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Recently I’ve received a whole raft of books for me to check out. The best by far was The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus by Bruxy Cavey. He’s a Toronto pastor of a church “For people who aren’t into church.” His premise is that Jesus came to make us irreligious by superseding the basis on which religions thrive, and invite us to a radical life in him. “Blue Rose Tuesdays” (Chapter 3) in the book is worth the price of admission and makes a powerful point how the attempt to find life through ritual will always end up in incredibly weird places.

And I love his point about religion is not really for the God we’re trying to serve, but for our own self-interest. I loved this quote:

The religious system of Israel (like any religious system today) was repeatedly used as a spiritual hideout for people with the guilty conscience. Rather than change how they live, the people of Israel simply added a little religion to their lives, to keep everything in balance. Like the godfather going to Mass on Sunday morning or going to confession before returning to his life of crime, religious systems make it all too easy for self-centered people to find complete familiar rituals without experiencing a change of heart or committing to a life of love.

Though occasionally he lapses into the vocational clergy habit of talking down to the reader, I love the premise and Cavey shares some wonderful insights. Many of you will enjoy the squirming he has to do in the end to make sure his religious system isn’t counted as one, and that people are encouraged to a set of priorities that he strains not to call rituals. I found this part a bit sad. It is easy to identify religious activity in others and yet exempt our own. I like the core of this book, though, I just wish he’d been able to take it further.

I also received Becky Garrisons, Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church. I was actually excited about getting a woman’s perspective on this, but unfortunately it’s mostly a rehash of the emergent conversation and that done through interviews and emails. If you care about that conversation you’ll find it a solid resource. However, it is difficult reading because the question/answer stream of consciousness approach makes it choppy. I would have preferred her to act more like a journalist and synthesize these approaches into a more readable narrative. But if you want to know more about the church views of Brian McLaren, N.T. Wright and others in the emergent conversation, you will find it very helpful.

Life After Church: God’s Call to Disillusioned Christians by Brian Sanders is an interesting read as well. He handles well the frustrations of people seeing through the failures and fantasies of organized religion and treats their concerns with empathy and compassion. That part is very helpful. But unfortunately he has another system he thinks is an answer to the malaise of organized religion. I like many of his priorities, but you’ll notice him harking back to the familiar lists of Bible reading, fellowship, mission and honoring leaders. There’s some good chicken to eat hear, but you’ll find some bones as well. In the end he encourages people to stay if at all possible, but also makes room for people to leave it and find other expressions of church life. In summary, he says if you can’t find something to participate in freely, you owe it to the rest of us to start your own and show us how it is done. That’s not advice I’d want people to take seriously. If systems could replicate God’s work on earth, you’d think we’d have discovered it after 2,000 years.

Take This Bread by Sara Miles was an interesting read, but I just couldn’t find the passion to finish it. It’s the story of another liberal finding here way to the reality of Christ. I was led to believe this would be similar to an Anne Lamott read, which got me excited. But, alas, it doesn’t have near the humor that gets me through a Lamott book. Don’t get me wrong. This is a personal story and one who really demonstrates a heart for the poor and marginalized in our society and how Jesus met her there and how she continues to pour out her life in the wider culture. It’s an honest, passionate story of grace. I’m sure many of you will enjoy it more than I did. It just felt like a story I’ve read dozens of time and other books on my shelf beckoned me away from it.

Now I’m reading The American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Every once and a while you’ve got to break out of the ‘church’ books and read a bit of history!

Also, Sara and I are taking a few days off at the end of her spring break to escape for a few days. So, if it takes a while to get an email response or get or order filled, you’ll understand way. We’re looking forward to a brief break. Also, if anyone needs a CD duplicator, we have upgraded ours and are looking to resell the old one. Email me if you’re interested. I’m not sure how safe it is to mail this delicate equipment, so it will help if you’re close by…

it looks like we’re going to make one more transfer of funds to Kenya to help our brothers and sisters there. To date we have sent over $14,000.00 to help. Even though the tensions in the country have lessened, the need is still great and we want to send one more offering to help our brothers and sisters there who have been rendered homeless and jobless by the violence earlier this year. We received the following update last week from our contact there:

Thank you for standing with us and your involvement to this ministry especially through the books we have received. Our hearts have been changed and (brought) great changes in the ministry. (We have helped) 1201 people, including adults and the children. This is so great and with over 50 families who are now standing on their own. This includes hiring the houses and self support. This is wonderful work which you have done.

Although there is large number who are still in need of our help day after day. But we shall not care for all of them but God will direct us those who are ahead of us. Thank God for the love you have shown to us. We still have around 40 families who are still in total need, we visited last week . so we still pray for the brothers and sisters to help with anything which God has granted in your hands.

Here are pictures of some of the people that have been touched by your generosity:

Please pray with them if Father lays them on your heart. 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. And if you send us a check, please email me and let me know it is coming so we can wait to do the funds transfer when all is accounted for.

In closing, I have got one extra treat for you today. If you want to see what warmed my heart this past weekend, take a look at this!

During my recent trip through the Carolinas I met hundreds of people hungering to live in the reality of Jesus. We had all kinds of conversations with people all over the spectrum of expressions of church life. As part of my time in Charlotte, I was asked if I could meet the family of a man Sara and I met in New Zealand three years ago. He has a daughter, son-in-law and eight grandchildren there. We made arrangements to meet at his office, in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. We were going to get a tour and go out to lunch.

Unfortunately the man who arranged it all had to cancel because of sickness in his family. But he wanted us to take the tour anyway, so my hosts and I did. We got the full tour around the place, which is an incredibly opulent facility in Charlotte. Later, we also toured the Billy Graham Museum (pictured at left). As many of you know, I’m not at all convinced we should glorify a man like the world does especially when the life it celebrates was mostly about Jesus and his kingdom. I’m glad we don’t have the Apostle Paul Museum for instance. It might be interesting, but it gives glory to the wrong thing, doesn’t it? That’s not to say Billy Graham has done some incredible things and maintained a life of integrity in a time when such seems to be in short supply with those who are in the big spotlights.

In any case, back to my tour in the offices themselves. At one point we were in the photography library when one of their workers asked if we’d attended any of his crusades. When I told her I had gone forward as a nine-year-old boy at the Billy Graham crusade in Fresno, CA in 1962, she told me she might have a picture of that. Sure enough, she found a photo (see below) of the end of one of those evenings in Fresno.

As I recall my dad was an usher, way up at the top of the tall bleachers on the right hand side. It’s amazing how vivid the memories of that night still are.

Forty-six years ago, who would have known what Father had in mind for me? I remember wanting to go forward the first night of the crusade, but my dad thought I was too young. The second night I was so overcome during the invitation that my dad said it must be time. Having grown up around the Gospel all my life, I know I believed in him before that night. But that was my first willful act to give my life to him.

Tomorrow I turn 55. What a journey it has been! Who knows what still lies in store in unfolding days to come. I’ve never regretted selling out my life to Jesus at a young age. Certainly I had no idea what it meant at the time, and how much I would be stretched at times to stay true to that decision. But I have never wavered in my passion to know him and my willingness to follow him even if that meant I had to disappoint others who didn’t like or agree with what I felt he asked of me. But in the end, right or wrong, I kept trying to follow him even when it cost me.

And I’ve no doubt I’ll continue on that journey to the end of this age and through the ages beyond. It’s been fun to reflect back on my childhood, the choices I made in the face of how he made himself known to me. I’m so grateful we connected early and often.

And I want nothing less for you too! Blessings!

A couple of nights ago a few of us were talking in a home outside Charlotte, NC about giving, and how we can live it out more relationally rather than paying an obligation many people call a tithe. Someone brought up something they had seen a couple of days before—a single mom confronted with a need for car repairs she couldn’t afford. He thought of helping, but had no idea what to do. We talked about possible options of helping people just like that as we cross them in our lives.

Just yesterday, I got the following email from him. It’s amazing what Father does, isn’t it?

At the beginning of this year I asked the Lord to show me what it means for Him to be my Daddy. I wanted to experience His love in the way that I knew He wanted for me. I didn’t know what that meant really. I just wanted more than I was experiencing. A month later I was sharing this desire to know God as my Daddy with two close friends. Immediately they looked at each other and said, in unison, “The Shack.” They gave me a copy that they, by pure coincidence, happened to have with them. I devoured it in two days.

Approximately two weeks later, I left the ministry in a fit of what I’ll call disgust. I immediately went to my friend who gave me So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore. I cannot express to you how Father used that book to change my life.

I now believe that Father has answered my request to know Him as my Daddy. I could really relate to the great sadness that Mack experienced. I have experienced a similar thing myself for most of my life. Even though I know I have a long way to go, I have peace. I know that Father is at work in my life. My wife has seen the difference in me. I am excited about my growing love relationship with Father. Thank you for allowing Him to speak through you so clearly and with such love.

I wanted to share something else with you. Do you remember me talking about a lady at the car dealership who was upset because her repair was more than she could afford?

On Wednesday, I took my wife’s van to get the oil changed at the Chrysler dealership. I was in the waiting room when the service manager came in. He sat down next to a lady and began to talk to her. I didn’t hear what he said, but I saw tears welling up in her eyes. I heard her say, “Oh no! I don’t have that much money.” The two of them got up and went into the service area. I immediately said a prayer for her. A few minutes later, she walked past the waiting area with tears streaming down her face. I didn’t get to say a word to her.

She was on my mind the rest of the day and night. As I prayed for her, the Lord clearly told me to “meet her need.” Not knowing what that need was, I went to the dealership yesterday morning and asked. She needs a total rebuild of her transmission. I gave the service manager my name and phone number and asked him to have her call me.

An hour later, she called. We have since had 3 wonderful conversations about God, how much He loves her and how He wants to have an intimate, loving relationship with her. There is no way for me to be able to express what took place during those calls. I can share with you that she told me that she has no family to turn to except for an aunt who has yet to return her call. She has no way to meet this need. Wednesday night she cried until she had no more tears. At some point, she look down at her wrist where she saw the bracelet a friend had given her. This bracelet said, “Miracles Happen.” She tore the bracelet off and threw it on the floor thinking to herself, “I don’t think so.” All I can say is that a woman who thought God had abandoned her now knows that He really does love her.

Anyway, I wanted to share that with you because you had a part in it. As a result of the truth you share, I am experiencing Father’s love and that love is beginning to spill out onto those around me.

I’m nine days out now on this trip through Georgia and the Carolinas. I’ve met some incredible people, participated in some awesome conversations and have had some incredible blessed moments, just dropped in by God that have enriched my own journey. But I miss Sara immensely. Two more days, however, and I’m on my way home. I enjoy the connections God gives when I’m on the road and the work he accomplishes, bu for someone who would rather be home every night of his life it makes me wonder why I do this. And then i get a note like this, and I am reminded of why he asks it of me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for visiting with us last weekend. I trust that the rest of your trip has been wonderful. It’s funny how I still hold so many expectations in my life. I had expectations about your visit, and of course they weren’t met. What I pictured beforehand is not what happened (it had nothing to do with you, but I had expectations on myself and others who came to join us). What happened instead was that God quietly worked on my heart in the 24 hours after you left.

I had been suffering a lot lately from insomnia and a general restlessness of spirit. What I know now is that I’ve been wrestling over who God is. Sunday afternoon’s conversation was the breakthrough. You were talking about the Cross. I had heard it before from Transitions and the podcasts, but sometimes you have to hear something over and over before it takes root. I know I mentioned my struggle with the OT and NT God seeming to be two different people. You gave me the piece of the puzzle that brought it all together.

I get it now!!!!!!!!!! HE LOVES US!! He reached into the OT times in the only way they could handle Him then!! He really doesn’t do anything apart from love! I am so excited!! I finally understand what His wrath really is. Wayne, I will never be the same. I even feel like I can handle reading scriptures again now that I am more fully settled on His loving nature.

This revelation did not come to me Sunday afternoon. It came quietly with no fanfare over the day following. I suddenly realized that everything was different.

I know face-to-face encounters are often helpful in moving the journey forward for some people. What I love about this note is that it really points out the work God does in a life. Sometimes our conversations can be a catalyst for that, but in the end the glory is all his. And at the end of it all, I still get to go home to Sara!

I’m five days into my Southern Swing. I spent two days in the Atlanta area and the weekend in Greenville, SC. I’ve met some wonderful people at various stages in this journey. We have shared together God’s love life. We’ve talked about the cross and kids and living loved and sorting out Scripture and dealing with those who can’t appreciate our journey. It has all been wonderful. I love the way Jesus is building his church, inviting people into his life and connecting them by simple hearts willing to get to know and love others just where they are atl.

Today I head off to Raleigh, NC and then I’ll spend a few days in Charlotte. Don’t have much more time to post, but for those interested, I participated last month in a discussion on grace for a podcast at Plain Truth Ministries. Some of you might find it interesting. It is called “State of Grace” and you can listen to it here.

Again, my heartfelt thanks go out to every one of you that has sent us money to pass along to the brothers and sisters in Kenya. To date we have sent over $14,000.00 to help those in Kenya. The government and opposition leaders got together last week on a power-sharing arrangement that is fragile at best and the whole country waits in hopes that it will hold. But the need among people continues to grow. I got this report from my friend Michael this morning, who has been distributing the funds we sent:

I would like to request prayer very much here in Trans-Nzoia Kitale . Kitale is a combination of almost every tribe has settled here. But according to history, the people we call them Elgon Maasai were the first people to settle and then other tribes came the time of settlers from Britain. They came as workers after the liberty of Kenya in 1963, many settlers returned back and some handed the land to the new government. From there, the government announced all lands to become the property of the government. The government gave out to the people to take the share and to pay the little fee to the government. This is where all people came from their reserve and they settled here. People have stayed here over 50 years but the spirit of division and tribalism came to divide people telling people that you others are not suppose to settle here. This is why in 1992, the spirit of tribalism came and has affected more parts of this country. I know the problem is not the parties to work together but if the church will stand against this spirit of disunity and break it, this will bring unity. People will forgive others and everybody in Kenya will be able to live anywhere without discrimination of tribalism. Its also our prayers that the church will advise and be fully involved for making the new constitution . I want to appreciate very much that we have circulated thousands of anothering message in almost every district and the message has worked excellently and many people have forgiven one another. So I would like to request you that continue praying for this land.

Many people who have camped in churches, market places, it will take long for them to return and settle. It needs more prayers because the invaders were still having their strategies of killing and destroying the lives. For example, after Kofi Annan , Raila Odinga made the reconciliation to work together , and when the government announced that people will be rearranged to be helped and return to their places in Tran-Nzoia, the night of Monday this week, invaders came, they have burned more houses, even the media have taken the report, newspaper were reporting. even today about 12 people died, properties destroyed and many people because of fear have camped again in different places.

We tried to go there yesterday, but the security was so tight. Many people have run and among them were the saints, so we have received again especially one of IGEM zone called Saboti North, it is more affected and the chairman his name is Pastor John has requested us, an urgent help for about 30 families with a big number of children who have camped at his home. So my brother, who knows that God joins us together that you may be a bridge of connection and support. I know you have helped us with your team much, but I still appeal to you to share with the team urgently, we need the help for blankets, mats and food. I am also going to announce to other brothers here to donate clothes and other necessary things. Lastly, let us continue confessing the victory that the Lord has done.

Please pray with them if Father lays them on your heart. 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.

I’ll let Michele do have my blog today. I got this email after she had read a downloaded version of So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore and wrote me this letter. This could be the last post ever on this blog because it speaks my heart as well as anything can:

My day got interrupted with your book! A long time friend told me I should download it, which I did in the London airport on my way home back to the bush of Southern Sudan. Three weeks later I got caught up in your story and my tissue box became my friend. I am a simple little white city girl from Florida who is now in Sudan taking in orphaned children to live with her.

I was really relieved when Jesus called me to move to Sudan out of the west… when I got here I realized it was ten times more religious than anything I have ever seen and the “Christian” south is an absolute cartoon mockery, as caricature of all things of the religious system called Christianity with all the avarice it breeds. Leaders who actually know Jesus estimate maybe only 3% of people here actually know Jesus, really. The spirit of religion is soooooo strong here it feels choking at times—totally empowered by a spirit of fear. It is only Jesus as He truly His and His life that will draw them—and He is the only one that can fix this mess.

When I was in the simple church movement in the west with campus churches, a few months into it I realized I was training people how to plant churches so nicely they could do it with out God… and a few months more it seemed to me we were reproducing another box we tried to contain God in and saying our box was better than the other boxes. Now, after nearing 2 years in the war torn bush of central Africa I don’t really give a rip whether it is house church or legacy church or cell church or open church, a sitting room, a sanctuary or a stadium- if people are growing in Jesus, walking in love with one another and being the face of His love to the world around them. It is just about love and life and Him.

I don’t want to have to figure out whether I should embrace the system, conform, reform or vacate. I don’t have time. Other things are too precious. I just want to do what He is doing and love people. I don’t want to debate what is the right way to have church- I DON’T GIVE A RIP because it all can become a box and a prison if not filled with His life so why can’t we all just focus on Him and fall in love with Him and love the people around us. I don’t want to figure it all out—I can’t. I was just holding a dying woman in my arms in the hospital here whose family will not feed her or help her because the stench of rotting flesh is too bad and she soils herself and people are arguing if they should meet in homes or buildings. Last week a blind woman saw, this week another woman lay dying in my arms, I cannot figure it out. I can’t even try anymore. If I can’t embrace His mystery and love Him beyond my little understanding, I will limit the place I give to His majesty to be revealed in and through my life. Meet under a tree, rent a cathedral, go on a hike with your family- but love people—learn about love. Learn of Him. Live in Him. Have an encounter in Him, live in encounter with Him, be His encounter to those around you. That’s what He said to me last night. Can’t we just do that? I don’t have any answers or anything except a heart cry to love each person He sets in front of me and stay in His Presence because I love Him more than I love anything. He is my life.

Thank you for describing the One I love more than life, so beautifully and accurately. It means a lot. I met Him face to face when I was seven and He walked into my room. Very few I have read or heard actually describe the One Who captured my heart as a little girl. You have.

When I get home from a trip people always ask me how it went. I never know how to answer that question, because each trip is layered with so many experiences and trying to sum them all up in a word or two is nearly impossible. I think questions like, “What was your most interesting conversation?” “Who did you meet that surprised you?” “What did you all talk about in Pratt?” might lead to more fascinating conversations.

This last trip to Kansas is a good case in point. There were moments when I spoke in more formal settings—a congregation, a youth group and even a morning session in a homeless shelter. I spent many evenings in long conversations with small groups of people sorting out what it means to live deeply in Jesus in this day. And I had nearly countless one-on-one conversations with people at critical crossroads in their journey. Looking back, the days seem so rich with dozens of exchanges and recognitions of Father’s hand working in people’s lives.

What a change from the way I used to travel, where the focus was always on an event, usually where I was presenting a seminar or lecture to silent listeners! Most of the exchanges I had were surface questions that an attendee might ask a presenter. Too many times after the event the dialog with organizers rarely got back to the life of Jesus and instead got lost in sports, weather or politics. I don’t mind discussing those things too, but true spiritual hunger goes beyond the meetings to continue to share his life together. That’s what I like now. Each trip seems like an ever-running conversation with different ones spilling in and out of it as they have time and in doing so they connect with others in their area and hopefully connect with Father as well.

On this trip, I had lots of opportunity to covet. I met two people who had their own airplanes, one who had flown a small plane for 50 years off of a grass strip 75 yards from his house. The other an air traffic controller with the FAA, one of the things I’d always wanted to be. Though I did get my pilot’s license at 17, I rarely used it past 25 and now only fly when others take me up. The hobby was just too expensive for my lifestyle.

And there was lots of humor. Laughter makes us all more human, reduces our pretensions and opens the door for deeper conversations ahead. I think God must laugh a lot since he gave us such a rich appreciation for humor. I reconnected with old friends and made some new ones. In one home I stayed in the Miss America Bedroom, where she had stayed 11 years before and there was a plaque on the wall.

In the end now, it is all about the people for me. What did God do? Who did he touch or encourage to make another step in their journey? There are so many people today looking beyond the walls of traditional religious obligation who hunger to know the Living God and experience his freedom and transformation.

It’s good now to be home four days, before leaving again over the weekend. Then I’ll be back two before heading out for 12 to Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. There’s more people to meet, more lives to encourage, more grace to celebrate. I hope you’re celebrating his grace wherever you happen to be in the world today and with whomever God has places in your path…

That may just be the essence of community: I couldn’t let you go through this alone. The first time I heard those words it was a good friend who walked beside me through the most painful experience of my life. We had share some wonderful times together, but then he withdrew for a season from our relationship. I was so blessed we reconnected in the midst of my trial.

One day I asked him why he had withdrawn for a time. His answer? “I could see you were going to get hurt badly and I just couldn’t bear to watch it.”

I understood his comment. He had been through something similar and I knew how painful it was for him to walk with me through mine. I laughed, “But you’re hear now at the worst of it.”

“I know,” he smiled. “I couldn’t let you go through this alone.”

I don’t know a better definition for community. It isn’t always fun and games, but love will not let people go through their darkest days alone. As hard as it may be for us to be alongside, our passion for the person won’t let us be anywhere else.

I was reminded of that recently as I read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. It’s an old book I’ve wanted to read for a long time. It’s about a professor dying of ALS, and a former student who comes for the last chapter of his life. It’s lessons from the brink of death and many of them are breathtaking. Even though this man was not a passionate believer, he’d come to believe some things that are pretty consistent with the life of Jesus:

So many people walk around with meaningless life, they seem half a sleep, even when they are busy doing things, they think they are important, this is because they are chasing the wrong things, the way you get meaning in your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you and devote yourself to something that gives you purpose and meaning.

And this:

Love wins, love always wins.

I loved the book, enjoyed the lessons, but was most touched by this former student who would come and spend every Tuesday with his former professor in the last stages of his disease. He learned a lot, but also gave a lot—friendship on the brink of death.

At my brother’s funeral a number of years ago one of his best friends stood up at his funeral and said that he couldn’t bear to visit my brother as he suffered the final stages of multiple sclerosis. He wanted to remember him as he was, not in his weakened condition. When he was needed the most he couldn’t bear to go. How sad!

The meaning of compassion is right in the word itself. It means to “come to passion” and passion in the old English meant suffering. It means to run to suffering. To be there at the worst because someone we love needs us there. I love that. A good picture of that are the 9/11 rescue workers who were running into the World Trade Center when everyone else was trying to run out. Compassion means being there when it’s incredibly difficult because we just can’t imagine letting someone we love go through it by themselves.

No one enjoys walking people through dark valleys or through painful reactions, but love says, I’ll be there for you. I may not know what to do or what to say. But I just can’t let you go through this alone!