One of the least talked about devastations in masculine formation is the boy who was not rescued from the bosom of women and initiated into the world of men. Many fathers fail to initiate their sons into the masculine journey which has very damaging, long-term effects. Preachers and teachers must figure out a way to initiate these men into kingdom mission.

The August 23^rd issue of Rolling Stone magazine featured a story on the hardcore punk rock scene in the Boston area. These angry white guys commit random acts of violence against preppy, suburban white kids, emo kids, frat boys, neo-Nazis, and Confederate Flag lovers and even each other.

Because evangelicals have too closely aligned themselves with political agendas, instead of the Scripture-derived social mission of the church, two camps have emerged over the past few decades. On the one hand, you have the "Christian-means-Republican" camp where many biblical imperatives are pursued through legislation and government force, and on other hand, you have the pathetic economics and theocratic biblical theology of prophetical left in the likes of guys like Bono, the One Campaign, and so on.

Why Does America Have Orphans If It Has Christian Churches?

America has nearly 115,000 orphaned kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice "true religion" in their local communities (James 1:27). Missional Christians in America could eliminate the foster care system tomorrow if we would stop "shootin' up" with the American Dream (heroine) in order to get high on a lame life lived for the sake of comfort and ease.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world," writes James (1:27). As a matter of fact, the Bible has over 40 verses mandating God's people to look after orphans and the fatherless for various reasons.

According to the American Religious Identity Survey, conducted by the City University of New York, there are over 224 million Christians in the United States. So, why are there 115,000 orphans in a country that has over 224 million Christians?

Last time I mentioned the pathetic depiction of Jesus in a pink dress I saw in an old church that's now a music venue/bar in St. Louis. The pink dressed raised many questions about the possible causes of the church's demise and the feminization of Christianity in general. I still haven't figured it out. For Easter I traveled back to my parent's 10,000 member all-black church in Atlanta and saw a different picture of Jesus in the Easter bulletin: Jesus was a dreadlocked black guy with a "I-don't-take-crap-from-anybody" look on his face. My Easter black Jesus was, in fact, the "Black Jesus Montage" by Vincent Barzoni except that someone at the church airbrushed a crucifixion tattoo onto Jesus' right arm. There was no gender confusion there. And, by the way, the pastor literally sounds more like James Earl Jones- unlike the Teletubby guy many of you have to listen to on Sunday. I wonder how the "Deadheads" would have responded to a black Jesus with dreadlocks and a tattoo?

I'm not certain, but I get the sense that the dreadlocked, black Jesus possibly could have been a more acceptable image for this crowd. So now I wonder why one community makes Jesus a blonde-haired, soft, pleasant looking dude in a pink dress hailing from Scandinavia, no doubt, while another community embraces a Jesus with a tattoo and thin dreadlocks, as if he's a big fan of the band Ten Foot Ganja Plant? Which is right?

At St. Louis' Mardi Gras celebration this year I found myself "missionally" checking out a Grateful Dead cover band. The venue was an old church in the process of being converted into a bar. The massive crowd, pushing and squeezing through the double doors longed not to hear about Jesus but "the Dead." "Hey, ya wanna take a shot," I was asked the moment I walked in. I declined. I'm too holy for "shots." As a devout Bible-thumping Jesus freak I pondered how this church became a bar? Then I saw it! I looked up and thought that maybe the church's death had something to do with the huge, pathetic mural of a sandy brown-haired Jesus wearing a pink dress.

Jesus, in an act of compassion, warns about eternal punishment and calls all to repentance. Jesus did not shirk from preaching the truth about the disastrous future awaiting those who do not confess Jesus as Lord. Many of today's preachers, out of cowardice, are not warning people about the impending justice of a holy and righteous God. In fact, it is entirely possible that people are confused about the necessity of the atonement because they are confused about the reality of hell. Preaching the gospel includes both dimensions of God's grace and his justice.

Evangelicals totally dropped the ball with Vietnam veterans a generation ago but we don't have to make the same mistake. It's asinine that Americans expect the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA), alone, to meet the re-entry needs of Iraq veterans. The government is ill-equipped to address the core needs of veterans and the church needs to man-up and lead the nation in restoring the emotional, marital, familial health, and dignity of Iraq war veterans (Matt 5-7). Missional Christians fighting against the passivity of outsourcing help and restoration to government shout, "Abdication, no more!" Veterans need what the church has to offer.

Ninety-eight percent of the nearly 3,000 US troop casualties are men. When men die so that other men can sit at home and blog, play video games, watch Sports Center, argue about N.T. Wright, and obsess over what "emerging" means, the least we can do is commit ourselves to their families and to surviving veterans.

This month in Green Bay, Wisconsin three teenage guys were arrested after another student, acting like a real man, foiled their plan to commit mass murder at their high school. Also, this month in St. Louis, a 12^th-grade guy at a wealthy suburban Christian school was shot in the leg by police in the school parking lot after he threatened to commit suicide and pointed his rifle at police. The student survived. What's up with America's young men? Answer: America is experiencing the results of men who are suffering posttraumatic stress from absentee, abusive, and passive fathers. Masculinity in America has gone wild.

I write this while just returning from an amazing trip to Central America hanging out with friends living there. I haven't had that much fun in years. Since my return, I've been wondering why many Christians are such boring people to be around if redemption is true. If Christ's mission was truly accomplished and if the Kingdom of God is alive then Christians ought to be the most celebrative people on the planet throwing the best parties and social events. If the Gospel is true one would think that Christians would be the best at "getting their party on."