The BackStory

Everything and ever­yone around us in our cul­ture is trying to make a Point.  We see poli­ti­cians, friends, neigh­bors, fami­lies, and even bos­ses with an agenda and you, my friend, are in their sights.  They want you to think and believe as they do.  We find these cul­tu­ral influen­ces are not groun­ded in the Truth.

We are called to live a life of Truth, Honor, and Authen­ti­city in the midst of this cul­ture.  We are called to be a CounterPoint.

Our Pur­pose:

• To equip others with the Truth and encou­ra­ging them to speak this Truth to a cul­ture that has lost its moorings.
• To empo­wer men and women to live Hono­rably within their sphere of influence: family, work and community.
• To empha­size the vital need to deve­lop Authen­ti­city in their relationships.

Vince Lom­bardi takes over as the new Pac­kers coach.  The team just came off a sea­son of 1–10-1.  Coach Lom­bardi walks into the loc­ker room, holds a foot­ball over his head and says, “Gent­le­men, this is a foot­ball.”   He pro­ceeds to give his new team a les­son in “Foot­ball 101″.   A somewhat auda­cious step if you con­si­der that these men are PROFESSIONAL foot­ball pla­yers.  This is not the junior var­sity or roo­kies straight out of college but highly trai­ned, paid pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes.  They know their busi­ness. Or do they?

Just as the Pac­kers are with foot­ball, we are highly trai­ned, paid professionals…at life.  Yet so many rea­lize that in some seg­ment of life they keep finishing the sea­son with one win, one tie, and ten los­ses.  Coun­ter­Point is devo­ted to hel­ping other Finish Strong and find the end zone in a ever-increasing manner.

Remem­ber that no mat­ter your sta­tion in life, no mat­ter your socio-economic soi­tua­tion, no mat­ter your suc­ces­ses or fai­lu­res, no mat­ter your race or creed…even the most highly paid and res­pec­ted pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes need someone to tape an ankle, someone to work out a cramp, someone to pro­vide a swift kick of moti­va­tion.  If we sop long enough to be honest with our­sel­ves, none of us have our act together so it is time to drop the façade, face life head-on, and walk this jour­ney in the Com­mu­nity of others.  Wel­come to CounterPoint.

Coun­ter­Point is a res­ponse to the facts:

• More than 90 per­cent of Ame­ri­can men believe in God, five out of six call them­sel­ves Chris­tians, but only two out of six attend church regularly.
• The ave­rage man accepts the rea­lity of Jesus Christ, but fails to see value in church involvement.
• The short time every Sun­day mor­ning is stran­gely dis­con­nec­ted with the remai­ning 166 hours of a man’s week.
• 90 % of the boys rai­sed in church aban­don it by their 20th birth­day with many never to return.
• The demo­graphic group least likely to attend church is sin­gle men, ages 18–35.
• The typi­cal U.S. con­gre­ga­tion draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. Evi­dent across age cate­go­ries and even worse within some eth­nic communities.
• 25% of married, church­going women attend Sun­day worship without their husbands.
• 53% of “Chris­tian” men con­sume pornography.
• 37% of pas­tors admit a current strug­gle with pornography.
• 86% of the gay, les­bian, and trans­gen­der com­mu­nity was rai­sed in a deno­mi­na­tio­nally based religion.

The Church is fai­ling to con­nect men to a mea­ning­ful Faith…

Coun­ter­Point seeks to lead men to know God, know others, and know themselves.

Coun­ter­Point uses words like: Truth, Honor, Authen­ti­city, Adven­ture, Risk and Reward, and Warrior to desc­ribe the mas­cu­line spi­rit in the ser­vice of the king­dom of Christ.

Coun­ter­Point seeks to shows men how to inte­grate healthy, life-giving mas­cu­li­nity into their pro­fes­sio­nal life, their family life, the life of the church, and the Com­mu­nity of fellow wayfarers.

Coun­ter­Point seeks to res­pond to life-questions and God-questions in down-to-earth lan­guage that most men are hesi­tant (anxious?) to ask.

Coun­ter­Point seeks to engage men in a spi­ri­tual quest and con­nect them into the fra­ter­nity of fellow way­fa­rers. By taking this jour­ney along­side other men, they can learn to lead each other into kno­wing God, kno­wing others and kno­wing them­sel­ves better.

Coun­ter­Point seeks to con­nect with men in mas­cu­line set­tings, dis­tinct from culturally-defined reli­gious ins­ti­tu­tions, where Christ-followers, and see­kers alike, feel com­for­ta­ble. This may be the local cof­fee shop, the back room of a pool hall, an auto garage, a wood shop, or your own living room.