Last fall, Albuquerque 104.1 DJs Aaron "Buck" Burnett and Dex interviewed Pastor AJ on air about demons, ghosts, and rape. Next, they followed up with an interview with Albuquerque Campus Pastor Dave Bruskas. In the first part of the half-hour, Pastor Dave talks about growing up in Albuquerque and going to church with his grandmother with an offer of a trip to the buffet at the country club, but being a bit weirded out by the whole church experience. Eventually, someone explained the gospel to him, his binge-drinking mother also got saved, and their family's life turned around. Today, he pastors our church in the Southwest, has four daughters, and a great heart for the men and women of Albuquerque. Here's he talks with the guys after they ask what a Christian, biblical view of manhood is all about.

Pastor Dave on 104.1 FM The Edge, Part 1 [audio:http://blog.marshill.com/files/2011/01/bruskasedge1.mp3]

Pastor Dave: … Ultimate manhood is really expressed by Jesus. Jesus is the God-man, and he's the perfect model of what it means to be a man. And if you look at the Scriptures, the Bible presents this concept of the way that men and women relate is … a theological term we call complementarianism. Here's the idea: complementarianism means that men and women are created equal. They both, together, in right relationship, ultimately reflect the Trinitarian God who's three in one. And so humanity, ultimately, was created by God to reflect his glory. And so, it's critical that we understand that men and women are equal. That's the bottom line. But in their relationship, God has ordained that men have certain roles in the home and in the church, those being the leadership roles. And so when we define what it means to be a man, what we're really talking about is being a man who's much like Jesus. Jesus isn't just his model, but Jesus is his means of changing from the inside out. So a biblical man, in my opinion, does three things with the women in his life. First, he pastors them, meaning he takes responsibility for being the spiritual leader in his home, in his church. Secondly, he's responsible for providing for their needs. The Bible says the buck stops with the man. Doesn't mean that women can't work, doesn't mean that they can't be effective in the workplace; doesn't even mean that they can't have authority over men in the workplace. But it does mean, when it's time for the bills to be paid, the man, the husband of the home is the one who's ultimately going to be held responsible by God to make sure that happens. Then the third thing, I think this is a huge issue in Albuquerque, is a man is to be a protector of women. He's to look out for women. I've got four daughters. … This is a dangerous world for women. Pastor Mark has said this before about Mars Hill Church, if you just take the women who've been sexually abused, who've been physically abused at the hands of men, we'd have a megachurch of women only. And so, if you look at Albuquerque, statistically speaking even, you would see that men aren't doing well. I always say, you could sum up the history of Albuquerque simply in saying it's about men behaving badly: It's about men taking advantage of women, sleeping with women, getting them pregnant, not fathering their children, not loving them as they should, providing for their needs and protecting them. And it creates all kinds of social ills. So again, we have gone before to city officials and said, "What can Mars Hill Church do to make a difference in this city? What are the biggest problems we face here in Albuquerque?" And as we begin to talk and as we begin to go deeper with those that are responsible for making political change, almost everybody points back to the fact that, largely, this is a fatherless city. Statistically speaking—this was a report I saw on the Dallas Morning News in 2005—nationally speaking, about 43 percent of babies today in America are born without dads. New Mexico is close to 60 percent. And so, it's of epic proportions here, and so we really want to see our city change by seeing one man changed by Jesus at a time. What we're doing at Mars Hill can be misinterpreted at times, that we're somehow being somehow chauvinistic or misogynists, but the reality of it is, we love the women of Albuquerque and we think they deserve better. And we think that the best thing that we can do in serving them and loving them and caring for them and expressing to them the love of Jesus is to see men change. And, men, it's a great delight to watch you change. If things aren't all together—and there's not a single, perfect man I've met yet—if there's change that needs to be made, and we believe Jesus can make that change.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the interview, all about single guys, sex, sexual sin, and the heart. Listen to Pastor AJ's interview with Buck and Dex.