The God Journey - 2015

The False Self of Religious Performance (#513)

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 20:42:15 GMT

In the last podcast of the year, Wayne lets the listeners have the microphone as he reads email from others finding increasing freedom and joy in their journeys. He begins with some observations from his recent trip to Orange County, CA and then the subject turns to how easily religious performance can force us to create a false self to fit into the program and think ourselves better than others. Freedom comes as we let God untwist the false self we have created in our religious performance and find ourselves resting in the reality of who he made us to be. He also talks about the beginning stages of recognizing God’s voice and his fingerprints as he draws us into his reality.

Podcast Resources:
Engage Videos
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

A Source of Hope In a World of Fear (#512)

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 01:35:11 GMT

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”

When Principles Fail (#511)

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 02:24:31 GMT

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”

Higher Ways, Greater Freedom (#510)

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 23:25:04 GMT

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”

Growing Up in a Broken World (#509)

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 01:06:54 GMT

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”

Church Uncorked (#508)

Sat, 14 Nov 2015 02:08:23 GMT

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”

The Future of the Church, Really? (#507)

Fri, 06 Nov 2015 14:19:32 GMT

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’s Journey to Living Loved, Part 2 (#506)

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:58:21 GMT

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’s Journey to Living Loved (#505)

Sat, 24 Oct 2015 01:00:30 GMT

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”

Road Kill on the Institutional Highway (#504)

Sat, 17 Oct 2015 01:29:33 GMT

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”

Does Anyone Really Love Their Enemy? (503)

Sat, 10 Oct 2015 01:14:43 GMT

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”

The Church Is Not Your Mediator (#502)

Sat, 03 Oct 2015 01:03:00 GMT

<a href="http://thegodjourney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/religiousdones.jpg"><img src="http://thegodjourney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/religiousdones.jpg" alt="religiousdones" width="200" height="200" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-24709" scale="0"></a>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: 
<a href="http://store.grouppublishing.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=3262254&section=16529&originCat=Church+Leadership#_ga=1.77804944.543511257.1415919224">The Exodus of the Religious Dones</a> by Josh Packard and Group Publishing 
Pope Francis’ <a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-christmas-greetings-to-curia">Challenge to the Vatican Curia</a> 
Pope Francis’ Declaration that <a href="http://www.godfruits.tv/pope-says-personal-relationship-jesus-harmful/">Personal Relationship With Jesus Is Not Possible</a> 
<a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/why-i-go-church-even-when-i-dont-feel-it">Why I Go to Church Even When I Don’t Feel Like It</a> by Trudy Smith 
Wayne’s Blog <a href="https://www.lifestream.org/blog/im-looking-35-million-people">I’m Looking for 35 Million People</a> 
<a href="http://www.lifestream.org/blog/incredible-report-west-pokot">Our latest update from Kenya</a> 
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Knowing Him is What Matters (#501)

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 23:52:28 GMT

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”

How Did That Become Unthinkable? (#500)

Sat, 19 Sep 2015 00:22:33 GMT

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:

A Loving God in a World of Pain, Part 2 (#499)

Sat, 12 Sep 2015 05:09:08 GMT

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”

The Gift of Powerless Communication (#498)

Sat, 05 Sep 2015 04:49:26 GMT

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”

How Can God Be Loving and Life So Painful? (#497)

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 15:20:30 GMT

How can I trust God’s love for me when he does nothing about the tragic circumstances that confront me? Why does God seem to treat me worse than I would treat our own children or friend? Pain and suffering are a constant challenge for those schooled in the idea that if you follow God’s ways he will always heal your diseases, keep you from tragedy, or ensure your life is painless and comfortable. It’s a common misunderstanding and keeps many from the joy and comfort of resting in Father’s love precisely in those times we need it most, when life throws it’s greatest challenge at us. If we can’t figure out how to separate God’s love for us from the brokenness of a fallen world, we will miss the greatest resource we have to deal with our pain.

Podcast Links:
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”

Going Against the Flow (#496)

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 01:07:31 GMT

When everyone else seems to embrace a reality that pegs your yuck meter, what are you supposed to do? And when you follow your heart against the flow of the world or the religious culture around you, how do you know you’re right and not just rebellious? Wayne considers these questions in light of a contemplative summer and stumbling across a recent Charisma Magazine that Wayne used to write for years ago. As it celebrated “Forty People that Changed the World”, it confronted him with a lot of decisions from his past and thoughts of, “what might have been?” Wayne invites you into some of his personal journey this summer and why he finds himself more content than ever with the path he’s taken. He also reads from the concluding column of the magazine that deals with how human ambition and greed destroyed the Charismatic renewal and subverted the work the Spirit had begun forty years ago. He found himself in enthusiastic agreement, even though it seemed to undermine everything else the magazine had spent a hundred pages celebrating.

Podcast Links:
Artwork by Travis D. Peterson
Wayne’s Upcoming Travel to Indianapolis, the Bay area of California, and Colorado
Lee Grady’s article, Don’t Quench the Spirit in the Next Move of God
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Summer Conversations (#495)

Fri, 07 Aug 2015 21:00:44 GMT

From Shaver Lake, California in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Wayne reflects on some meaningful conversations he’s had in recent weeks as well as engages listener feedback from email, blog comments and calls on the comment line. In doing so he shares from his visit last week to the set where The Shack was being filmed and stumbles into topics such as to whether we need to fear the second coming of Jesus, how does the fear of the Lord fit now that we know his love, and continues the dialog on accountability and how it affects the reality of community.

Podcast Links:
Wayne’s Upcoming Travel to Indianapolis, the Bay area of California, and Colorado
Past podcast: Fear Falls Short
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Where Relationships Grow (#494)

Fri, 24 Jul 2015 14:36:21 GMT

“Science says that lasting relationships come down kindness and generosity.” Imagine that! The conclusion may be obvious, but human relationships are fraught with pain and disappointment. Wayne refers to an article that appeared some months ago in The Atlantic that unpacked how married couples connect or do not connect in the course of their relationship and reveals the difference between a growing relationship and a dying one. The lessons uncovered here are not only true of marriage but also how when generosity and kindness become the rhythm of our relationships we put ourselves in the place where real community can take hold.

Podcast Links:
Wayne’s Upcoming Travel to Vancouver, BC, Indianapolis, the Bay area of California, and Colorado
Science Says Lasting Relationships Come Down To Two Basic Traits
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Thirst For Community (#493)

Sat, 18 Jul 2015 00:41:15 GMT

Jesus offered his followers a place among the community that the Father, Son and Spirit have shared for all eternity, and then a home among brothers and sisters that offers friendship, compassion and care. Why do our religious leaders continue to assert that this promise can be fulfilled through accountability, conformity and membership programs? A recent article on the Christianity Today website proclaims how essential “church membership” is, never distinguishing between the difference of becoming a member of an institution and living as a part of the body of Christ taking shape in the world. Our attempts to build community through obligation only results in co-dependency, which is why when people begin to be disillusioned by it encounter pain and rejection designed to scare them back in. Finding our way out of that pain into gratefully disillusionment is a process, that though often difficult, yields incredible fruit.

Podcast Links:
Wayne’s Upcoming Travel to Vancouver, BC, Indianapolis, the Bay area of California, and Colorado
Membership Matters: 3 Reasons for Church Membership by Ed Stetzer
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Of Religion, Community, and Discipleship (#492)

Sat, 11 Jul 2015 01:34:16 GMT

Wayne is back from his nearly month-long travel throughout Europe, the first part celebrating his family and the second part meeting with people in Barcelona and the south of France. Here he shares the experiences and observations of his odyssey from some of the most magnificent religious buildings in Europe (that’s the interior of the Basilica Sagrada Familia in Barcelona at left) to the places where those who resisted the power of the papacy were conquered or imprisoned. Gathering with people who have learned to live in the Father’s love and some of those freshly starting on this journey, it served as a perfect parable why community is the fruit of discipleship. Until people begin to come to rest in the Father’s affection, they will not be able to see the joy and wisdom that fellow disciples of Jesus discover in their life together. So the task of seeing community take shape in the world is to help people learn how to live in the new creation.

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

Saving The Baby From the Bathwater (#491)

Sat, 27 Jun 2015 02:23:04 GMT

When you’ve discover that you’ve been misled by the abuse of theology and leadership, it is easy to discard anything that reminds you of your former bondage. In fact, it may be part of the journey to discard it all and let Jesus re-introduce it to your life when you can appreciate it as a gift, rather that frustrate with it as an obligation. One of our listeners adds some puzzle pieces to our conversation about theology and after teaching for a week in Lake Tahoe to a mission school, Wayne wanted to share a bit of his experience there and Chapter 18 from the audiobook of Finding Church to refocus on what Jesus meant by putting older brothers and sisters alongside us to be a blessing on this journey, not to burden us down.

Podcast Links:
Get the Audiobook of Finding Church
Wayne’s Review of Church Refugees
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Pretense of Accountability (#490)

Sat, 13 Jun 2015 02:59:37 GMT

Many who argue that attending a local congregation is essential to faith talk of the necessity of accountability, especially to religious leaders. Is the life Jesus calls his church based on accountability? Wayne takes up some listener email on this point to talk about how destructive the focus on sin and accountability is to the development of authentic relationships. Accountability leads to pretense not freedom as people posture for the acceptance of others. The life of the church is based on love, service and encouragement where people are free to be authentic, to ask the questions that are on their heart and to discover the transforming power of Jesus that actually frees us from sin by the work he does. Our concern for each other’s brokenness and our honesty with people caught in sin is best expressed in love, not by trying to hold others accountable.

Podcast Links:
Wayne’s Travel Schedule if you want to join me in Europe
Podcast from 6/24/10 With Brad and Wayne on Does Accountability Work?
Enjoy the Engage Videos
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Dones, Theology, and Parallel Play (#489)

Sat, 06 Jun 2015 01:09:09 GMT

How can you share a task with other Christians, even for decades, and come out without any meaningful friendships that endure when the task is done? There’s actually a name for the phenomenon: parallel play, when you are doing the same thing in the same location but not really doing it together. The fruit of healthy adult activity is growing friendships of affection that are the true treasure of life. But before we get to that Wayne combs through the mail bag and blog comments to allow you to reflect back on our podcasts about the relationally challenged, “The Dones”, and finding a healthy conversation about theology. Watching people find their way into a transformational journey that negates the effects of religion and draws them into freer space of life and grace is the joy in doing this podcast.

Podcast Links:
Preachertainers and Pew Fodder
Previous podcast: Why Theology Matters
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Holding To the Center (#488)

Sat, 30 May 2015 03:46:03 GMT

Fly the margins if you want, but it’s only the One who is at the center that will enduringly satisfy. Wayne continues his conversation with Dr. Robert Stamps who holds a PhD in Eucharistic Theology from the University of Nottingham and has been an United Methodist ministry for most of his life. More recently he has served as Dean of the Chapel and as a professor of systematic theology at Asbury Seminary. They continue to discuss Communion, the Incarnation, how we walk through painful circumstances, and how we can hold to the Center to keep our journeys on track. When their conversation ends Wayne processes his thoughts about teaching done well in the body and how our continued dialog about God not only enhance our own journeys but also help us explore the wonder of the body of Christ.

Podcast Links:
First part of Wayne and Bob’s Conversation
Previous podcasts with Bob Stamps: Living in God’s Mercy and God at Our Table
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Theology As a Way of Living (#487)

Sat, 23 May 2015 01:06:57 GMT

Is theology a static list of facts that seek to capture God in a box, or is it a wilder conversation about his wonder and mystery as we are learning to walk with him through our lives? Wayne and Sara are back from a brief time at the beach to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. With that backdrop and his recent visit with pastors in Southern California about the Dones, he continues last week’s theme of Why Theology Matters by responding to listener comments and emails. Many see theology as a dead set of concepts, rather than a living conversation that helps shape how we live in him and navigate the rigors of this age. Wayne reframes his appreciation of theology as the conversation with the church through the ages that helps us not just know things about him, but to know him and to follow him more accurately.

Podcast Links:
Previous podcast: Why Theology Matters
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Why Theology Matters (#486)

Fri, 15 May 2015 15:39:51 GMT

One of Wayne’s closest friends and a gifted theologian joins us once again on the podcast to discuss the importance of an accurate theology, even for those who are living outside the box of religious obligation. Dr. Bob Stamps holds a PhD in Eucharistic Theology from the University of Nottingham and has been an United Methodist ministry for most of his life. More recently he has served as Dean of the Chapel and as a professor of systematic theology at Asbury Seminary. Even though Wayne and Bob share very different views of the church, they sat down in Richmond, VA a few weeks ago to discuss the theology that undergirds the life of the church however she connects. He views it as a conversation God is having through the Bible and with his people throughout centuries to help us understand who he his and his unfolding purpose in the world. A healthy theology will sustain a growing engagement with Jesus, not supplant it with lifeless creeds or rituals.

Podcast Links:
Previous podcasts with Bob Stamps: Living in God’s Mercy and God at Our Table
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

What to Do About the Dones (#485)

Sat, 09 May 2015 01:32:52 GMT

Now that research has identified a group of passionate Christians who are no longer participating in traditional congregations, what does that mean for the future of the church? Will existing congregations find innovative ways to address the concerns of those who consider leaving? Will the church take on new expressions? Or both? Wayne continues his conversation with Dr. Josh Packard, Professor of Sociology at the University of Northern Colorado and the author of a new book, Church Refugees, which will be released on June 1. His book and the conversation it spawns can provide us an opportunity to recognize the church in all the ways she takes shape, or just divide us into separate tribes each thinking ourselves superior to others. Let’s pray it’s the former.

Podcast Links:
Part I of Wayne’s Conversation with Josh
Josh Packard’s Website
Pre-order Josh’s book Church Refugees • Download the first chapter of Church Refugees
Holy Soup Blog on The Rise of the Dones • The De-churching Project
Webinar About Josh’s Book
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Who Are the Dones? (#484)

Sat, 02 May 2015 02:49:57 GMT

Some are calling it the rise of the dones, the number of people who have given up on the traditional congregation and are finding community and mission beyond it in more relational ways. Meet the man behind the research. In a recent trip to Colorado Wayne sat down with Dr. Josh Packard, a professor of sociology at the University of Northern Colorado and the author of Church Refugees will be released on June 1. In research about church behavior, he stumbled across a broad group of people who didn’t leave the traditional congregation to abandon their faith but to live more freely in Jesus through being more proactive about building community and finding mission in the world. This is Part One of their conversation covering how they discovered what they are calling “The Dones” and that they are generally high-capacity Christ-followers who found the congregational model too stifling.

Podcast Links:
Josh Packard’s Website
Pre-order Josh’s book Church Refugees • Download the first chapter of Church Refugees
Holy Soup Blog on The Rise of the Dones • The De-churching Project
Webinar About Josh’s Book
Our previous podcast about Josh’s work: Nones, Dones And a Wider Conversation
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Learning to Live Relationally Free (#483)

Sat, 25 Apr 2015 04:46:17 GMT

One of our listeners said it best: “Religion makes you relationally challenged.” That it does, making us far more preoccupied with getting people to do what we want so we can feel safe and comfortable. Untangling all of that and learning to live more focused on others than ourselves is an amazing work God does to help us experience the treasure of real relationships that are honest, gentle and loving. Wayne takes a look at the kind of language and activity that actually subverts the relationships we desire so that we can better see how God is shaping us so that we can love others where they are and yet not be victims of their fears or insecurities. Living relationally free is the fruit of God working in us so that we have less need to manipulate others for our own desire, or to be manipulated by them for theirs.

Podcast Links:
Five Churchy Phrases That Are Scaring Off Millenials (Warning: This is one of those websites I avoid for its intrusive marketing of itself.)
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Nudged Into More Open Space (#482)

Sat, 18 Apr 2015 02:17:21 GMT

How does God draw us into the space where he works most freely and where we can more easily recognize his fingerprints in our lives? While many look for a voice or miraculous encounters, he mostly guides us by nudging our hearts either as an inclination to do something, or a restlessness not to. Sometimes he plants questions in our heart to help us recognize more freely how is work is unfolding in us instead of being lost in the anxiety of how we want him to work. Two of our listeners share how the Spirit is working in them to bring them into a more spacious place of life and freedom. Learning to recognize how the Spirit nudges you is one of the greatest discoveries of this journey. We don’t always get it right, but when we do, it is such a joy to watch how circumstances and his direction converge to spill out with his glory.

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

Faith Shifting with Kathy Escobar (#481)

Sat, 11 Apr 2015 02:07:19 GMT

What do you do when the beliefs you were given come unraveled? Kathy Escobar didn’t grow up in a believing home, but came to faith at twelve. Like many of us she, too, found a longing in her heart that the religious program she was in could not satisfy. In fact, it often undermined her faith by refusing to let her ask the difficult questions and discover what life in God really meant. She tells her story and offers her help to others in her book entitled Faith Shift. Kathy joins Wayne for a Skype Conversation about the common elements of their journeys and the different spaces they’ve landed in to discover a rich community of authenticity and engagement. Kathy adds some important pieces to this conversation about creating safe environments to help others face their journey, of the unique challenges women face in our patriarchal religious culture, and the importance of loving people right where they are as they sort out what it means for them to live as God’s child in the earth.

Podcast Links:
Kathy Escobar’s website
Purchase her book Faith Shift
Her blog on “Things that Help, Things that Hurt”
The Refuge in Denver, CO and their Invitation to Community
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Love’s Antidote to Obligation (#480)

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 22:28:24 GMT

Those who think Jesus builds his church on obligation and accountability have yet to experience the church that rises out of his love. After last weeks’ podcast on obligation, Wayne sorts through some emails and blog posts that share some of the lessons and insights others are finding on this journey. While breaking free of religious obligation can be a lonely and painful road it will only lead to emptiness and self-indulgence unless we are captured by a greater reality, that for which our hearts have longed since birth. Finding our way into Father’s affection and learning to share it with others is the greatest of all possible journeys and the place where we find the freedom he wants for us and the connections with others that bring life. He also talks about continuing to embrace freedom even when difficult people want to drag us back into guilt and performance

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

Doubling Down on Obligation (#479)

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:16:22 GMT

In the face of declining participation in traditional congregations, why are many religious leaders doubling down on the obligation card? Could it be an admission that their view of the New Testament community not compelling in its own right? After his appearance on Up For Debate on Moody Radio, Wayne has been drawn into ever-more conversations about why people are leaving traditional congregations and recognizing how the relationships between believers who go and those who don’t is becoming increasingly hostile. He examines the twelve reasons some put forth as to why membership in a local congregation is mandatory for all and why it is based on a distorted view of Scripture and of his church in the world. He also shares more of his perspective that didn’t get on the debate and why all of this is so important to help us define the true nature of Jesus’ church in the world and participate freely in her reality in spite of those who seek to exclude us.

Podcast Links:
Up For Debate show on “Is Church Attendance Mandatory?”
Freeman’s “Twelve Reasons Why Membership Matters”
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

How Love Shapes Us (#478)

Sat, 21 Mar 2015 06:02:48 GMT

Learning to live in the Father’s love and share it freely will take you to places you would never have dreamed and invite you to lay down your life not because you have to, but because we can’t imagine not doing so for someone we love. Wayne finishes the conversation he started last week with Jimmy Wolfe, a husband and father who is learning how to live in the Father’s love where God has placed his family in Woodstock, GA. They pick up the theme of what it means to love what you can’t control and can’t even guarantee its permanency in your life. Their conversation ranges from how light travels in love so it isn’t just nice to people but opens them to God’s wisdom and truth to what it means to equip those who want to build up Jesus’ church in a given area without creating an institution to manage.

Podcast Links:
Email Jimmy
Previous Podcast with Jimmy Wolfe – Listening To Your Yuck Meter
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Listening To Your Yuck Meter (#477)

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:50:05 GMT

Jimmy and Melissa Wolfe from Woodstock, GA thought they were headed for “ministry” as part of the mega-church movement in that area before God sidetracked them with a better journey. Wayne sat down with Jimmy (pictured at left with his “son” Benjamin) for a conversation during his recent stay in the Atlanta area. They discuss how a would-be church planter ended up on a road less traveled and what it looks like to live as a ministry as the Spirit knits them into the fabric of their community, rather than trying to start a congregation that needs to be managed. They talk about the nature of eldership in the church of the new creation and how love opens incredible doors to impact the world around us. This is what happens to those with well-set Yuck Meters and who don’t ignore them even if it is in their self-interest to do so.

Podcast Links:
Email Jimmy
The Yuck Factor Podcast
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

It’s a Relationship Not a Performance (#476)

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 03:21:32 GMT

Wayne’s back from his Southern Swing through Georgian and South Carolina with a fresh passion to help people discover a transforming relationship rather than let them stay mired in lifeless religious obligation that will only lead to frustration and failure. He shares some of his experiences in his most recent trip and an amazing encounter on the way home that helped bring freedom to a broken heart. Some of our listeners join in with their comments as Wayne talks about moving from religious rituals into a vibrant life in him with prayer and with engaging his work in the world. Finding ourselves in a relationship with a Father who has great affection for us changes everything and then following him is not a cumbersome chore, but an endearing reality as he puts his glory into the world.

Podcast Links:
Up for Debate: Wayne’s Interview on Moody Radio on Saturday, March 7 at 12:00 noon Eastern time
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Creating Space Where God Is Known (#475)

Sat, 28 Feb 2015 02:29:53 GMT

What part do each of us play in our growing relationship with the transcendent God? Wayne and Kevin’s conversation continues from last week as they explore the long, slow process of growing to know God and recognize his work in our lives. They talk about how they come to recognize his voice, and what part the spiritual disciplines or practices play as they are learning to walk alongside him through life. Keeping the relationship alive means they have to continue to make space for God’s revelation by how the respond to him. They talk about marriage and how for the relationship to grow each spouse needs to make room for the other as they grow and change. In the same way we need to make room for God as our perception of him grows and our own lives shift in his reality.

Podcast Links:
Up for Debate: Wayne’s Interview on Moody Radio on Saturday, March 7 at 12:00 noon Eastern time
Last week’s podcast with Kevin about the Interactive Nature of Trust
Kevin’s website ChristianSimplicity.com: Conversations about God, Money, and Trust
Previous podcast with Kevin: Myths of Mammon
Previous podcast with Kevin: Passive Follower or Active Participant
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Interactive Nature of Trust (#474)

Sat, 21 Feb 2015 04:23:06 GMT

Trusting God is not, as some may assert, a blind leap into the darkness. Trust is the fruit of a growing interactive relationship with God where we come to know him and learn to follow the insights and impulses he breathes into our spirits as we learn to walk alongside him. He is joined by Kevin Tupper, long time friend and director of ChristianSimplicity.com, a website designed to stimulate conversations about God, money and trust. As Wayne and Kevin share about their own relationship with God, they talk about the Christian practices, what some call disciplines and the importance of seeing beyond the physical world and connecting with God and his unfolding glory. Learning trust is a process where failure and growth is to be expected as we learn the difference between our own presumption and God’s will and purpose.

Podcast Links:
Kevin’s website ChristianSimplicity.com: Conversations about God, Money, and Trust
Previous podcast with Kevin: Myths of Mammon
Previous podcast with Kevin: Passive Follower or Active Participant
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Engaging The New Creation (#473)

Sat, 14 Feb 2015 02:39:56 GMT

<a href="http://thegodjourney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/puzzle.jpg"><img src="http://thegodjourney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/puzzle.jpg" alt="puzzle" width="200" height="200" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-23729" scale="0"></a>The life of Jesus is not found in a guiding set of principles to base your life on. It is found only in a growing relationship with him where the invisible world becomes increasingly more real than the physical world we navigate every day. Wayne again dips into the mail bag, this time with those who are feeling lost or discouraged in trying to piece together a meaningful engagement with God in the difficulties of this life. As we become aware of the new creation, we can respond to become alive in it. Then through our own experience we learn how to recognize the new creation however it might appear around us, learning to live in God’s giving rather than our own attempts to get what we want from him. Only then can we become fruitful and fulfilled in this life. Learning to live in the realities of a new creation comes through practice leaning into those places where God makes himself and his ways known, and leaning away from those places where the physical world draws me into my selfish ambitions. Podcast Links: 
Wayne’s Travel Schedule 
<a href="http://www.lifestream.org/blog/incredible-report-west-pokot">Our latest update from Kenya</a> 
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

The Church Rising

Fri, 06 Feb 2015 16:14:05 GMT

She is rising from all the places where she has long been hidden, revealing the Father’s glory through a growing community of those who know they are deeply loved by God. The journey to discover her may not be short or easy, but it is worth very lesson life has dealt us. The podcast begins with a couple of more comments to wrap up the last two weeks discussing homosexuality and includes an amazing clip from a young woman who shares her example of dealing with her sexual attraction inside her relationship with Jesus. Then Wayne turns to a variety of listener input about the frustration of seeking an enduring reflection of Christ’s church in the world. While we are may all be in different stages of seeing into that reality, he reads an inspiring poem that prophetically speaks to the Father’s work in calling out his church to take her place in the world.

Podcast Links:
Freedom Through Constraint by Julie Rodgers
An Open Letter to All the People Writing…About What’s Wrong with the Church by Whitney Capps
A copy of the poem about The Church Rising
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Can a Christian Be Gay? Part II (#471)

Sat, 31 Jan 2015 05:06:35 GMT

Last week’s podcast generated so many questions and comments than Wayne revisits the discussion about sexuality and the religious rhetoric that does more to condemn people instead of inviting them into God’s life and freedom. How do we engage with people whose views of morality may differ from our own? How do we open doors to the work God does to transform people, and not just enforce rules as if by following them people gain God’s acceptance? That led to thoughts about what it means to be “Christian” and how our use of that term has cheapened it into a mere ritual or religious experience and removed from the fruit of a transformed life by a growing, intimate relationship with they Father by the work of Jesus.

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

Can a Christian Be Gay? (#470)

Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:39:37 GMT

The expansion of gay rights in American culture in unprecedented in the last five years and has dramatically changed the public dialog about homosexuality in America. It has changed the dialog inside Christianity as well as some people claim the Scriptures used to condemn homosexuality have been misinterpreted. In this climate how do we find a way to be true to our convictions and at the same time share the Father’s love with those who see this issue differently than the way we do. In this special podcast Wayne muses on the difficult questions surrounding this critical issue and shares his current thoughts about the changing culture and our possible response to people we know who deal with same-sex attraction.

Podcast Links:
LGBTQ Christians: Hope for the Unseen by Benjamin Moberg
NY Times article about Exodus International Disbanding
NPR’s Sunday Conversation interview of Allen Edwards
David Dunn’s column for Huffington Post: Civil Unions by Another Name
Our latest update from Kenya
A Journey Out of Sexual Brokenness, a previous podcast about sexuality
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Of Lone Wolves and Free Rangers (#469)

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 02:05:47 GMT

It seems like everyone is talking about the decline of the traditional congregation, though it is often in vastly different ways. Some see it as a threat, accusing those who leave as lone wolves out for their amusement, unconcerned or unconnected to the real church. Many who have left tell a different story, that the congregational system they were a part of did more to undermine the connection they wanted with Jesus’ church than it did to facilitate it. Does this decline spell the the death-knell for the church in the west, or is it an opportunity to see God’s church as a greater reality that can help people experience a more vital connection with Jesus and his family? And can we participate in the conversation in a way that builds up Christ’s body instead of tearing it down further?

Podcast Links:
Lone-Wolf Christianity by Jordan Chamblee
The Most Disturbing Church Trend of All at Charisma
Order Finding Church by Wayne Jacobsen
Our latest update from Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at “TheGodJourney”

Why Won’t God Just Change It? (#468)

Sat, 10 Jan 2015 04:42:21 GMT

How many times have you prayed that God would change a circumstance or take away an emotion that causes you so much pain? Why doesn’t he do that more often? If he truly loves me wouldn’t he make my life better by doing so? In the first podcast of 2015 Wayne sorts through some listener email that provokes his thoughts about the way God sets people free, not by changing external things but by transforming us from within by renewing our minds to help us see him, ourselves, and the world the way he does. That will lead us to make different choices and the consequence of those choices will lead us into his freedom and life. He also answers a question about whether God’s love is unconditional by asking another, is true love for someone ever conditional?

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