Let’s face it. Christian men are a bunch of pussies. They have allowed the feminists to take over the Church and now the men in the Church have become a bunch of latte sipping, weak muscled, small dick, little boys. Flowered shirt wearing preachers are the worst.
This problem must be fixed immediately. If left unchallenged women might actually take over the pulpit, the boardroom, and the bedroom and expect equality.
So what’s the answer?
Wait for it.
Here it comes.
Christian MMA.
Yep, that’s the answer. Time to turn all those little boys into ass kicking, ear deforming, blood letting, marital arts specialists. (disclaimer: this is not an attack on MMA, boxing, and martial arts)
In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer.
Before the Cage Assault bout in Memphis, Mr. Lane got his hands taped by Pastor John Renken of Xtreme Ministries.
“Father, we thank you for tonight,” he said. “We pray that we will be a representation of you.”
An hour later, a member of his flock who had bowed his head was now unleashing a torrent of blows on an opponent, and Mr. Renken was offering guidance that was not exactly prayerful.
“Hard punches!” he shouted from the sidelines of a martial arts event called Cage Assault. “Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!”
The young man was a member of a fight team at Xtreme Ministries, a small church near Nashville that doubles as a mixed martial arts academy. Mr. Renken, who founded the church and academy, doubles as the team’s coach. The school’s motto is “Where Feet, Fist and Faith Collide.”
Mr. Renken’s ministry is one of a small but growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts — a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles — to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low. Mixed martial arts events have drawn millions of television viewers, and one was the top pay-per-view event in 2009.
Recruitment efforts at the churches, which are predominantly white, involve fight night television viewing parties and lecture series that use ultimate fighting to explain how Christ fought for what he believed in. Other ministers go further, hosting or participating in live events.
The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing. “Compassion and love — we agree with all that stuff, too,” said Brandon Beals, 37, the lead pastor at Canyon Creek Church outside of Seattle. “But what led me to find Christ was that Jesus was a fighter.”
The outreach is part of a larger and more longstanding effort on the part of some ministers who fear that their churches have become too feminized, promoting kindness and compassion at the expense of strength and responsibility.
“The man should be the overall leader of the household,” said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group. “We’ve raised a generation of little boys.”
These pastors say the marriage of faith and fighting is intended to promote Christian values, quoting verses like “fight the good fight of faith” from Timothy 6:12. Several put the number of churches taking up mixed martial arts at roughly 700 of an estimated 115,000 white evangelical churches in America. The sport is seen as a legitimate outreach tool by the youth ministry affiliate of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 churches…
…Yet even among more experimental sects, mixed martial arts has critics.
“What you attract people to Christ with is also what you need to get people to stay,” said Eugene Cho, 39, a pastor at Quest Church, an evangelical congregation in Seattle. “I don’t live for the Jesus who eats red meat, drinks beer and beats on other men…”
…Over the past year and a half, a subculture has evolved, with Christian mixed martial arts clothing brands like Jesus Didn’t Tap (in the sport, “tap” means to give up) and Christian social networking Web sites like Anointedfighter.com…
…Roughly 100 young men, many sporting shaved heads and tattoos, attend fight parties at Canyon Creek near Seattle, watching bouts on the church’s four big-screen televisions. Vendors hustle hot dogs and “Predestined to Fight” T-shirts. About half are not church members but heard about the parties through friends, said Mr. Beals, who is known as the Fight Pastor.
Men ages 18 to 34 are absent from churches, some pastors said, because churches have become more amenable to women and children. “We grew up in a church that had pastel pews,” said Tom Skiles, 37, the pastor of Spirit of St. Louis Church in Arnold, Mo. “The men fell asleep…”
So women are the problem but who is it that is running the Church? MEN.
Men don’t come to Church? Who is at fault? The women. Now, once again who is running the Church? MEN.
Men should be offended and incensed that they are reduced to a Tarzan caricature.
I am a man’s man. I am a jock. I love sports. I used to hunt. I like porn. (oops scratch that) I believe in standing up for my family and protecting them. I am not afraid to threaten violence when needed, especially when cut off in traffic. 
Yet, I cry easily. I love chick flicks. I like a good book. (real men don’t read) I don’t like violent movies. I don’t like MMA or boxing.
Instead of promoting a homogenous view of men in the Church how about allowing men to be themselves, with all their contradictions.
I have talked to more than a few men who are sickened by the macho men approach many pastors and churches are adopting . They don’t fit the macho man mold. They LIKE silk underwear. They don’t know who won what game when or where. They couldn’t tell you the difference between a foul shot and a slap shot.
Yet, they are men. Real men. Men who love their families, their wife, their children. They support their parents. They respect their neighbors and love their fellow man.
Manhood is not defined by who you beat the shit out of.
Plus, I think it’s important to mention that not everyone into the martial arts is this aggressive, over the top macho type person.
I have a son who is probably about one of the most sensitive,compassionate guys I know, really sweet. Right now he’s doing short term missions, working with orphaned little kids in Mexico.
Yet, he is extremely into this Brazilian jui-jitsu, and is quite good at it.
**a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles — to reach and convert young men**
Do they not at all see the discrepancy in using violence to attract people to a church whose head is known as “The Prince of Peace?” That they’re using violence, period, to appeal to men?
Does anyone else get the feeling that if people like this lived 2,000 years ago, they would’ve abandoned Jesus right around the time he said to turn the other cheek? And if not then, then when Jesus was crucified and didn’t fight back?
Violenct martial arts fighting in Jesus’ name? Why not?
Most other pop culture trends are adopted by evangelicals pretty quickly, to show that christians can be just as “with it” as the secular world. Remember heavy metal, grunge, hip-hop, etc? They all have christian equivalents.
Even Moses David Berg (Children of God) had his “Hookers For Jesus” (or was it “Holy Hookers”?).
I’m waiting for the first christian porno film to appear. Gives the term “Rapture” a whole new meaning! But please send it in a plain brown wrapper!
Wes,
These days nothing surprises me, and I mean nothing.
Bruce
Yeah, the “Jesus didn’t tap” guys in MMA really get on my nerves. I see those shirts and I think, “yeah, he didn’t tap, he DIED”. Or “he was never in a Rear Naked Choke, either!”
As for violent martial arts in Jesus’ name, fits him perfectly. Read some of the things he actually said in the NT.
Hilarious. I can’t stop thinking of the priest in Dead Alive – “I kick ass for the LORD!”
Why does it have to be a game? Why can’t there be a good mix in all of us of good, realistic, raw, human emotions, qualities, fears, etc. Why are we still labeling everything ‘male’ or ‘female’(and don’t even say UNISEX!)? Why can’t people just be real, themselves and accept it instead of trying to live up to religious rules and expectations that are unreasonable?
Gratefully, Ryan Dobson is one of only two off-spring of Dr. James Dobson. We can all be grateful Dr. Dobson and his wife were not influenced by the Quiverfull Movement.
And cultural definitions of manhood based on unreasonable expectations of both men and women
Amy,
Yes a world where we just get to be who we are, where everything is not controlled and shaped by the “rules” of sexuality and religion.
Granted every culture has its own set of social rules. This does not mean those rules should not be challenged.
Who it is that decided cereal is only for breakfast?
Bruce
I looked at the website. ‘Fight Pastor’ makes every alarm in my gaydar go off. Seems like someone may be having a little identity crisis. Just my opinion.
As someone who just recently left the Evangelical church (and it was long overdue, but that’s another story…), I can tell you that I never felt like women were taking over the church. Actually, it was quite the contrary. Every Sunday I was reminded how men were ‘in charge’ and women were not looked upon as equals. I don’t know how they can use the term ‘feminized’ when describing the traditional evangelical church. It’s quite the opposite, actually. And this surge of ‘machismo’ will only make it worse.
R-Liz,
Correct. I never “saw” this feminization they talk about.
I saw the whole “macho” Church men movement as just another opportunity for men to act like children. (and we sure don’t need any MORE opportunities)
They don’t seem to understand that a man can be a good man and NOT hunt, fish, love sports and MMA. (and those things are fine in and of themselves) A Good man is defined by what he loves and what he is willing to defend. (his wife, children, family)
Bruce
Yeah, I’m a girl, but I agree that the church is too feminized. Everyone (men and women) should read the book “No More Christian Nice Guy.” It shows that Jesus was a good man, not a nice man. It also shows how the church (in general) took masculinity away from Men. This book changed the way I feel about worship services. They are way too prissy. Songs should not go on and on and on, trying to take everyone into a trance. Get that book and read it, and then you’ll know what to do at your local church.
Who made those men they way you say they are? Feminists?
Seems like MEN made MEN the way they are. After all they are the one’s running the show.
Please explain to me how singing songs over and over is feminine and robs men of their masculinity?
You are redefining the word nice, using it as Paul Coughlin, the author of No More Christian Nice Guy does. Nice becomes someone who is passive and fearful.
Here is an interview Coughlin did. I will leave to others to judge his view. I don’t disagree with everything he says. He still presents a distorted view of what a man is, should be. Way too stereotypical.
Women should be worried, Men think women have taken over the Church. If you think Church is bad now just wait until the male dominated Church is REALLY controlled by men. Are you ready to rumble.
This will fail. Here’s the dirty secret about Church. Men may make the rules, preach the sermons, vote, and control the money but WOMEN do the grunt work. Lose the women and the Church dies. (or it turns into the Red and Green Show)
Bruce
http://www.crosswalk.com/1366977/
Bruce– I went to your link on Coughlin, and he painted with such a broad (and negative) brush, I immediately thought– “Okay, this guy has some baggage with women.” And, sure enough, when I read the reviews on his book, I found out that his mother physically and emotionally abused him. No wonder he feels the way he does. But it sure doesn’t mean his experience is typical and should be the example for all relationships between men and women. (I also liked how one reviewer said this book was obviously cathartic and therapeutic for Coughlin, and he’d recommend it to someone else who comes from an abusive past, but didn’t find it fitting for the average guy.)
I think the point that being a Christian doesn’t mean being a doormat is a good one (but I actually think women suffer more from this than do men. The women in our church with ass-husbands well outnumbered the men in our church with ass-wives). I haven’t read it in awhile, but I remember appreciating the book “Boundaries” on this matter.
And for the record, I also don’t see how singing a song over and over is feminine. I assure you, I don’t enjoy singing like that. And when that was done in churches I’ve been a part of, we were being led by men.
Bruce– thank you for calling the church out on stuff like this. I am SO TIRED of feeling overlooked and under-appreciated by my ‘brothers in Christ.’ Honestly, it’s one of the things I’m most bitter about now that I’ve stepped away from church.
http://fightpastor.com/2010/02/08/breaking-the-silence-fight-pastor-responds-to-the-new-york-times/
I think the fight pastor got more attention than he planned on. And now he wants to pass himself off as just an ordinary Joe. I ain’t buying it and I don’t buy his version of Jesus. His Jesus is of his own making. Most everybody in the Christian Church does it. They fashion and form Jesus into their own likeness. In the Fighting pastor’s case Jesus is a kick ass MMA fighter. My Jesus is a pacifist sage who walks the countryside doing good. He could kick the ass of the MMA Jesus but he wants to show people a better way so he refrains from doing so.
Inherent in MMA is violence. Violence is antithetical to the message and life of Jesus. (outside of the whole cleansing the temple incident. No Jesus is perfect)
Counterpoint: whatever the nature of his vision of Jesus, and whatever the merits of showing MMA/UFC events at a church, if his post is correct in even the broadest outline of its facts… then it sounds as if the Times rather badly misrepresented his interest in MMA and his use of it in his ministry. Having seen our local news do much the same thing – why let the facts get in the way of a good story? – I don’t find it hard to believe that things may have gone down much the way FightPastor says they did.
That’s not to endorse showing MMA broadcasts at church or having a MMA-based ministry. I think that’s rather silly, as the two just don’t work together terribly well; but then, people are silly. (On the other hand, I don’t see any particular contradiction in being both a Christian and a MMA fighter, either. For some people, channeling their aggressions into a controlled environment helps them be calmer and more peaceful in the rest of their lives.)
And FightPastor could have tried to use this attention to build up his ministry, fame, and/or fortune. He doesn’t sound like he wants to do that. All things considered, I just don’t see this a glaring condemnation of his ministry or his character. (There may or may not be other reasons to disagree with, or even condemn, his approach; but the MMA thing strikes me as more of a silly quirk than a real problem. Misguided, but not really harmful.)
As usual, that’s just my opinion, so take it with as much salt as you feel is necessary.
Nobody gives a damn about your hateful site, “Bruce”. I wouldn’t fight for you or any of your pussy-boy priests. Religion is over, get used to it. No one gives a shit except all the crazies, and they’re on their way out with the teabaggers. I’ll still be voting for Obama in 2012. He knows what to do and IS doing it. He’s a smart, peaceful man whose religion I respect. I don’t respect yours though, simply because your version is just another way to use Black men as pawns for white people just like you crazy people have done in Uganda.
White people have used religion across the centuries to control their African populations. Well, not this Negroe. I don’t subscribe to evil intentions that come from supposed men of God.It’s obvious that you want to incite violence using BLACK men. this way, you end up in jail and white man goes off to find another Black sucker.
Learn to leave others alone with your hate-mongering and get on producing more small-penis children (according to your own observation). No one cares about this stuff. It is truly getting old. Please find more constructive things to do with your life.
Errol,
You might to check my site stats if you think no one cares. If no one reads how is it fight pastor “found” my poor, little unread blog.
I hope you realize how ignorant you sound in this comment.
It is evident you have not bothered to take one moment to know who I am. If you had you would have realized….
I am not a Christian. I am an agnostic.
I write OFTEN in support of civil rights and racial equality.
I voted for Obama. (and publicly campaigned for him)
If you had bothered to read my posts on what happened in Haiti you would realize I support your view on race and Africa.
But, all you did was run over here and prove you are a fanboy..
If you want to have a rational discussion on the issues raised by my post then comment appropriately.
If not consider your comment your first and last comment. I have no patience for people who are unwilling or unable to rationally engage those they disagree with.
Bruce
PS. small penis? metaphorical use of the word.
He’s a fan, lol. What a joke these people are.
Bruce –
I am a member of the fight pastor’s church. This time last year, I was attending a church in central Virginia. I am a Christian, and a Democrat. I voted for Obama. I have protested the Iraq war. I have read every book written by David Sedaris. I carve out time in my busy life for Jon Stewart AND Ira Glass. I have no interest in MMA. (Though I’ve always loved hockey, which can be just as violent)
And yet, attending this church, I have felt more free to be myself in a religious setting than ever before. To me, Pastor Beals’ embracing MMA and MMA culture and merging that with his office IS embracing the contradictions inherent in being a Christian man. He presents all aspects of his personality to the church, and removes himself from being an object of worship (something a lot of pastors ought to do). In doing so, he makes it safe for us to be ourselves in return.
To me, these things shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter what sports we like or dislike, or how we dress, or the music we listen to, what party we vote for, or even our opinions on hot-button issues. The only thing that should matter is our willingness to follow Christ and his teachings. It is that and that alone that makes us Christians.
Jeff,
Thanks for commenting.
I agree with everything you say here.
That said, it seems many people have forgotten the “context” of my post. The post wasn’t about the fight pastor or his Church. In fact I never mention the fight pastor apart from what the Times Article says
The point of my post was the perceived idea that the Church has become feminized and that things like MMA are the answer.
Bruce
Thanks R-Liz.
I want a world where people are free to be who they are. Men like women come in all shapes and sizes. I am tired of stereotypes. (like commercials that portray men as bungling idiots)
Bruce
My hubby and I were talking about that the other night. I swear, 98% of commercials nowadays cast men in bumbling fool, idiotic roles. It’s getting very old. The other commercial I HATE is the one where the know-it-all, newly skinnified woman visits the tailor to have her clothes taken-in and the seamstress that assists her is chunky and acts ignorant.