I was in Prescott and Phoenix, Arizona last week. I spent some fabulous time with lots of people on this journey in some widely diverse settings—from some dialog with a camp staff, to a speaking time in a more traditional congregation meeting in a home, to an all-day conversation with people sorting out this journey, to helping some brothers finish books they’ve been working on, to helping some brothers work through a deep conflict, to a podcast interview with Darin Hufford at the Free Believers Network, and finally to a round of golf on Wednesday at the Arizona Biltmore. What a week!

It was great to get home, even thought he workload here is piled high as well. Sara and I aren’t fully used to living in the space we’re in now. I talk about it a bit on the interview above. So many people want a piece of my life and time right now that I’m having to say no to more people than ever. That always doesn’t go down well and I hate that. But I’m also saying yes to more people than ever, though I know that isn’t helpful to the folks I say no to.

Honestly, I don’t like telling people, “I can’t,” but it is the reality of the demands on my time right now. And I will not fill up every moment of every day with these kinds of things. I reserve time to spend with Sara, to replenish my own spirit, and to play with my kids and those incredible grandkids. So I hope you understand when I say, “I can’t.” Hopefully people won’t take it personally. It isn’t.

I do all that Father puts in my heart to do. I may not always get that right, but I will be as honest about that as I know to be.

The only problem with sharing that is that the people asking don’t know before they ask. And some now won’t ask because they hear Wayne is too busy. I hope in all of this we are all looking to the Lord’s leading. If you feel nudged to ask, ask! If I fee

For those interested, I am scheduled to be on the Drew Marshall show tomorrow from 1:00 to 1:30 Pacific Time with Paul Young, author of THE SHACK. I am in the mountains of Arizona at the moment, however, and not completely sure we can get everything worked out to make this happen. But if we do you can listen live there, or you can listen to the archive later .

Today the Jacobsen family is celebrating Thanksgiving. Our kids and grandkids went elsewhere yesterday to other celebrations, so they are all coming over today for turkey and hanging out. Sara and I have so much to be thankful for this year and we are overwhelmed with gratitude at all that God has done in our lives. We love him and each other more each day.

So while I take a break and most others re out shopping today, let me tie up these loose ends from the recent election discussion on this blog. Though I still like some of the language our new President-elect is using about working together and getting rid of government programs that don’t work, I’m still concerned about a cabinet he is appointing that is recycled Clinton-era politicians. He has some outside that box, but not near enough for me. I’ll be interested to see how all of this pans out.

The reason I posted a bit of my political thinking on this blog was in hopes of doing the very thing these two letters I received recently indicate. I hope it produced this kind of fruit in others as well. And please don’t jump to the conclusion that all of those who voted for McCain did it out of irrational fears, but that’s not my point of view or the writers of these letters. They simply illustrate our tell our political positions might be.

I meant to write last week & congratulate you on your bravery in saying publicly that you voted for Obama! I’m not very political, but I was glad he won – he seemed to be the one with more compassion, inclusiveness, and a larger view of the world & America’s place in it. I know the world has unreasonable expectations for him. I’m just hoping he can begin to move our country in a better direction.

I have a very dear friend, who is a conservative Republican Christian. She tried to get me into political discussions before the election, assuming that I would agree with her. I sidestepped the discussions because I didn’t agree and I knew it could potentially cause a rift in our relationship due to her extreme views & certainty that hers was the proper Christian position. I had hoped that with the election over, she would turn her attention to other things. I was surprised to find that since the election, she has posted many times on her blog (which I read just to keep up with her life) what has to be called rants against Obama. She has expressed her great fear in many different ways, all of them very condemning and extreme. We normally get together every week or two for coffee, but I’m not sorry that we have been unable to the last few weeks. It really makes it hard to have a conversation when the other person is so steeped in their own viewpoint they can’t see or hear the reasons for yours.

I find it interesting that she is so afraid. The Christian right has really whipped up the emotions this time around. It sort of reminds me of the days of George Wallace, when many ‘good Christian people’ were rabidly racial, or the early days of this country when ‘good Christian people’ felt that African-Americans were less than human. I think it’s another instance of the “church”‘s stance being off the mark. The amount of fear makes me think of the scripture “Perfect love casts out fear”.

In thinking about the required conformity within the institutions, I think that a large part of the issue is control. Without being told how to think, vote, dress, etc., a lot of people feel out of control. It’s just too much freedom, and they are too afraid of messing up & getting zapped by their angry god. That carries over into politics as well – they want to be in control, to have everyone agree with them. If you don’t, you must be unGodly.

I also think that many of those in control of the institutions, whether they are aware of it or not, use that fear to keep control of their congregations. Fear is a powerful motivator. For me, the reaction that the Christian right is having to Mr. Obama is telling. It isn’t rational, or spiritual, it’s totally emotional and fear-fed, which doesn’t speak well for where it is coming from at all.

Anyway, I mostly just wanted to say thanks for being open & honest & unafraid!

And then this:

Isn’t it amazing how loving, godly, holy, and peace-loving saints can throw down the gloves and become raving lunatics when it comes to politics? I respect you for your courage and honesty, in sharing your convictions. You probably knew that some would react adversely to your decision and you shared your opinion anyway. I felt that you were very gracious in how you presented your opinions. You know voting a canditate from the “D” party is as close one can come to denying Christ without actually denying him.

I voted for John McCain. Yet, I respect your right to vote for whom you choose. In fact based upon the authority of the scriptures, you did not lose your salvation and I am at liberty to call you brother and enjoy fellowship with you. I have the fortune or misfortune of living in one of the bastions of Evangelical Christianity–Virgina Beach, Virginia. I work with a good number of professing believers. I notice that leading up to the election that many brethren seemed to despair over the idea of a Barack Obama presidency. The only thing holding him back from revealing himself as the Anti-Christ was that the rapture had not taken place(said tongue-in-cheek). You know what I am talking about. My thoughts were even if Barack Obama were elected as president, God is still on the throne.

Well, God has spoken and Barack Obama will be President of the United States on January 20, 2009. Because of the fear that seems to be resonating amongst many believers, I decide to start a discussion thread at a Christian website. My topic was “Could a Barack Obama Presidency be a Blessing in Disguise for American Evangelicals?”. Needless to say it had 116 replies over the course of about a week. I premised it with the fact that I was supporting John Mcain and that I felt that many brethren were getting caught up in the political mess. They were losing sight of the fact that Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour transcends any worldly election. He who loves us more than we can truly imagine is in control of the universe. If He is able to fulfill his will with men such as Nebuchanezzar, the Pharoahs, the Caesars, and the many ungodly men who have ruled nations through out history. He can accomplish his will with Messiah Obama (again, only kidding).

Accept my feeble attempt at encouraging you and keep up the good work as the Apostle to the relationaly challenged. I of course am speaking for myself.

The Shack has just been released in Spanish. It is called La Cabaña. People we’ve heard from in the industry say this book may sell more copies among the Spanish speaking audience than it has in English. Well, I’ll be shocked if that happens. But I know a lot of people read this blog who are touching the Spanish-speaking audience, so I thought I’d let you know that it is now available from Windblown Media.

This week a Kansas City TV station just ran a feature story on THE SHACK. You can see it here

In a few moments I’m off to the Central Valley for some hang-out time with hungry brothers and sisters in the area on their God journeys. It should be fun. On the way back, I’m stopping in Visalia to do a book-signing at Costco. Imagine that? Not really my deal, but the manager there wanted to encourage the store to carry more faith titles and asked if I would be part of that. So we’ll so. I’m not sure how many people will show up for me to sign a book, but it should offer some fun conversations for those who do.

Finally, this is a week of celebration in the Jacobsen clan. Our two granddaughters had birthdays over the last week. Aimee turns 4 today and Lindsay celebrated her first birthday six days ago! What immense joy and pleasure the bring into our lives. Below they are celebrating together at their Princess Birthday Party. My daughter made the cake!

I got this question in an email yesterday and felt it important enough to answer for others of you as well.

While I agree with many of the observations you and Mr. Young make with regards to institutional church (and I’m only a first generation Christian) – I am troubled by conclusions I’ve drawn (rightly or wrongly – and this may be where I could use some of your help) with regards to So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. I think that it is a no-brainer to say, “Let’s stop going to church. Let’s, rather, just be the church.” I’m with you on that – I’m tracking. I guess where I get hung up is that I believe that deconstructionism isn’t enough – it isn’t enough to say, “Sunday morning doesn’t work” – even if I agree with most of your points on this argument. To turn your own phrase, “Who wants to be on that side of the argument?”

Do you really want to be known as one of the guys who convinced people not to go to church on Sunday morning? Forgive me if this sounds cliche or preachy or even judgmental – but is that a conversation you want to have with Jesus – that a central contribution of your life was to deconstruct Sunday mornings?

What would you have us (your brothers and sisters) construct? It seems to me that it is too easy for any one of us to step away from Sunday morning because it isn’t working for all kinds of reasons. The truth is – we need your help to construct a different looking Sunday morning – to continue to ask good questions and critically examine what we are doing as a church – but to also build with us.

Here’s my response:

I’m not sure you’ve drawn the right conclusions. My answer is not a simple deconstruction of Sunday congregations. In fact, I’m often in them to share the life of Jesus. I’m for deconstructing the religious veneer that we shroud our gatherings in. For some of us that means getting out altogether. For others it might mean being part of a process that recovers a more grace-filled tone, and a less passive environment in which the life of Jesus gets shared. I’m all for looking for ways to do that with what we already have.

As to those who find that environment no longer works for their journey, I don’t want to construct anything for them to pursue. I do think that’s Jesus’ job. “I will build my church…,” is how he put it. The reason church life grows stale is because we’re looking for institutional solutions, not relational ones. If we equip people to live loved of God and live as lovers of people, the church will spring up all around us. It probably won’t be contained in a specific meeting or building but will grow wild and free and bear fruit in the interconnection, collaboration, cooperation and submission of brothers and sisters who are being changed by Jesus. That can look like a hundred different things. But once I begin to describe some of those things, I know our tendency as humans to prefer replicating a model to following the Head! We love to construct things, not build up people. The New Testament points us to building up people in Christ and seeing what expression that takes. I don’t think it works the other way around.

So the process in or out of those systems may be deconstruction of religion and ritual, equipping the saints to live inside the love of the Father, facilitate connections that stimulate cooperation, collaboration and submission and people follow Jesus together, then see what HE builds out of that.

I am convinced that’s the process we are in. Having another model to shift to will only shift the problem into a new shell. We’ve got 2000 years of church history to say that can’t work. And I’m happy to help on all sides of that process as Jesus gives me grace. But I don’t think anyone who knows me will think the central contribution of my life to deconstruct Sunday mornings. The central passion of my life is to help people live loved of the Father and love on his behalf with increasing freedom. To the degree that our institutions do that, I’m thrilled. To the degree they don’t, change is in order.

What kind of change? That’s up to the Head himself.

I’m only a bit player in this unfolding drama.

We are excited to release new audio versions of He Loves Me and So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore produced by Oasis Audio that includes new, professional packaging. He Loves Me also includes new material found in the Second Edition. Both are read by Wayne and are available now for $20.00 and $23.00 respectively. You can check them out at our Order Page.

At the same time we regret to announce that we have run out of Tales of the Vine and will not be reprinting that book. We will be repackaging that material and the seasonal material from In My Father’s Vineyard in 2009 or 2010 as a daily devotional through the process of living fruitful and fulfilled in our relationship with the Father.

If you ever wonder why it is so difficult to find vibrant expressions of body life today, you have to look no further than the comments to my recent post about the presidential election. I would consider that most of the people who frequent my blog share a passion to know the reality of God’s love and to live in it fully. I didn’t expect everyone to agree with me, nor would I want them to. I wanted people to vote the conscience however that was informed in this election and celebrate the fact that others did as well.

Yet, on a topic as temporal as politics the emotions ran high in most of the 72 comments (and counting!) that were posted. Some included heavy judgments against others, and some felt judged by those who disagreed with them. I know I joked on the podcast about doing this post to “thin the herd,” but that was only in fun. I knew it would be provocative but I wanted to see how people would respond to it and to me. To be honest I was shocked at the scale of the response, not the diversity. I expected lots of people to see this election different than I did, but I was most saddened by the oft-repeated spirit that demanded others see the election as they saw it or have their Christianity or their intelligence questioned. Certainly every comment wasn’t like that, but enough were. And these are just the public comments. I’ve had many more private emails, some applauding what I wrote as they had voted similarly but were afraid to admit it, and some promising they’d never visit this site again because I was obviously a hypocrite or was dumb enough to be deceived by the Great Deceiver.

But this does express why the body of Christ is having trouble finding each other and living in his life together. Many see conformity on these kinds of issues as a requirement for fellowship and respect. On the one had, that’s just passion and I understand it. On another, it derives from a a mistaken worldview that everyone who is serious about Jesus will have the same conscience I have, and if they deviate from mine I have to set them straight or reject them. I’m going to call that what it is—incredibly immature spirituality. The apostles of the early church saw the individual conscience as the arena in which God makes his will known and that the larger community did not have the right to trump that conscience or marginalize a member because they saw it differently, even if you regard me as a ‘weaker brother’ for voting as I did. See Romans 14-15 or I Corinthians 8.

Every gathering of the body of Christ faces this issue, whether it be eight in a home group or hundreds in a larger gathering. If we all have to think the same politically, or even theologically on minor issues to share our brother and sisterhood, then someone has to decide what that standard is. That’s why many people think we have ‘leadership.’ And they would be wrong, because all that leads to is multiple groups who all gather with those who think just like them and reject those who don’t.

If the body of Christ is going to demonstrate herself today in the corporate majesty of her collaboration and cooperation then Jesus will have to be our only focus and loving others will be our motivation, not a demand for conformity. We can be honest in love and no one will get hurt. But we can’t be honest in judgment and hope to demonstrate anything to the world except how empty the cross is, or how irrelevant God’s power.

Jesus asked us to love as we follow him; he didn’t ask us to agree. If we have to agree to love, then what hope have we? If a group has to all think alike to have fellowship then they have pitched a tent at some stage of the journey and will not grow on to know him. In most groups I’ve known, conformity has been the goal. Someone needs to set the standard for the group and people either go along or go away. Neither leads to the reality of Christ expressed among his people.

So here is the problem today. Too many people think they alone are right and anyone who disagrees with them is a threat to their world. And it only takes one person like that in a group to destroy its ability to live, love and grow together. Until we have enough brothers and sisters that have a passion for truth that does not outrun their calling to love others, the body of Christ will continue to be fractured and impotent in the world. And they’ll have to have enough love to lovingly stand up to those who would be divisive among the family by demanding everyone think like they do.

But where we can differ in conscience and still love; where we celebrate the individual acting in accord with their conscience even if we disagree, then we’ll discover relationships that will demonstrate his glory in the earth. I’ve noticed this over my journey, those who are most settled in God’s truth feel no compulsion to conform others to it. They know truth has a power all its own and that a generosity of spirit will open people to it faster than bashing them with their opinion ever will.

How I yearn for the day that enough people understand that so that the body of Christ can gather not based on the false unity of human conformity, but on a love that is greater than all our disagreements and a humility of spirit that allows our differences to be discussed openly without others being loved.

Then we won’t need so-called leaders to police the peace or make us act like we are of one mind, because we will have Jesus’, in ever-increasing abundance. And then the world will see that Jesus was the gift of the Father and that they too can share in his glory.

I got a beautiful email last week and wanted to share it. I do so well aware that it could be easily misunderstood. This sister is in the early stages of moving from the stale emptiness of religion into a fresh and vibrant relationship with Jesus. God is revealing himself to her. Recently God began to open her eyes to one of the ways in which he works. I love it and resonate with the content of this exchange. This is God’s heart for her, her husband and many others.

However, I don’t want you to be put off by the form in which she shared it. She shares it as a conversation between her and God. I do believe he speaks like this, but people who don’t understand may feel that God never speaks to them this directly. I doubt it was a voice she heard externally, nor a conversation quite this way. When God reveals himself to us, he spills into our consciousness with insights that we then put to words. I think it is absolutely fair to characterize it as a conversation as our sister has below, but it could mislead others who think that engaging God happens quite this way.

So don’t focus on the form, focus on the substance of what’s shared below. I think it will encourage you too, especially those who are in the middle of this process:

I have really been praying a lot lately about the decision to leave church and how it has meant being misunderstood by so many people. So as I sat there I started asking why the journey out of (organize religion) needs to be a lonely one, I don’t always get an answer but the freedom to ask Him for some kind of insight has made me feel more like His child and less like an acquaintance.

With that one question I opened up Pandora’s box so to speak. I’m getting better at hearing that still small voice in my heart and it seems that sometimes the Father especially loves to have our ear. Immediately I felt like He was asking me if I really wanted to know Him. Of course I said yes! So he gently reminded me that there is a lot of him to know and that to know him is to know Truth. He IS truth. So much of what we have been taught is not the truth about Him, as if any religion could contain the One who breathed out the stars. “It’s so hard for you to see me through the deception that swirls around you like snow in January“. Instantly I got this image in my mind of a snow globe with the little plastic snow flakes floating slowly down. If we take a big step back from the noise of religion all the deception will fall away and what is left standing will be the Truth. “This is the beginning of really seeing Me”.

I also felt Him say that religion encourages us to live in our heads but to see Him we need to live on our hearts. So hard to do when you’ve been hurt I thought. “Children are all created to live in their hearts. Look at how easily they love and accept. But every time someone hurts you, you pack up a box…maybe trust or courage and you move it upstairs…from your heart to your head. After a while you’re living in your head and my voice gets far away.”

So how do I fix that?” I asked. “You don’t” was the instant reply “I do. I move the boxes downstairs one at a time so you begin to live out of your heart again.”

” So how do I let that happen? How do I know it’s you?”

“I will begin to move boxes downstairs one by one. As I help you unpack it you will begin to recognize ways in which I am teaching you to trust me. As you start to recognize each lesson you will also see more and more of me in it.”

As He spoke to my heart is was as if my spirit recognized the Truth and freedom and love in His words and my skin even felt tingly. It was as though He was infusing me with the strength to believe something that would require me to turn away from so much of what I had been taught for so long. I felt such hope and peace even in the face of going on in this without the support of our Christian friends. I know it has been hard for my husband as he is very hurt that people he believed to be close to us have walked away. I asked God to help him see this wonderful Truth and to help him to hear His voice more and more like I was beginning to. ” What should he be doing to hear your voice?”

“What does your husband know about a father/son relationship?”

Well, I know his dad is a workaholic and so he learned very young that to earn his father’s attention and approval he had to work…for…it….. Ohhhhhhhhh”

“What am I asking him to do right now?”

“Nothing. He has walked away from all the ministries he was in and now even church. He doing nothing right now”

“And because the doing and the relationship were so inextricably tied together it means the relationship he thought he had with me has been taken away and he just can’t see me very well right now. It’s like the shadow of me that he had in his peripheral vision is gone. But that’s OK. He’s where I need him to be because I am about to replace that deceptive shadow of a relationship with something far better.”

“So that can apply to almost all of us. What we learned from our parents or other significant people about what a parent/child relationship is has distorted our concept of what our relationship with you can be?”

“Exactly. And that is why so many of your friends have reacted so strongly. What you are suggesting goes against everything they have been taught about maintaining a relationship with me. If they stop the doing they won’t be able to see what they think is me anymore.”

The way He spoke with such compassion and tenderness about His children that are still living deceived was so beautiful. Immediately I felt my defensiveness fade away and I began to see them as He sees them.

For so long I never knew that He wanted to interact with us in such a personal and direct way. Imagine, my Creator conversing with me like an old friend. So many people think that we have to talk to God like he is the untouchable King and we are the unworthy slaves. But He calls us His children…His friends. I understand what so many have expressed. Now that I know the depth of relationship with Him outside of religion I will NEVER go back.

Don’t get caught up on the form of this sharing. There is a lot of wisdom and God’s heart in the content of it. I hope it helps you respond to him as well.

Almost every day a unique story crosses my desk about The Shack and how it draws people to the heart of the Father, especially those who have endured great tragedy or are facing incredible challenges. It has given them the space to live inside of the love of the Father at such moments, rather than mistakenly see them as proof that they are not loved.

Here’s an interesting one I got a few weeks ago from a dear friend in Kansas City:

A friend of mine died from bone cancer, an extremely painful and slow death. He was only 57 years old. In the memorial service program it said the following;

“Stu grew closer to the Lord through the reading of the book, The Shack, in his last months. He was thrilled to give witness to his faith and provide copies to many nurses while hospitalized at KU Medical Center this summer. Copies of the book have been donated in honor of Stu and are available today. Feel free to take a copy from the display table on a first come, first served basis.”

The church that he attended all of his life and where the memorial service was held refused to sell The Shack in their bookstore stating that the theology was too controversial.

There were 250 copies of The Shack on the display table in the church the afternoon of his memorial service – there were none left after the service was over.

I’m most excited for the comfort this book gave Stu as he prepared to cross the threshold of his first face-to-face meeting with the Father of all Creation. Last Saturday night I had the opportunity to join a local Foursquare house church network to talk about The Shack and the great them of living inside of God’s love that’s addressed in I John 4:16-19. I heard some amazing stories there as to how this book has brought people closer to God.

Finally, two weeks ago I did an open question/Answer session about THE SHACK at the Third Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. They just posted the audio of that evening for those who would like to listen in. I’ll warn you it isn’t the best quality audio, but you can at least hear the content.

Yesterday I wrote to our friend in Kenya and asked how they were doing since I hadn’t heard in awhile. My friend there notified me that the need persists and that they have recently had contact with brothers and sisters in a region of the country that are still suffering great need from the tribal conflict that erupted last December. He said there was an immediate need for $3000.00 US to help with emergency relief for food, bedding and shelter. I assured him I would make this need available to those who frequent these pages.

To date we’ve given almost $18,000.00 to help and have been really blessed by the generous and thankful spirit of those who have been on the receiving end of those gifts. I am simply putting the call out there again for any who would like to pray for them or send money to help with this great need. Every dime sent to us will go directly to those who need it. Nothing will be taken out for administration on this end or that one. If God puts it on your heart to send something, please go to our Invoice Page and click on the ‘Pay Invoice’ button. You can then list “Donation for Kenya” and the amount you’d like to give. If you use the ‘Donation’ button you will need to also send me an email letting me know you wanted this to go for Kenya and not for Lifestream. All donations to this cause are tax deductible.

Or, if you prefer, you can also send a check to Lifestream • 7228 University Dr. • Moorpark, CA 93021.

Thank you for giving this need your time and attention and I’m sure the brothers and sisters there would also appreciate your prayers. May God make himself known in extraordinary ways in the ongoing frustration of human survival. May he demonstrate his glory in great tragedy and open doors to people’s hearts to see his grace and mercy.