Well, I know that I am very late in commenting on this, but I see a distinct lack of men commenting and I would like to add my own 2 cents here.

I love this article because it states very well what I have tried to inculcate in my own marriage (and to a lesser extent the larger culture). It is very difficult, and very rewarding. However, I think the gender roles still have a part to play in marriages and in the church. My wife and I by and large operate in this manner, although there are of course times when one or the other (or both) of us fail to live up to this ideal. However, I have found the defined gender roles to be useful. In the home, there has been exactly one time in the last 10 years when I believed that I knew what God wanted for us in a situation and my wife was "uncertain." Because of her uncertainty, I went back and prayed for an additional 3 months, and I came only under a greater conviction, a greater certainty. I shared this with her and (I believe appropriately), she said, I still don't know. In further discussion, I said, this is one I'm going to put my foot down on, and I started forward, still praying that God would make things clearer. In the end, God was gracious to remove the problem, so that it ended up not being only my decision. I still give thanks for that.

This is where I think there is the benefit - In the case of indecision/lack of agreement, there still needs to be a decision made (in some cases). That's why government by consensus fails. We aren't always going to be on the same page, and when we aren't, how do we move forward? I have always viewed this as the reason for the "man is the head of the household." When things need to move forward and because of the fallen state of mankind, we still have that capacity. As a man, this terifies me, and I struggle to minimize or eliminate the times when this has to be applied. I haven't been able to completely eliminate it, but clearly minimizing has been somewhat effective.

In the Church, the same situation applies, although I do not  believe that it is a gender role. Regardless of who the leader is in the church, they should have the same fear, and the same responsibility. Women in the pulpit are not fundamentally different from men in the pulpit. Where I get completely stuck is understanding how the marital roles would play out if the husband were in the church his wife was the pastor of, but fundamentally disagreed (after the serious consideration and prayer that should occur) with her on some question that directly affected both the church and his family.

Anyway, I thought I'd chime in and provide a male voice in fundamental agreement.