I apologize for the light blogging, but I am in New York for a friends wedding and kind of busy. Anyway, to continue with our "What's wrong with guys" theme.  Here's another article in the Washington Post about the growing gender gap between men and women.

Money quote:

Justin goes off to college for a year or two, wastes thousands of dollars of his parents' money, then gets bored and comes home to take up residence in his old room, the same bedroom where he lived when he was in high school. Now he's working 16 hours a week at Kinko's or part time at Starbucks.

His parents are pulling their hair out. "For God's sake, Justin, you're 26 years old. You're not in school. You don't have a career. You don't even have a girlfriend. What's the plan? When are you going to get a life?"

"What's the problem?" Justin asks. "I haven't gotten arrested for anything, I haven't asked you guys for money. Why can't you just chill?"

This phenomenon cuts across all demographics. You'll find it in families both rich and poor; black, white, Asian and Hispanic; urban, suburban and rural. According to the Census Bureau, fully one-third of young men ages 22 to 34 are still living at home with their parents — a roughly 100 percent increase in the past 20 years. No such change has occurred with regard to young women. Why?

My friend and colleague Judy Kleinfeld, a professor at the University of Alaska, has spent many years studying this growing phenomenon. She points out that many young women are living at home nowadays as well. But those young women usually have a definite plan. They're working toward a college degree, or they're saving money to open their own business. And when you come back three or four years later, you'll find that in most cases those young women have achieved their goal, or something like it. They've earned that degree. They've opened their business.

But not the boys. "The girls are driven; the boys have no direction," is the way Kleinfeld summarizes her findings.

I promise this is the last article I post from Boundless. But I just read something I can't resist sharing. Dr. Albert Mohler discusses whether it's okay to be single? 

Singleness is not a sin, but deliberate singleness on the part of those who know they have not been given the gift of celibacy is, at best, a neglect of a Christian responsibility. The problem may be simple sloth, personal immaturity, a fear of commitment, or an unbalanced priority given to work and profession. On the part of men, it may also take the shape of a refusal to grow up and take the lead in courtship. There are countless Christian women who are prayerfully waiting for Christian men to grow up and take the lead. What are these guys waiting for?

Almost all of the women who have written me have indicated their grief and frustration that they are not yet married. Not one has indicated in her message that she has intended from the beginning to be single and to remain single. To the contrary, each writer has affirmed her own commitment to marriage and to be married, and each has spoken of her personal frustration that her hopes have not been yet fulfilled.

Given this commitment and hope as articulated by these thoughtful young women, it should be clear that when I speak of a pattern of sin in the delay of marriage, I certainly am not attributing that sin to them. To the contrary, as one who believes wholeheartedly in the biblical pattern of complementarity and in the male responsibility to lead, I charge young men with far greater responsibility for this failure

I want to make clear that young men must accept most of the blame for this situation. I will also remind these young men that, armed with a biblical mandate and fueled by Christian passion, they can also be the vanguard for recovery.

Yep. That makes me want to get married.

Larry Taylor seems to be one of the few Christian leaders that places a real emphasis on Honesty. It's nice to see. Here's a great comment from him regarding Christian Education, and PBC more specifically.

Just for the record, I have to say I respectfully disagree with my friend's observation about PBC's decision to drop accreditation pursuits and become more like other internship programs around the country. Trends come and go, but Christian education that focuses on preparing men and women to effectively communicate and connect with the world has served the church reasonably well over the centuries.

It was good enough for Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and Spurgeon. Christians love C.S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King Jr., but they forget how that their spiritual gifts, combined with their intellectual properties and mental disciplines, made these men so effective. The same is true for great Christian women leaders like Abigail Adams and Harriet Beecher Stowe, who were brilliant, educated and they filled their pins with passionate persuasive powers. They not only moved congregations, they moved the nation.

Internship programs are geared to church life but they are woefully inadequate in teaching students the knowledge they will need to become the kind of effective servants the world needs today. I don't mind that they fired me and Ken Ross, but I am sad that they elected a course that minimizes the importance of real education and they seem content with a program that amplifies the idea of the "local church" at the expense of the Kingdom of God.

I do respect the church's right to make the decision but I never backed down on my insistence of the importance of improving the academic conditions of PBC and pursuing accreditation. I simply cannot see how firing us and replacing us with church staff and integrating an intern program makes the school "better," and helps the students, as it has been argued. That's my take for what it's worth.

Larry Taylor

When I was in college I used so read an online magazine called Boundless published by Focus on the Family. After about a year, I stopped reading the magazine, because I realized the website was not focused on Christ. Instead the magazine was centered around spreading a conservative Evanglical message. And let's be honest, the American Evangelical message has little to do with sharing Christ's grace and has lot more to do with not having sex until your married.

However, I still receive email updates from Boundless, and one entry recently caught my eye. The author discusses a recent trend in home ownership showing more single woman purchasing their own homes. I had a pretty good idea where the author, Candace Watters, was going to take the article, but I wanted to read it for myself just to make sure.

As you can guess, Ms. Watters, does not want single women buying homes. She couches her argument with a lot of modern understanding reasoning. But essentially Ms. Watters believes that single women should be focused on getting married. And men do not want to marry a woman who does not live at home with her parents. Thus, a single woman should live with her parents until Prince Charming (aka Jesus) proposes. 

Here is a good section summarizing her argument: 

Before you dismiss this idea of family living as financially foolish, socially limiting and embarrassingly outmoded, remember why women did it. Their goal was marriage. They wanted a husband and children. And living at home seemed to expedite the process. Recognizing that today the age of first-time marriage is as old as it's ever been in history (27 for women, 29 for men), I think it's safe to say our forward-thinking approach isn't working.

Not only does a family home provide protection from unscrupulous, unmotivated men, but also creates opportunities for service and responsibility that foster mature character. It's nearly impossible to create such conditions when you live by yourself or even with likeminded roommates.

As a 28 year old single man, I would just like to add a couple comments. First, this is ridiculous. Men are not attracted to women who still live at home. It's 2006 not 1956. If you're older than 24 and still live at home, it becomes a deterrent to men. And it has nothing to do with sex. Living at home makes us worry about your ability to take care of yourself, and think for yourself. And we wonder whether you are looking for a husband or are you looking for another father to take care of you.

Second, I would like to point out to my mother that the average age for men to marry is 29. I still have a year, Mom. One more year.

The following conversation was held this evening with Robert Droppa III, Temple Christian High School graduate, Class of 1996 and more importantly George Mason University graduate, Class of 2001

Me: Rob, Are you kidding me? Your team is in the Final Four. Are you excited? That's ridiculous.

Rob: Yeah, I'm excited. But uh, I've bet against George Mason every round. I'm down $200.

Me: Still though, they're in the Final Four, you've gotta be psyched. That's amazing!

Rob: I am. I am…. …I just WISH I HAD MY $200 BACK!

Ahhhh Bible Temple. You are known by your fruit.

Larry answers my question regarding PBC's potential as an internship program.  He has some good thoughts. Check it out.

Larry Asplund is leaving City Bible/PBC and moving to Georgia to teach at a small University in Columbus. He has set up a blog detailing this journey. The blog is called Georgia Pine, and I have added it to the blogroll on the right. Mr. Asplund is a great writer, and it will be interesting to see how this change affects him.

Larry also leaves us with a final question:

One of the things I find interesting is that a lot of the things our young friends on the City Business Church blog find objectionable (or at least laughable) are due to the growing influence of the 30-somthing leaders in the church.  At one point Frank decided to give increased influence to the younger pastors.  The high-tech features (including simulcast), branding, etc., are not features of Baby Boomer style.  CBC (and PBC) has become a GenX context.

Therefore, I'm very interested in the seemingly radical differences between our 20-something leaders (who are not GenXers) and the 30-somethings. 

Any thoughts?

While searching the internet, I accidentally stumbled upon the following blog written by a young woman who attends City Bible Church. She has one post that is fascinating. It was written about two months ago and I am going to post her blog with my own thoughts after. She starts off discussing random issues and then breaks into a discussion of church.

When I am in City Bible I truly feel like I am in a community and part of a kingdom larger than myself, larger than our little church. ("little church?" hmmm… still must not be growing.)

It is thrilling and wonderful. The music was good but Brian Bennace didn't do any kind of specials. (sigh… Brian Bennece… how I would love to meet that guy.) (I think she means Brian Bettis. And I have come to the conclusion that no man at City Bible makes women swoon like Mr. Bettis. JP's wife refers to him as the Christian Justin Timberlake)

And they did anointing tunnels at the end. I haven't done one in YEARS. I was very very happy because the Mogen's and the Wade's were praying in the tunnel that was right next to our section. And of course, they are the ones I want to pray for me. (I think she means Morgan. And let me tell you, when JP and I used to attend City Bible, nothing delighted us more than watching Mr. Morgan pray.)

But people kept cutting and crowding into our line so we had to wait for like an hour to get prayed for! It was alright, though. I was pleased because almost everyone who prayed for me knew me and that was a nice feeling and even though none of it was earth shakingly new revelation I was blessed by a lot of the prayers. Three of them (without hearing the others) prayed that I would have huge amounts of money come through for my "projects" without having to do much work. (Imagine that. Three prayers, all independent of each other, all praying that you get rich quick without work. …sigh…)

And Carolyn prayed almost a repeat of the prayers that were said for me at the Asplund's on Friday night, that I would just rest and relax and that I am to be patient in this time of the unknown and not rush God for answers about my future. So alright… I can do that, I guess. It makes me feel like less of a loser for being so unsure about what on earth to do. (I feel the same way. It's called being human.)

James Asplund also gave me a word that was RIGHT on about using my prayer language in my morning devotions. Which is something I almost never do, though I couldn't say why. So I will start doing that now. It was silly of me not to! (James Asplund should meet Cheryl Morton. She was also of the "You should pray in tongues in the morning" school of thought. In fact, when I was homeschooled, that was our PE class: Praying in Tongues.)

So mostly I felt really loved by everyone who prayed for me. Which was pretty cool. (Actually that is cool, and really what prayer is all about.)

Larry Wade told me when he was done praying, "You are a very loveable person. There's just something about you that makes me love you. And want to hug you!" And my literal first thought reaction to that comment was, "You only think that because I have brown eyes and that reminds you of a dog and dogs are generally 'loveable'." Isn't that sick? Why would that be my first thought? Something that completely perverts the compliment and disregards it. That was literally my GUT reaction. (I really like this girl. That is one of the most honest genuine reactions I have ever heard. Completely unpretentious. I tend to think this girl is more spiritually grounded than the Wades or the Morgans, who are really just Tony Robbins wannabe's.)

My brother Jesse just forwarded me

a link to THE.BEST.NEWSARTICLE.EVER!  (Sorry Zach.)  Last weekend, there was an Aquire the Fire rally at the Portland Coliseum. And the Portland Mercury sent out a reporter to cover the event. It was no Generation Unleashed, but a good time nonetheless. The reporter makes some incredible observations. (I'll be honest, I wish I had written the article.) Also, as my brother Jesse mentions, the pictures are too good. As always, I challenge you to read the whole thing, but let me share a paragraph to whet your appetite:

While eating lunch yesterday, I picked up a small Christian tract that someone had left on the table next to me. The tract asked two simple questions?

Are you a good person? And then Are you good enough to get into Heaven?

I have a little experience with these types of questions, as I spent much of childhood at Pioneer Square and Saturday Market passing out Christian Evanglical tracts.  And let me tell you, if the first question on one of these tracts is "Are you good enough?" I can pretty much gaurantee the final answer is going to be "no".  There is no way a Christian Tract is going to conclude with, "Yep you lived a pretty good life. No worries. You're getting into Heaven."

But I looked at that second question and immediately thought, No. I'm not good enough. That's the whole point. We are saved by the Grace of God, not by our actions. 

The tract is published by Living Waters and is sponsored by Kirk Cameron. I am not sure I want Mike Seaver telling me whether or not I am good enough to get into Heaven.

I guess I just tend to think that the days of the judgemental Christian Tract are over. You win people to Christ by sharing His love, not threatening them with Hell.