Chapter 4 begins with the same pithy style that Driscoll has used previously. He continues to press the male hierarchy, confirming that he is intent on keeping his penis alive and masculine. He takes some serious digs at McLaren and Emergent, saying:

But I find it curious that, from my perspective, he [McLaren] is using his power as a writer and speaker to do violence to Scripture in the name of pacifism.

But, just when I was about to throw the book down, I came across his ecclesiological insights. He looks at church leadership models: Congregational, Senior Pastor, Elder, Purpose-Driven, and Emerging & Missional ecclesiology. These are, of course, terms that he coined. I actually found his observations very insightful, and most helpful for pastors. It is simple enough to not get too academic, but offers enough to actually try to model a church after or shy away from.

Driscoll also makes his imperative for reaching culture strong in this chapter. He has incredible drive for it and I appreciate not only the time he spends thinking about it, but his willingness to engage in doing so and learning from the mistakes.

Driscoll seems very reflective on the way his church runs. He writes about his epiphanies he has and how things in the church needs to change. He certainly is dynamic, not in his writing, probably in his speech, but more so in the way he kicks the church into movement.

All in all this was the best chapter yet, but it led me to confirm more and more the chips Driscoll has on his shoulder. Like I said above, it is apparent that he fears for his man-hood, and takes every precautionary mark in his church to preserve it. One excellent thing this does however is that he does have a strong focus to make sure he is diligent about putting time into his family. He discusses the many hours of study he poured over the issue.

This is where my next understanding of Driscoll came in. He is incredibly intense about going back to Scripture for deciphering his method. The problem I see though is that through the many hours of study, he filters it only through the Driscoll paradigm. Driscoll seems to be the interpreter of Scripture and anything that opposes his view he gets bent out of shape about and starts throwing pot shots and accusations. I respect the conscious turn to the Bible, but for somebody who studied philosophy, I would suspect a better understanding of learned-ness.

Chapter 4 marks his best chapter yet in the book, and gave me enough umph to want to keep going. As the crassness of his multiple metaphors began to fizzle out, I could get to the content and follow it more without revulsion - just some disagreement. If the rest of the book keeps up as this chapter ended, I will be much more inclined to want to continue and to apply some of his insights. Lets hope that chapter 5 leaves the metaphors all together and gets heavy on the content - even if I disagree with him.

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