The God Journey - 2012

What do you do when your thirty-years old, and the hunger you have for God is unfulfilled by the religious answers you’ve been given? That’s what faced Wayne’s father almost 55 years ago and launched this young farmer and father of four on a journey of spiritual transformation that fulfilled his greatest hopes and proved to be a blessing to many others. For the first time Wayne interviews Eugene “Jake” Jacobsen, who is not only his dad, but over the course of his life has also been his mentor, sounding board, brother in Christ, and best friend. Now approaching ninety years of age he reflects back on his life, the lessons he learned, how his passion for God led him to a growing trust and obedience that opened some amazing doors in is life, and what he would say to other younger, hungry hearts today. Podcast Links: We need some help clothing some orphans in Kenya

On the last day of his three trips to Europe this summer, Wayne sits down with Silvio Viotti to process some of his experiences and their conversations helping people find their way out of religious obligation and learning to live in the love of the Father. Silvio is a friend from Vallorbe, Switzerland, translated some of Wayne’s books into French, and has shared some of his journey on a previous podcast. They talk about the process of those who have struggled in their own religious systems and come away from them looking to build another hoping for different results. Part of that stems from the desire to live by a strategic plan they can fulfill, because they don’t yet trust Father’s love enough to relax in his unfolding will. Podcast Links: Silvio’s earlier visit to The God Journey We need some help clothing some orphans in Kenya

When you’re trapped in pain, you can’t imagine what grace might do to invite you out, but Paul and Janna LaFrance have lived through their own brokenness and found God’s grace more than sufficient to heal and restore them. On a recent trip to Canada, Wayne asked them to share a bit about their journeys and how they are helping others find the light of grace in their darkness. Paul is a deck-builder and TV host on HGTV Canada. Janna has just written a new book entitled, “A Girl Named Grace”, a compelling novel about a young woman trapped in an unfolding nightmare that threatens to destroy her. Then she begins to hear a voice in her head and thinks she might be going nuts. What transpires shows the depths God will go to walk us out of our pain. Together they are parents to four girls and rockers with a message of love and hope. Their band, Found in the Fury, is just releasing a new album called, “Songs from the Cave” One of their cuts debuts at the end of the podcast and underscores the content of this podcast. Podcast Links: Paul and Janna’s website, Safehouse Media Janna’s book, A Girl Named Grace. You can read the first chapter here. Wayne’s blog on A Girl Named Grace Found in the Fury CD Paul’s deck-building TV shows with HGTV in Canada We need some help clothing some orphans in Kenya

This is part two of a conversation Wayne had with Bruxy Cavey, author of The End of Religion, and Sean Davidson, a member of the staff at The Meeting House where Bruxy is the teaching pastor. They began last week talking about the reality of relationship Jesus extends to us. Now they plunge into a conversation about religion, systems, structure, and spontaneity and how they play out in our walk with Jesus and our connections with the fellowship of believers. They talk about the difference between doing tasks God puts on our hearts, and building structures that all too often outlive their usefulness. Though Wayne and Bruxy live in very different expressions of these realities, they were able to talk about those differences in an enlightening conversation. Podcast Links: Bruxy’s Blog and The Meeting House website where he is the teaching pastor. Bruxy’s book, The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus Sean Davidson at the Meeting House We need some help clothing some orphans in Kenya

Ever since reading The End of Religion, I’ve wanted to talk to its author, Bruxy Cavey. During a recent trip to Canada, we had the opportunity to have lunch together and record some of our conversation along with one of their newest staff members, Sean Davidson. Since the podcast went long, we’re going to play it here in two parts. In this edition Wayne, Bruxy, and Sean discuss the difference between knowing God as a personality in the universe and trying to serve him as a concept. If he’s only a concept, history has demonstrated how we so easily allow human mediators to get between God and the people he invites to know him. Finally, in getting to know each other they also spin the doctrine wheel to explore such topics as hell, atonement, and place of theology in the believer’s experience. Part two follows next week. Podcast Links: Bruxy’s Blog and The Meeting House website where he is the teaching pastor. Bruxy’s book, The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus Sean Davidson at the Meeting House We need some help clothing some orphans in Kenya

No the break isn’t over, but I couldn’t resist the urge to share this with all of you. “So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore” has been one of my flagship books that helps people wrestle with the reality of living loved in the religious environment of the 21st century. Almost a year ago, he was contacted by Kevin Waller about the possibility of converting this story into a theatrical film and they’ve been in discussions ever since. Wayne has the sense that Kevin is the right guy to interpret this movie for a spiritually hungry generation of people who are turned off to religion. He has enlisted Angela Eby to take first pass on the screen play and a few weeks ago they met for two days at Wayne’s house to block out the script. After their time together they recorded a conversation with Wayne to introduce you to them and this project and in doing so they share some of their journeys about coming through their disillusionment with religion to embrace a larger reality. Podcast Links: Kevin Waller’s current film in pre-production, Mission Blacklist So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore Help With Kenya

Don’t worry, we’ll be back! But The God Journey will be taking a brief hiatus. Wayne explains that for many reasons he is sensing a stirring in his heart that a change is in the wind for what he’s been doing over the past seventeen years. To create the space to help sort out what that means will be taking a break from his regular postings here. Then he asks for help from God Journey audience with sorting out a definition of love worthy of the God who defines it. He offers three descriptive points to help get the discussion rolling. They are: (1) A wholehearted concern for someone’s ultimate good, even at great personal cost. (2) A delighted affection for another without the need to control or manipulate. (3) A growing, ongoing engagement of knowing and being known. Join the discussion and feel free to add your thoughts, ideas, or edits in the comment section below. Podcast Links: Wayne’s Books at Lifestream Help With Kenya

Podcast Links: Infomercial for the secrets of making your gifts a “full time ministry” Help With KenyaWhen you use God’s gift to seek validation for yourself, or you need to make it the source of your income, something very serious gets twisted, both in the gift and how you’ll treat others to get them to respond to you. DaRon Maughon (pictured with wife, Tina, at left) joins Wayne for a discussion about his journey beyond religion into a freer walk with Jesus. As the son of a pastor, a musician, and “worship” leader, DaRon got tired of being the circus monkey on the stage and it launched him on a very different journey. Wayne talks with him about those transitions and the freedom his family is finding in the life of Jesus. They also listen to a disturbing clip promoting a webinar to help people discover the secrets of finding their way into “full-time ministry” and how those tricks of the trade are really about manipulating an audience for their own needs.

Don Zimmermann, a long time Baptist pastor in the Phoenix area, joins Wayne to share his journey learning to live inside the love of the Father and how it has transformed his own life, his family’s life, and that of the congregation he has been involved with for multiple decades. People often ask if an established congregation can find its way into a more relational life together. The answer is, though it is rare, it can happen. This is an inside look at both the costs of that transition and the rewards of doing so. A powerful undercurrent to this entire dialog is how much more relevant this group of people hs become in the world when their objective was no longer “to invite people to church,” but to simply love them the way they had been loved. We did have some audio problems with Skype on this one, but the conversation is worth listening through them. Podcast Links: Contact Don Zimmermann Our Help in Kenya

After listening to our recent podcast about “Living Beyond Your Transformation” one person came to the discovery that they were in a situation where they were asking others to live beyond their transformation. That takes Wayne and Brad down a wonderful track of doing to others what isn’t even helpful to do for ourselves. Encouraging others to live by what we think is best for them, when it is beyond their own growing trust in their Father, is fruitless. Living in freedom doesn’t focus on what others are doing, but only what Father is asking of us and can only happen in us when we are contented in his love and provision, rather than scheming for the things we want or think we deserve. Podcast Links: Help With Kenya

Brad and Wayne work through some of the email and blog postings from their recent podcasts on how God transforms us, especially in times of need and extremity. Too many people live with the assumption that if they are walking in God’s love that their circumstances will always be good and that God will make the pathway easy. But that’s not how he works. Our world is filled with pain and loss, and by embracing God in those times, rather than feeling separated from him, he can do wonderful things in us to shape our perspective and our lives. Podcast Links: Help With Kenya

Whether it’s our angst with the institutions of organized religion, or dealing with expectations of God and others, it seems easier for us to paint with a broad brush and stand on our own principles and judgments of others. Better still to paint with a finer brush of what God is doing in us and what he’s asking of us, rather than to react in our own fears or hurt. Wayne and Brad sort through some recent email and blog postings and talk about the church not as an institution, but as an expression of what God is doing in people who are responding to him and whether or not God has expectations of us that we need to satisfy. And if we fall short, what then? Podcast Links: Update on the Orphanage in Kenya

When we lose our need to try to get God to give us what we think we need, then we’re free to live by what God gives. Brad is back and he joins Wayne for a conversation about God’s transforming process and our learning to be comfortable in it, rather than resorting to our own human attempts to make ourselves better for God. Those who live by rules can never relax in the process, while those who put their trust in what God is doing rather than what they can do will bear the fruit of his transformation in the world. Podcast Links: Update on the Orphanage in Kenya

We could call this The Death Podcast. Wayne continues his conversation with Dave Coleman, his co-writer on So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. Dave has not only faced his own mortality in a brutal battle with cancer years ago, but as a hospice chaplain he has helped many others face their own death. According to Dave most so-called Christians arrive at death’s door in fear, rather than in peace and he explores some reasons why. Confronting our mortality is not a cause for fear or despair, but anticipation of a transition that will take us into the fullness of life as God always meant for us to know it. Podcast Links: Previous Podcasts with Dave Coleman: Meet Jake Colsen (3/24/06), Why Religion Doesn’t Work (4/17/08), and Why Religion Doesn’t Work II (4/25/08) Contact Dave Coleman My Descent into Death by Howard Storm Update on the Orphanage in Kenya

As long as we think God’s affection for us is tied to his approval regarding our performance, we will grovel about in our shame and miss the reality of living loved. Joining Wayne this week is Dave Coleman, co-writer of So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore and a long-time friend of Wayne’s. The sort through some recent email and end up in a discussion about those who cannot conceive of a God who would enjoy them just as they are. Religion so saddles us with expectations God has of us, and the shame that results from falling short of them makes them feel unworthy of God’s loving. God wants to rewire our thinking so that we know him as he is and not the way religion has disfigured him, making him our judge instead of our Abba. Podcast Links: Previous Podcasts with Dave Coleman: Meet Jake Colsen (3/24/06), Why Religion Doesn’t Work (4/17/08), and Why Religion Doesn’t Work II (4/25/08) Contact Dave Coleman Brene Brown’s Book – The Gifts of Imperfection and her talks at Ted.com: The Power of Vulnerability (12/10) and Listening to Shame (3/12) The Orphanage in Kenya