Please join us this Tuesday, January 29, from 6:45-8:00 AM in the community room at the Einstein Bagel at 531 Firstfield Road and Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg to hear Dave’s perspective on today’s culture and the issue of masculine identity.
In his blog, Authentice Manhood, Dave writes about the way we find our masculine identity in Jesus Christ:
MEN IN OUR CULTURE ARE IN TROUBLE
Masculinity is in crisis mode. The signs are everywhere. Men are confused and wavering. The stats on fatherlessness are alarming and growing. So is the sexual violence that seems to be aired everywhere. Everyone is pointing out symptoms or pointing fingers. I want to point to something else. I want to point to a door that has been opened. Men are predisposed to figure things out for themselves. But manhood resists all attempts to be figured out that way.
To enter it, a man must do something very different. He must learn to receive. He must let Himself be given three priceless gifts, ones he cannot earn, work for, or prove himself worthy of. They come as graces given in his time of need.
[These three priceless gifts] come from the One described as the indescribable gift, Jesus Himself. He took 12 men and gave them those three gifts: an identity in Him, a quest to build His kingdom, and a promise to be their guide through it all. They entered manhood this way. They became men like Him, chiseled into His image. Read More
DID GILLETTE GET IT RIGHT? Recently Gillette introduced an ad, “We Beilieve: The Best Men Can Be” – Gillette: “Bullying. Harassment. Is this the best a man can get? It’s only by challenging ourselves to do more, that we can get closer to our best. To say the right thing, to act the right way.”
Gillette has been bombarded with both praise and abuse after launching an advertising campaign promoting a new kind of positive masculinity. Engaging with the #MeToo movement, the company’s new advertising campaign plays on its 30-year tagline “The best a man can get”, replacing it with “The best men can be”. This has tapped a nerve in our society and raised some controversy.
Dave Brown is the Director and Pastor-at-Large of the Washington Area Coalition of Men’s Ministries (WACMM), a non-profit, non-denominational ministry to develop and encourage ministries to men in the mid-Atlantic region. Founded in 1999, WACMM is one of the oldest and largest coalitions of local men’s ministries in the nation.
Dave served thirty years in the Federal Government holding senior policy and management positions in the U.S. Congress, the Executive Office of the President and the Executive Branch, where he was a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES). From 1981-1989, he served as an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. Since 2001, Dave has served in pastoral roles in churches in our area, and currently serves on the leadership team of OneHeartDC.
