMale: 49%Female: 65%
Roman CatholicMale: 36%Female: 45%
Mormon Male: 75%Female: 76%
Jehovah's WitnessMale: Not availableFemale: Not available
OrthodoxMale: 30%Female: 38%

At nation's churches, guys are few in the pews
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
Churches nationwide are fretting and sweating to reel men into their sanctuaries on Sundays.
Women outnumber men in attendance in every major Christian denomination, and they are 20% to 25% more likely to attend worship at least weekly.
Although every soul matters, many pastors say they need to power up on reaching men if the next generation of believers, the children, will find the way to faith. So hundreds of churches are going for a "guy church" vibe, programming for a stereotypical man's man.
"I hear about it everywhere I go," says Brandon O'Brien, who detailed the evolution of the chest-thumping evangelism trend this spring in Christianity Today.

One church, 121 Community Church in Grapevine, Texas, outside Dallas, was even designed with dudes in mind, from the worship center's stone floor, hunter-green and amber decor and rustic-beam ceilings to woodsy scenes on the church website.
No pastels. No flowers. No sweet music. No sit-with-your-hands-folded mood. Women are welcome, but the tone is intentionally "guy church" for a reason, says Ross Sawyers, founder and pastor of 121.
"I have read that if a child comes to Christ, 12% of the time the whole family will follow," Sawyers says.
"If the mom comes, there's a 15% chance the family will. But if the man comes to church, 90% of the time the family will come along behind.
"That's the reality, and that's why we do this."
He couldn't cite his source, but recent surveys show:
•52% of women and 48% of men say they identify with a particular religion, and women are the majority in 21 of 25 Christian denominations, according to the recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 35,000 people by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey found 39% of U.S. adults — 45% of women and 34% of men — attend worship at least weekly.
•31% of men and 27% of women say they never go to church, not even on holidays, according to a new survey of 1,007 adults by Ellison Research, a market research firm in Phoenix.
It found 62% of those who attend regularly as adults say that as children they went to church with both parents. If only one parent went, usually the mom, the likelihood of the adult regularly attending dropped to 50%. If neither parent took them to church, 33% now attend.
"Dads need to model the behavior," says Ellison president Ron Sellers.
•77% of women but just 65% of men say their faith is very important in their lives, according to a 2008 survey of 1,006 adults by Barna Research in Ventura, Calif.
Decades of traditional men's ministries and fellowship groups within most churches, even the stadium-packing 1990s all-male rallies run by the Promise Keepers, haven't made a dent.
Blame the church, not the men, says David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church.
Warm, nurturing congregations ignore men's need to face the epic struggles of living for Christ, writes Murrow, of Chugiak, Alaska, on his website, churchformen.com. He trains leaders for Promise Keepers and writes on his website: "We've wrapped the Gospel in this man-repellent package."
Murrow recommends a free "Go for the Guys" downloadable action plan that advises pastors to infuse "adventure, challenge, boldness, competition, hands-on communication, ferocity and fun" into congregational life.
If they could pump essence of testosterone into the sanctuary, some churches might try it.
O'Brien says most of the "guy churches" don't go to the degree 121 has, "but much more prevalent and more alarming is the number of churches that promote a stereotype of muscular male behavior as the only correct godly way to be."
He describes a 2002 gathering of comedian Brad Stine's GodMen ministry, featuring videos of karate fights, car chases and a song with lyrics urging, "No more nice guy, timid and ashamed … Grab a sword, don't be scared — be a man, grow a pair!"
O'Brien counter-punches that those who prefer lattes and books to bows and arrows are equally able to embody Christ-like qualities. "Guy church" pastors should not forget that "humanity in the image of Christ is not aggressive and combative; it is humble and poor."
There aren't a lot of lattes at a church banquet where your host may have shot your supper.
Congregations across the Sun Belt are holding "Beast Feasts," where the flock's outdoorsmen invite their unchurched male pals to a game banquet, served up in good fellowship in hopes guests will find a trail toward Jesus.
"Men are driven by activity, by events, by doing. That's our nature," says Mark Estep, senior pastor at Spring Baptist Church near Houston. "Beast Feasts. Fishing. Hunting. Golf. … They build bonds with each other. That's the open door into their heart. Then you can begin to talk about their spiritual condition.
"A man is far more apt to come to a church event if another man asks him. If his wife asks him, he'll interpret that as nagging."
It seems to work.
At Thompson Station Church, south of Nashville, where the last Beast Feast in March drew 350 men, "26 men made decisions for Christ that night and have stayed in conversation with us," says administrative pastor Duane Murray.
Women aren't forgotten, Murray says. "But I don't know what woman wouldn't be excited if her husband showed more interest in coming to church. When a man's life is changed, he becomes a more effective father and loving husband. We choose to invest and go after the higher returns."
That's what Ross Sawyers had in mind when he launched 121 Community Church in 1999.
"We wanted it to feel like some guy's really, really cool home," albeit one with lots of high tech and a staff videographer, says David Parker, 121's associate pastor for worship and creative arts.
Between the two Sunday services, 1,200 folks attend worship and hear Sawyers offer verse-by-verse Bible preaching, punctuated with videos, skits and music.
Men make up a third of the volunteers working with children from preschool through teens. Vacation Bible school, renamed Bible Extreme, was shifted to an evening session this summer, allowing nearly four dozen men to volunteer after work.
Sawyers says worship is "free and flexible" so that a man might join in song and praise or stand skeptical by the back door with a cup of coffee and try to assess if this is a place "where his heart can open to God."
No first-time male visitor at 121 leaves without being greeted by a volunteer, often Ross' older brother, Loyd, an auto auctioneer.
"I'll chase them into the parking lot if I haven't seen someone else already welcome them. I'll talk to the dad. Give him a card. Say, 'Call me if you have any questions,' " he says
"They don't know the Lord, and they don't trust places with steeples. They're just struggling with the idea they have to get this or that right before they can come to Christ. I tell them, 'You have it backwards. You come hang with us, and you'll see.' "
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-07-23-males-church_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Pastor gets into motorcycle crash - during service July 21, 2008 - 8:30pm
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - A pastor brought out a dirt bike during a church service to demonstrate the concept of unity. Now he's demonstrating the concept of healing.
Jeff Harlow, the senior pastor at Crossroads Community Church, broke his wrist when he lost control of the motorcycle at the start of Sunday's second service, driving off a 5-foot platform and into the vacant first row of seats. He underwent surgery on the wrist Monday.
"Jeff has already laughed a lot, so he's OK. I think his pride was bruised," said his wife, Becky.
Becky Harlow said her husband had recently attended a motorcycle race in Buchanan, Mich.
"He had this idea that he would bring this bike out onstage and show people how the rider would become one with the bike," she told the Kokomo Tribune. "He was going to just sit on it and drive it out. He was just walking the dirt bike out onstage and somehow it got away from him. It was not intended."
No one else was hurt.
Jeff Harlow had performed the demonstration at earlier services Saturday night and Sunday morning without incident.
http://wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=1444367