On my recent trip to Kansas, I got to enjoy one of my favorite weeks of the year. Teaching at the HIV/AIDs Intervention School at the YWAM base there, I got to have 15 students for 17 hours of concentrated discussion over four days where we get to eat, fellowship, and live together while each are sorting out what Father is doing in them to invite them deeper into his life.

My course title is God’s Compassion For the Afflicted, but to get there we deal with the entire paradigm shift from thinking religiously about God’s life and helping them think relationally. That means we have to untangle some of the religious wiring and help people embrace a new covenant paradigm as to how God wants to work in us and through us. Some of the things God sorts out in folks during this time are…

• Learning to live in God as the Affectionate Father not the Demanding Taskmaster (Rom 8:15).


• Watching that relationship change our Pharisaical contempt for the world into heart-felt compassion for those lost and lonely in the darkness.


• Losing confidence in our own efforts and agenda to accomplish his work, and freeing us to simply live alongside Jesus each day and watch what he does through us.


• Redefining life in the church not as our participation in services, assent to theology or belonging to an organization, but in growing, free relationships with other fellow-travelers.


• Experience the reality of growing trust in Father’s character and work and seeing how that transforms our self-focused lives to live freely and powerfully in his desires.

Of course all that doesn’t happen in a few days, but it can help people begin on this journey, or encourage those already on it to go much further down the way. This summer the Kansas base is taking this training on the road to Durban, South Africa and I hope to go if the Lord desires. I recently saw a video from there where 48% of the people living in one township of 400,000 people are HIV positive. This disease is literally ravaging Africa and I am so blessed to know those who have it on their hear to go and help. I also heard that as many people are dying with AIDS every 22 days as those who were killed in the recent tsunami. Imagine a tragedy like that that has become so commonplace it no longer makes the news.

As I said at the outset, dealing with these realities is my favorite thing to do with a group of people. The YWAM environment puts this in a classroom environment, but I find it even more effective in a home over a weekend with a group of people who are ready to rethink the life of the new covenant away from the religious packaging we’ve but on it for the past 2000 years. This process is highly interactive and the relationships it spawns are always a great blessing to me. Some start this process deeply embedded in religion and don’t even know it. Usually the first couple of days can be a bit threatening. Others respond like camels to an oasis, finding that the things Jesus brings up answer some of the deepest cries of their heart. As one said to me, “This was the whole purpose God sent us here.”

The great transition the church needs to undergo today is not from meeting in buildings to meeting in homes, but moving from doing Christianity as a religion, to living freely in the life of Jesus. That will change how we think about body life, but it goes far deeper than that. Of course all that doesn’t happen in a few days, but it can help people begin on this journey, or encourage those already on it to go much further down the way.

A friend sent me this excerpt from a diary of a relief pilot working in the tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia. This was probably three weeks into the relief effort and I’d encourage you to take the time to read it. It will give you a heart for the crisis there and those who serve in the midst of it. I find stories like this are a great way to get perspective on my own life. Living in the abundance and decadence of Western culture a
This was written by Andy McCain, a helicopter pilot in Indonesia, and is reprinted here with his permission. If you’d like to write a note of encouragement to he or his wife, Tammy, you can do so at ATMcCain@pobox.com.

Perspective from Far Side of the World: A Day in the Life of Banda Aceh Read More »

I ran across an interesting article today by Alan Jaimieson (a New Zealander) in Reality Magazine titled Ten Myths of Church Leavers,. Of course, I wish he had used another term for the Sunday morning box since the church of Jesus Christ in the world is larger than any box can contain, and you really don’t leave the church by quitting one of those boxes. Be that as it may, I found his observations and conclusions to be compelling.

Here is his opening paragraphs to whet your appetite:

A friend sent me this clip of an article written by a brother in Japan, Kokichi Kurosaki. I like how he deals with this.

The only caveat I would offer, is not to see that life union in Christ as someone who agrees with what we think, or sees church the way we see church. I find people with the marks of the Spirit’s life in them in all kinds of places, even if they haven’t been through the same experiences I’ve been through. God has many ways to work his life into people. As we recognize his presence in each other, we’ll be less likely to seek out only the ‘like-minded’ and find incredible fellowship in lots of places God might lead us.

A friend of mine in Australia talks about recognizing the fragrance of Father in others. I like that. That’s why you come away from some relationships hungry for more, and others wanting a bit less. It doesn’t matter whether they see things the way you do or not, but whether we can see Father is at work in them to make his life known. After all, unity is a gift God gives his children. It is something we can only recognize and celebrate, not something we can produce by our own efforts. That’s why Jesus prayed for his Father to do it instead of asking the disciples to.

For those outside the US, yesterday was our high pagan ritual to professional sports—the Super Bowl! Now I enjoy watching football, but I always feel my jaw clench whenever I hear one of our professional athletes try to invoke God’s in the process. Usually what comes out trivializes the God I love.

That was true yesterday hearing Terrell Owens credit God’s healing powers for his ability to play after breaking his ankle six weeks ago. “A lot of people in the world didn’t believe I could play, but my faith alone—the power of prayer and the power of faith carried me along the way.” I am certainly in no place to make a judgment as to whether God healed him or not, but with so many other dire needs in the world, I doubt having Mr. Owens in that football game was high on his priority list. I will be with someone tomorrow who has a severely handicapped child and who questions every day the reality of God’s love for her and her daughter. I can’t imagine how she feels if she thinks God has the power to fix an ankle for an over-paid and way-too-arrogant athlete while ignoring her cries of normalcy for her daughter.

But then professional athletes are not known for their sense of proportion. And I honestly feel for them. Can you imagine what it would be like to live your whole life measured every moment by your performance? They are adored, only for what they can produce, and when that goes so will their adulation by the crowds. If you want to see how shame distorts our lives, you need look no further than the boasting or blaming by those who have had to live by their performance the most. It’s no wonder they can only see God as a success-deity who will stop at nothing to make them succeed. Except when he doesn’t.

A few months ago another famous football player passed away unexpectedly at 43. Reggie White was a defensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers and well known for his personal faith. Yes, when his team won the Super Bowl, he said something a bit ridiculous like this victory was proof that God had sent him to Green Bay. I always wonder what the losing players feel at times like this. Is their loss proof that they missed God’s will?

After Reggie’s death, however, an interesting story emerged. You didn’t see it in the major press, but a few reporters covered it. It seemed at the end of his life, Reggie was on a bit of a spiritual journey that had taken him outside the whole structure of organized religion. He had stopped attending Sunday services and stopped preaching to congregations around the country. Why? It could have been the fact that after raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild an inner city church facility that had been burned to the ground in Knoxville, TN, the pastor he did it for was arrested for spending the money on cocaine. He began to question whether the money he raised would have been more helpful going directly to those who need it instead of paying for ostentatious buildings or salaries of so-called church leaders. Or, it could have been his growing awareness that people who came to hear him speak were more excited about seeing Reggie White than coming face to face with Jesus Christ.

Whatever it was, he quit! He told ESPN/s Andrea Kramer that he hadn’t been in a church building for four years and was on a journey to find out who God really was. He was still a passionate man for the Lord Jesus but had lost confidence in the institutions that had grown up in his wake. When he died, Reggie was on a journey to discover who God really was rather than to trust what he had been told about him. What a story! Isn’t it sad that he had to get away from football to recognize that God wasn’t who he thought he was? That’s what gives me hope for the rest of them.

Last night Sara and I went to see Hotel Rwanda and were absolutely stunned by the power of the performances and the tragedy of the story it unfolds. As a million people were being killed in a tribal genocide the West stood by impotently ignoring the death and devastation. We didn’t care enough about the value of African lives to intervene and stop the carnage. This is the story of one man who put his life on the line when he did not have to and saved the lives of nearly 1300 people who would otherwise would have been raped and slaughtered.

I saw that movie this week in the climate of a number of Christian commentators condemning another Oscar-nominated movie, Million Dollar Baby for a plot twist they say sanctions an act that they are hotly debating in our culture. I won’t give the movie away, but just because a movie depicts a horrible act, does not necessarily validate that act. I found this movie to be a masterpiece, with characters you come to care deeply about and the plot twist only underlies the tragedy of a life uncentered in the reality of a Living God. This is a gut-wrenching movie that captures the desperation of the human drama without a deeper reason for living than one’s own personal happiness.

What bothers me is that so-called Christian commentators take up more air time blasting Million Dollar Baby instead of championing the redemptive theme and courage of the hotel manager in Hotel Rwanad. Perhaps that is because they don’t understand it. Both are compelling stories with some incredible lessons. They certainly are not escapist entertainment, but thought-provoking films that will trouble your emotions. I came away from both of them more resolved to live my life deeper in Jesus and let him make it available to folks got in the despair of their own loneliness or the violence of someone else’s anger.

So why do commentators have to make a target of one of them and ignore the other? Follow the money. They know that more people will attend Million Dollar Baby for all their complaining, the same way some Jewish groups did last year for The Passion of the Christ. But they also know that the media will crave their ranting and it will bring them increased personal exposure and more money in their fund-raising efforts. It’s a despicable game being played for the destruction of our cultural fabric.

It is often said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” But what good men do is to risk their lives in the face of evil as the lead in Hotel Rwanda not to use controversy to build their own following on Fox News and line their own pockets from an angry constituency. The challenge for us all is how we stand up to the evil that surrounds us each day—that which foments the anger in our culture instead of healing it, and that which dehumanizes others by its own self-indulgence.

I want to live squarely in the fullness of Jesus’ life today, doing whatever he asks of me to be a redemptive influence in my culture. If you need encouragement to do that, go and see Hotel Rwanda. It will humble you while it makes your spirit soar!

Every notice how angry Christians are? I honestly think it is the direct result of the system of religious obligation that has co-opted so much of the life of Christ for believers. I remember how angry it made me—angry at God for not doing what I thought he should do, angry at other believers for not working as hard as I was and angry at the world for their sin which seemed to make them so happy. Even now in my work with BridgeBuilders it is almost invariably true that the angriest people in the room are those representing the Christian agenda. We’re right, by God, and we’re going to make you see it our way.

Even those who spill out of that system seem to carry their anger for while, especially when somebody challenges their lack of Sunday morning attendance, or some other nonsense. I was reminded of that with some of the responses I saw to Just What Is the Church? Blog that I wrote about a recent Christianity Today article telling us we all need to get back inside the institution, even if it is painful and doesn’t work. Sure he’s got a crazy perspective, but he doesn’t merit our anger or frustration.

I remember almost a decade ago visiting my parents at a time when close friends were spreading lies about me. I was so angry I had to get away and spend some time in the mountains praying. I dropped my stuff off at their house and was headed out for a long walk when my Dad stopped me. “Let me read you something I read this morning, that might be helpful to you.” He read from Luke 7 in The Message:

There is no way we can choose to live like this in our own efforts, so don’t make this a new set of rules to follow. They will kill you. But we can choose to let Father work his love in us so that we find ourselves increasingly living in this freedom. Ask him! He’s really good at this!

If you have not ever heard Ray Stevens’ song The Mississippi Squirrel you really owe yourself the treat! I first laughed at this back in the 70’s when it was a hit, but have played it often at workshops I do, for the humor and the truth it contains. Someone sent me this link today. With apologies to Pascagoula, Mississippi. It shows just how easy it is to start a revival if enough guilt and a squirrel are in the same room.

An Open Letter to Tim Stafford

In the current issue of Christianity Today, author Tim Stafford in an article entitled The Church—Why Bother, states, “There is no healthy relationship with Jesus without a relationship to the church.” Here is my response to that article.

Sara and I are continuing through Blue Like Jazz and enjoying lots of wonderful observations. In one chapter he finds himself teaching a college group at a local congregation. He substituted one Sunday, only to turn out to become the college pastor the next few weeks because they liked his teaching so much. He describes a process too often repeated in people who have a heart for ministry in honest terms one rarely hears:

And he wasn’t kidding. After a year or more he discovers that his teaching has replaced his own relationship with God. In a quote worth the price of the whole book, he writes:

When he realizes how empty his life became while teaching a class that everyone loves, he goes to the pastor to resign saying he’s leaving for awhile. The pastor tries to talk him out of it, but Don knows something isn’t right and he needs to sort it out. He tries to explain to his befuddled leader why he is going away.

That’s what religion does to you. In pretending to be what we’re not we lose sight of who we are. How can recognize the presence of the Living God beckoning us to his life if we are so busy pretending to be what we think we should be instead of letting God have us just as we are. God doesn’t live in our fantasies. He lives in reality. Part of learning to see him clearly is emptying ourselves of all that we use to hide behind. It may be a painful process, but it will allow us to once again connect with the Father who loves us so much and who is the only one who can put our lives back together.