The God Journey

Nope, no podcast today. Brad and Wayne are still enjoying their end-of-the-year break, but they did want to wish a heartfelt “Happy New Year” to all their friends on The God Journey. All of us here pray this year will be full of new life and freedom as we all continue to grow in him and be increasingly transformed in his likeness.

Before we leave 2009 behind, however, we thought you might want enjoy a brief look back at the year that was.

“Knock! Knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“Orange.”
“Orange who?”
“Orange you glad we don’t have a video podcast?”

Imagine having to look at these expressions while trying to listen to the podcast, or even for Brad and Wayne to keep his next thought clear. You can click here or on the picture above to get a better look, if you want one that is! (Most of these must have come from their podcast on health care!)

Wayne and Brad pass on their Christmas greetings to The God Journey crowd as they take a couple of weeks off from recording to find some rest, refreshing and joy with family as well. We’ll be back on January 8, 2010. If you’ve listened well to us you’ll be able to thrive in this season without us. If you haven’t listened that carefully, there is an archive full of podcasts for your listening pleasure. Perhaps they will help you find great joy and comfort not in the theology of Christianity, but in the life of Jesus. Just use the links at left.

Brad is back from Nashville and Wayne from Brazil. They have lots of catching up to do and Wayne shares some of his experiences with brothers and sisters in Brazil. They also share some letters from other listeners, which causes them to contemplate a question too often ignored. Is the Bible is written to give us God’s requirements the requirements reluctant followers must follow, or to equip those who are hungry to know the Father and be transformed into his likeness.

What’s the difference between living with an expectancy in God’s unfolding purpose in our lives, and trying to get God to fulfill our expectations for our own convenience or for the ministry we want to have? A question Brad poses to Wayne opens up a dialog about what kind of expectancy they live in about the future and how being a part of God’s unfolding purpose sets us at rest as circumstances unfold because we no longer have to control them. They also talk about how that mentality reshapes our prayers for ourselves and for others.

Wayne and Brad continue the discussion they began last week about the quest for expressions of church that allow authentic community to grow and flourish. To add to the discussion they read from a book review in Christianity Today about Why Churchless Christianity Doesn’t Work and from an analysis of “postchurch” Christianity. Where does community emerge and is there a minimal standard of institutionalization or number of people to qualify a group of people as an official ‘church’?

After celebrating a bit of thanksgiving with some listener letters, Wayne and Brad look some news stories talking about the demands and dysfunctions of being a pastor in the 21st century. Have we created a position ripe for disaster, both for the person who tries to fill that role and the congregation that wants him to? Then they look at a humorous and incisive article called, “The Flabby Body of Christ” that was written by a psychotherapist about the problems we encounter today as so many people view at the gatherings of believers as theater instead of community.

Brad breaks the rules. What happened in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Vegas. Having just returned from a business seminar in Las Vegas he tells about a fresh work of grace in his heart that God revealed to him while he was there. That leads to a discussion with Wayne about how lost we can be in our own agendas and ambitions that we dehumanize the people we pass by and only think of them relative to how they impact us, or we can have eyes of compassion that see people for who they are and care about them. Living with eyes of compassion only happens when we slow down enough to see what God is doing around us, rather than rushing through our day.

Wayne is back from South Africa and shares insights of his trip with Brad, especially how people are learning to break free of the fear of appeasement and are learning to live loved by the Father. Also included is a brief interview with Stephan Vosloo to update how their journey has gone since telling us The Ladysmith Story back in 2005. One theme seems to recur in the dialog—how easily our old patterns of religion keep us from embracing the fresh life and freedom God has given us in the Son. It is easy to think we’ve been changed because we’ve read something we liked or because we can vocalize a concept that hasn’t yet transformed our heart.

Brad and Wayne interviewed Darin last week on the release of his newest book, The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Teaches About God. They held him over for a second week to find out more about his personal life, what makes him tick and where his passions are in encouraging the body of Christ. He has an interesting story moving from a staff pastor at a mega-church that his wife grew up in, to an encourager of people who are discovering the joy of living loved. You can find out more about Darin at his website, The Free Believer’s Network.

Wayne and Brad have enjoyed a growing relationship with Darin Hufford and are now helping him bring his newest book to print through Windblown Media. The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Teaches Us About God is a reworking of Darin’s earlier book, The God’s Honest Truth. In this compelling read Darin probes the question as to whether God, in claiming to be love itself, meets his own definition of love in I Corinthians 13. He concludes that religion’s definition of God does not, and though they call him the Loving God they have ascribed to him the personality of the devil. Darin joins Wayne and Brad in this podcast to discuss his book and his own discovery about learning to live in the reality of the Father’s love. You can find out more about Darin at his website, The Free Believer’s Network.