Men from 200 churches, from Orange County, Calif., and Sedro-Woolley, Wash., from Roseburg to Pittsburgh, spent the next four hours listening to speakers describe, from a man's point of view, "a Christ-centered life." The fifth annual conference opened Friday night.

"A hundred and one men dedicated their lives to Christ last night," the emcee said. "And 345 last night rededicated theirs." Saturday's challenge, repeated over and over, was to reach out and share the Gospel message with other men.

Men at the Cross is a national evangelical movement that helps organize regional conferences to inspire men to connect with one another and strengthen one another's faith. For years, women have outnumbered men at church. The 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum found that 44 percent of women attend services, compared with 34 percent of men. David Murrow, who wrote "Why Men Hate Going to Church," estimates that a typical congregation is 60 percent women on most Sundays. Too many churches don't appeal to male interests, he says.

Speakers at the Northwest conference joked about dogs, hunting, vegetarians and road rage but were serious about Bible study, self-restraint and the importance of male companionship.

Bill Perkins of West Linn, founder of Million Mighty Men, talked about anger, defining it as "a primary emotion that men use to express themselves." The word appears 455 times in the Old Testament, he said, and describes God 375 times.

"Anger is God's logical response to injustice or unrighteousness," Perkins said. Often men are angry at "perceived actions or disrespect." Perkins turned to Scripture for advice on showing restraint when angry: "Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger," he said.

Donald Miller, a Portland author who wrote "Blue Like Jazz" and, most recently, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years," told the audience that men have power to build and to destroy. Not recognizing one's power, or not using it constructively, results in "passivity," which crushes other people. He called on men to surround themselves with friends who will tell them the truth, especially when their actions are "too much of you, too little Jesus."

Shaun Whalen of Milwaukie said he came to the conference to reaffirm the faith he's lived "in fits and starts" for the past 30 years. He was laid off Friday from a job he held for 26 years and decided the conference would be a good way to "hit the reset button."

Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin sent a delegation of 300 men to the conference. James Cook came, he said, looking for ways to "disciple" men and help them be "rescuers." He sees teenagers and men in their 20s discouraged because they can't find or keep jobs. "They need the cross and the Holy Spirit," he said. "We're all on a journey. ... It's great to feel such unity with all these men."

John Dunkin, pastor of Whitney Baptist Church in Boise, said men often find it hard to talk about their faith.

"It takes something like this conference to get men to open up. Men are always asking identity questions: Who am I? Am I worthwhile? But if I have my identity in Jesus Christ, then he's God and I'm not," Dunkin said. "All I have is hope in him."

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