Inviting all men
who consider themselves disciples of Jesus
to join me in a movement
to uproot shame from the entire Body of Christ
by the year 2040 A.D.

At the urging of several friends, I watched the movie War Room with my wife for our date night on September 9th.  It was a great movie, and it did inspire me to setup my own prayer closet and bring my strategic concerns to God.

However, the feminine setting of the movie made it difficult to translate the energy and passion I saw there into my own life.  At least for me — and I suspect most men — it is much easier to get excited about fighting against something rather than just for something.  Having a clear enemy, a well-defined objective, and a supportive team is the fastest way I know to rally a large group of men to make great sacrifices for a worthy cause.

The only enemy that I saw as big enough and important enough to motivate me to go through the hassles of trying to organize men was shame (which I had taken a run at before via Knight Club). Over the last few years, I have become appalled at how badly our churches (and especially our men) are being strangled by shame.  It drives addictions, kills marriages, poisons leadership, and splits churches. It has also completely destroyed our influence in society, which is perhaps our greatest shame.

Worse, our existing mechanisms don’t seem to be very effective.  Inspiring worship and powerful teaching can take away the sting of shame for a while, but are unable to truly uproot it.  Men’s ministries and one-on-one discipleship are helpful in raising up new Christians, but then plateau at the maturity level (i.e., shame threshold) of whoever is leading it.

The only setting where we’ve seen real success in confronting shame is 12-step recovery groups. Alas, most men will only go there after a catastrophic failure.  I want something more scalable and appealing, that would be effective at slowly but surely drawing men into bringing our deepest shames to the cross of Christ. Before they lose their marriages, self-respect, or souls.

I’m calling it “War Club” — a cross between War Room and Fight Club.  I’m planning to launch it for my 48th birthday, this coming October 8th.  A place where men kneel down to cry out to God, then rise up together to shoulder a great burden.

I have no idea how it will work.  I just know it is necessary.  And that if we do it right, it would change the world.

Who’s in?