"Chick-i-fied dudes"

I wrote a letter to Whitaker House Publishing. I haven't sent it yet, but here it is. Let me know if you see any modifications that would be helpful. I was inspired to write this based on my great Christmas present to my right and the video posted here.





Dear Whitaker House,
I am concerned about the Kingdom....not about being right, not about making a fuss about my preferences, but the Kingdom that Jesus is about. I know you all care about the same thing; so in light of that, I want to share a concern with you that I hope you will consider:

My mom gave me a great present for Christmas: Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon (printed by your company). The book is amazing, but what bothered me was its appearance. It is not a book geared towards one gender or the other; nor does it have study notes or commentary geared toward specifically males or females. Yet, the cover of the book was purple, pink, and gold, with a feminine font. Now honestly, I couldn’t care less about having a book that looks masculine or feminine; if it’s good, I’ll read it regardless without a thought about what it looks like. So why would I care about how it looks? Am I a sexist or one who wants his manhood affirmed? Neither. Here’s why this bothers me, why this issue must be discussed and prayed over, why this is worth my time trying to muster writing skills together to compose something that does not return void:

The number 1 demographic that does not attend church: males ages 18-35. Honestly, it makes sense. So many churches (if I may borrow/paraphrase some words of pastors Mark Driscoll, Anthony Bradley, and primarily Matt Adair) portray a feathered hair Jesus who wears a dress and talks in a fruity voice with a touchy/feely vibe. No wonder they feel weird following this guy. Men are looking for a hero, not a girlfriend. The church in 21st century America is largely failing to connect men to what they were created for, what men were created to fight for and stand for, and connect them to the greatest adventure this world has ever seen. The church and the church’s Jesus has become somewhat irrelevant to most men. Which is sad, because Jesus and His Kingdom is anything but irrelevant. Men need to be shown that this Jesus of the Scriptures is a blue-collar guy who swung a hammer for a living and is coming back one day like a UFC fighter with fire blazing in his eyes to fix and conquer everything that’s wrong with today’s world. The feel you get when you walk in to most Christian book stores and most Evangelical churches is anything but having to do with this Jesus. You have to admit this at least isn’t the most ideal situation. I believe your intentions and pursuits as a company are honorable and God-fearing. However, please consider that your unnecessarily feminine book covers may not be helping the issue at hand. The feminine appearance suggests that men wouldn’t care what’s inside. Or worse, (I understand, yet wish it wasn’t the case) that we will make more money if we market it to females. Which may be currently true; but if we want Christianity to impact all aspects of our culture, including the men, we can't act like masculinity is a sin and that men and Christianity don't mix. That’s why I want to bring this to your attention. Not to make you feel guilty but to hopefully shed light on some problems in our church and how you can at least help minimize them. I’d love to know your disagreements and thoughts. Thank you for hearing mine. Would we both set aside our preferences, traditions, and agendas to seek what is best for our God. To Christ be the Glory.

Martin Davis