Extra, Extra

In my own surfing over the weekend, I found two more good blog posts on issues of real concern to the contemporary church.

The first is by one of my very best friends and one of my all-time favorite people. At Thinklings, De (Bill) talks about manhood, masculinity, and the messages, explicit and implicit, sent by the modern church. He offers some great correctives. (He calls them "suggestions," but I think they're correct, so I'll call them correctives. ;-)
This stuff about Christian masculinity, about men in and out of the church, about good husbanding and fathering is so, so, soooo important. Do read the post, if you get a chance. Bill knows what he's talking about.

Secondly, did you know that there are more than a few people, even within the Church itself, that are distressed over or concerned about or critical of (or threatened by?) the idea of connecting the church's messages to Jesus Christ? You wouldn't think that'd be so controversial, but voices both "conservative" and "liberal" are getting nervous about the gradual move in some of America's churches to make the message of the Bible about Jesus and the salvation we find in Him.
Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle is going to spend twelve weeks teaching his church about Jesus. You can read about his motivation to do this in a post at his Resurgence Blog titled "Vintage Jesus". It is both sobering and exciting that this decision seems so radical. (I kinda dig that Jesus-by-way-of-Che logo at the top of the page. Kinda.)
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A by the way fun-fact:
Driscoll's previous stuff on men in church is partly what has raised Bill's ire. ;-)