Brannon Howse: February 18, 2010

Topic: The Feminization of the American Male and American pastors. Topic One: An update on the Prestonwood Baptist/Jim Wallis Report. After the broadcast and distribution of our national radio program and e-mail alert, we received an e-mail from a representative of the Senior Pastor saying that Rev. Jim Wallis would not be speaking at the March 9, 2010, church function. That is good news. However, we are receiving e-mails from people that have called the church and they report to us that they were given information that causes them to think that Mr. Wallis was never booked to speak at the church. Thus, they are e-mailing us asking if we had our facts wrong. The church needs to be 100% forthright on this issue. We have all the printed pages from their church website about Wallis speaking on March 9th. The information has since been pulled from their site which is a good thing. But we have all our facts documented. We have asked the church to be 100% transparent in acknowledging that Wallis was booked to speak at the church and has now been uninvited as they claim in their own e-mails to us. The church needs to put out a statement that is a strong rebuke of what Wallis stands for so we can post it on our site and read it on our national radio program. That is if they indeed do disagree with the worldview of Jim Wallis. People are asking if the church cancelled him because of the controversy or because they really do not agree with Jim Wallis. Why will the Senior Pastor not put out a statement that in no uncertain terms denounces the Social Justice, Emergent Church, socialist worldview of Wallis and his friends? Such a statement would put this issue to rest and be an encouragement to hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of pastors.
Topic Two: We can see the feminization of the American male by how people are willing to accept pastors they would not have accepted years ago. Look at the preaching of Billy Graham when he was in his thirties. That was some strong preaching and he filled stadiums. Today, Joel Osteen, who is in my opinion very much an example of the feminized pastor in America, is packing out stadiums. Not too many years ago the culture would have seen Joel for what he is but now he is the standard for many. The pastors of most large churches will not speak boldly and take on controversy when needed. They may do an acceptable job in a controlled environment like their church pulpit but they will not engage the culture and if they do give an interview to a secular media outlet they turn into a wimp who is trying to be accepted. There are pastors that are strong leaders but this is the exception and one reason why so many men are reporting that they do not want to attend church. I cannot blame them, I recently sat in a church service where the guest pastor was more interested in being funny and telling jokes that actually challenging us Biblically and intellectually. I was bored out of my mind and if I had known he was the guest speaker that day, I would have stayed at home. Men want to be challenged as do most women. Topic Three: Was the feminization of the American male part of a larger plot to destroy the family? Topic Four: We take your calls and the phone lines light up with men who are tired of the feminized pastors and they are personally tired of being criticized for being a person of strong convictions.