Radical Womanhood Audio Up

We've posted the audio to our recent conference with Caroyn McCulley on Radical Womanhood.

Her session titles were:

• Session 1: Men Aren't the Problem
• Session 2: The Importance of Home
• Session 3: The Mommy Wars

Win a free copy of Adopted for Life.

Ligon Duncan endorsement of Carolyn McCulley

Carolyn was once deeply influenced by feminist thinking, but came to see the bankruptcy of that worldview. She wants you to understand why much of what women learn about what it means to be a woman in today's culture (whether it is taught in college, read or heard via the media, or assumed in society) leads to a dead end. More importantly, she wants you to know why the Bible's view of womanhood inspires joy and peace.
~J Ligon Duncan

Hear Carolyn McCulley speak at The Northbrook Conference for Women, October 16-17.

Early registration ends Friday...

Early registration for our women's conference ends Friday!

Mark Dever endorsement of Carolyn McCulley

Carolyn McCulley is a gifted communicator and a careful student of Scripture and of the feminist movement. She's also delightful. I thank God for her ministry!

~Mark Dever

Hear Carolyn McCulley speak at The Northbrook Conference for Women, October 16-17, in Cedar Rapids.

Al Mohler endorsement for Carolyn McCulley

Carolyn McCulley is a great speaker with a radical idea - that the Biblical understanding of womanhood is a radical vision that confounds the culture and conveys grace. She is a Biblical voice for the recovery of Biblical womanhood.
~Albert Mohler

Hear Carolyn McCulley speak at The Northbrook Conference for Women, October 16-17, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Carolyn & CJ Mahaney endorsement of Carolyn McCulley

Few voices are speaking the truth contained in these pages--but so many need to hear it. Amidst our culture's radical confusion about womanhood, Carolyn teaches the radical truth of God's wise and gracious design for women.
~Carolyn and CJ Mahaney

Hear Carolyn McCulley speak at The Northbrook Conference for Women, October 16-17, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss Endorsement of Carolyn McCulley

"As a young woman, Carolyn McCulley eagerly embraced many of the tenets of our "feminist world." A personal encounter with Christ radically changed her life and led her to pursue what it means to live as a redeemed woman. This book [Radical Womanhood] is the fruit of her journey. Her keen observations and thoughtful analysis explain the seismic shift brought about in our culture by the feminist revolution. Her biblical insight makes this a valuable resource for women who want to fulfill their created mission and live out the radical implications of the Gospel in a fallen world."

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Hear Carolyn McCulley speak at The Northbrook Conference for Women, October 16-17, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Conference Speaker: Carolyn McCulley

Carolyn McCulley is the author of two books, Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in Feminist World (Moody Publishers, 2008) and Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Trusting God with a Hope Deferred (Crossway, 2004). Carolyn is also a contributor to Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor (Crossway, 2005), and to Focus on the Family's Boundless webzine. She is a frequent conference speaker for women's ministry events and also maintains a blog, Radical Womanhood.

For ten years, Carolyn served as the media specialist for Sovereign Grace Ministries, based in Gaithersburg, MD. Now she is the founder of a documentary company, Citygate Films. She is a member of Covenant Life Church and is the proud aunt of six nieces and nephews.

Hear Carolyn speak at The Northbrook Conference for Women in Cedar Rapids, October 16-17.

The Northbrook Conference for Women

Our church is hosting a fall conference for women, featuring guest speaker Carolyn McCulley.

Please visit the website for more information on schedule, registration, etc.

Pass the word along to your family, your church, and your friends!

Save the Date! Northbrook Women's Conference with Carolyn McCulley

On October 16-17, Northbrook Baptist Church will hold a conference for women. Carolyn McCulley, author of Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye and Radical Womanhood, will be our guest speaker. She will address the topic "Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World."

Please save the date. Check back at the website for details and registration information, coming soon.

Free Audio Available for 9Marks Workshop at The Northbrook Conference

Northbrook Baptist Church recently hosted a 9Marks Workshop, led by Matt Schmucker and Jonathan Leeman of 9Marks.

I can honestly say that it was one of the best and most worthwhile events that I have attended as a pastor. I would highly recommend visiting the schedule page on their website and planning to attend a 9Marks Workshop.

9Marks has graciously allowed us to post the audio from the six sessions online, for you to listen to for free. Enjoy attending a "virtual-workshop" here:

• Session 1 - What We Want: For the Church to Display the Gospel
• Session 2 - What We Do Not Want: To Think We Are Wiser Than God
• Session 3 - How to Build: Preaching and Biblical Theology
• Session 4 - How to Build: Conversion and Evangelism
• Session 5 - How to Enjoy Life Together: Membership and Discipline
• Session 6 - How to Enjoy Life Together: Leadership

May the Lord be glorified in the health of His church!

9Marks Workshop in Cedar Rapids

There is still time to register for the 9Marks workshop to be held at Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, October 8-9.

Encourage your pastor to attend!

Ligon Duncan: "I heartily commend this workshop..."

Pastors are bombarded today by a seemingly endless array of church growth experts, hawking the latest fads, and giving breathless advice about what a church needs to be and to do if it is going to be dynamic, relevant and successful. Well, in the midst of the cacophony, it's nice to find a sane, balanced, biblical, and experienced voice to help guide us in thinking about God's plan for church health. That is precisely what 9Marks does. 9Marks is a ministry of the church, by the church, to the church, for the church. I don’t know anyone doing a better job out there on this vitally important subject. I heartily commend this workshop on “Building Healthy Churches.” It will be a great help and encouragement to pastors, elders, and others concerned about seeing the biblical priorities of the local church fleshed out.

• Ligon Duncan - Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi

Mark Dever: "...a compelling, biblical, exciting and faithful series of presentations!"

"Matt Schmucker and Jonathan Leeman have done a wonderful job taking their years of experience, theological training and relationships with many pastors, combining it with the 9Marks material and giving us a compelling, biblical, exciting and faithful series of presentations! I look forward to seeing how the Lord will use them in this."

Mark Dever, pastor, author 9 Marks of a Healthy Church

The Northbrook Conference - Past & Future

(Be sure to read to the end for the announcement of our next conference!)

I enjoyed our spring conference. I was able to meet a few pastors that I knew only by websites and email, which was nice. Randy Stinson is a remarkably friendly guy and, aside from his near utter obsession with baseball, quite likable. I've received a lot of good feedback from those who attended.

I found something in each session helpful. However, I was reminded what a complex and in-depth issue this is. Even with six sessions, Randy was only able to touch on the surface of the issues. While I am sure that there are egalitarians out there, chomping at the bit to critique this point and that, it was a good layman's level introduction with practical application.

I would strongly encourage pastors in other areas of the country to contact CBMW about putting on similar events in your churches. I believe that a dozen of these conferences strategically spread across the country would do the church in America a wealth of good.

I'm excited that this Fall (October 8-9) Northbrook Baptist Church will be hosting 9Marks for a 9Marks Regional Workshop on Building Healthy Churches. Be sure to check the Northbrook Conference webpage for details in the future.

For now, here is the description of a 9Marks Workshop from their webpage:

What is a 9Marks Workshop?

When speaker schedules permit, 9Marks now travels to different regions in the United States and abroad in order to present approximately six sessions on building biblical churches. Usually, we travel in response to someone’s invitation to come address groups of pastors, church leaders, or seminarians.

The six Workshop sessions were designed to be presented in a noon to noon format, yet they are also adaptable to different time frameworks. On one occasion, they were stretched out over two and a half days, with an extra panel discussion thrown in. In the vast majority of circumstances, 9Marks asks hosts to handle registration and meals and/or refreshments, as well as much of the advertising and marketing in the host’s own region.

The sessions themselves are divided into three parts of two sessions each:

* Foundations of a Biblical Church: (1) Displaying God’s Glorious Gospel and (2) Listening to His Word
* Building of a Biblical Church: (3) Preaching & Biblical Theology and (4) Conversion & Evangelism
* Life Together in a Biblical Church: (5) Membership & Discipline and (6) Leadership

Kind of like the division between your high school chemistry lecture and lab, every Workshop session aims to cover both theory and practice. Pastors want to “Get the Point” (theory) but they almost always ask us how do they “Get From Here to There” (practice). So we address both in each session.

Who are the speakers presenting the Workshops?

The speakers 9Marks sends will vary from Workshop to Workshop, depending primarily on schedule availability but also on geographic location. Smaller Workshops may receive one or two speakers. Larger workshops may receive three or four speakers. Yet Workshop invitations will always be addressed on a case by case basis.

Typically, we prefer to have at least one full-time pastor and at least one full-time 9Marks representative presenting our Workshops.

Audio: The Northbrook Conference on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Audio files from Randy Stinson's talks at The Northbrook Conference on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood are available for free download and listening:

• Session 1: Why Gender Matters
• Session 2: Gender in the Home
• Session 3: Gender in the Church
• Session 4: Men Leading in the Home
• Session 5: Raising Masculine Sons and Feminine Daughters
• Session 6: Bible Translation and Gender
• Conference Sermon: How Should We Respond? (Pastor Eric Schumacher)

Update: To download--open the link, which will be a SermonCloud page. You will see options for downloading and listening.

Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: How Should We Respond?

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached April 29, 2007 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio available here.

If I were to give you a blank sheet of paper and ask you to define what it means to be a biblical man and a biblical woman, would you be able to do it? Would you be able to complete the sentences, “Biblical manhood involves…” and “Biblical womanhood involves…”? And, if you could define them, could you support those definitions from Scripture?

Most of us could define our jobs. Most of us have probably received some sort of education for our employment. Most of us are probably devoted thought to how to be become better at what we do. Yet, most of us have probably spent little time considering what biblical manhood and womanhood is and how we might develop in that area.

Isn’t that strange? Careers last 20-30-45 years, a portion of your life at best. Yet, for what portion of your life will you be a male or a female? For all of it.
Doesn’t it seem appropriate that we would put at least some serious thought and effort into understanding biblical manhood and womanhood and developing it appropriately?

A Biblical Vision
Dr. Randy Stinson spent some time this weekend helping us to develop a big-picture vision of the Bible’s teaching on manhood and womanhood. This conference was not exhaustive. Randy obviously did not and could not address every passage, every issue and every nuance of manhood and womanhood.

What he did do was to lay out the ground work for understanding what gender is about and why it is important. I will not rehash Dr. Stinson’s teaching and arguments this morning. (You can get the audio, if you would like to listen to that.) But, to summarize what he showed that the Bible teaches, I will offer the following:

The Bible teaches that:

• God created man in the image of God, male and female.
• God established in creation and affirmed in redemption the equality of men and women in personhood and worth.
• God established in creation and affirmed in redemption a difference in the roles and authority of men and women.
• Men are to exercise headship selflessly and lovingly by taking primary responsibility for leadership, provision and protection, as a model of Jesus Christ in the church and home.
• Women are to submit respectfully by affirming, receiving and encouraging appropriate godly leadership, provision and protection, as a model of the church in the church and home.
• In the church, certain positions of authority and teaching are reserved for called and qualified men.

I am convinced that this is what the Bible teaches. The question that I want to address this morning is this: How should we respond?

I want to begin to answer that question by looking at a passage that, on the surface, appears to have nothing to do with manhood and womanhood, Isaiah 66:1-4:

Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. "He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight."

In this passage, we see at least four things:
1) God is the Sovereign Creator.
He reigns over what he created.

2) The one to whom the Lord shows his favor is the one who submits to the Lord’s sovereign rule with proper affections.
When the Lord looks out across the earth, what kind of person catches his attention and pleases him? What kind of person receives his favor? Answer: “He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

“Contrite in spirit” is another way of expressing “humility.” A “contrite spirit” is one that is broken and struck down, and therefore submits to the authority of another.

This humility expresses itself in relation to the Lord’s word. Notice the phrase here. The Lord does not say, “does my word.” He says, “trembles at my word.” The response is at the level of the affections.

3) The Lord is pleased with those who delight in what he delights in.
In verse 3, we see reference to one who chooses a degree of outward conformity to a portion of the Lord’s word. He “slaughters an ox” and “sacrifices a lamb” and “presents a grain offering” and “makes a memorial offering of frankincense.” We could go through the Law and find where each of these is commanded by the Lord.

All of these things, which the Lord commanded, were being done. Yet, the Lord was not pleased with them. In fact, he says that these acts of “worship” were no better than pagan worship. They were like murder, sacrificing a dog or pig’s blood or worshipping an idol.

And why? “These have chosen their own ways…” If we look back through the book of Isaiah, we would see that Israel had become a rebellious people. They were faithless, rebellious, proud, sarcastic, selfish. They made elaborate outward shows of their formal religion, keeping festivals and making sacrifices, while they neglected caring for the poor and the hungry, worshipped idols and feared man.

What catches my attention is the last half of this indictment—“their soul delights in their abominations.” Here is the Lord speaking at the level of affections again. He delights in the one who “trembles” at his word. They “delighted” in abomination.

The Lord promises to bring them harsh treatment and fear because they refused to listen to his word, did what was evil in his eyes, and they chose that in which the Lord did not delight. There is the level of affections again. It is sin to choose that in which the Lord does not delight.

The Lord requires his people to respond to his word with proper affections. Our affections should, in some sense, match the Lord’s affections. In terms of living, we should be disgusted by that which disgusts the Lord. And, we should take delight in that which the Lord delights.

God is not pleased with begrudging, joyless obedience. One example—Deuteronomy 28:47-48:

Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Notice that his passage does not say that they will be destroyed because they did not serve the Lord. It is more specific. It says that they will be destroyed because the “did not serve the Lord…with joyfulness and gladness of heart.” It is not enough to do what the Lord says. We are to embrace his commands with happy hearts.

We are to love God’s instructions and obey him with joy. The type of relationship to God’s word that is commended in the Word of God is a relationship that involves the affections. That is why we must not delight in abominations. That is why he wants us to tremble at his word. Consider these examples from Psalm 119:

14-16 - In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
20 - My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
35 - Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
46-48 - I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love…
92 - If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Notice that that last verse did not say, “If your law had not been what I did,” but “had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” Obedience without joy will lead to death.

Our Response
This has application in the realm of gender. The Lord delights in his creation of gender—man as male and female, equal and yet different. Therefore, we should respond by embracing biblical manhood and womanhood with trembling and delight.

My concern this morning is not so much whether we will adopt right roles in our churches and in our homes. (That is a concern, but not my main concern this morning.) We’re Southern Baptists here—we’re the ones with the controversial statement on the pastorate being limited to qualified men and the statement on husbands leading and wives submitting.

My concern is not so much whether we will outwardly conform to a pattern. My concern is whether we will love conforming to that pattern.

God delights in his creation of gender.
In Genesis 1:27 we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God created man male and female. That was his choice and his design.

Further, we see in Genesis 2 that the Lord created Adam and Eve with distinct roles. Adam was created first and given an assignment. Eve was created second and as a helper for Adam. Adam exercised authority by naming Eve. The human race is named “man” (adam) after its head, “Adam.” The serpent tries to reverse the roles by approaching Eve, but God shows that Adam is the one who has primary responsibility by approaching him first. Adam is considered the representative head of man—“In Adam [not Eve], all die” (1 Cor 15:22). God made man and woman—and he made them distinct in role and function.

Further, we read of God’s assessment of his handiwork in Genesis 1:31: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Notice the completeness of what God “saw.” God did not see “some” or what he made. God did not see “most” of what he made. God saw “everything;” he saw “all” that he had made.

What is included in what God made? “Male and female he created them.” God did not did not just see light, day and night, the heavens, the land, the vegetation, the sun, moon and stars, the sea creatures and the birds, the livestock, the creeping things and the beasts of the earth. And, God did not just see “man.” God saw “everything”—which necessarily includes his seeing gender. He saw all that he had made—“male and female he created them.”

What is God’s assessment of distinct genders? “Behold, it was very good.” Gender distinctions are part of God’s pattern for perfect, pre-fall creation, a permanent fact. They please God.

Why?
We’re not told in Genesis 1 why the Lord thought that everything he made was “very good.” But, we can be confident that he made a right assessment.

We’re told in Psalm 19 that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” In other words, what God made tells us something of his glory.

As we move through the Scripture, we will discover that God delights in gender because gender reflects the Glory of God in His redeeming, covenant love for His people.

We get hints of the meaning of man and woman in the language used to describe the relationship between the Lord and his covenant people Israel.

Isaiah 54:4-6 …your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.
Isaiah 62:4-5 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Ezekiel 16:8 When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.
Hosea 2:7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.'

Granted, none of these passages explicitly say that the significance of manhood and womanhood is that it points to the relationship between the Lord and his covenant people as husband and wife. That is a mystery to be revealed later. However, looking back through the lens of the Gospel, we see it there. There were hints.

Paul tells us what gender is about when he discusses marriage in Ephesians 5:

Ephesians 5:22-27 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Paul very clearly says that the relationship between a husband and wife is not to be ordered by determining who is more capable or intelligent. He orders these gender distinctions by the pattern of the Gospel: as Christ is the head of his bride the church, so the husband is the head of his bride. As the church submits to her bridegroom Christ, the wife is to submit to her husband.

Paul makes this more explicit when he refers back to the creation account in Ephesians 5:31-32:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 and says that it—which is a conclusion of all that came before it—is a reference to Christ and the church.

The original, pre-fall distinctions between men and women were designed to display the Gospel—the redeeming, covenant love of God for his people. This is exactly what we see when we examine the bookends of redemptive history—Creation and New Creation. In the original creation, God meant for man to have headship and to be “helped” by his bride, who would be under his authority. And, this is what we read about the New Creation:

Revelation 19:6-9 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

When the heavens and the earth are created in Genesis 1, they are ruled by Adam, who is assisted by his bride, Eve. The New Heavens and the New Earth will be ruled by the New Adam—Christ—and at his side will be his Bride, his covenant people.

This is why God looks at gender (as part of “all” that he had made) and declares it to be “very good” — when God looked at gender, he saw his Son and his Son’s Bride.

An Emotional Issue
Manhood and womanhood ought to be an emotional issue for us, because manhood and womanhood evokes emotions in God. The Lord loves and delights in gender because it is a “very good” picture of Christ and the church. We should too.

We cannot be apathetic. God did not look at gender and yawn. God did not look at all that he had created and “behold, it was so-so, he could take it or leave it.” God thought that gender distinctions were very good. We should too.

We cannot wish it were different or worse, hate it. God did not look at all that he had made and say, “It is very good…except for man being male and female.” God creation was very good—and that creation included man and woman, equal as the image of God, yet distinct in their roles and function. We are called upon to chose what God delights in—which includes our understanding of gender.

We ought to love and delight in being men and women!
You who are Christian women ought to say, “God made me a woman! This is very good! And, I delight to be a woman according to the Word of God!”

We who are men ought to say, “God made me a man! This is very good! And, I delight to be a man according to the Word of God!”

This means that biblical manhood and womanhood must be…:
...carried out with joy.
Men must take responsibility to provide, protect and lead with joy. This means that real men do not grumble and murmur and complain that they must work to support their family or go downstairs to check out a strange noise. He does not complain and whine because his wife will not make up his mind for him. This means that called and qualified men take responsibility for teaching the church and leading her in obedience to Christ.

Women must affirm, receive and encourage godly male headship with joy. It is not to be murmured and complained about. It is to be affirmed with joy. It is not to be begrudgingly followed, but delighted in. It is not be nit-picked and criticized, but encouraged happily.

…taught with joy.
Manhood and womanhood are taught in the Bible. They are taught as a very good part of Creation. They are taught as an application of Redemption. We should not apologize for what the Bible says and be embarrassed of what God deemed “very good.” We should not be embarrassed to live out the Gospel.

...modeled with joy in each other.
If headship is a picture of God’s relation to his people, then how should men feel about women?

God is not glorified when we devalue women, as though he does not value his people!

God is not glorified when we make jokes about women, abuse and use them.

God is glorified when we lay down our lives to serve women for their betterment as Christ served the church to make her beautiful.

If submission is a picture of the church’s relation to Christ, then how should women feel about the men in authority over them?

God is not glorified when women reject and devalue men, as thought the Church rejects and does not value Christ.

God is not glorified when women make jokes about men, abuse and use them.

God is glorified when women intelligently and joyfully affirm, receive and encourage appropriate male leadership in the church and home.

...and mentored with joy.
Paul’s instructions in the New Testament indicates his desire for the older women to “train the young women” in what it means to be a woman (Titus 2:3-5). Timothy is to “entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (1 Tim 2:2).

Is manhood and womanhood intentionally being taught in the church today? Are there older women “training” the younger women in how to love their husbands? Are there men entrusting the teachings of Scripture to other men? This type of mentoring is a command. If we’re not doing it, we are disobeying the Scripture.

Is manhood and womanhood intentionally being joyfully modeled in the church and the home today? Can the children in our church and in our homes look up at we who are adults and say, “That is a what a Christian woman is. That is what a Christian man is. They are distinct. They relate in specific ways. And, it is beautiful. It is wonderful. It is very good. As a boy, I joyfully want to be like him. As a girl, I would delight to be like her.” Can our children look up to an abundance of joyful and clear examples of manhood and womanhood?

The Question
The questions that face us when considering biblical manhood and womanhood are simply these:

· Do we believe that God’s creational design of gender is very good?
· Do we delight in the Gospel—in Jesus Christ dying on the cross and rising from the dead to remove the blemishes of his bride and to redeem her for himself?
· If I am a woman, do I delight to preach the gospel through my portrayal of a respectfully submissive church by intelligently and joyfully affirming, receiving and encouraging appropriate male headship in the church and in the home?
· If I am man, do I delight to preach the Gospel by displaying the deep, deep love of Jesus for his Bride as I give myself up for good of those under my headship by taking primary responsibility for protection, provision and leadership in the church and in the home?

Gender is all about the redeeming, covenant love of God in Christ. Do we love to display that love?

Live-blogging at The Northbrook Conference

The Northbrook Conference on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood begins this evening at 6:15. Please come join us!

If you can't join us, Doug McHone will be posting his notes at CoffeeSwirls.

Live-Blogging @ The Northbrook Conference

I am pleased to announce that Doug McHone of CoffeeSwirls will be returning to live blog The Northbrook Conference. This means that Doug will be "taking notes of the sessions and attempting to convey the general atmosphere of the conference between them" on his blog in live-time.

Here is what Doug had to say about the importance of such conferences:

You will come away from the conference with a newfound respect for the gender roles that God has given us, both the role that God wants you to fulfill and the role that the opposite gender has in His plan. It is no mystery that worship follows knowledge. The more you understand God, the more you can appreciate Him. The more you understand the plans that God has for you, the more capable you are to live within His will.

Amen! See you there...

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Conference Session Topics

Here are the session topics/titles for Randy Stinson at the Northbrook Conference in Cedar Rapids, April 27-28.

Session One - Why Gender Matters
Session Two - Gender in the Home
Session Three - Gender in the Church
Session Four - Men Leading in the Home
Session Five - Bible Translation and Gender
Session Six - Can We Call God Mother?

Registration is now open. Register now (gift bags limited to the first 200!).