That was a whirlwind!

The National Prayer Breakfast was a bit of a mixed bag. We met some wonderful people, heard a lot of incredible stuff, but I still have very mixed feelings at how our government officials use a cloak of religion for political purposes. Some find that incredibly healthy. I find it a bit weird. On the plus side there were some great encouragement to help people who have so very little in the rest of the world. We heard about kiva.org, a way for people here to sponsor others in the developing world with micro-loans so they can start new businesses. It doesn’t just channel money, but build relationships. We also heard Ward Brehm share his spiritual transformation from arrogant businessman, to an impassioned advocate on behalf of the world’s poor and oppressed. He was very challenging.

We also heard a lot of buzz about THE SHACK, and often we sat at tables with people who had just read it or had recently heard about it and were trying to get a copy. We even had some incredible moments with people who are highly skilled in their professions, offering us their wisdom as we take the next steps in this project.

What a contrast all that pomp and circumstance provided, however, from my favorite part of the weekend. Saturday we met with free-range believers from all over that region. We had about 70 people from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania gather in a home to meet my wife Sara, my podcast partner Brad and Paul, the author of THE SHACK. What a great day! I think people really enjoyed getting to know them and hear a bit of their journeys firsthand. We split up into smaller groups for dinner and came back, to continue to mix in smaller conversations, some of them lasting well past midnight.

It’s hard to encapsulate all that we talked about, all the people we met, and all that happened in our time, but it brings me great joy to see Jesus knitting his family together. We had people from all walks of life and in many different places on the journey. Some of them had only recently come in touch with Lifestream or The God Journey. Some were facing major transitions in their lives and needed counsel and prayer. Many shared their own journey and what God was doing in them. I think I can say we were all greatly enriched by the church Jesus is building and the part of it we got to taste that weekend.

I don’t think we have a clue yet what this family can really be like when we get the rituals and agendas out of the way and just celebrate our life in him. Believe me, I had more fun sitting in a home with 70 real people on Saturday sharing the journey, than I had in a room of 4,000, including some of the most powerful people in the world, over breakfast on Thursday.

I love what God is doing in the earth!

I love this little exchange from the other day and thought you would to:

I was reflecting upon the glorious time I had meeting you and the other families in the Omaha area who are on this journey into Father’s heart. Some key things were spoken and readily applied to that week-end that left me speechless. I’m glad we got to know each other.

I have a question that deals with The Shack book. God is explaining to Mack that God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit do not relate in a hierarchal way, but rather, they relate on the basis of their love & trust in one another. I was reading John 14 this morning & found a passage that I’m not sure what Jesus is getting at, here it is:

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. (John 14:27-29

What is Jesus saying when He says to his disciples that he’s going to His Father, who is greater than Jesus is?

My response: I love that you’re searching the Scriptures with some of these ‘issues’ in mind. That’s a great way to learn and grow. Without getting into a major dissertation here in an email, just think of what these passages can mean outside a relationship where power and status are important, instead of function and honor. Someone can be ‘greater’ without being ‘higher’, especially as Jesus is in human flesh in space and time.

The Three are constantly giving priority, honor, and glory to each other in Scripture as an act of their love and recognition of each other’s unique place, without having to resort to a hierarchy of power. They key here: where agreement exists, the need for power in decision-making makes no sense. They act in concert while at the same time not having to resort to command and control structure.

It is amazing and beautiful and powerful!

I’ve never looked at Jesus this way before. I think I’ve spent most of my Christian life perceiving God through the lens of status & power, but how you described in relationship is beautiful & awesome.

For those that want a first-had look at what’s happening in Kenya, the BBC posted a report by Karen Allen that looks at the battle to restore order in Kenya, amid ongoing violence linked to the disputed presidential election in December.

Please pray! That’s most important. And, if any of you want to help us help them on a financial level, 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 and every dime sent to us will go out for relief in this Kenyan crisis. Or, if you prefer, you can also send a check to Lifestream • 7228 University Dr. • Moorpark, CA 93021.

Well, Sara and I are off to the airport and an overnight flight to Washington, DC where we’ll attend the President’s Prayer Breakfast with the whole Shack team as well as hook up with other brothers and sisters in the area. It promises to be a lot of fun and all the more because Sara is going too!

But I’m going to leave you with a wonderful surprise. Some letters I get just blow me away. ‘Melanie’ sent me her story last week and I think you’ll be blessed to read of the depths of pain that bondage can drag us into and Father’s amazing ability to find us even in those depths. (I have changed some of the details to disguise her identity)

I am writing this email to tell you how much I enjoy all of Lifestream and listen to you and Brad on The God Journey podcast every week. I love the freedom that I am able to live in even when those around me do not understand what it is!

I look at my life today and realized how blessed I am and I give all the glory to Father. I have a beautiful daughter. I have an awesome career ahead of me! I am in the best shape physically that I have ever been. I have an awesome family – a mom and dad who have always been there for me – even when I didn’t want them to be. They were wise and loving enough to give me the freedom to learn the hard way but were there to help me heal when I discovered how hard the life I chose was. I have an older brother who is my bestest friend! This life of mine today is so different than the way it was headed just over 3 years ago. Let me start at the beginning.

I am a US Navy brat! My dad was Navy; Uncles were Navy, a Grandfather in Navy! Brother is in Navy! I saw through my eyes how perfect those people were. And with this all around me, I put expectations on myself that I could never achieve! Don’t ask me how I did that – I really don’t know! I was never satisfied or content with myself no matter what I did or how well I did it. I worked hard in school academically, socially and extra-curricularly. I was involved in gymnastics, dance, swimming and captain of the cheerleading drill team. I strove to achieve and I did – but it was never good enough! It was never good enough for me!

Unfortunately, in 11th grade, I started going out with a guy who lived two lives. He was also six years older than me. He was heavily involved in the drug trade in Southern California. I ended up getting pregnant. Out of the shame, I ran away thinking I would get kicked out anyway. Thinking I would be able to move in with my boyfriend, I ran to him and found out he didn’t want a pregnant teenager on his hands. I left there with a broken heart and more shame and disgust with myself. I stayed with some friends and was basically giving myself away to whoever would have me. At six and a half months pregnant, I was gang raped and beat and left for dead. In and out of consciousness, my daughter was delivered prematurely. She was three months old before I came to consciousness enough to realize I was a mommy.

My parents were there to help me. I didn’t feel I deserved their help, so I escaped with my daughter on my own again. I answered an advertisement for a talent agency that was looking for girls with dancing talent and an open mind. I went to the interview and was told I would be perfect for the performing they had in mind. The word perfect stuck in my brain! Something I was perfect for! I took the two-week crash course on being an exotic dancer. The first few performances were raw and hard. I only had to go topless and in a g-string, but it was so far removed from normal behavior for me, I was shocked at myself to how I loved the attention I received. Within three months, I had clubs asking for me by name. Within six months, I had become a feature dancer. In the area, this was simply unheard of. All this attention fueled my need to be the best. I was beginning to make lots of money and lots of perks. I was able to hire a nanny for my daughter who traveled with us all over North America.

I began to get pressured to perform in films. I refused these requests. The pressure intensified until it came to a point where I hated what I was doing. Unbeknownst to me, I was actually in breach of contract because I was refusing to perform in porn films. One night I was visited by a couple of gentlemen who informed me that they basically owned me. I didn’t know what to do. I finally said yes to do a film with them, but the first day of filming, I couldn’t do it. I was beat up pretty badly by my ‘agent’.

I took a contract to perform in Canada for a while to escape the pressure. My daughter was with me and we were having a good time, money was coming in good and I was becoming well known. My agent informed me that I could appease people by posing for some magazines. When I found out I did not have to have sex to be in the magazine, just full nudity, I agreed. In my mind at the time, that was far better. I did eight photo shoots, which ended up being in euro-mags. Little did I realize, I was falling deeper into the pit.

Just after my 22nd birthday, I was coming offstage at a club in Vancouver Canada, when these three girls about my age came up to me with a dozen roses and a basket of personal care products. They gave it to me with a message of “Jesus loves you and so do we.” I burst into tears and escaped to my dressing room. I had grown up in a church going home and new the truths in the Bible. This event flooded my brain with all the fond memories I had as a child learning about God and Jesus from my mom and dad. I immediately got on the phone and called home. They told me I was always welcomed home!

I started packing our belongings when my agent came into my hotel room. He informed me that I cannot just walk away from these contracts. He told me basically I had to fulfill every last detail to their satisfaction before they would consider releasing me. I was trapped. I continued performing but hating it once again. I found escape in chatting with some wonderful people in Christian chat rooms. Though I didn’t know anyone really, I poured out my heart and circumstances to a few people who began to pray for me. In the meantime, these three girls continued coming to this club to see me. I agreed to go for a coffee with them. They just shared the love of the Father with me and how much He loves me. They said they knew I had a relationship with God by how I responded to their first visit.

At this same time, my brother discovered where I was and what was going on. He and some people of the congregation he was involved with assembled enough finances to free me from my obligations. I was free!

So much has happened since then even. I took courses to get my personal fitness trainer certifications and began working. My daughter and I got to really know one another. I call her my miracle child. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if I would still be here. I don’t even know why I told you all of this.

Anyway, I didn’t start going to “church” right away. I just read the gospels over and over again discovering who Jesus is. Wow! He is something else. I am so glad I did that as I dont know if I could have loved the God of the old testament without first seeing who he is in Jesus. Anyway, I started visiting “church” congregations to become totally confused and frustrated. I became anxious and unsure of who I was as a Christian, or if I even was one. My brother had recently visited your website and emailed me the link. Wow! Thank you so much. I listened, I read, I compared to what I was reading in the bible and am confident I am right where father wants me. I have talked to some people about it and they say I am apostate which made me smile because yes, I have left religion!

I just finished reading “The Shack” which totally blew me away. Wow. Father was there with me through all of what I went through. I certainly identify with Mack when he realized that he did love papa and did trust papa.

Now it is 2008 and I am just loving this life Father leads me in. Of course, like everyone, I still have issues. Biggest issue I have right now is with men. I don’t know how I will ever really be able to trust a man to have a healthy relationship. But, I do know when Father knows I am ready, we will cross that bridge together. For now, it is my daughter and I and we love hanging out. I am able to keep busy working as a fitness trainer. This will be season two of competing in triathlons and I love getting together with my folks and brother who all love Father who has brought us together the way he has.

I guess I tell you all this to tell you thanks for making a difference in me. You and Brad have an awesome podcast. I send the link to The God Journey to everyone I email and tell everyone I know.

I just love hearing how Father pulls people out of darkness and restores them with life and with joy. No one is too far out of reach for God to rescue! Thanks to this dear young woman for sharing her story with me, and now with all of you!

Windblown Media has just released a new Shack image for use on other websites. You can see it above. If you’d like to include it on yours, you can download it at here.

Due to a trip Sara and i are taking to the east coast, our offices will be closed from noon on February 5 until Monday, February 11. Books and CDs ordered after noon on Tuesday, will not be shipped until the following Tuesday. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.

A while back I did a blog on our reprint of So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore, suggesting we might change titles on this book to make it more accessible to others.

We’ve bounced all over this for some time, as did the input we got from many of you. There are pluses and minuses to many different alternatives. While we thought a more ‘fiction-obvious’ title would help describe the book better and connect us with a new audience, in the end we were convinced that the current title best connected us with the audience that would be most encouraged by this book. The “So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore” title has continued to be a link to many, who like Jake, are having their eyes open to the difference between institutional priorities and relational realities.

Shortly after we made our decision, I received the following email that confirmed where we wanted to go with this book. It came from Trisha:

I have just emailed some pals about your book. It’s amazing how God works you know? I was getting fed up of “doing” church after 10 years of faithful serving/attendance etc., and one recent Sunday I decided to “bunk” off (very rare for me)! I said out loud to God, “I do not want to go to church anymore.”

Immediately I sensed God telling me to Google those very words. Yes, to literally type them into the Google search engine! So that is how I came across your book, and am currently enjoying its humour, wise truths and I sense it is bringing real freedom to me.

And hey, it must be nice to know that God himself is promoting your book!

So if God is using the title, what else can we do? Seriously, God has been using it all along to draw the right audience for the book. So in the end, we’ve decided to keep the title as is, though you’ll note by the picture above that we’ve changed the layout dramatically. Rather than the big words saying “Don’t Go to Church”, which some took as a subliminal message. To which my response has been, there was nothing sub-liminal about it. It was clearly liminal! And I think that’s why everyone assumed from the title that the book would contain a lot of ‘church-bashing.’

It wasn’t designed for that at all. It was written to help people find a life in God’s through a freedom from religious shame that they perhaps

Now the big words are “Want Church”, and it has an entirely different feel. And the subtitle has been cut down to just, “an unexpected journey” and is far more readable. Because this book was written for people who hunger to live in the reality of church as God might see her and Jesus is building her, rather than as lifeless institutions.

So, we know that won’t do answer it for everyone. But we’re settled that it is the best solution that we can see today. We’re already ordered a reprint because we’ve only got a couple of cases left and then we’d be out.

I loved this email I got from a brother in Germany recently:

This whole last week I was listening to your Transition series and now the rest of our group got so interested that we all started to listen to it together. What a blessing! What an eye opener! We too realised that we have been focusing far too much on “home church” rather than on Jesus himself, so listening to this stuff is so exciting! I now almost feel like when I first got saved… easy, not ashamed, excited and full of love and life, and I never want to go back to anything else again.

How quick we are to take our eyes off of Jesus and put it on ‘the church’ in its myriad of expressions. When we do the life is lost, because there is life in no other but the Son. There are lots of ways believers can gather and encourage each other. But at the heart of it, Jesus must have first place in all things. That’s what makes the church, the church! It isn’t where we meet or how we meet, but the church ‘gathers’ around the supremacy of Christ. Read Colossians 1 again some time and bask in the simple joy that Jesus is the first born of the new creation.

Where we are focused on him we get to experience the life of the church with him. When we are focused on any other thing, including whatever church model we’re trying to implement, we’ll only get to experience the model. What a horrible trade-off, in my view!

Got back from Omaha yesterday afternoon and jump into a pretty short week here. I’ve got to leave next Tuesday for Washington, DC and the President’s Prayer Breakfast, which isn’t just a large breakfast banquet, but all day small-group sessions to help people connect. Sara, Brad and Paul Young (The Shack) will be going as well. This was in the works even before the book came out. We’re going to hang out in the area through Saturday to connect with some other folks as well. I’m blessed to have Sara with me on this one. It should be lots of fun.

I had a wonderful time in Omaha and met with lots of folks over four different nights in three different homes, and a coffee house where an emergent bunch are taking shape. I really enjoyed the people I got to meet and the hunger for an authentic expression of the life of the church. They seemed to come from a variety of places on this journey and they rotated through so we kind of had a circular conversation on a variety of topics.

You can probably hear a lot of that on a podcast I taped with one of my hosts on this trip, Kyle Knapp. We had a wide-ranging conversation on the life of the church and the hunger of God’s people that is surfacing over the earth. You can listen to it here, if you like. He’s a wonderful brother with some gifts in music as well. He just released a new album called House of Sod with lyrics grounded deeply in his passion for God and the Great Plains where he lives.

Also, please keep the need in Kenya in mind. They are calling out for help from their Western brothers and sisters for help in escalating death and destruction that is ravaging that country. If you can help, please see my previous post. Thanks!

This weekend I’ve been hanging out with a bunch of free rangers in Omaha, NE and having a wonderful time. I’ve talked nonstop for two and a half days in a string of conversations that just unfold during the day with different people flowing in and out of them. I love the hunger and the freedom God makes available to his people. What a joy!

But I got some email this morning from Kenya, that let’s me know the need there is ongoing. The situation has deteriorated greatly in the last three days. They have used up all the money we have sent and as you can read below the need continues to grow. We continue to send money overseas to help. What blessed me about the recent emails you can read in the last excerpt. God is actually beginning to reveal to them a different way to think and be the church. In this culture that’s a major shift and I marvel at their open hearts to give to others in this time of crisis.

If any of you want to help us help them, 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 and every dime sent to us will go out for relief in this Kenyan crisis. Or, if you prefer, you can also send a check to Lifestream • 7228 University Dr. • Moorpark, CA 93021.

From the director of the base we are helping:

Yesterday I went in western province, to attend a burial of one of our sister who died through the violence . The violence came out as from Monday between Nandi and Maragori. Many houses were burned and round eight people died.And over 300 houses were burned. We still need more prayers because this things as arising time to time many people have camped within the police and churches. There is full of people who have come for help in IGEM western office. So we still need more prayers and any help which God may put in your hands. Thank you very much for continue praying for us. We say that may the Lord bless you and annoint you more and more.

From Jane, a mother who received food and blankets from IGEM:

I am so happy to write to you thank you very much for the great support you send to us through Michael . We have never seen you but God may bless you more and more. I was among the people who was affected in this violence but we thank God for his divine protection. We were alive with the entire family and we moved out safely. We are now stationed with one of IGEM church members believing God. We thank you for your great support to our brothers who have camped everywhere. Thank you for blankets mats and food. May god bless you am a mother of 8 children.

From the office manager at IGEM:

I would like to report about serious report from our brothers and sisters who are affected country wide with this violence you might have been reading the reports through internet but I want to report only what is in the ground which is affecting our people for about three days ago within Kitale. Michael, our director has not slept for about three days.

In one of our zones the invaders had burned again the houses and killed a big number of people . And many people have ruined walking about thirty kilometers to find the refuge and we have just right now with more than one hundred and fifty families who need totally our help. the things they are doing they burn houses, taking the flocks and burning the maize stores. People have nothing, some even without the clothes especially the children so pastor Michael he went today in the morning with other parents to find some of the children who were displaced without knowing where they have gone. But I have received a phone from Him that the things are not good they have managed to get only two children out of thirteen . And have requested me to send to you if you can intervene for this hard situation . This is why I am writing to you on his behalf.

So please brothers we need your help again. There is more cry and suffering.

Some of the families they walked long time without eating so today our team are working out how they can help. So anything you may feel we are in needy just now . May the Lord bless you so much.

And then she added this in a subsequent note. In it she refers to some of my books that I sent to them almost a year ago now:

Thank you very much for your books, has blessed us more. We have copies in the office. And we have been giving out for ministers to read at least two weeks before they return it. The book has became a great blessing to us specifically; the one in title: Authentic Relationship, He Loves Me and The Naked Church.

About me personally I have received something which has changed my life because people especially here in Africa they honor a building much more to respect as a church. And most of our people here they have been putting the titles and positions. But these material has real helped us and Michael. In the last three weeks, He confessed before people about the titles in IGEM structure and he insist to change it and immediately focus on what the Lord has revealed . And he insisted through your booklets called; “Won’t you go to church” so I want to share with you- Lord is changing something and is demolishing what man might been building. Thank you very much. God may use you in this end time church to put the spiritual structure which somethings mankind can not see by their eyes.

Wherever I rested in the office, you may get me with one of this books especially’ “He Loves Me.”

Recently we got the message from the people who have camped, she read about your message we circulated by the name “one anothering” and she was totally complete convicted once more. So you may not have come in Kenya but, your message God is using to change a church structure in Africa. And if Michael is leading a big organization like IGE how much more if God will use him to teach the church in Africa. You might have done something great which you will be rewarded.

If Father puts this on your heart, please share what you can with these dear people. Thank you!