The Culture of Control
During Wayne’s recent trip to Australia, he sat down with a family who had recently found their way out of a religious system that had a culture of control. Meet John, Josiah, and Amy Manteit as they share their story of awakening to the fact that those who claimed to speak for God in their lives, had taken them under control with false teaching and intimidation. Hear as they talk about the risk of walking away from that culture of control and the price they pad in doing so. Then rejoice with them as they have found life and freedom in following Jesus rather than what others were telling them Jesus was saying to them. (Pictured at left, clockwise from top left: John, Josiah, Amy, and Sonja.)
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Wayne continues his conversation with Joni Menard of Edmond, Ok, as they talk about what it means to be deeply loved by the Father and how that reshapes our lives. When we reset our identity as beloved children of an awesome Father, we are no longer defined by our failures or brokenness. We no longer have to put on ill-fitting human systems, which will seem more like the old paint-by-number sets instead of learning the art of living in the world with freedom and grace. They also talk about how that transition reshapes community, both in creating safe places for people to struggle, and also not subverting community by our need for the wrong kind of attention. They also discuss the problems of insider language, or theological jargon, which actually restricts our ability to communicate, rather than enhance it. 
If we saw the difficult moments of our life and the pain they create as a gift in which God gets to make himself known then we would more easily connect with him and gain traction on our journey, according to Joni Menard, a long-time God Journey listener, blog commenter, and resident of Edmond, OK. In this first of two parts, Joni schools Wayne on the unique struggle of the feminine soul and its implication on the God journey. Sharing from her own unique journey and a great crisis she that engulfed her, Joni encourages others to come in our brokenness before God and find out how deeply loved they are in the tender gaze of an adoring Father. Then will you know that he views you as a treasure. 
How do you deal with those who are not ready for the conversations in grace in which community thrives? Wayne faced that challenge last weekend and lived to tell the tale. But first, he shares some encouraging emails about the transformations God is doing in various people and then talks about the kind of conversations that encourage people in that process and discusses the problem of having people in the conversation who have abusive views of God and are adamant about convincing others that their view is the right one. Community conversations are seeded with grace, openness, and honesty and those who try to force their fears on others present a challenge to the health of the conversation. 
If we think of ourselves as our brother’s keeper, we’ll find ourselves caught in a dangerous game of the keepers and the kept, and while it looks compassionate at the outset, it does not end that way. As Wayne came to the end of what he is affectionately calling his “Old Coot Tour”, he spent some time with Tom Mohn (pictured at left with his wife, Barbara) a friend from Tulsa, OK, and one who has traveled this journey for a long time as a radio announcer, pastor, Bible teacher, and a guide helping others explore the depth of Father’s love and grace. As they share lessons from the journey they talk about trying to manage human systems as conduits of the Lord’s glory to be like trying to manage the wind and the danger of looking at people as projects to fix, rather than people to love. 
A persistent theme throughout Scripture is that God is so much bigger than any box humanity can design to contain him, and a persistent human passions seems to be to design something that can sustain his life among us. It’s a recipe for disaster, and it’s a disaster that has been repeated many times. Wayne shares his own growing edge this week to expand the conversation begun in 
Even those who would like to can no longer ignore the amount of people who are leaving religious institutions even as they continue to explore an ever-deepening engagement with Jesus and are growing in their desire to serve his purpose in the world. They are call the “nones”, because they don’t identify with any particular religious grouping, and Christian organizations and seminaries are trying to figure out how to win them back, or at least hold on to the ones they have. It makes for an interesting discussion. After looking at comments from previous podcasts, Wayne wades into the discussion of what some call “nones’ and others call “free rangers” and how we might have a better conversation that helps us flow more easily with what God is doing in our world. 
There are so many side roads for us to wander that promise they’ll give us life in Jesus, but most so many of them end up frustratingly empty. In the backdrop of the papal election in Rome, and conversations Wayne had on his recent trips to Oklahoma and the Central Valley of California, Wayne processes what it means to move from the icons we make of our religious activities into the simplicity of walking with Jesus. Our icons of prayer, worship, and even community will always fail us as will the mirages of wealth, power, and celebrity that the world holds before us. Finding our way into what’s real means we’ll travel with a different vision, moving away from what feels lifeless and artificial to the reality of knowing him as his life unfolds each day. He also addresses the new “hyper grace” debate to show how doctrinal issues can also be a distraction to the relationship God desires with us. 
Ever had that yucky feeling about some opportunity, but overrode it because others might have encouraged you to do so, or because you thought it might be okay because everyone else is doing it? If so, you probably lived to regret it. Kevin Tupper again joins Wayne as they talk about our Yuck Meter going off just might be the Holy Spirit inviting you away from what human effort can produce, to open a wider door into his life and provision. That is especially true when it comes to sharing our gifts with the world. Whenever we serve our own bottom line, whether it is our thirst for money, influence, or visibility, we will find ourselves trying to monetize everything we do and slipping into the exploitive patterns of the world that may help us miss the very doors Father has opened to us.