The God Journey

Plodders, Sexy Revolutionaries, or Family?

Wayne — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:12:48 +0000

Following up on last week’s podcast about the church as a family, Brad and Wayne discuss an article written by Kevin DeYoung, who is the co-author of Why We Love the Church. The article is entitled The Glory of Plodding and seeks to encourage people not to give up on institutionalized churches in hopes of finding a more resilient faith or a more authentic community. The article begs the question whether or not there are or can be churchless Christians, and whether our obedience to tradition and our learning of doctrine is more important than learning to live loved by Jesus. Of course the important issue is not whether we gather with others in an institutional way or not, but whether we’ve ended up caught in the religious treadmill, or are learning to live inside a vibrant relationship.

The Church as Family

Wayne — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:36:53 +0000

Is the church just an institution with shared doctrine and weekly services, or is it primarily a family that shares life together under the practical headship of Jesus? Helping Brad and Wayne probe that question this week are two brothers from Ireland who were on The God Journey back in April of 2006 in a podcast entitled, Laying it All Down in Ireland. Collin Langran (left) and David Rice (right) have been part of a thriving community of brothers and sisters in Dublin and regions south who have for more than 30 years simply learned to live as God’s people together, sharing life and caring for one another without the traditional congregational structures to manage that life. Their conversation shows how the church can experience life as a family as each believer learns to listen and follow the Head, and grow in loving and caring for each other through the twists and turns of life in this world.

Principles Alone Will Fail You

Wayne — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:33:29 +0000

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out—God appears! And in doing so he rarely fits into the roles or expectations we assign to him. In this podcast Wayne and Brad talk about how principles alone will always fail us at the critical moments in life. We have been offered a relationship with the Father through his Son which can bring wisdom and resource into our lives. Through that discussion, they refer to popular author Anne Rice’s decision to leave Christianity, feedback from a previous podcast on doctrine, a Christianity Today column about suffering as an extension of God’s purpose in our lives, and a poem by poem by Jenny Rowbury, a young woman in England, that provoke us to move toward God in suffering and not away from him. God’s amazing ability to work triumph out of tragedy is the only thing that makes sense in a broken world.

Loved Into Freedom

Wayne — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:15:53 +0000

Wayne and Brad dive into the email bag and come out with three amazing stories of people who are learning to live in a greater freedom, even in the face of painful circumstances, because of their growing discovery about how loved they are by the Father. You’ll hear about a father facing a pregnancy with his unmarried daughter, of an adult child engaging parents who raised her in a shame-based home with lots of rejection, and a man who gets to share Jesus with a hungry heart who has been turned off by religious approaches. Engaging even difficult relationships more focused on the other person than our own needs or desires opens the door for some pretty amazing things to happen.

Only What God Can Do

Wayne — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:14:28 +0000

Brad takes Wayne with him through his Jerusalem trip and the experiences, insights, and questions that were part of his time in Israel with a group of Hasidic Jews. Through the additional insights of listeners, they also revisit the learning-to-ride the bike analogy from a few podcast ago as others share their thoughts about growing in trust and going for a ride with God. The theme throughout is something Brad read on base of the Kenesset Menorah. “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6) We think so much rests in our hands, that really rests in his. Learning to live inside of his working, rather than our own manipulations is at the heart of living as a free child in the earth.

Discovering How Loved We Are

Wayne — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:21:11 +0000

Look who came by. Darin Hufford was in the Los Angeles area and stopped by for a visit while Brad is in Jerusalem. Darin is a good friend and the author of The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Teaches About God. Wayne recorded some of their conversation to share it with God Journey listeners. This wide-ranging dialog encompasses helping others discover their freedom in Father’s love, the difficulty of communicating that message to people who find it threatening, and the place Scripture holds in growing to know him. You can find out more about Darin at his website, The Free Believer’s Network.

Relaxing Into a Life of Grace

Wayne — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:10:27 +0000

Sara joins Wayne and Brad this week to share her experiences in England with Wayne. They share about the marvelous journey various people are on to break free of religious obligation and find the freedom to walk in the life and grace of Jesus’ unfolding work in their hearts. Brad and Wayne also read a recent blog posting that is riddled with misunderstandings about what The God Journey is all about, as well as what it means for people to live in the grace of God.

Living Loved & Riding Bikes

Wayne — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:14:53 +0000

Letters from podcast listeners lead Brad and Wayne to a discussion about the process of learning to live loved, comparing it to learning to ride a bicycle. Unless we’re willing to risk the uncomfortable moments of feeling out of control, we won’t find the depth of the life God wants to show us. Living loved begins when the Father begins to convince us that even with all he knows about us, this Father is deeply endeared to us and invites us on a journey of growing in that awareness. This also leads to a conversation about how to walk alongside others as God is drawing them into living loved as well.

Community Happens

Wayne — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:25:18 +0000

A letter from a listener and a conversation Wayne had recently gives he and Brad the opportunity to talk about how God gives expression to the Body of Christ around us. Both have become convinced that community is not something we get to build, but it is the fruit of lives coming together who are learning how to follow Jesus. Pretense and obligation are two factors that many use to build community, when in fact they produce the opposite results, driving people into greater isolation. It is our task to equip others for discipleship; it is Jesus’ task to build his church in the world.

Does Accountability Work?

Wayne — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 06:18:18 +0000

Brad and Wayne begin by discussing the web sensation, Sunday’s Coming, a video from Northpoint in Atlanta parodying a contemporary Sunday morning service. From there they read a devotional on accountability that a listener sent in. It was designed to get people to serve more by saying that at the end of the age God will sit everyone down and compare how much time they spent serving themselves and how much time they spent serving others. Why is it so many religious people find threats and fear much more powerful motivations than helping people discover the joy of living loved?

The Knowable God

Wayne — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:11:22 +0000

In the face of Wayne’s upcoming trip to England, Brad questions him as to why he travels, what happens when he’s with people, and what is the overriding vision for the things he does. That leads to a discussion about following God, living in his nudgings and finding a relationship with him that works. They talk about how their own relationships with God work, how they cultivate that reality in their own lives so that their journey in God doesn’t degenerate into following a set of principles, but in following him. Paul’s encouragement in Colossians 2 reminds us of the dangers of learning about this journey, without actually going on it.

Doctrine, Truth and Love

Wayne — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:05:47 +0000

Why was it true in Jesus’ day that those most familiar with the Scriptures were least able to recognize God himself when he stood right in front of them? Is the same still true today? A recent conversation Wayne had gives he and Brad the opportunity to discuss doctrinal conflicts, how to help people open to truth instead of declaring a doctrinal war that destroys any hope of growth. And why is it that people most committed to their doctrine, seem to be least transformed by the power of Christ’s love?

Does God Experience Emotion?

Wayne — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:13:43 +0000

Wayne and Brad start by talking about the progress of their own relationship, and the poor track record Christians have of maintaining friendships over the long haul. Why does division define us more than peacemaking and unity? Responding to some listener questions and input, Brad and Wayne also discuss reconciliation in broken relationships and following up an earlier podcast about God’s affection and his approval, they talk about whether or not God has emotion or need in a way similar to our human experience, and what do we learn in that in our own relationship with him?

The Folly of Judging Motives

Wayne — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:28:06 +0000

Wayne has been reading Senator Ted Kennedy’s autobiography and it has taken him to some places he didn’t expect. He shares with Brad his concern about the growing polarization of American life and how easily we dehumanize those we disagree with by casting aspersions on their motives and feeling justified in treating them however we want to. Paul warned us in I Corinthians 4 that we don’t even fully understand our own motives, so why would we even think we can understand the motives of others. This leads to a discussion about how we dehumanize others, even in God’s family, and then how we de-deify God by questioning his motives toward us, just as Eve did in the garden. We are called to be peacemakers, not to add to the division and judgment of a broken world.

Silvio’s Journey

Wayne — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:47:12 +0000

One of our favorite things to do is to share the stories of other believers on this incredible journey of learning to live loved by the Father. Silvio Viotti, whom Wayne met two years ago in Switzerland recently visited California on a trip with his wife Dominque. Wayne introduces Silvio to Brad as the three discuss the journey of seeing through the illusions of religion and coming to embrace the power and the life of Jesus. Silvio shares his journey of discovery coming from a very conservative denomination and the rejection he faced from his own family. He also shares how God has led him to view the church and the world so differently that he lives freely without regret.

Settled In Him

Wayne — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:43:55 +0000

Wayne has a guest this week as he introduces Brad to Vivian Haddad, a recent college graduate who helped translate for Wayne during his December trip to Brazil. She was visiting in the States and came by to spend some time with Wayne and Sara. While Wayne was in Brazil God did a special work in her heart and she shares from her own journey about learning to live loved. Brad and Wayne also dive into some email and a conversation about finding our settledness in him. By settling into the reality of our relationship with him we can find peace and rest even in the most severe challenges of life. They also give an update on the situation in Kenya and the generous outpouring that has come from God Journey listeners. We also have a new archive page with RSS feeds to past podcasts by the calendar year. you’re, and if you want to find the RSS feeds for the yearly archives of past podcasts you can click here.

Connecting to People Around Us

Wayne — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:25:03 +0000

Brad and Wayne continue with Part 2 of the podcast they recorded at the recent retreat in White Bluff, TN. They continue the theme of connecting to other brothers and sisters and then it expands to talk about engaging people around us whether they are believers or not. What is the value of small talk? What can people who feel relationally challenged do to become more comfortable engaging people in the real world? They finish of with a discussion about insiders and outsides, and how that overlay destroys relationship. The blog Wayne refers to can be found here.

High Risk, High Reward of Relational Community

Wayne — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:53:11 +0000

Some of those who gathered in White Bluff, TN

For the first time Brad and Wayne recorded an episode of the The God Journey before a live audience at their recent retreat in White Bluff, TN. The conversation turned to the high risk, high reward reality of relational community. People showed up to the retreat from all over that part of the U.S. and some England in the mere hopes that our conversations together would be helpful and meaningful. The result was a surprise to most people. Relational community is like that. We can regiment a safer meeting, but the corresponding depth seem to be very low. If you want to find meaningful fellowship with fellow-travelers on this journey you’ll have to take some risks to discover them? (If you want to see pictures from their time there, you can view a host of them at the here.)

Whoever Has An Ear…

Wayne — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:11:08 +0000

Brad and Wayne catch up on some hilarious and insightful email and then find themselves in a discussion about our misconception of ministry as trying to get other people to see what they are not seeing, rather than to walk alongside them in their journey as God opens their eyes to see his reality. Do we really “minister to” someone, or do we walk alongside them as servants? The ministry of Jesus invited people into his life; he did not drag them kicking and screaming into something that didn’t chose for themselves.

I Love You All The Time

Wayne — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:35:12 +0000

What is God thinking when he allows tragedy into our lives? That’s at the heart of the discussion Brad and Wayne have in the aftermath of the passing of a close friend of Wayne’s. Our expectations about what we think God should do in the midst of our pain and suffering is one of the top three things that undermine our relationship with him. Jesus came to show us that we can live in the security of his love in the midst of our most tragic and painful moments and then instead of losing sight of him, we can follow him through it as God’s purpose continues to unfold in our hearts.