The God Journey

Is the world becoming a scarier place, and if so how do we avoid the fear that paralyzes so many people? Regularly the media confronts us with the rise of terrorism, government corruption and irresponsibility, the catastrophic possibilities of climate change, mass shootings, and a polarized culture that can no longer collaborate for a common good. That leads Wayne and Brad to a conversation about fear and how we can find hope even in these trouble times. They talk about the Day of the Lord, the book of Revelation, and how to deal with times when you can't trust God's care for you, especially when you think you have evidence to the contrary. Podcast Resources: Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Wayne's back from his trip to the Midwest and as he debriefs with Brad they end up talking about conquering lust through a fascination with God not legalistic rules, the trajectory of healing that comes from being renewed in our minds, and the freedom that love gives us not to try to fix other people and instead we can help rescue them from destruction. Then they respond to listener questions about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. How do we love our enemies in the face of such evil? What do we do about the refugees streaming out of the Middle East? And what might God be asking of us in the face of our fears and the overwhelming need of refugees that we are now facing? Podcast Resources: Wayne's blog, "To My Sisters Raised in Captivity" Wayne's blog on The Trajectory of Healing Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

You know you're right. You've been the victim of someone else's abuse or dishonesty and though you pray for God to intervene on your behalf, he doesn't. What then? Just because our cause seems just doesn't mean God won't have other things in mind greater than we can see. The assumption of course is that God will always intervene on the side of what's right in the immediate and when he fails to do so it is easy to feel abandoned by God. Through a painful experience God invited Brad into a different space where even the cause of righteousness takes a back seat to the the unfolding glory of God's love that does not force people to do his will, nor right every wrong. But he does open our hearts into a larger space where we find ourselves joyfully doing what God wants, rather than getting him to do what we want. Podcast Links: Wayne's Travel Schedule Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

How do we live in a world that is performance driven and embrace a kingdom that is not? A friend, Kyle Rice, who is less than half his age joins Wayne for a frank discussion about growing up in a broken world and learning how to live in God's reality instead of what the world and religion presses on us. Kyle has been a missionary, a staff member of a mega-church in Southern California and now a marriage and family therapist with questions for wayne about how to deal with pain in a broken world without retreating into self-protective coping mechanisms, with people who speak ill of you, and how to embrace the process of change, rather than resist it to protect the status quo. Podcast Links: Podcast on Marriage Bids Email Kyle Wayne's Travel Schedule Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Catherine Cowell and Sean Kennedy authors of a new book, Church Uncorked, join Wayne on a Skype interview from the UK about their discoveries in helping more traditional institutional structures find more relational ways to celebrate community and inspire mission in the world. While the book is written for more institutional leaders, the lessons they share will bless many on a more relational journey as they talk about being focused on people not programs, the problems of power distance in our leadership methods instead of coming alongside people, and what it means to build community rather than an institution. Podcast Links: Wayne's Travel Schedule Email Catherine or Sean here Their website Refuel Network Order there books: Church Uncorked or Loved, Called, Gifted Finding Church Video Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

There is a major shift going on in Christianity as many passionate believers are moving away from the traditional congregation looking for a deeper engagement with God and a more fruitful community experience with others. The research on those being called "the Dones" has caught a concerned eye of those running our institutions in hopes of plugging the holes that are causing people to leave. Wayne was invited to share part of his story there and observe their attempts to reform the institutions so people won't be compelled to leave. However, it seemed attention was directed at cosmetic fixes to a failing institution that probably won't help. Brad joins Wayne as he processes his time there and the conversations he had with so many trying to fix the problem with the same human effort solutions that created it in the first place. But even as our misguided human attempts only compound the problem, nonetheless the church Jesus is building arises in the world wherever people embrace his reality. Podcast Links: Wayne's Travel Schedule Video Interview of Wayne that Brad refers to Finding Church Video Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Wayne concludes the interview he did with Jeff Heer of DefiningRoots.com for a lengthy interview about his life and journey and how God drew him into living loved and a liberating view of the church that he wrote about in Finding Church. In this segment he deals with questions about those who find it hard to connect with people outside the institution, why accountability will not engender church life, how to explain to your family that you're no longer attending the fellowship they've been a part of all your life, what it means to live loved, and if bitterness helped shape his view of the church. Podcast Links: "You Can't Put it Back In the Box" - Wayne's blog on the Future of the Church Summit German Translation of Finding Church View the video of this interview Finding Church promotional spot built from this interview Finding Church Video Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Wayne turns over the microphone to Jeff Heer of DefiningRoots.com for a lengthy interview about Wayne's life and journey and how God drew him into living loved and a liberating view of the church that he wrote about in Finding Church. This is the kind of conversation that often begins his time with new groups of people he visits. Now you can hear it firsthand as well as he tackles such questions as how this journey unfolded, why he gave up the institutional approach to church life, why he left the congregations he shared leadership in, and the fear that those who don't have an institution will go off track theologically. Podcast Links: View the video of this interview Finding Church promotional spot built from this interview Finding Church Video Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Are you a Toto in the land of religious performance? You can't seem to leave well enough alone and keep asking the questions that make others uncomfortable. Brad and Wayne continue their conversation with Bob Scott, a friend of Brad's, whose website Compassionate Justice looks to cultivate resources to defend the innocent and the oppressed. Bob, like Wayne and Brad has spent significant time behind the curtain with those who manipulate the buttons and levers many use to impress the crowd and perpetuate an illusion of spirituality that trips up many. But challenging the status quo has a price to pay as well. How do we navigate all of that and come to a space where grace reigns in our hearts for ourselves and others? Podcast Links: Finding Church Video Wayne's Travel Schedule Bob's website: Compassionate Justice and Saving Zimbabwe Contact Bob here Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Jesus told us to do it, but is there really any group of people on the planet actually loving their enemies in a tangible way? That nagging question led Bob Scott on an incredible journey beyond the borders of traditional Christianity and to an amazing group of people in Zimbabwe. Don't miss this incredible story, it's tragic end, and what it meant for Bob to process his own disillusionment with God over it all, which he recorded in his book, Saving Zimbabwe. Brad is back and this time with reinforcements as he introduces his longtime friend to Wayne. Bob has been just behind the curtain on a number of significant movements for the past forty years and shares how all that has shaped his life. Podcast Links: Bob's website: Compassionate Justice and Saving Zimbabwe Contact Bob here Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

There is one mediator between God and man, and it is not an institution many call the church. If we took half the energy they spent on wrestling with the question of whether or not we have to "go to church" and spent it on leaning into the reality of Jesus the fruit of that would change the world. As Wayne takes a look at the Pope's visit to America and some of his previous comments about the church he also sorts through Josh Packard's latest research about the "Dones", those who have left institutionalized Christianity. He mixes in some email from listeners and one woman's story about her journey outside institutionalized Christianity and then back in to help unravel confusion about the church. Podcast Links: The Exodus of the Religious Dones by Josh Packard and Group Publishing Pope Francis' Challenge to the Vatican Curia Pope Francis' Declaration that Personal Relationship With Jesus Is Not Possible Why I Go to Church Even When I Don't Feel Like It by Trudy Smith Wayne's Blog I'm Looking for 35 Million People Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Brad stays over from last week's podcast as they continue to celebrate their relationship and hear from others about how this podcast has encouraged their journey. They also talk about the latest research from Group and Josh Packard (Church Refugees) that 65 million Americans are former "church" goers who have opted out and only about half of those still identify as Christians. What happened to the rest? Did they not ever meet a God more real than the frailties of their institution? That invites them to a further discussion as to how we grow to know God over time even through the struggles of resistance from the world we live in and from our own flesh. They also talk about The Shack movie and more on what Brad is up to these days. Podcast Links: The Exodus of the Religious Dones by Josh Packard and Group Publishing The Butterfly Circus The Butterfly Circus Book Wayne's Upcoming Travel to New England and Colorado Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Wayne and Brad reunite to talk about this podcast and how it has impacted others and then more importantly how their own journeys have continued to take them to places they would never have conceived. You never know how exploring the depths of God's love and interacting with him through the joys and challenges of living in this world can re-shape you in ways you would never have imagined. Things we have done all their lives to serve ourselves and hurt others eventually become unthinkable in light of the way God loves and works. They also talk about finances and how monetizing anything corrupts it, and nothing more than in our love and care for others. Podcast Links: Wayne's Blog on The 500 Episodes of The God Journey that includes many of the letters and comments from our listeners Past Podcasts referred to on this podcast: The God Journey #353 It's Not Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies Wayne's Upcoming Travel to New England and Colorado Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

The podcast about God's love in a painful world captured many of you and Wayne got a host of feedback that expands that discussion on this podcast. Our well-being is not determined by our circumstances, but by how God finds us in the middle of them and shapes our heart in greater freedom. This applies as much in the tragedies of this life as it does the disappointment in our search to find community with others. When God isn't answer our prayers the way we want, maybe he's at work in a different way than we can see. By looking beyond the circumstances God invites us into a world where the unseen becomes far more real than what we see. Podcast Links: Wayne visited two other podcasts this week, the Chief Sinner Podcast on Accountability and Community, and The Encouraging Others in Christ podcast about The Treasure of the Scriptures Sorry, the video interview Wayne refers to is not yet available. Wayne's Podcast Interview with his Dad Wayne's Upcoming Travel to Indianapolis, the Bay area of California, and Colorado Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

There is nothing more off-putting than the arrogant know-it-all who thinks they know what God wants for you and will use every pressure at their disposal to get you to do it. When someone postures themselves as an expert in God's life they are often completely unaware that they are operating in the spirit of a different kingdom and do far more to destroy discovery and growth than stimulate it, even when they speak the truth. Jesus modeled the gift of powerless communication by engaging them with warmth and compassion that opened doors in their heart to see life a different way. He offered the kingdom as an invitation knowing that any attempt to force it on others would undermine the gift he came to share. Podcast Links: Seven Ways to Use the Power of Powerless Communication by Susan Cain A previous podcast: The Left-handed Life The Church Uncorked by Catherine Cowell and Sean Kennedy Wayne's Upcoming Travel to the Bay area of California, New England, and Colorado Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"