The God Journey - 2014

Questions for Wayne (#467)

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:52:32 GMT

In his year-end podcast Wayne clears out his desk at the end of the year and with it a number of questions that people have wanted him to address on the podcast. Since none of them were enough to fill a podcast he combines a potpourri of them here to at least share how he and Sara have worked through these questions in their own journeys. Is buying insurance or preparing for retirement a violation of trusting God that can come back to haunt you? What curriculum is best to use to help children a relational journey? How can you give anonymous gifts to someone you want to help if you don’t want them to know where it is coming from? What about communion, is it another sacred cow to be slaughtered? If the idea is to relax into Father’s affection, how can we hurry up that revelation in our own hearts?

Podcast Links:
Engage videos
FindingChurch.com
The latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Living Gleefully in the Hallway (#466)

Fri, 19 Dec 2014 14:28:10 GMT

Moments of transition are possible where we look beyond our circumstances and get a glimpse of a greater reality and freedom that lies at the heart of the Father’s love for us. Will we risk what we have to embrace something new? Wayne reflects on last week’s podcast on experiencing the new creation through the words of many who wrote him talking about their own experience finding their way into God’s life. It has made Wayne aware that his favorite place to spend time with people are when people are standing on the verge of a new reality, but still hesitant whether they can or should risk the security of what they know to take a chance on more wide open spaces. The conversations he loves most are those with people who are ready for the encouragement that takes them down the road less traveled.

Podcast Links:

FindingChurch.com
The latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Seeing Into the New Creation (#465)

Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:39:10 GMT

Looking beyond the religious systems of this world to a greater reality isn’t always easy. Wayne works through some recent correspondence first from a woman who argues that our congregational systems are the only valid expression of Jesus’ church in the world and deeply misunderstands the freedom that many are finding to connect as his church beyond them. Does Jesus build his church on commitment, accountability, and hierarchical systems, or is she built on the love and affection of the cross? The second email wonders if I’m overselling the reality of the new creation this side of the final resurrection. In all of this we get to talk about church views, church discipline, how real the new creation is in this age, and what does it mean to listen to Father.

Podcast Links:
Christianity Today Discussion: Does my local church have authority to declare that I am not a Christian?
FindingChurch.com
The latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

When You No Longer Fit (#464)

Sat, 06 Dec 2014 00:54:31 GMT

What do you do when you come to see that the beautiful bride of Christ cannot be crammed into human systems without causing collateral damage? Wayne follows up last week’s podcast as he interacts with listener emails and blog postings to discuss the challenges many face when they are no longer part of a system. What if your spouse sees it differently? How can I find friendships that will respect my journey? How do we avoid creating our own systems? And how do I handle the infamous, “Where do you go to church?” question. There are not easy answers to any of these because the flow out of a process of finding our freedom, learning to live in our freedom, and learning to share that freedom with others no matter where they are in their journey.

Podcast Links:
FindingChurch.com
Wayne’s Travel Schedule
The latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Nones, Dones And a Wider Conversation (#463)

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:55:59 GMT

Where have all the people gone? Pew Research announced a couple of years ago about the rise of the “Nones”, those who no longer claim any religious affiliation. Now, there’s a growing conversation about the rise of the “Dones”, those who are leaving traditional Sunday morning congregations to find more authentic expressions of community. Research shows that these maintain a deep passion for God, but that it is unlikely that they will ever return. Brad joins Wayne as they talk about the research here as Wayne had an opportunity to speak with the lead researcher on this project. The research does not bode well for the future of traditional congregations.

Podcast Links:
FindingChurch.com
The Rise of the Dones
Dr. Josh Packard’s research on The De-Churching of America
The latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Antidote to Control (#462)

Sat, 22 Nov 2014 04:30:43 GMT

Current research shows how easily we all create illusions whenever it serves our own self-interest. How then can we know we are processing life around us objectively and accurately? Ultimately we can’t. Wayne and Brad take on this dilemma using some listener emails and some research by Dan Ariely. By recognizing that our desires and fears make us want to take control of circumstances and people around us to our own benefit. On the other hand, genuine affection for others around us will help us seek a better reality than our own personal gain. Only by growing in love can we hope to see more accurately who we are and what’s going on around us.

Podcast Links:
Order Finding Church
The audio clip we used is not linkable, but it was from Duke Researcher Dr. Dan Ariely, author of The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone–Especially Ourselves.. You can find his website here.
The latest update from Kenya.
Previous Podcast about Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me: Honest to God.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Can a System Ever Love? (#461)

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 16:48:43 GMT

Can any system humans design to justice to the transcendent beauty of Jesus’ church as she takes shape in the world? As more an more people are coming to the conclusion that our systems don’t function well, especially when people need to know the reality of love, rather than the rigidity of a program. Wayne dives back into the mailbag for a discussion about our religious systems and why they are destined to fail at the critical moments of life. The more we come to know his love, the more we lose hope that any system can reflect God’s love and life. That opens the door for some pretty powerful lessons and a way of living that expands his love in the world.

Podcast Links:
FindingChurch.com
Order Finding Church
If you can help with the needed medications in North Pokot, you can get more details here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Hope Beyond Death (#460)

Sat, 08 Nov 2014 02:01:23 GMT

What do people think about when death becomes imminent? The experiences of an Emergency Medical Technician in New York offers some startling observations. In the backdrop of Wayne’s mother passing away a few months ago and his recent contacts with others dealing with death in a variety of ways, he opens a conversation on the events that surround death in our world. Since it is God’s enemy as well as ours, would he not be in it with us and grace us through the fears and concerns we might have preparing us for another world? He also responds to an email about euthanasia and what we might consider both in our personal choices what we might demand of others around us. (Note: This podcast was recorded two weeks ago before the events in Oregon where a young woman battling a brain tumor took her own life.)

Podcast Links:
Matthew O’Reilly’s Ted Talk, “Am I Dying?”
FindingChurch.com
Finding Church Facebook Page
Order Finding Church
If you can help with the needed medications in North Pokot, you can get more details here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

At What Cost? (#459)

Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:43:29 GMT

While God makes himself known even through some of the silliest things we humans attempt, does his graciousness justify our lack of concern for the collateral damage our efforts may cause? After Wayne’s three-part conversation with Brad, he opens up the conversation by sorting through his email and blog comments about many of the themes we’ve explored over the past few weeks. The written covenant story continues as does the dialog about the supernatural, counseling techniques, religious abuse, and patriarchal authority. Even when God is gracious in our misguided efforts, can we not be honest with the destruction it causes in others who become disillusioned, hurt, or diminished by the flesh of others? Can we not celebrate the good in something while at the same time seek to mitigate the damage that it does to others?

Podcast Links:
Wayne’s Travel In Texas
Order Finding Church
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

When Creations Clash! (#458)

Sat, 25 Oct 2014 02:54:29 GMT

So what do we do when you’re wanting to embrace the new creation, but are bombarded by people whose passion for cash, credit, and control only seek to draw you back into the old? Wayne and Brad continue their discussion about one of the themes in Wayne’s newest book, Finding Church, and how we can live that out the reality of the new creation when others around us are embracing the realities of the old. How do you continue to live free when others around you are fouling the relationship with their brokenness, demands or agendas? Discover that, and you can enjoy living wholeheartedly in your relationships, with unity where you can and generous honesty where unity of heart has not yet come. We can live in the world, and not be of it. This is the final installment of a three-part conversation with Brad.

Podcast Links:
The new web page for Finding Church.
Order Finding Church
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Angel Feathers Redux (#456)

Sat, 18 Oct 2014 03:28:38 GMT

Brad wants to weigh on on Wayne’s earlier comments about “Treasure Hunts, Angel Feathers, and Sozos”. So the first part of this podcast refocuses on the supernatural and how we distinguish between real moments of God’s moving and contrived ones perpetuated by group dynamics and the power of suggestion. What happens when we divorce the supernatural from a growing relationship with Jesus and lead people to believe that his power is in their control? They also talk about the Seven Mountains of Influence and how we are warped by old creation priorities even as we are being invited to live in a new creation. This is the second installment of a three part conversation with Brad that will finish next week.

Podcast Links:
Seven Mountains of Influence
The new web page for Finding Church.
Order Finding Church
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

A Finding Church Conversation (#456)

Sat, 11 Oct 2014 01:02:55 GMT

Brad comes over to explore Wayne’s new release, FINDING CHURCH, as he probes Wayne about the process and what most impacted him in writing this book. He also has some specific questions that rose in his mind while working through it. They talk about the critical choice of choosing the new creation when the door is open in front of us, instead of retreating inside the old, and how we learn to fly in the fullness of the Father’s life or stay stuck on the ground by living in our own human efforts. This is the first installment of a three-part conversation with Brad that will play out over the next three weeks.

Abusive Christianity (#455)

Sat, 04 Oct 2014 03:07:16 GMT

After a bit of follow up from last week’s podcast, Wayne reads part of an article written by a woman who grew up and mothered seven children in the Quiverfull Movement, and discovered that Christianity is a system of abuse that she and her children suffered under, unwittingly. Only when she was confronted by an abuse counselor was she able to see how much abuse was sown into her interpretation of the Scriptures. What a wake-up call for all of us to realize that any interpretation of Scripture that justifies abuse is a misinterpretation and one we need to take liberty from.

Podcast Links:
The new web page for Finding Church.
Order Finding Church
The presentation Wayne discusses: How Playing Good Christian Housewife Almost Killed Me
Quiverfull Information
The Jesus Lens: A Re-examination of How We Interpret Scripture
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Treasure Hunts, Angel Feathers, and Sozos (#454)

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 01:00:05 GMT

Wayne plows through his recent email, getting comments on past podcast themes and then covers at length one asking about the current so-called revival movements that draw people fascinated by the hope of signs and wonders. How much of it is genuine, and how much of it is a distraction to the greater journey Jesus invites us into? This is straight talk from someone who has been involved in past incarnations of this movement and has settled on a very different view of them as he’s learning to live in the affection of the Father. He talks about the manifestations many think demonstrate the power of the Spirit and about the misguided energy that seeks to educate people in techniques that are supposed to produce signs, wonders, and healing at our command. No one he knows who engages Jesus deeply is fascinated by the pursuit of signs and wonders, and no one he knows in the pursuit of signs and wonders is deeply engaged in a relationship with Jesus. That’s not to say they aren’t there, only that he hasn’t met them yet.

Podcast Links:
The new web page for Finding Church, when we launch it!
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Trajectory of Learning Love

Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:43:47 GMT

What would Jesus’ church looked like if it was really built on love derived from him and shared with each other. Dan Mayhew of Portland, OR, joins Wayne on this podcast about his life-long adventure of seeking the church whose builder and architect is Jesus. How does love shape us to live differently in his family? How does it allow us to honor relationships beyond our disagreements and by doing so reflect the glory of his kingdom in the world? Dan’s a prolific author, former pastor, and passionate to equip others to know him. In their conversation they talk about the challenges of parenting a prodigal child, the power of submission as God sees it, and the challenges of living inside and outside the box of institutionalism.

Podcast Links:
Pre-order Finding Church
Wayne’s Travel Schedule
Dan Mayhew’s Website
To order: The Butterfly and the Stone, The Sword of Submission, or The Ancient Deceptions from Amazon
Wayne’s review for The Butterfly and the Stone
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

How Shall We Then Pray? (#452)

Sat, 13 Sep 2014 05:12:18 GMT

Everywhere you look our world is in crisis–the atrocities of ISIS, ongoing conflict and hatred in the Middle East, the battle for Ukraine, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the racial angst in America, harsh weather conditions, erupting volcanos and devastating earthquakes. If God gave you the power to resolve any of these crises, what would you do? How do we pray in the face of all that is going on in the world, especially if we’re not focused on our own personal comfort and safety, but the unfolding purposes of God in our world? Does it matter if we do? And, how might God engage us in the power of agreed prayers with other believers? Brad joins Wayne again and neither of them foresaw where this conversation was going to go.

Podcast Links:
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Engaging God (#451)

Sat, 06 Sep 2014 02:11:22 GMT

There’s a world of difference between trusting that God loves you because Scripture says so, and trusting the one of whom Scripture speaks. One is an intellectual exercise, the other can only result from a growing engagement with him as a personality in the universe. Brad joins this week’s podcast as he and Wayne discuss how God’s reality and communion with him seeps into our lives over time that allow us to walk with him in increasing wholehearted engagement. As people come to engage him in a real way, they’ll find their engagements with others on this journey as well, allowing for a depth of shared life that less-relational structures can only crave.

Podcast Links:
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Community of a New Creation (#450)

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 02:38:17 GMT

What if the church Jesus is building looks more like wildflowers strewn across an alpine meadow than a walled garden with manicured hedges? Wayne’s back for a new podcast and after a look at the last month of his life, he reads Chapter Two of his recently-completed book, Finding Church. The church Jesus is building is the fruit of a news creation that rises out of transformed lives, not the result of human effort trying to do something for God, no matter how well-intentioned. Wayne invites the reader in to a different conversation and a different perspective of the church that humanity cannot build. We can only recognize her as she takes shape around us and participate with her as long as God gives us opportunity to do so.

Podcast Links:
Chapter 1 of Finding Church
a href=”http://www.lifestream.org/blog/finding-church-now-available-pre-ordering”>Wayne’s Latest Blog on Finding Church
Pre-order Finding Church
Living Loved and Riding Bikes – Podcast from the archives
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourne

From the Archive: Where It Began

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 02:22:11 GMT

Wayne is still on hiatus this week, so let’s visit the archives again. This podcast aired over a year and a half ago and unbeknownst to Wayne at the time planted the seeds for the book he has just completed. Are those who no longer attend Sunday services part of a scattering movement that is undermining the mission of the church in the world or are they in fact people looking beyond conformity-based environments for a more meaningful relationship with God and with others? Check out both this podcast, the one that followed it up, and the comments from both in the links below. It shows there is great hunger to see how Jesus is connecting his church in the world beyond our human efforts.

Podcast Links:
Link to Original Podcast: A Greater Gathering
Link to Follow-up Podcast” A Greater Gathering Aftermath
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at TheGodJourney.
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot

No New Podcast this Week

Sat, 09 Aug 2014 03:03:39 GMT

Wayne is out of town with his family as they deal with his mother’s passing, so there is no new podcast this week. But you can dip into the archives and chose your own, or listen to one of the classics: “It’s not Chocolate.” It’s one of their most talked about podcasts as they explore how you can learn to recognize God’s voice among all the competing voices that fill our head and the noise that fills our world. Losing our taste for the false offerings of religion and dismissing the voices of guilt and shame are an important part of reducing the noise and recognizing God’s impulses in our heart.

Finding Church Alive and Well (#449)

Sat, 02 Aug 2014 02:44:37 GMT

Wayne reads the new first chapter of the book he is just completing, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More? This is very different from the one he read last November that was going to be the starting chapter. When you are frustrated at the difference between the picture Scripture paints of Jesus’ church and the one we see after 2000 years of church history, you are ready for an incredible journey beyond the canvas of human effort to behold the masterpiece Jesus is creating. Here you’ll discover the church that Jesus has been building since the Day of Pentecost, and that she is alive and well and reaches around the globe.

Podcast Links:
Finding Church Cover Wars! Over 300 responses on Facebook and no clear consensus, which I wasn’t looking for anyway.
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Peeking Behind the Curtain (#448)

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 23:28:42 GMT

The look behind the curtain can be incredibly disorienting the first time around. Our assumptions that everyone engaged in our congregation is doing what they do with a pure heart and a passion for Jesus’ kingdom, doesn’t collapse easily and when it does people can feel exploited and abused. In an email from a listener, a blog post by a former staff member of Mars Hill and other readings, Wayne goes back to help those who are just beginning to grasp how much bondage and error there is in our systems of religious obligation and help them wrestle with what we do in response. Is it possible to teach and encourage among Jesus’ family without having to build a conformity system around it?

Podcast Links:
Hi My Name is Mike Anderson…
Ten Pastors I’m Concerned About by Scott Potsma
Previous Podcast about Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

At the End of the Rope (#447)

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 20:44:58 GMT

In this kingdom getting to the end of our rope is not to be feared, but celebrated. At the end of all our efforts, doubts, and fears is a Loving Father and the freedom to see life through his eyes instead of our own. It doesn’t always take that, but often it does and God is gracious enough to walk us through the process even when we don’t know or believe he is there. Listener comments and email fill out the story from other people’s experience and the light they’ve gained by going through the deep water with him and finding a rich dependency on him that is difficult for us to find in the good times we so ardently seek.

Podcast Links:
Engage: Letting God Build a Relationship With You
Love Is Like A Fire
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Spiritual Gravity (#446)

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 17:23:56 GMT

Brad is back as Wayne invites him into some of the God Journey’s recent interaction in blogs and emails about why God doesn’t make learning to live in his love easier than it is? Couldn’t he just overwhelm us with something that proves it so our heart can rest in him, and if he doesn’t what does that say about him? Or, is there a spiritual reality akin to gravity in our temporal world that God is helping us navigate in a way that will best lead to our transformation and growing trust in him? What if suffering and loss are not proof that he is absent or uncaring? What if the very pain we use as an excuse to doubt his love, is actually our mentor to lead us closer to him?

Podcast Links:
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

At the Fork In the Road (#445)

Fri, 04 Jul 2014 15:00:56 GMT

Brad is back in the house celebrating with Wayne the completion of his newest book, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More? They talk about the people they know who are standing at the crossroads of whether or not they can abandon their human efforts for God and get on a better journey of learning to live in the work he does. Many avoid the road less traveled because it looks like a cliff, but it’s a choice that can’t seem to be made slowly. Either we’re all in on the journey of love and transformation, or we’ll stay stuck either in the futility of our own efforts or the frustration of unfulfilled promise. How can we take a chance on a road that offers no guarantees?

Podcast Links:
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

The Conversation of Life

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 03:24:06 GMT

There is a Conversation of Life going on around the world that allows the kingdom of God to grow in the human heart. As Wayne sorts through recent email he finds a consistent theme as people look for that communion in their own touch with God. As people grow in that reality internally then they can help others into that conversation by the way they engage and make themselves available to others around them. Finding our way into that conversation both with God and others is more art that science, so don’t look to do it mechanically, but as we learn to live in his love and find ways to communicate it with others, it will open a door for an endless flow of conversational adventures that will inspire your own journey and that of others around you.

Podcast Links:
Genesis by Jimmy Wolfe
Connections for Wayne’s Travel
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

The Numbers Game

Sat, 21 Jun 2014 01:18:18 GMT

If you’re counting anything as a sign of your fruitfulness in God’s kingdom, you’re already a step away from God’s priorities. Fruitfulness isn’t measured by the size of your audience, income stream, or the number of book sales or website clicks. Once you think it is, you will distort his kingdom to increase your bottom line and probably not even realize it. Wayne begins with a dip in the old mail bag following up on the John Lynch podcasts and then finds himself discussing how the priorities of Father’s kingdom differs completely with the priorities of this world. You get to follow one or the other; trying to follow both is an illusion.

Podcast Links:
Wayne’s Love Is Like Fire blog
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

On My Worst Day (#443)

Sat, 14 Jun 2014 03:26:22 GMT

How are you going to live when things don’t turn out the way you want? Wayne continues his conversation with John Lynch, author of ON MY WORST DAY and co-author of BO’S CAFE as he talks about the physical challenge John is facing and learning how to embrace God’s grace in difficult circumstances. John contemplates the question whether there is there even one moment in your life where God might be playing you, or is not completely for you. Living in his love invites us to embrace the day in his affection, rather than focus on the uncertainty of the future. God is enough for whatever we are facing, and we are enough for God to do his greatest work in us.

Podcast Links:
Previous podcast with John: Treasuring an Environment of Grace
John’s home site: Truefaced
Wayne’s review of ON MY WORST DAY >>>> Order it here.
Wayne’s review of BO’S CAFE. >>>> Order it here.
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Treasuring An Environment for Grace (#442)

Fri, 06 Jun 2014 15:50:08 GMT

Wayne first worked with John Lynch (pictured at left with his wife, Stacey) as an editor on BO’S CAFE and has been hoping ever since to cross paths somewhere. It finally happened last week in Phoenix and Wayne recorded some of their conversations as they shared their journeys, their passion to help people live loved, and they difficulties of cultivating an environment of grace where people can discover how loved they are by a God who is for them. Wayne and John come from completely opposite backgrounds and celebrate how God has led each of them into the same space and how they share a passion for others to engage God in a way that lets them truly embrace his freedom. John’s latest book is ON MY WORST DAY, a journey he is still living.

Podcast Links:
John’s home site: Truefaced
Wayne’s review of ON MY WORST DAY >>>> Order it here.
Wayne’s review of BO’S CAFE. >>>> Order it here.
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

When Love Doesn’t Win (#441)

Sat, 31 May 2014 04:00:46 GMT

What do you do when the person you’ve poured so much love on doesn’t love you back, doesn’t blossom or succeed, didn’t heal, or maybe even got more deeply into serious problems? Can forcing our love on someone who doesn’t want it become destructive to them? Wayne interacts with an email from Emmett who has been contemplating the depth of love in his own life and how it applies to people around us that seem to reject or abuse it. How love intersects with human freedom is one of the puzzling realities of this journey and the only way to sort it out is to learn love from the author of love himself.

Podcast Links:
Details for Wayne’s Arizona Trip
Wayne’s review of John Lynch’s ON MY WORST DAY
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Emmett’s Email
Lifestream Journeys – an email list for fellow-travelers
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Altering the Trajectory of the World

Sat, 24 May 2014 02:03:57 GMT

What’s the best way for you to alter the trajectory of the world? Is it by starting or becoming part of a significant movement, or designing some media product that will dazzle the masses? Jesus didn’t seem to be preoccupied about either of those things. Instead he showed us a way to live that is far more powerful thananything else. What’s more, every one of us can engage it every day and by doing so we we become part of God’s unfolding purpose in the world. Most miss it in pursuit of seemingly loftier goals, but nothing else will have the same impact. HINT: It’s not the projects you do, but the people you touch today that will make the difference.

Podcast Links:
Details for Phoenix Trip
Looking Out for the Lonely by Glennon Doyle Melton
Stairway to Wisdom by David Brooks
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Equipping Without Subduing (#439)

Sat, 10 May 2014 01:53:10 GMT

I get asked a lot of questions about elders and the five-fold ministry gifts of Ephesians 4. We know how religion has captured these terms and used them for top-down managers that often abuse people wittingly or unwittingly by thinking they have the responsibility to command others in Jesus’ name. But what are they in the new creation? Instead of managing people or systems, the real fulfillment of these gifts is to equip others to live freely in Jesus, not to subdue them with their own wisdom or agendas. Our ministry contracts take people down this road all the time by making it more about the gift and their need for a following, rather than serving those who want to know him.

Podcast Links:
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Delighting In Holiness (#438)

Fri, 02 May 2014 10:48:57 GMT

From his portable podcast studio in the woods of Maryland, Wayne talks about his weekend with a broad spectrum of believers who gathered to share their God Journeys, ask some questions, and make some new connections. Here are stories of bondage and courage, as people are learning how to respond to Jesus as their head, and not the demands of those who bully others thinking they are Godly leaders. This theme continues as Wayne shares from the life of Moses and whether or not God’s call to holiness is a terrifying place to dread, or a delightful space filled with joy and wonder inside a relationship with God.

Podcast Links:
Conformity is King Podcast from 11/8/13
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Awakening To A Better Journey (#437)

Sat, 26 Apr 2014 00:34:04 GMT

Following up last week’s podcast, Wayne continues the them of seeing our spiritual progress as a journey rather than an achievement. That allows us to be real about where we are in him and confront the circumstances before us with honesty and openness. Wherever we give up hope that Jesus wants to transform us out of a growing relationship with him and substitute instead a list of rules or objectives, we’ve traded the life of Jesus for an empty religion. As he awakens us out of that bondage an amazing journey unfolds of increasing freedom and love. All we have to do is live in the reality of what he’s already done in us and make space for whatever he wants to give us that day. So instead of looking for formulas, we’re just learning to follow him.

Podcast Links:
If you’d like to help us in Kenya. The need has grown by another $12,000.
The Nut Test
Wayne’s Virginia Trip
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

It Is a Journey (#436)

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 17:33:47 GMT

When we live by achievement, expectations, or obligations instead of beloved children on a journey we are ripe for condemnation, despair, and inner turmoil. After an important update on the need in Kenya, Wayne takes a poem from a good friend of his, and the events from the last week of Jesus’ life to help explain why viewing life as a journey with Jesus as our guide will help us find his joy and his glory even in circumstances that are not to our liking. By waking up into his reality and following him as closely as our life in him allows, we allow him to unfold his purpose in us no matter what life throws at us.

Podcast Links:
If you’d like to help us in Kenya. The need has grown by another $12,000.
Gethsemane by Jenny Rowbory
Wayne’s Virginia Trip
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Catching Up With Brad (#435)

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 14:22:11 GMT

For seven years Wayne and Brad Cummings walked the God Journey together as they shared their journeys with a growing audience of people around the world. Since then the’ve been involved in different projects that has not allowed their lives to connect as frequently, but today Brad is back! He joins Wayne as the two get a chance to renew their friendship and catch up on how God has been leading them. They talk about the process Brad is involved in to adapt THE SHACK into a movie, about living inside a growing friendship with God, and the deep longing for God that continues to draw them along their journeys. (You can find more podcasts with Brad in the archives. He co-hosted the show through August 2012)

Podcast Links:
Update on Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Beyond The Congregation

Sat, 05 Apr 2014 01:19:37 GMT

One of the hardest moments for people on this journey is when they begin to realize that they no longer fit in the congregation that has been home to them for sometime. Most can’t even put their finger on why they feel so restless, but they no longer seem to fit into the pressure-packed, conformity-based systems or rituals that used to feel so comfortable. Their heart cries out for a deeper experience with his love and longs to be transformed not by their own performance, but by his work. This is the stirring of the new creation. Give it place in your heart because God is inviting you on a journey that no congregation can satisfy. It may not be necessary to leave, but it will be important to walk free of the dynamics that choke off your spiritual life rather than draw you into his fullness.

Podcast Links:
An emergency in Kenya could use your help
Details for Wayne’s Trip to Maryland and Virginia
5 Really Bad Reasons to Leave Your Church
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Eden In Our Hearts

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:38:11 GMT

When Jesus told his disciples that what defiles a person is not what comes to them, but what flows out of them, he wanted them to know that his healing, freedom, joy, and life come from within. After a brief update on a couple of movie projects Wayne is connected to, he takes on some listener email and blog comments that demonstrate the incredible transformation that Jesus works in us to set Eden in our hearts. So many times we are inclined to think that healing or freedom rests on what someone else is doing and instead of finding our freedom in him we desperately try to fix or control others or even circumstances around us. Even when others are attempting to manipulate us for their own profit, his life in us is greater than anything this world can throw at us.

Podcast Links:
An Emergency in Kenya could use your help
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Seldom Right, Always Confident

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:16:35 GMT

“Spiritual maturity is moving from confident arrogance to thoughtful uncertainty.” Why is it that those who least understand truth peddle their teachings with confident and demanding assertions, and while those who more clearly understand truth share with greater gentleness? Beginning with a follow-up email from someone who has been living through some of what Wayne shared in last week’s podcast on Walking in Death’s Shadow, it opens up some thoughts about Christians who are seldom right about the things they want others to know, but they are always confident that they are right. Wayne unpacks the diagram at left (click on image or here for a larger view), to help understand how we process life, and why those who are most coming to grips with what’s true will also demonstrate a gentle and open heart in making it available to others.

Podcast Links:
An Emergency in Kenya could use your help
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.
Wayne’s blog on his new book
Jack’s post on the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Momastery on Facebook

Living in Death’s Shadow

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 01:01:03 GMT

Everyone knows it’s coming but few people are prepare when the process of dying begins to work its way into our lives. Over the past couple of weeks Wayne has been walking with his family through “the valley of the shadow of death” and found out how much learning to live at rest in the Father’s loves prepared his heart for things unforeseen. The podcast begins by revisiting an appropriate podcast through some listener emails and comments about coming to rest in his love and how God accomplishes that over time as he wins us into his affection. Then we’ll talk about how to live there in some of the darkest and more difficult days that lie ahead for all of us.

Podcast Links:
Earlier podcast on Finding Rest In His Love
An Emergency in Kenya could use your help
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Relational Freedom

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 02:13:51 GMT

Some of my fellow-travelers to Israel took me up on my offer to share their experiences and add to the ones Sara and I offered last week. So by email, blog comment, phone, and Skype call, we’re get to see this trip through their eyes. One of the undercurrents to all of this is how an environment of relational freedom allows the church to find expression simply and quite easily. You’ll hear different facets of that in each of them. Community happens when we are free enough in relationships to love without agenda and without expectations, but simply accepting people where they are and becoming part of a life-giving dialog that allows Jesus to be magnified. (For those that want to skip the Israel stuff, you can pick up the relational freedom dialog at: 23:36).

Podcast Links:
When Grace Overruns Pain – Earlier Podcast With Paul and Janna Lafrance
The God Journey 2013 RSS feed
Please keep our friends in Kenya in your hearts and prayers as God gives you grace. The need there is great.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

A Family Takes Shape In Israel

Sat, 22 Feb 2014 03:09:26 GMT

Sara joins Wayne for this week’s podcast as they share thoughts and observations from their recent trip to Israel with thirty-eight other friends and God Journey listeners. Though they were strangers to each other when they arrived, over the first few days of exploring Israel, they also experienced the reality of becoming an expression of Jesus’ church as they grew in their love for each other. Not only did they feast on the joy and wisdom of those growing relationships, they also saw how that expression demonstrated his reality to others around them. Finding the power and joy of church life is not so difficult when people lay down their agendas and receive others into their lives with love and grace.

Podcast Links:
Learning Love More Deeply – Earlier Podcast about Sara’s Journey
When God Shapes a Family – Wayne’s Blog on the Israel Trip
The God Journey 2013 RSS feed
Please keep our friends in Kenya in your hearts and prayers as God gives you grace. The need there is great.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Chapter Two of Finding Church

Sat, 08 Feb 2014 02:57:56 GMT

Finally, the promised update of Wayne’s current project and newest book, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More? This is the rough draft of the second chapter entitled, “What if Jesus Taught Us Everything We Needed to Know About the Church?” We don’t seem to believe that he did, since most Christians spend a significant amount of their time and energy doing things that Jesus never did and didn’t train his disciples to do. Was he just not aware of the church during his ministry, or did he know that the church wasn’t a means to accomplish anything, but that his church would take shape in the world as the fruit of people embracing the reality of his kingdom?

Podcast Links:
Wayne reads Chapter 1: She’s Alive And Well in an earlier podcast
The God Journey 2013 RSS feed
Please keep our friends in Kenya in your hearts and prayers as God gives you grace. The need there is great.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Finding Rest In His Love

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 17:02:11 GMT

All growth comes from rest! If that’s true then no wonder the new covenant sought first to establish us in God’s love by ending any illusions that we had to earn it. It also explains why religion unwittingly pushes us away from God even while it claims to bring us closer. Wayne combs through some recent articles about the brokenness of religion as it seeks to press us into conformity and why so many people, including pastors, are rejecting our religious institutions. Then he plays an audio clip that explains the importance of love setting us at rest, which is critical to all growth–spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

Podcast Links:
Why Do So Many Pastors Leave the Church?
Lifeway Statistics
Washington Post Commentary: Church Shouldn’t Be This Hard
Video Clip: Why Children Need Rest from the video series, Relationship Matters
The God Journey 2013 RSS feed
Please keep our friends in Kenya in your hearts and prayers as God gives you grace. The need there is great.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Valuing What God Values

Sat, 25 Jan 2014 05:48:52 GMT

What most call success, is merely stress in disguise. Wayne met Philip Akintunde during his fall trip to the UK and a friendship began that continues in this Skype conversation between them. During a recent email exchange Phil shared some of his journey out of the value system of the world and into a freer space to live relationally, vocationally, and economically. He discovered God cared about peace more than currency, wholeness more than other people’s perception of him and discovered that the joy God wanted him to know comes from a far deeper place than having the fancy car or the latest gadgets. This is a story of transformation from the insight out–beginning in the heart by the Spirit not the result of self-reformation by human effort.

Podcast Links:
Phil’s Facebook Page
Podcast with Daryl, When the World Disappoints
Pastor Crap podcast
The God Journey 2013 RSS feed
Please keep our friends in Kenya in your hearts and prayers as God gives you grace. The need there is great.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

Lonely Seasons On a Relational Journey

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 02:36:42 GMT

Many have commented that moving outside the confines of religious obligation took them to a lonelier space than they thought it would. For some that created an agony in their hearts that destroyed any hope they had for real community. For others those lonely stretches provided an opportunity for God to empty their lives of religious busyness and to discover how dependency on others warped the relationships they used to have. Wayne responds to a lot of listener questions and comments as he opens a conversation about loneliness and how God might want to address it in our hearts and in doing so open wide our hearts to a different kind of community he is breathing into the world.

Podcast Links:
Order ¡Él me ama!, The Spanish version of He Loves Me. Kindle e-book ePub e-book Printed copy
Please keep our friends in Kenya in your hearts and prayers as God gives you grace. The need there is great.
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”.

That Your Joy Might Be Full

Sun, 12 Jan 2014 17:17:41 GMT

What if the thing you enjoy most also brings joy to God’s heart as well? While recording one of the last Engage videos about God’s pruning in our lives Wayne was struck with the phrase, “that my joy might be in you, that your joy might be full.” Is that Jesus’ purpose in our lives, to bring us to the fullness of joy? Religion leaves us with the impression that we are despicable creatures God has to clean up before he can hardly tolerate us. It teaches us to mistrust every desire we have and fear that every obedience is the thing we’d least like to do. But what if we have it all wrong, and that our deepest desires are his, too? Then sin is not about denying us what we really enjoy, but exposing the counterfeit desires in our hearts, so we can find those real desires that we get to share with our Creator.

Podcast Links: