The God Journey - 2017

Does Character Matter Anymore? (#614)

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Where are the men of noble character? Where is even the hunger in our society to value character over expediency? The political landscape today, including continued charges of men using their power to abuse women for their own amusement, and the brouhaha over the Judge Roy Moore candidacy in Alabama has demonstrated that people care little about character anymore. If you follow the media it seems the defining "values" of our time is power and not character. But maybe this is just the skewed view of media that celebrates the wrong thing.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Travel Schedule in early 2018
The latest news from our project in Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Social-Validation Feedback Loop (#613)

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 15:00:00 GMT

"God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains," confesses Sean Parker who was Facebook's founding president. Facebook designers intentionally made their platform physiologically addictive to give the user a dopamine hit when people "liked" their posting, or responded with a positive comment. They called it the social-validation feedback loop, and not only does it play directly into human brokenness, but it also is behind all social media platforms and many video games. As bad as that is, it's even worse when people don't feel validated by their social media. Sociologists are only beginning to wrestle with the collateral damage to those who aren't popular in social media and credit the problem to increased teen depression and suicide. Wayne and Brad dive into this dilemma and the conversations we need to be having to help ourselves and our children resist this sinister force.

Podcast Notes:
Axios Interview with Sean Parker, the first President of Facebook
Time Magazine article on Children and social media
Time Magazine: "Is Your Kid Hooked on Smartphones? 5 Tips for Parents"
The latest news from our project in Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Losing Sight of God (#612)

Fri, 15 Dec 2017 15:00:00 GMT

There was a time, back then, when you knew he was real and that he loved you. When people told you how to grow closer to him you got busy with the duties of being a good Christian, and that sense you had of his presence faded away. Now you're exhausted with trying to please him and unsure he even exists. Was that just my own delusion back there? One of the worst things religious obligation does to us is to diminish our perception of his reality. Going through some listener email Brad and Wayne end up with this story, and how we find our way back into the reality of God-with-us.

Podcast Notes:
The latest news from our project in Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Love Shines Brighter (#611)

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Brad wants to know if Wayne has his bug-out bag ready. With darkness increasing around us, whether it be a growing nuclear threat from North Korea, or the sexual predator scandals exposed in the highest reaches of our culture. All that brings up the question whether the world is just going to grow darker and darker before the return of Christ, or whether the light will continue to shine in our world in a way that shapes society for the better? One thing is for sure, the trajectory of church history has not cooperated with the work of the Father that Jesus prayed for, that love and unity would speak a greater reality to our culture than any sermon or program ever could. How do Christ's followers respond in these troubled times?Podcast Notes:<a href="https://www.lifestream.org/kenya-expanding-irrigation-new-village/">The latest news from our project in Kenya</a> 
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Escaping the Corruption in the World (#610)

Fri, 01 Dec 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Christianity has taught many of us that salvation is jumping through the right religious hoops to acquire your get-out-of-hell-free card. Then why did Jesus and Peter talk about a different way of living that allows us to escape the corruption that is in the world and allows us live in the freedom and joy of the Father's love and light even in a broken age? Wayne's been focused on the last section of John 12 lately and invites Brad into it as well. There Jesus describes our salvation as a relationship of growing trust that disarms the power of the world and allows us to actually live differently in this age. And yet, so few Christians demonstrate the power of that kind of living?

Podcast Notes:

NY Times Column about Roy Moore and the Sorry State of Evangelical Politics
The latest news from our project in Kenya
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Is Civility Still Possible? (#609)

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Why are people so angry in the public dialog... and nasty? From the national political dialog, to those that troll the Internet to rain on everyone's parade, people are so convinced they are right that they can vilify anyone who disagrees with them. That's where Brad and Wayne end up after sharing a bit about their trips to Israel and Western Europe, respectively. How have we become such an angry, arrogant society, and is there any hope that civility can be resurrected in our day? Wayne shares about a new project he's considering to encourage a new generation of people who can speak a language of healing in the world that can bring people together, rather than the voices of hurt and hate that seem to rule the day.

Podcast Notes:
Baptism Cannonball
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Yearning for the Transformed Life (#608)

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Why do some Christians enjoy a good legalistic flogging every Sunday from their pastor? What does it do for them? That question starts a conversation with Wayne and Brad about transformation. Most Christians seem to believe we were saved by grace through faith, but after that we're supposed to work hard to live better lives. Failing that, we have to have regular times of groveling in shame to be forgiven and wipe the slate clean so we can try again. Except that our efforts at self-reformation never last. Never. Unless we learn how to engage a real relationship with God, we will continually fall into this cycle of failure, guilt, repentance, performance, and failure again. Or we'll just give up and claim the freedom to serve our own desires. Being transformed by his work in us and then participating in his work in the world is the greatest adventure the Gospel offers us. Podcast Notes: 
<a href="https://www.lifestream.org/helping-people-feed/">Helping with Agriculture in Pokot</a> 
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Breaking the Hex (#607)

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 02:42:04 GMT

"Did someone put a hex on you?" Paul asked the Galatians, because they had forsaken the work of the Spirit to try to achieve spiritual maturity by human effort. They had abandoned the Gospel found themselves ensnared again in religious obligation. The Fields Brothers, Jeff and Roger have written a new book called Breaking the Hex: Life with God After the Cross Killed Religion, and Jeff joins Wayne a Brad for a conversation about our freedom in Christ. Jeff is a financial advisor from Lexington, KY, a husband and father, and a long time listener of the God Journey. In rapid fire chapters with a lot of humor thrown in, this book will help you identify where you're slipping into religious obligation and encourage you out of it to great freedom and joy in Christ.

Podcast Notes:
Order Breaking the Hex from Amazon
Fields' Brothers website
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

“Christian Hogwarts?” (#606)

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Can you teach someone to use supernatural power with the same methods we teach people how to do surgery or install the plumbing? Someone sent Brad a link about the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, CA, which is evidently calling itself the Christina Hogwarts. And what, with "grave soaking", "flame tunnels" and "treasure hunts" as part of the curriculum, it's no wonder. What's going on here? Is this more hogwash than Hogwarts? Wayne and Brad celebrate the desire to see God move in supernatural ways, but also question the wisdom of trying to teach people how to move in spiritual gifts with a five-step process or a Bible school curriculum. And what impact are you having on your community when you use people as lab rats when the ratio of misses to miracles is so high?

Podcast Notes:
Meet The "Young Saints" Of Bethel Who Go To College To Perform Miracles
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Seductive Allure of Power (#605)

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 15:00:00 GMT

It seems the trend in our broken world is to grab as much power as one can get, then hold on to it at all costs even if you have to compromise your integrity and oppress others. Rarely do people have the grace to recognize the corrupting influence of power and resist it's corruption. What often starts for good ends up getting twisted to serve our own ambitions or personal comfort. In response to a listener email, Brad and Wayne contemplate why this always seems to be true even for the most well-meaning, and how we can as followers of Christ handle power and influence in a way that lifts up others rather than exploiting them.

Podcast Notes:
PBS Series on The Vietnam War
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Listening to Learn (#604)

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 01:23:06 GMT

As a society have we learned only seem to week out information that confirms our biases? What's our first inclination when we hear a conflicting voice? Is it to research their ideas and see if it reshapes the way I think, or is it to mount an argument to discredit those we consider our adversaries and prove to ourselves how right we are? Learning to listen to others, whether we end up agreeing with them or not, is an important process to learning and growth personally, and finding a pathway to consensus and collaboration in the culture. Unfortunately we're becoming a culture that only preaches with factions that preach to their own choir and becoming increasingly polarized.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Travel Schedule
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Revisiting the Racial Divide, Part 2 (#603)

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Last week Brad and Wayne began a conversation with Gil Michel about the racial divide in our culture. Gil is along time God Journey listener, and a bi-vocational pastor of an inner city fellowship in South Bend, IN. They continue their conversation with an eye toward what we can practically do to make a difference in the racial tensions that divide us in the world.

Podcast Notes:
First podcast with Gil Michel
Previous Podcasts about Race: Just Mercy and Reaching Across the Racial Divide
NY Times Article by Eric Reid on Why Colin Kaepernick and I Decided to Take a Knee
Gil Michel hosts a podcast at HisStoriespodcast.com and pastors That Church Downtown
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Revisiting the Racial Divide (#602)

Fri, 06 Oct 2017 15:00:00 GMT

After our last podcast on the racial divide, we were surprised at the audience reaction. Most white people I know loved Vince's perspective hoping it would define a way forward for us, while many people of color didn't think his experience spoke for them. We invited one of those who wrote us, Gil Michel to join us to further shed light on the racial divide and continue the conversation that will hopefully lead to better understanding. Gil is along time God Journey listener, and a bi-vocational pastor of an inner city fellowship in South Bend, IN. With the recent brouhaha between President Trump and the NFL, it seemed important for us to take another look at the racial tensions in our society.

Podcast Notes:
Previous Podcasts about Race: Just Mercy and Reaching Across the Racial Divide
The Doll Test that Gil referred to
NY Times Article by Eric Reid on Why Colin Kaepernick and I Decided to Take a Knee
Gil Michel hosts a podcast at HisStoriespodcast.com and pastors That Church Downtown
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Settling for Form Over Substance (#601)

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 15:00:00 GMT

There's a difference between God always being with us, and those moments where he specifically manifests his presence in the outpouring of his grace or the revelation of his heart and will. It seems that while we humans have the desire for God to make himself known, we are willing to settle for our plans and activities if he does not. Perhaps that is one of the downsides of our weekly attempts through song services and sermons to get God to show up and do something to make himself known bigger than what's in our own hearts. What if he doesn't conform to our schedule, nor seeks to overcome all we are trying to do on his behalf? Is this what Paul meant when we warned us about having "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2 Timothy 3:5), and those who are "always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." (v. 7). The reality of God lies not through our activities, but our surrender to him and his ways.

Podcast Notes:
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Is God Behind Every Disaster? (#600)

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Two major hurricanes have already assaulted Caribbean islands and the United States mainland this year. Every time a major disaster like this hits, someone speaking in the name of God positions it as God's punishment to command repentance or humility. Is that true? Does God roll hurricanes at the U.S. like bowling balls to teach us a lesson or to punish us for some sin? Brad and Wayne discuss all this in response to an email and look at what Scripture has to say about disasters as God's judgment. They also end up wandering into related topics like unanswered prayer, and why so many prophecies about coming disasters are wrong, ill-timed, and unable to communicate the life of God to people.

Podcast Notes:
Kirk Cameron's Comments on the Hurricanes
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

A Way to Live Differently (#599)

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 15:00:00 GMT

"Repentance is responding to God's invitation to life and living it differently than I already am." That jewel comes out of a letter to Wayne and Brad from Lauren in Tennessee. It is part of a compelling story where she was faced with choosing between doing what she wanted or responding to the Spirit's nudge to lay down her life for someone who was mistreating her. Jesus did say, "The greatest among you will be the servant of all," but that is never easy to live. That theme keeps cropping up as Brad and Wayne catch up from the last couple of weeks as they both helped move their sons cross-country. The kingdom of God invites us to live counter to the world's pursuit of its own pleasures and actually connect with others in a way that transforms us from the inside out and allows the kingdom to break into the world. Choosing his way in our circumstances is rarely our first thought, but doing so will shape us into the men and women he wants in the world.

Podcast Notes:
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Reaching Across the Racial Divide (#598)

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Vince Coakley, host of The Vince Coakley Show out of Greenville, SC and a friend of Wayne's, joins the podcast for a very different look at the growing racial divide in our culture. From Charlottesville to #blacklivesmatter, it appears America is coming apart at its racial seams. Is it? How can we change the conversation so that we move toward constructive resolution of our racial angst instead of continue to diverge into a polarized culture? Vince shares from his own childhood and the lessons he's learned about navigating American society as he finds his identity in Christ. This is an honest conversation about racism, immigration, and the current temper of our political dialog.

Podcast Notes:
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

A Passion For What’s True (#597)

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 15:00:00 GMT

A variety of reactions to an earlier podcast about God's judgment, draws Brad and Wayne into a further conversation about how we explore truth inside a relationship with Jesus. Is it enough just to seek what makes us comfortable or sets us at ease? Our exploration of his love does not negate our hunger for truth, but actually intensifies it. Love is the conduit in which God brings truth, especially the difficult realities in our lives. They talk about what touchstones they use to help them know if what they are seeing is just a comforting thought or the truth as God knows it. They talk about the value of listening to the Spirit, finding an anchor in the story of Scripture, and giving weight to the thoughts of those further down the road than they are. Paul's passion for righteousness did not change after his conversion, only the process to find it, did. It was no longer something he could attain by keeping rules through human effort, but that which would flow out of a growing trust in the Father's love. But want it, he did!

Podcast Notes:
Working Through the Story of Scripture: The Jesus Lens
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Where Theories Give Way to Reality (#596)

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Why do prayers for rain in Pokot go unanswered for tens of thousands of people starving in a severe drought, while God seems to change the weather for two Americans hiking through Norway? That provocative question rises out of an earlier podcast starts Brad and Wayne on a conversation about sorting through the ways God works in our world, and why he rarely does the things we think love would compel him to do. They talk about the inherent conflict such questions provide, and how it is tat we move from theories about the way God works, to actually discovering how he is working in and around us. How do we follow God with some degree of freedom, knowing that his thoughts are way higher than our own? Podcast Notes: 
<a href="https://www.lifestream.org/helping-people-feed/">Helping with Agriculture in Pokot</a> 
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

What’s the Devil Got to Do With It? (#595)

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Some people don't think Brad and Wayne talk about they devil enough as a real adversary that has impact on the circumstances of our lives. Responding to a listener's question they share from their own experiences about the reality of the enemy in the world, how they deal with him, and why an unhealthy focus on what the enemy is doing can distract us from our life in Jesus. While aware of his reality, they are not fearful of his activity because he was disarmed on the cross by the work of Christ. They talk about dealing with exorcism, fruitless efforts to cast out the flesh, and how to resist the major way he works with us — by inviting us to live in the domain of his lies rather than the truth of who God is and what he is doing in people around us.

Podcast Notes:
Japan Connection Page
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

What Judgment Lies Ahead? (#594)

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 15:00:00 GMT

After a brief contemplation as to whether or not Mark Zuckerberg is the antichrist or a pastor wanna be, and how much gets distorted in our lives when we have to monetize our gifts. After that Wayne and Brad fall into a conversation about judgment at the end of the age. Are we going to stand accountable to God for what we've done and said during our lives and how we've treated others? Scripture seems to suggest that we will. Or, does the Resurrection zero out our past and everything starts over from there, as many believe? As God's children judgment is not something we need to fear, but embrace with joy. Father is coming to set things right in the universe and that may give us the opportunity to be part of some amazing hearings in the brokenness of human relationships. What a way to start eternity!

Podcast Notes:
Japan Connection Page
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Why Is This So Difficult? (#594)

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 15:00:00 GMT

If God wants a relationship with us so much, why does he make it so difficult? Or does he? It seems like it some times, to be sure, but would that be true to his nature? Wouldn't he rather do it in the simplest way possible so that he would help us come to know him as he really is? What begins as a discussion of healing and some of the physical challenges in the Jacobsen household these days invites Brad and Wayne to discuss why our hopes in God sometimes fall short, and how it is that he could be revealing himself and we miss it because of our religious sensibilities or misplaced expectations. Learning to live in his love and life is a bit of a journey, not because he makes it difficult but because it is quite a process to connect broken humanity with the transcendent God who made heaven and earth.

Podcast Notes:
Japan Connection Page
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Honest to God (#593)

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Can you imagine a world in where people couldn't tell a lie even if they wanted to? Knowing the damage that deceit and duplicity do to relationships, that may well be heaven. But not everyone would agree since many use lies and pretense to cover their own shame and brokenness. Living loved will increasingly give us the freedom to see God as he really is and find our way back to honesty and truth. Perhaps it would be better said that heaven is a place where there is no reason to lie — ever! That's why salvation is not just about forgiveness, but finding a path to God that will transform us from the inside out, and why performance-based living will never set us free. Almost everything in Scripture can be turned into religious rules that kill, or be seen as relational realities that invite us to hope and freedom.

Podcast Notes:
Japan Connection Page
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

An Adventure With God (#592)

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 15:00:00 GMT

A genuine God Journey is the best adventure of all. Wayne is just back from South Africa and shares from his time there and the excitement of meeting so many young people finding traction in how to live loved. Brad's two boys are trekking through Norway, learning the difference between viewing a country from the train, or getting off the train and experiencing it for yourself. They also talk about an opportunity in Kenya helping a new group of people begin some agriculture, and then hit the mailbag where an email about a personal failure allows Wayne and Brad to revisit their discussion about how religious people add guilt to failure to great destruction and how religion divorced from a significant relationship with Jesus always ends in disaster. They finish up with new research about emotions that show they actually shape reality around us, not just our perception of it.

Podcast Notes:
Lyrics for "One" Hear Song on You Tube
Human Emotions Physically Shape Reality
Japan Connection Page
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Road to Real (#591)

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 15:00:00 GMT

A dip into the old mailbag takes Brad and Wayne on a journey through the power of forgiveness in a curative view of atonement, what do you do when the Sunday service sucks the life out of your relationship with God, and how our so-called "Sunday worship" became so empty and lifeless. What Brad and Wayne celebrate through it all is the human heart that is unrelenting in its search for what's real and the risks it will take to find it. Some people settle for the comfort of the status quo even if they have to pretend, but those who continue to search for authenticity in their own connection to God will find it even though the journey be challenging and fraught with the mistaken accusations of those they love.

Podcast Notes:
Photo courtesy of Andrew Jacobsen Photography
Christianity Today article: Do We Treat Sunday The Way the Earliest Christians Did?
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Emotions Are Not Your Enemy (#590)

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 15:00:00 GMT

What's so amazing about God is that he is deeply invested in the lives of his creation and often Scripture expresses that assigning emotions to God that parallel our own. And yet, many of us have been taught to cover up our more painful emotions instead of celebrating them whether we find ourselves in joy or sorrow. Love is not just a commitment it is expressed as a deep affection or concern. Brad and Wayne talk about the importance of our emotions and how they connect with God in ways that can touch us far more than the intellect alone. When we deny our emotions, however, we cut ourselves off not just from pain but from joy as well. They discuss how our emotions play into our relationship with God, inviting us into deeper spontaneity with him and more heartfelt engagement with people around us.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Tour of South Africa
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Sin Is Its Own Punishment (#589)

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 15:00:00 GMT

It is perhaps one of the most controversial lines in THE SHACK even for those who love the book and the movie. We so associate God with anger, sin, and punishment, that people are asking Wayne and Brad what they meant by that phrase, "Sin is its own punishment." Is that even Biblical since Scripture talks about the punishment of sin? So they guys spend some time unpacking that phrase and its meaning in their own journey and why its important that we see the devastation sin itself causes. Sin's own effects are all the punishment we need either to turn us back to God or to consume us in our self-indulgence. Seeing God as the rescuer in the world rather than the purveyor of punishment will help you understand his nature better. There is nothing God can do to punish our sin that sin itself doesn't already accomplish or that can make the repentant heart more free in his presence?

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Upcoming Trip to South Africa
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Enjoying Our Presence (#588)

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 15:00:00 GMT

All the little girl wanted was for a dad who would enjoy her presence. But he was too busy managing their lives to notice that his daughter was drowning in the need for a father's love. Enjoying our presence, is the perfect way to talk about how God loves us and how he wants to connect with us. Even in the most difficult of circumstances enjoying his presence soothes our pain-filled questions and offers us a pathway to growing faith in him and his work in us. It disarms our angry "Why?" questions and as he lets us know we are not alone in anything. This trust is hard to embrace when we so easily misunderstand his character and how he manages the universe in trying to get our needs met in the only way we think would befit his love.

Podcast Notes:
Previous Podcast: The Prayer Dance
Wayne's Upcoming Trip to South Africa
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Living In the Squeeze (#587)

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 15:00:00 GMT

How do we reconcile the love of the Father and the bone-crushing trials that life throws at us? With some listener input, Brad and Wayne revisit last week's topic, Desperation and Hope, and offer some more insight about navigating our difficulties, not by denying the reality of our circumstances, but embracing the hope of God-with-us regardless of whatever we're facing. Embracing the uniqueness of each of our journeys and what God is doing through us, doesn't leave us with a settle of principles to apply, but a presence to comfort us and a voice to lead us as God meets us in our pain and walks with us through it.

Podcast Notes:
Christianity Today Article: A Walking Disaster
Wayne's Upcoming Trip to South Africa
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Desperation and Hope (#586)

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Do we accept the desperate circumstances that come upon us, or do we resist them in hope that God will change them? The question comes from a frequent listener to the God Journey and causes Brad and Wayne to wrestle with their own journey of where our faith comes into play in dealing with illness or other difficulties. If we just give in and deal with circumstances as they are does that compromiser faith that God can do something greater? If our hope never comes to pass, have we wasted our effort when we could have been dealing with our crisis? Or maybe our acceptance of circumstances and having hope in God's activity, either in this life or beyond are not mutually exclusive at all. There's no better place for God to lead us than embracing the reality of our circumstances, while looking to him for anything greater he might want to do.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Upcoming Trip to South Africa
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Andrew’s Story (#585)

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:00:00 GMT

"I love you. I forgive you. I want to know you." Those words profoundly changed the course of Andrew's life. A stubborn agnostic, Andrew had no hope in God's existence even as he had destroyed his marriage and family with a host of addictions. But one day he opened the door just a crack to the possibility that God might be someone worth knowing and in an amazing encounter with his estranged daughter God came bounding through. Andrew tells his story in an email to Wayne that he in turn reads to Brad. It is an amazing story of how God made himself known, even in the shambles of his broken existence and how over the next few years God kept inviting him into freedom and life. The story is a painful one, and ends with Andrew losing everything except his newfound relationship with God and his courage to face life honestly even when it cost him everything. Our hope is that his story will encourage your own.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Upcoming Trip to New England and South Africa
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

What Is That to You? (#584)

Fri, 26 May 2017 15:00:00 GMT

There is nothing that messes up our spiritual journey more than looking at other people and comparing our journey and its fruits to theirs, and yet something in our humanity can't seem to resist the urge to do so. The discussion starts with an email about a so-called controversy regarding some women bloggers and the threat they pose to the gatekeepers of religious institutions and doctrinal purity. Seeking to control others always draws us away from what Christ is doing in us, and our institutions play along by creating environments where we become each other's victims. So rather than celebrate the uniqueness of how God leads each of us, we have to worry about what others are doing and how that might compete with what he's doing in us. Once we fix our eyes on others we'll lose sight of what he is simply asking of us in the sphere he has given us. And, discovering the grace to live inside our own journey allows us to love others rather than be threatened by them.

Will the Benedict Option Help? (#583)

Fri, 19 May 2017 14:30:00 GMT

Rod Dreher's latest book, The Benedict Option has caused quite a stir among Christian conservatives. He concedes we've lost the culture war and uses the example of St. Benedict who founded monasteries to combat the collapse of the Roman Empire. He suggests withdrawal from the culture is necessary to protect the purity of the Gospel and future Generations. Wayne and Brad discuss his premises and conclusions and the pitfalls of thinking any human-contrived system can preserve the purity of the Christian community. When you know God as a real presence in the humanity, putting your trust in any system just seems preposterous. Only as people come alive in him and share that life freely int he world will the kingdom of God continue to unfold even in the brokenness of this age.

Podcast Notes:
Christianity Today article on The Idea of a Christian Village
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Genuineness And the Machine (#582)

Fri, 12 May 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Wayne's back from Michigan and Wisconsin including a visit with some prisoners there. Brad's back from a Seven Mountain Conference, so they have lots tot all about and most of it circles back to how putting our trust in a system will easily lead us astray from the reality of living inside of Christ. They also look at an article by Jen Hatmaker about here being crushed by the Christian Machine for not adhering to the party line, which many of us have suffered though for different reasons. Everyone seems to want to use the machine for their own gain, without realizing how quickly it can turn and devour them. Genuineness, however, is the best antidote to being caught up in it, and to reach out to those that are already.

Podcast Notes:
Jen Hatmaker's Good Friday Blog
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Bible Worship and Hierarchies (#581)

Fri, 05 May 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Wayne sifts through the mailbag to explore some responses to recent podcasts. One invites a discussion about the misuse of Scripture as a substitute for a real relationship with God instead of a valuable tool to help us explore that relationship. When we try to use a gift other than for the purpose it was intended it can become destructive through no fault of its own. Brad and Wayne also sort through an article by Brad Jersak as he ruminates about institutions and hierarchies offering an idealistic hope for their value even though they often fall short of that ideal. Can hierarchies be valuable among broken humanity? And for those who forsake them, how do they avoid simply becoming independent anarchists that deny the community that faith engenders?

Podcast Notes:
Jodie Foster's travel scene in Contact
Here's more about Brad Jersak'and his article blog About Hard Questions I Ask Myself about Hierarchy and Institutions
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Love Is the Most Important Part of Truth (#580)

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:00:00 GMT

It is said that the Pharisees believed truth was more important than love, and without love they soon veered off the path of truth. But for the follower of Christ, love become the most important part of truth. It's the conduit through which God brings his truth into our lives so we can be respond to it in a way that's transformative. Wayne's recent appearance on Moody Radio's Up For Debate provide the catalyst to explore why some people think THE SHACK is dangerous and how to respond to people like that. Brad also follows up on Wayne's thought the week before that God certainly does not live in the same parameters we do when we talk of him allowing things to happen in our lives. Finally, they consider a recent letter Wayne from parents who want to know how to respond to their transgendered daughter. It is easy to love people who conform to our expectations of truth or morality, but how do we learn to love people whose views and actions are so diametrically opposed to that which we hold dear?

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Appearance on Moody's Up For Debate show about whether Christians should see The Shack
Wayne's blog: How Do I Love My Transgendered Child?
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Brad’s a Lousy Calvinist (#579)

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:47:43 GMT

Brad's been spending a lot of time trying to understand the Calvinist reaction to THE SHACK, and why it is that they demonstrate so much angst about the movie. It has led him into some musings about God's control and the universe, the blending of God's justice and his mercy, and why humans get caught up in theological principles that simply don't lead to the relationship God designed with us. That leads to a conversation with Wayne about how God giving us dominion over the creation line up with the idea that God is in control of everything and his will always happens? To what degree does God make a volitional choice to allow hurtful things to happen in our lives and how he can't possibly make this decisions with the same criteria by which we often judge him?

Podcast Notes:
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Pedestal People (#578)

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:18:40 GMT

Everyone, it seems is drawn to the top of the pedestal. To be admired by others, thought influential in their field, and to reap the financial rewards of being at the top of the heap is often equated with success. Should it be? Brad and Wayne discuss the lure of the pedestal and what it does to people who seek it, even if they fail to gain it. While acknowledging that there's a world of difference between having influence because of the quality of someone's life and message and seeking that influence to be thought successful. But at what cost to honesty and integrity do people pay to try to hold on to a pedestal they've fallen in love with. The life of Jesus is not passed on through people on pedestals, but by relational engagements where we are alongside people helping them explore their own growing relationship with him. Oh, and that invites yet another discussion about Promisekeepers and the lessons learned from mass movements, genuine passion, and human ambition.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Blog on The Thirst for the Limelight
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

God Sees All That You Are (#577)

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Is the fact that God knows you to the core of your being good news or bad news? The answer will tell you a lot of what you believe about him, you, and the possibility of relationship with him. If you know his love then you want him to know everything about you, even the broken places so that he can work there to transform us into his glory. For those truly growing to know him, repentance and confession are not the horrible, scary words religious performance turned them into, nor something to be avoided. In fact, you can't truly repent until his love wins its way into your heart. Knowing him, however, make repentance and confession a delightful part of our engagement with him as his love seeks to win us out of all the places that sin seeks to destroy us. Inside his love, both the fear of hell and the joy of sin goes away and we get to be the people he really created us to be.

Podcast Notes:
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Alpha Leader Is Not What You Think (#576)

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 15:00:00 GMT

This is the first podcast Wayne and Brad have done since the movie release, so they begin with some of the reactions they are getting from people, both those who love it and those who react against it. They talk about why religious people carry so much pain and genuinely want people to be punished. Is it just coincidence that Jesus faced the same kind vitriol from the religious people of his day? Many do find grace offensive, and they find convincing other they are right is more important than loving people in their pain. What a contrast the leadership style of Jesus presents to the religious leaders of his day and many in ours! Wayne reads a NY Times article about what an alpha leader really is and the answer will surprise you.

Podcast Notes:
Think You Know What “Alpha Male” Means? These Wolves Will Prove You Wrong
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

His Voice, His Wrath, and His Punishment (#575)

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Lately Brad and Wayne have been caught up in numerous conversations about their ideas about discerning God's voice, his wrath as it defines his character, and his punishment as it relates to our struggle with sin. Many feel God has only left us with the Scriptures to guide us will not make his voice and will known to us as we live our lives. Is that even what the Scriptures teach? Is God a God of wrath that sometimes loves, or a God of love who sometimes has to act in that love in severe ways? Until we know God as a loving presence in the universe, we won't understand those times he acts to restrain sin and preserve humanity's redemption.

Podcast Notes:
Whose Afraid of the Big, Bad Shack, by Wayne
The article from John Piper's Desiring God Website about God not talking today: What Does ‘The Shack’ Say About Your Pain?
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Confusion at the Shack (#574)

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 15:00:00 GMT

We have been grateful to hear from so many people who have been touched by the movie adaptation of The Shack. Even those who didn't want to see the movie, fearful it would ruin their enjoyment of the book, have written to tell us how wrong they were. The movie has already touched so many lives and as Wayne and Brad go over their past few weeks with the movie's release, they also note some of the confusion that has arisen from putting The Shack back in the spotlight and those stories that distort both the content and creation of the book.

Podcast Notes:
Whose Afraid of the Big, Bad Shack, by Wayne
A Collaborative Life - an early podcast with Paul Young about writing The Shack
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

“I Can’t Give You Character” (#573)

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:00:00 GMT

A son comes home after sliding into the less-than-stellar influence of his friends and as his dad was trying to help him understand what maturity would invite him to embrace wound up saying, "Son, I can give you mercy, but I can't give you character. What a statement and Brad and Wayne parse that out as an expression God might feel as well. When we who claim to believe in a loving Father use his mercy and graciousness as an excuse for our dishonesty, lack of integrity, or selfishness we discredit the very love we tout. If Father's love doesn't eventually lead us out of selfishness to embrace a different way of living, the world and other Christians are right to ignore our message. Personal expedience must give way to a growing depth of character if we're going to touch the world and the principalities and powers with the reality of the God we claim to follow.

Podcast Notes:
Whose Afraid of the Big, Bad Shack, by Wayne
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

From Fear to Trust (#572)

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 15:00:00 GMT

"The crisis in the world is the lack of good leadership." That's an astute observation our guide in Israel made as we were discussing tensions in the Middle East and in U.S. politics. It is easier for bad leaders to manipulate with fear and to polarize people to get our own way. Good leadership invites people to a greater common good by helping people work together. How long as it been since we've had that kind of leadership? Only as we have a growing confidence in God's love for us and his unfolding purpose behind human history can we separate ourselves from the the fears that drive our culture and actually become a source of blessing to people around us. But that is not easy for some to find when the values of this age and economic rewards run directly counter to the life and freedom Jesus invites us into.

Podcast Notes:
Whose Afraid of the Big, Bad Shack, by Wayne
Tracy Levinson Podcasts: Unashamed and Mutually Shared Selflessness
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Brad and Wayne’s Excellent Adventure at the Premiere

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Though we are no longer in NY, this was our last video before we fled for the airport, and below it is the first outtake. In some ways historic. Don't miss it.

After 570 podcasts and some 10 videos, I can count on one hand the number of times we've had to stop a recording and start over--a "Take 2" as they say in the biz. Yes, that amazes us too. We almost never talk about anything before we hit a "video" or "record" button and yet we fall into an easy rhythm when we do.

That's why this is historic. It's incredibly rare that someone bails on a Take One, but it did happen yesterday morning. Brad had me totally flustered.

Podcast Notes:
Don't miss our other NY videos: From Central Park and from Times Square,

Doctrine Débonnaires (#571)

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 15:00:00 GMT

When did Christianity become a religion more concerned about doctrinal conformity than it is helping people know, love and follow the living God? Knowledge about God and knowing God are two different things. Wayne and Brad discuss the growing divide between academic understanding about and personal engagement with him. This is not one or the other, but how do we treasure both? Knowing what's true about God is vitally important, but if we substitute that knowledge from God as a knowable reality in the creation we will tend toward arrogance and control, rather than love and humility. They also talk about the question as to whether God needs us, and how it is that we need him.

Podcast Notes:
Whose Afraid of the Big, Bad Shack, by Wayne
Am I a Christian, Pastor Timothy Keller?
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Truth, Laughter, and Reality (#570)

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 15:00:00 GMT

As the release date for movie adaptation for The Shack gets ever closer, Brad and Wayne share a bit of the process they have been through and their excitement to see how others respond to the movie. That begins a conversation about the playfulness of God in the story and why that is offensive to some. Playfulness and truth seem to go together. The less certain someone is of what's true the more forceful and manipulative they are to get others to agree with them. But the more people relax into God's reality the more gentle they are with others and the more fun they seem to have in embracing that truth and sharing it with others. And when truth is celebrated rather than defended, it seems to open wider doors for those who want to experience the truth as well.

Podcast Notes:
The 2016 RSS Feed
International Release Dates for The Shack
The Shack Trailer
Sign up for The GJ Shack Showing in Thousand Oaks, CA on March 4
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The God Journey Israel Adventure (#569)

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 14:45:00 GMT

The boys are back from Jordan and Israel reflecting on their time with 32 others from around the world who joined them for a two-week odyssey. While they talk about the sites that most impacted them they also share some of what they learned and reflected on while there. You'll hear about Mt. Nero, the rock city of Petra, Galilee, Jerusalem, and the dungeon under Caiaphas' house where Jesus would have spent the night before his crucifixion. They also talk about the joy of watching total strangers become of family of friends over the course of their time together, with a wonderful mix of deep sharing and healing, along with moments of absolute hilarity. Don't miss Brad and Wayne's videos from the Holy Land, listed below.

Podcast Notes:
The 2016 RSS Feed
Video Updates from Israel: • From Petra • On the Sea of Galilee • In Jerusalem • Near Temple Mount • From the Airport
The Shack Trailer
Sign up for The GJ Shack Showing in Thousand Oaks, CA on March 4
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Church Attendance Heresy (#568)

Fri, 03 Feb 2017 15:00:00 GMT

Did you know that in the third century "church leaders" declared it heresy to encourage others to worship at home with friends and family? There's a lot to love about the councils and creeds, but this is not their best work especially when the establishment moves far from the reality of the Gospel and trading institutional conformity for divine community. Brad and Wayne explore the ramifications of this kind of thinking and respond to a recent article about why Millennials no longer find their local congregations a relevant space to explore their spiritual journey. This is what happens when we lose sight of the church as the company of people learning to live in the love of Jesus and following him, but seek to contain it in institutions with those who need to derive their income from it.

Podcast Notes:
The 2016 RSS Feed
12 Reasons Millennials are OVER Church
The Shack Trailer
Sign up for The GJ Shack Showing in Thousand Oaks, CA on March 4 at 4:00 pm
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Think Small (#567)

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 15:00:00 GMT

In every battle between the empowered establishment and some group of people calling out for relief from oppression, the vast majority of Christianity has been on the wrong side of the struggle. In almost every case if you would have chosen the struggle of the oppressed you would have been on the right side of God's work in history. Wayne and Sara saw Hidden Figures, a movie about racial oppression in the NASA space program. That coupled with a recent discussion about his former work with BridgeBuilders leave Wayne disturbed about oppression and whether we do enough to help people who need it the most. But our efforts seem so insignificant against he magnitude of problems that permeate society. Thinking large paralyzes us, but finding our way to love the next person and come to their aid can change the world.

Podcast Notes:
The 2016 RSS Feeds
A Christian and a Muslim Walk Into A Studio
Hidden Figures
To Make the World Better, Think Small by Arthur C. Brooks
The Shack Trailer
Sign up for The GJ Shack Showing in Thousand Oaks, CA on March 4 at 4:00 pm
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Approval Addiction (#566)

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 15:00:00 GMT

When we aren't finding our life in Jesus each day, we go looking in the strangest places. When our hearts are at rest in him we get to live freely and lovingly in the world. Wayne and Brad catch up on some listener email and talk about the joy of moving away from the do-good, try-harder performance of religious activity to growing in a real relationship with him. That life is not a fairy tale, but a growing curve of learning to be in him instead of left to our own devices. Life in him is not spooky-spiritual, but feels incredibly normal as you walk through circumstances with him. It also leads to a discussion about being so insecure that we seek our validation and approval from others instead of knowing we have his, and having his we don't need to use our relationship with others to feel good about ourselves.

Podcast Notes:
The Shack Trailer
Sign up for The GJ Shack Showing in Thousand Oaks, CA on March 4 at 4:00 pm
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The Best Time to Plant a Tree (#565)

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 16:00:00 GMT

As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is twenty-five years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today. If you didn't then, there's no time like the present. Don't we all wish we'd given greater attention to God's working in us in years past and live more freely in the fruit of it today? We can't do anything about the past, but we can lean more deeply into him today and let his work have freer reign in us for days to come. Through listener emails and questions Wayne and Brad discuss the ongoing joy of finding our way into God's reality and how we encourage others, including our children, into that same life of transformation. In the course of the conversation they talk about how important it is to be honest in the moment with our hungers and struggles, how our mind, will, and emotions play into this process, and how we cooperate with his working without getting trapped into trying to earn it through religious works.

Podcast Notes:
The Shack Trailer
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

“What’s In It for Me?” (#564)

Fri, 06 Jan 2017 15:00:00 GMT

It's such an easy trap to fall into. How many times have we seen people start out sharing a gift God has given them with others and end up using that gift to serve themselves? In this age of self-promotion the temptation has never been greater, especially if we want our gift to build our influence, satiate our ego or provide for our income stream. When ministry shifts from, "How can I serve you?" to, "What's in it for me?" everything valuable gets lost and we end up exploiting people instead of serving them. "Freely you have received, freely give," is how Jesus told us to live. In this podcast, Brad and Wayne talk about the danger of serving ourselves with the gifts God has given us instead of employing them to help others.

Podcast Notes:
The Shack Trailer
George Michael Quotes
Ann Voskamp article in Christianity Today
You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.
Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"