My "testimony" at worship on Sunday took an interesting turn. Although I had spent some time in the last few weeks journaling biographical details of my spiritual life, twists and turns in my "path" or my "walk", at the end I was uncomfortable with talking about myself. I didn't want to talk about Maharishi, the Jesuits, my doctoral dissertation, my leadership positions and roles in men's organizations. Pride is my favorite sin, and so I sounded too good to myself. As a result, I punted, turning my "talk" into a witness talk about the importance of men's ministry to the church.

Our reredos (the wall behind the altar) is a tableau. Arrayed on both sides of a life-sized Risen Christ statue (King of Kings) are 80% life-sized statues of all twelve apostles. All of them turn toward Christ in deference, six on each side of him in two rows of three, one row above the other. All defer to Christ except Peter and Matthias. Peter holds the keys to the kingdom and looks straight out from the wall at the church his work created. Matthias, Judas' replacement, looks to Peter. To Peter's left is John, the apostle Jesus loved. He defers to both Christ and Peter. The reredos is a drama to me. It shows the men's team that became the church. It shows that Jesus gave the keys, not to the intellect or the artist, but to the passion of Peter. Passionless Christianity is killing the American church. Passion-filled Christianity builds the church worldwide. The passion is not to "good works" but to Christ himself. This is Peter's legacy and our model.

Look at Peter a minute. He was impetuous, but an ardent seeker. As you remember, he was with John the Baptist and present at the baptism of Jesus. He then followed Jesus home, with Andrew, becoming one of the first apostles. What was his invitation? "Follow me". No intellectual discussion. But Peter, a man of the heart, followed his heart and followed Jesus.

Wherever we find Peter in the gospel accounts or even in Acts, we find his deep passion, his concentrated love for Christ. He was the one who when asked, "Who do you say I am?" gushed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." He is the one who tried to protect Jesus from the cross, attempting to turn him away from Jerusalem. Jesus called him Satan, completely rejecting his suggestion, but still loved him. Remember, Peter is the one who got out of the boat and walked on the water. He was the one who didn't run at first, but after a little swordplay, followed Jesus to the garden of Caiaphas where he betrayed him in great bitterness. Remember also that Peter was the one who delivered the Pentecost sermon that converted thousands and began the church. So, regardless of his weaknesses, he is THE MAN.

Dan Schaffer, my friend from Building Brothers believes strongly that the church's strength must be located in man's passion. In fact, he identifies the Old Testament roots of this concept in the selection of circumcision as the mark of the covenant. Without the passion of masculinity, located in this potent symbolic mark, Abraham's descendants would be few or none. A faith without turgor is nothing to build on. Flaccid faith is actually impotent. It will not grow. Passionless faith is not reproducible.

Creating spiritual fathers who "stand firm" and whose passion for the Lord is tangible requires a different attitude in men's ministry: the attitude of raising the bar when difficulty is encountered. Right now, the church lowers the bar whenever challenged, accomodating the culture and the puny commitment of the faithful, if they can be called faithful at all. This must be reversed.