Barlow Girl is an all woman Christian rock band and its one of the bands that Grayson and I both like to listen too. They have this one particular song which is really starting to hit home. The song is called, “Grey” and the first line of the song is as followed; “Grey is my favorite color”. Today I realized grey is about to be my favorite color as I noticed more and more grey hair popping up on my head.

No big surprise really, because my father has always had grey hair, although I would now classify it as white, not so much grey. So for it to show up in my blonde hair is not surprising. My brother has been showing signs of grey for quite sometime now. My mother has no grey hair. That shows. You know why. Mindy, shows no grey either. Again, you know why.

I have no worries about turning grey, its just a fact of life for many people. Your hair turns grey. Whats interesting is the rate at which someone's hair goes from its original color to the new grey. For some, like my brother, its a long process. For others, like my father, it happens pretty rapidly. I have a feeling, starting Wednesday, my hair will be turning grey much, much faster.

A historic event takes place in the Cantrell household come Wednesday. My daughter, my little princess turns 13. A teenager will officially be living within our humble abode. (Just FYI, we've had a teenager living in our home for a few months now, but it becomes official Wednesday.) So this historic event has had me thinking about my job as a father.

A few years ago I was flipping channels and Chris Rock, a comedian, was on The Oprah Winfrey show and he was talking about becoming a father. His wife, a few months earlier, had had their first child, a girl. Rock then joked, “the way I see it, my job is to keep her off the pole.” Rock was making reference, of course, to strippers at nightclubs.

Now as wild as it may seem, as crazy as that comment sounds, that comment really does make perfect sense. Our jobs as father's, especially Jesus believing father's, is to make sure that our children grow up to be productive Christians. In other words, we have to be good Christian leaders with our homes.

Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey in St. Louis will soon be releasing a book called “Church Planters, The Man, The Message, The Mission.” During a promotional video for the upcoming book, Patrick focuses on the lack of male leadership within the church. Approximately 3000 churches will close their doors this year. In the past year and a half, 2 churches have closed within the Baptist Association that my church belongs. But the lack of leadership is not confined to just church, we also have a lack of leadership within the homes.

Fatherless homes account for 63% of youth suicides, 90% of homeless/runaway children, 85% of children with behavior problems, 71% of high school dropouts, 85% of youths in prison, and well over 50% of teen mothers. The lack of strong Christian male leadership is making a large negative impact on our society, in our lives, in our homes and in our church.

Read here what 1 Thessalonians says about leadership in chapter 1, verse 6: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” This letter written to men in Thessalonica who had been kicked out of the city for being Jesus followers, is expressing profound love for these men because of their choice to follow leaders in the faith and then, to imitate them and God in the process.

We lack strong good Christian men who are imitators of God, defenders of the truth and the role models we need in order to strengthen our families. Our children are dying to imitate us. If we aren't around, they will find someone else.

This Wednesday Community Baptist Church is embarking on a new mission. To strengthen the family ties. Couples will meet each week for bible study as we look at God's word and discuss how to have a strong marriage and a strong Christian home. Children to youth will get together for weekly activities, bible study and other things. Families will come together for special family nights. Other activities are also being planned for couples only night and weekends and also for the family.

I hope you pray and think about joining us this Wednesday at 6:30pm and Community Baptist Church. If we don't make stronger Christian families today, a “see you at the pole” rally could have a different meaning in the future.