Writer’s Note: Starting with this episode, the newsletter version will be a summary of the video, not a transcript. There’s lots more in the video. Feel free to listen to it at 1.5 speed if your time is short. (That’s what I always do with podcasts.) Please help us grow this podcast. The crisis facing our faith is a crucial issue, and we’ve got to build a better church going forward.

The Everything Religion: Christianity’s Crisis of No Center

Imagine walking into a restaurant and being handed a 200-page menu with 847-items — breakfast, sushi, tacos, French cuisine, barbecue, Moroccan, African, and Chinese cuisine. Maybe you’d love it, or maybe you’d turn around and walk out.

A kitchen that tries to make everything usually does nothing well. There’s no identity, no specialty, no standard of excellence. Just an overwhelming array of options designed to keep everyone happy. Would you trust it? Probably not.

That’s what Christianity has become.

It is the world’s largest spiritual buffet. Walk in and take whatever you like — grace without repentance, heaven without hell, Jesus without the cross, community without commitment. You can construct a Jesus who endorses your politics, blesses your lifestyle, and never once asks you to change. And nobody, anywhere, is in charge of the kitchen.

A City Without a Government

In my book, ReJesusEverything which is coming out in about a month, I describe Christianity this way: if Christianity were a city, it would be Tokyo.

If you’ve ever been to Tokyo, you know it’s overwhelming. It’s the largest metropolitan area on the planet — 40 million people. Ancient Shinto temples sit in the shadows of glass skyscrapers. Buddhist monks in robes walk past businessmen in suits. Robots clean floors while women serve tea in traditional kimonos. It’s simultaneously ancient and futuristic, orderly and chaotic, beautiful and bewildering.

Christianity is like that.

Christianity holds one-third of all humans on earth. It’s richer in money and history than most nations. Long ago it overwhelmed the boundaries of being a religion and became something else entirely — a global enterprise, a civilization, a culture, a political force, a business ecosystem.

But here’s the critical difference: Tokyo has a government. Christianity doesn’t.

Tokyo has a mayor, a city council, laws, courts, and enforcement mechanisms. When disputes arise, there is a system to resolve them. Christianity has none of that. There is no global authority. No universal council. No mechanism to resolve disputes or enforce standards. And the result is that Christianity has become whatever anyone wants it to be.

Whatever You Practice Is a Minority Position

Here’s something that may surprise you: whatever version of Christianity you practice is followed by no more than 25% of the world’s 2.4 billion Christians.

Think about that. If you’re a Pentecostal, your understanding of baptism, salvation, church governance, and spiritual gifts is shared by a small minority of global Christians. The same is true if you’re Catholic, Baptist, Reformed, Eastern Orthodox, or Non-denominational. There is no majority position. There is no standard version.

Simply said, there are many Christian faiths — all using the same name, all claiming the same founder, all reading the same Bible — and all arriving at dramatically different conclusions. Christianity today encompasses every denomination you can name, plus seventh-day Adventism, Universalism, Christian Science, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and dozens of other groups that claim the name of Jesus while holding beliefs traditional Christianity would consider heretical.

Is Jesus the chairman of the board of all of this? Honestly, no. He’s the logo on the letterhead, but he’s not running the organization — because there is no organization. There aren’t two or three Christianities. There are 47,000, and they contradict each other in doctrine and lifestyle, even on foundational questions like: how does a person come into a right relationship with God?

The Buffet Problem

The buffet metaphor cuts deeper than it first appears. A buffet feels like freedom. It feels like you’re being respected, like your preferences matter, like you’re not being forced into a box. But what it actually produces is a faith with no spine.

A Christianity constructed from a buffet line can’t challenge you, because you’ve already pre-selected everything that confirms what you already believe. It gives you a Jesus who endorses your existing lifestyle rather than calling you into transformation.

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that a time would come when people would not endure sound teaching, but would accumulate teachers to suit their own passions and turn away from truth. That time has arrived. Most people standing in the buffet line don’t realize what they’re doing. They think they’re being discerning. They think they’re following their conscience. But they are actually constructing a customized religion that costs nothing and demands nothing — and therefore produces nothing.

The Symptoms Are Everywhere

When I was a kid the churches we attended were normal except for one curious item. In these simple, humble buildings, filled with working-class people hungry for God — one thing was nearly universal: the pastor’s chair. Not just any chair. A throne. Velvet fabric. Elevated on the platform. No one else permitted to sit in it. Who thought this up? I never knew, but they were pretty much universal.

Spend one hour reading the Gospels and you know Jesus would have hurled those chairs out of the building. He spent his ministry turning upside down every system that elevated the powerful over the humble, especially within Judaism. And yet the chairs were everywhere, unchallenged, for decades — because there was no center to measure them against.

The chairs eventually got moved when churches built massive performance stages and the thrones no longer fit the aesthetic. But it shouldn’t have taken a stage redesign. It should have taken Jesus.

The Way Back

The early church had a simple doctrine: Jesus is Lord. That was enough. Everything else had to fit inside that one conviction. Jesus held all authority. His word was final. That was the center, and everything else orbited around it.

We’ve lost that center. And without it, we have no compass, no magnetic north, no authoritative voice to settle disputes or call us back when we drift.

The way forward is not finding the right denomination, the right pastor, or the right theological system. The way forward is returning to the source — to the Jesus of the Gospels, to his own words, his actual practice, his mission.

Hitting the Bullseye

Think of it as a bullseye. Jesus at the center. Everything else — traditions, theologies, denominations — existing in concentric circles around that center. They have value. They carry wisdom. But they are never the center.

When Jesus is the center, you have your magnetic north. You have a standard against which everything else can be measured. You have an authority that can speak into the noise and be heard.

After 45 years in ministry, one thing has become clear: the doctrines that divide Christians almost always divide because they are built on the work of theologians other than Christ himself. Practically nobody argues about what Jesus actually said.

That’s worth sitting with.

“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Not to the thousand opinions. Not to the buffet. Not to the theological systems built by brilliant men who died 500 years ago.

To him. That’s the only way out of the Everything Religion.

Let’s ReJesus Everything!

Every Blessing,

Chuck

Here is the discussion question for the week.

“In this episode, I pointed out that whatever Christianity you follow, it’s a minority position, held by no more than 25% of Christians. How does that change — or not change — your confidence in what you believe knowing that three out of four sincere Christians globally see things differently and are just as certain they are correct?”

What’s in this Newsletter:Christianity is fracturing under the weight of 40,000 denominations, burned-out leaders, and mass exodus — and most diagnoses focus on the symptoms while missing the root cause. In this episode, I’ll make the case that the real crisis is a stolen microphone: Jesus, the founder and only true authority of the faith, has been systematically subordinated by 2,000 years of brilliant but competing voices. If you've ever sensed that something is deeply off in modern Christianity but couldn't name it, this episode will give you the diagnosis — and point toward the only cure.

There’s a moment in the Gospels that should settle forever the position Jesus should have in our lives.

Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration, radiating the glory of God. Moses and Elijah appear beside Him. And Peter—good old Peter—starts nervously yammering about building shrines for these holy men, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing.

And then the Father interrupts. A voice from heaven shouts:

“This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

Not “Listen to Moses.” Not “Listen to Elijah.” Not “Listen to the prophets” or “Listen to the religious leaders.”

“Listen to Him.” To Jesus. Alone.

But here’s what’s happened over the last 2,000 years: we’ve stopped listening to Him alone. We’ve added other voices. Lots of other voices. Important voices. Brilliant voices. Voices that have shaped Christianity for centuries.

The Apostles. Paul. The Church Fathers. Medieval theologians. The Reformers. Denominational founders. Celebrity pastors. Theologians. Authors. Podcasters. And in listening to all that noise, Jesus has been reduced from THE voice to ONE voice among many.

He’s become an elective rather than the core curriculum. A consultant rather than the CEO. One opinion among thousands.

And that’s the root of our crisis.

Today, we’re beginning Act II: The Noise. My goal is that we will start paying attention to the noise. We will notice the noise and decide to silence it. We start here: with how Jesus went from being the singular teaching authority to being subordinated by a chorus of competing voices.

Jesus has been subordinated. Despite all of our songs and nice words about him, he’s no longer the central authority of Christianity. He’s one voice among many. And when there are multiple voices claiming authority, you get chaos which leads to fracturing. Today we have 40,000 versions of Christianity.

Let’s trace how this happened.

In the Beginning, There Was One Voice

When Jesus walked the earth, there was no confusion about who had authority.

Jesus spoke, and people listened. He didn’t quote other rabbis to establish His credibility. He didn’t build elaborate theological systems. He didn’t defer to the religious authorities of His day.

He simply said, “You have heard it said... but I say to you.” That phrase—”but I say to you”—was revolutionary. It was scandalous. Because Jesus was claiming authority above all other voices, an authority that belonged to God alone.

The religious leaders noticed this. They said, “Who does this man think he is? By what authority does he say these things?” And Jesus’ answer was clear: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Not some authority. Not shared authority. All authority.

When Jesus taught, He spoke with clarity and simplicity:

- “Follow me.”

- “Love your enemies.”

- “Seek first the kingdom of God.”

- “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

- “If you love me, you will obey my commands.”

There was no theological maze. No complex systematized theology. No endless debates about predestination or free will or the role of women, or the nature of the atonement. Just Jesus. One voice. Clear. Authoritative. Uncluttered.

His sheep hear His voice. And for a brief moment in history, that’s all there was:

* Jesus and His disciples.

* The Teacher and His students.

* The Shepherd and His sheep.

But then Jesus ascended.

And other voices began to speak.

The first of the new voices belong to the Apostles. Peter, James, John, and others were personally trained and discipled by Jesus himself for almost four years. He empowered them to extend the movement that he had founded so we expect and deeply need their voices. Jesus was a speaker, not a writer, so it was left to the apostles to record his words for us in the gospels and Acts. (Imagine what Christianity might be today if we had absolutely no written records of the life of Jesus!)

After Jesus ascended, the apostles took on the role of spreading His message. And they were crystal clear about their secondary role. They were disciples of Jesus, not His colleagues. They traveled around repeating Jesus’ words, describing His practices and lifestyle, and calling people to repent and follow Him as Earth’s rightful King.

As the faith spread, their role included sharing what they felt Jesus’ position would be on contemporary issues. But here’s the key: they weren’t unquestionable in these judgments. Their reliability depended on how much they could push aside their biases and cultural expectations and apply what they knew of Jesus’ heart to the matters before them.

To an apostle, Jesus was the hermeneutic.

You use the totality of Him to interpret everything’s meaning and find the way forward. You see this in Acts when the apostles gather to discuss under what conditions Gentiles could enter the community. They have differences of opinion on this. They debate. They pray. They seek to discern what Jesus would say about this matter. You see this also in the writings of Paul, John, Peter, Jude, and Hebrews. They did their best to apply Jesus’ teachings, lifestyle, and stated mission to the ongoing experience of the discipleship community as it spread culture to culture.

The Bible contains 783,137 words. We have poems, letters, historical accounts, and tons and tons of stories written by over 40 different authors. It’s an anthology of sacred literature that took over 2,000 years to come together. But of all these words, 40,000 are words spoken by Jesus Himself.

If he is the word of God in the flesh, those 40,000 words are the foundation for all core knowledge about the new Kingdom of God. In these words Jesus reveals what he has come to establish, the community He is building, and the one true path that will take us away from sin and Satan into family of God.

No other human has a path to greater revelation than Jesus possessed as the Word of God in flesh. Even the apostles’ words must be seen as commentary supplementary to His, not as alternative ways of thinking equal to or superior to His own.

The Mighty Voice of Paul

Paul of Tarsus, unlike the others, was not personally discipled by Jesus. In fact, he never met him, physically. Never heard him teach. Never saw him do miracles or debate the scholars. He had a mystical encounter with him and had access to the living apostles for many, many years to hear their first-hand accounts.

Ironically, though he did not know Jesus while he walked the earth, Paul has, by far, greater influence over today’s Christianity than any of the original apostles simply because he was a prolific writer.

Had Paul never picked up a pen, we would have a radically different Christianity today.

Paul’s voice lives on because while others taught in person, he used his times in prison to put his thoughts in writing. And writing wins over speaking in the battle against time.

The books in the Bible I wish we had

I thank God for all that Paul has written, and I have studied his letters all my Christian life. I really wish the apostles had written more. I wish we had an eyewitness recording of what Jesus taught them in the six weeks after His resurrection. Maybe all of this once existed but has been lost to us through time. We have the Bible we have.

It’s a miracle that we have the Bible at all. We should all cherish the privilege of owning one for ourselves and reading it any time we want. Only in the last two hundred years have Christians had this ability.

After the apostles and their contemporaries (Paul and whoever wrote Hebrews) died, the next generation of Christian leaders began to interpret and systematize the faith. And with each generation, more voices were added. That’s where things got complicated.

The “Church Fathers”

First there’s a group we call The Church Fathers (100-500 AD) Men like Augustine, Origen, Jerome, and Athanasius wrote extensively about theology, doctrine, and practice. Their writings became foundational for later Christian thought about things like the nature of the Incarnation.

These were brilliant men, deeply committed to Christ. But they also brought their own philosophical frameworks, cultural assumptions, and personal biases. Augustine’s theology was shaped by his background in Neoplatonism. Origen’s was influenced by Greek philosophy.

And their voices began to shape how Christians understood Jesus—sometimes clarifying, sometimes obscuring.

The Medieval Theologians

After the fathers came the medieval theologians (500-1500 AD)—Thomas Aquinas, Anselm—who built massive theological systems. They asked questions Jesus never asked and gave answers Jesus never gave. They debated the nature of the atonement, the mechanics of salvation, the relationship between faith and works, the role of the sacraments. They created elaborate doctrines that required years of study to understand. More and more, Jesus’ simple, clear voice became buried under layers of theological complexity.

The Reformers

Then came the Reformation. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and others challenged the corruption of the Catholic Church. They were heroes in many ways—calling the church back to Scripture, to grace, to faith. But they also created new complex theological systems. Calvin’s five points. Luther’s doctrine of justification. The Westminster Confession. The Augsburg Confession.

Protestant theology was largely built on the writings of Saint Paul, not the words of Jesus in the gospels. Reformed theology is built on the concept of “determinism,” the idea that God largely controls the actions of humans as part of his mysterious sovereign plan. We just act out what God has already predetermined. Even our eternity in heaven or hell was already decided (according to this system) before the world was even formed.

Reformed theology mutes the microphone of Jesus.

This theology has a problem with Jesus when He holds the microphone. His words mess up the meticulous theological package the Reformers packaged in the 1500s. They’d rather let Martin Luther and John Calvin explain Paul explaining Jesus.

They need to mute Jesus’ speeches, because if you confine yourself to His direct words, He won’t allow anyone to build theology where humans have no true freedom of choice. Jesus’ direct words won’t give you unconditional election, limited atonement, or irresistible grace. Those doctrines come from other sources (notably Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Calvin).

They say it’s easy to “misunderstand Jesus” when He declares that you have capacity and responsibility to choose to follow God. Jesus says that your actions, not your doctrinal beliefs or sovereign election, will be weighed in judgment before God. James, who grew up in the same household with Jesus, repeats this emphasis on actions with great conviction—leading Luther to call his part of the Bible “an epistle of straw” and wish he could delete it.

For the Reformed, Paul, not Jesus, is Christianity’s best thinker. I think Paul would be aghast. He wrote in Philippians, “For me, to live is Christ.” It’s completely unacceptable that Jesus isn’t the central teacher of His own disciples.

The modern Christian scene.

But it gets even worse in the modern era. After, and perhaps because of the multiplication of “authoritative voices” in the Reformation, Christianity splintered into thousands of denominations. Each one claimed to have the right interpretation of Scripture. Each one claimed to be following Jesus. But they all said different things.

The power of the written word, again.

We’re back again to the power of writing. The printing press changed everything. Suddenly, anyone could publish their theological ideas. Books multiplied. Pamphlets spread. Sermons were printed and distributed. And with each new voice, the noise grew louder.

Cult group leaders

Then came the cult leaders—Joseph Smith and the Mormons, Charles Taze Russell and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science, and countless others. Each one claimed new revelation. Each one claimed authority. Each one said, “Jesus is important, but you also need to listen to me.”

Today, we have over 40,000 Christian denominations worldwide. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Reformed, Wesleyan, Anabaptist, Non-denominational—the list goes on and on. And each one has its own doctrines, practices, and interpretations. Each one claims to be following the Bible. But they can’t agree on what it says.

So let me ask you a question as a thinking person. How central should the words of Jesus be for those who would be His disciples? Did He just come to die and rise again, leaving theological development to each generation of Christians? Or does Jesus have a unique authority over us as our teacher?

An example of modern theological logic

Ask a question like, “Can a Christian divorce their partner?” You’ll likely hear, “Well, Christ says not, but Paul says...” Wait. Stop right there. “Christ says not, but Paul says...” Do you not hear what’s happening in that sentence? Jesus is being subordinated. His words are being treated as negotiable, as one opinion among others.

Here’s the core crisis we’re facing: Jesus has been reduced from THE voice to ONE voice among many.

The doctrinal maze we find ourselves trapped in arises from the continued practice of allowing our focus to diffuse by elevating the thoughts of the many great thinkers among us—which relegates the voice of the one called the Word of God to being just one voice among many. We have libraries filled with 2,000 years of doctrinal contributions from each generation of Christians.

The founder’s voice has been drowned out. And if we’re ever going to reconstruct a faith that can sustain us, we have to restore that one voice—the direct words of Jesus alone.

Recap

We’ve identified the first source of our Noise problem: the noise of multiple voices. Multiple voices have subordinated Jesus. He’s gone from being THE authority to being ONE authority among many. The Apostles voices. The Church Fathers voices. Medieval theologians. Reformers. Modern denominations. Cult leaders with new revelation. So many words. All considered binding on the people. And somewhere in all that noise, Jesus’ own clear, simple, authoritative voice has been drowned out.

The Christian Buffet

So today, we have no central authority to resolve theological disputes. Christianity has become a buffet where everyone picks and chooses what they like, discarding what makes them uncomfortable.

What’s coming up in our next episode?

In our next episode, we’re going to explore the carnival-like noise of “Christianity—the Everything Religion.” We’ll see what happens when there’s no center, no magnetic north, no authoritative voice that can provide direction. Because when Jesus isn’t the center, Christianity becomes whatever we want it to be—and in doing so becomes nothing at all.

Here’s our discussion question for this episode:

When you have a question about the Bible, faith, or theology, whose voice do you turn to first—-Google? John Piper? A Podcaster? ChatGPT? Jesus, Paul, your pastor, or someone else? And why?

Drop your answer in the comments. I read every single one, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Until next time, I’m Chuck Quinley. Thanks for joining me! Let’s get grounded.

PS: thanks so much to those of you who forwarded the last episode to your friends. I’m hearing from some of those people about how timely, this topic is for them and their life. Thanks for joining me in this ministry in God’s Word!

There’s a reason heroes always pay a price.

They have convictions. It is the primary thing that sets them apart. All heroes, in order to be heroes, have to have convictions they’re willing to sacrifice and maybe even to die for.

To have convictions is one of the highest and most noble things a human can do. It is evidence that we are not just animals, but that we are indeed made in the image of God Himself. We do moral reasoning, not just answering a question about which thing is more efficient or which thing gets us the better result, but which thing is right.

Convictions acknowledge that we find ourselves not just in a physical universe but a world made by a righteous God who has given us a conscience that perceives our existence in moral and ethical terms as well.

It is the highest and most godlike level of our existence. We sit enthroned as the lord of our own value system, Master of our actions, controller of our own free will thinking about what we believe and what we don’t believe, and what we are going to allow ourselves to do and what we must never do.

The meaning of the word “Conviction.”

The word comes from the Latin convincere—”to overcome, to prove wrong, to conquer.” There’s something inherently victorious about a conviction. A conviction isn’t just a belief you hold casually; it’s a belief that has conquered your doubts, that has overcome alternatives. You arrive at convictions through some kind of inner struggle—a contest— and those convictions emerge triumphant. It’s beautiful.

To have convictions is both a privilege and a burden. It’s a privilege because its completely up to you and me to have convictions or not. It’s our choice. If we choose to have convictions, we are blessed with drive, meaning, purpose, and direction.

Today we’re talking about the privilege and the burden of having convictions. We’re going to talk about what it means to have convictions in a world that doesn’t want you to. We’ll explore why conviction is both a gift and a cost. And we’ll ask the question: Is it worth it?

Recap

If you missed the past three newsletters, we’ve been exploring the pain at the heart of the current faith crisis:

- Episode 1: The quiet exodus—40 million Americans leaving the church

- Episode 2: The paradox—being drawn to Jesus while repelled by Christianity

- Episode 3: The slow erosion of energy—ministry burnout and exhaustion

With this newsletter, we’re completing Act I: The Pain by talking about the privilege and pain of having convictions.

It’s important in our discussion because—if you’re questioning, deconstructing, reconstructing, searching for authentic faith—it’s, hopefully, because you have convictions. You believe something deeply. You’re not willing to settle for a version of Christianity that doesn’t align with Jesus. You’re not willing to just go along with the crowd. And that conviction is both a gift and a burden, it is privilege and it is pain. So let’s talk about it.

Here’s what I’ve learned over four decades of ministry: the only people who bring change are the people who have convictions and are willing to pay the price for them.

The Legacy of Convictions

We honor Martin Luther King Jr today because he had convictions about justice and equality and he was willing to sacrifice for these convictions. Mother Teresa had convictions about the level at which we are called to serve the poor and she was willing to endure the tension her proposals created with the catholic hierarchy. William Tyndale had a conviction that every human has a right to read the Bible in their language. It cost him his life.

What’s the difference in a conviction and an opinion?

A conviction is not the same as an opinion. An opinion is something flexible—you can and should change your opinion as you get new information. A conviction is your inner foundation, a core belief, a value.

Convictions are the non-negotiable. They’re the hills you’re willing to die on. They’re the truths you won’t compromise, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it costs you something. So why is having convictions a privilege?

What convictions give us:

1. Meaning

Key to having a life of meaning and purpose is knowing the reason for your existence. You cannot know your purpose until you know your “Why?” and then live by it. This is the only way to a life that has meaning and purpose. So if you are floundering in your life. This is where you start. Find your central convictions. They give us our center so we can focus our energies and build our life around them.

We find our purpose in that for which we are willing to sacrifice ourselves.

Knowing our convictions and then following up by sacrificing our short life for them gives us the spine of our life. Without convictions, we may survive, but we don’t really live as a human. We just react as the animals do, moving from impulse to impulse, avoiding pressure, seeking comfort.

Our life can’t have a spine without convictions. They let us live toward something that demands something of us. We invest our energies and burn our days toward these ends. At the end of our life, our convictions, if we live them out, will define us and create the message we leave behind with our life.

When you believe something deeply, your life has purpose. You’re not just drifting through life, reacting to circumstances. You’re living intentionally, guided by principles that matter to you. You are choosing. You are driving your life according to a higher set of noble principles. You are reflecting the nobility that God has given to mankind. You are living as the image of God. Your convictions give you a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to keep going when things get hard.

2. Direction

Convictions are our life’s compass. When you’re faced with a decision, your convictions help you know which way to go. Should I take this job? Should I stay in this relationship? Should I speak up or stay silent? It’s your convictions that provide clarity in a confusing world of endless choices. If you repeatedly follow your convictions, it gives your life direction. Your convictions are the shaft in the arrow of your life. When you know what you believe, you are no longer paralyzed by confusion and indecision. You can move forward with confidence, ignoring endless options and choosing only the ones that match your convictions.

3. Identity

Your convictions shape who you are. There’s a coherence and a predictability that settles into who you are as a person. This predictable pattern eventually is the definition of who you are to yourself, and also to others. They’re like an unyielding blade that shapes who you are, how you live, and what you make yourself do and forbid yourself to do.

They’re not just beliefs you hold—they’re part of your identity. When you say, “I’m a follower of Jesus,” you’re not just stating a fact—you’re declaring your identity. Your convictions define you.

4. Community

Convictions connect you to others who share them. When you find people who believe what you believe, who value what you value, who are willing to sacrifice for what you’re willing to sacrifice—you’ve found your tribe. They empower you to stand firm with your community in difficult circumstances. When you believe deeply in something, you can endure opposition, criticism, and hardship because you’re rooted in principles that matter to you more than comfort or social approval.

5. Legacy

When you live by your convictions, you leave a mark on the world. You don’t just pass through life—you shape it. You influence the next generation. You change the world because your life has been grounded in something transcendent, and you have moral authority. Your convictions outlive you.

This is the privilege of having convictions. It’s a gift. It’s what makes life worth living. But, like everything valuable, it also comes at a cost. So what’s the cost?

But…convictions cost us

To have convictions is to pay a price. Here’s what it costs:

1. Comfort

Convictions always demand something of you.

Convictions create an obligation in you. Once you know what is right, you are responsible to act on it—although it is going to be inconvenient, costly, and uncomfortable.

They introduce friction, and they make your life harder. Once you believe something, you are no longer free to do whatever is easiest or safest. Your convictions disturb your comfort by putting you in tension. You have to constantly navigate a world that is indifferent to or disagreeable with your convictions. Part of this discomfort is having to deal with the gap that always exists between what we believe and how we actually live. This gap is painful because our convictions won’t let us hide from ourselves.

2. Social Cost

Convictions costs us socially. When you have convictions, not everyone is going to like you. Some people will think you’re too rigid, too judgmental, too extreme. They’ll say you’re “making everything about religion” or “taking things too seriously.” You’ll lose friends. You’ll be misunderstood. When you stand for something, you inevitably stand apart from someone else. For creatures wired for belonging, that really hurts.

3. Your Life

Throughout history, people with convictions have suffered the loss of reputation, the loss of relationships, the loss of comfort and security.

Followers of Jesus have often paid the ultimate price. Stephen was stoned to death. Peter was crucified upside down. Paul was beheaded. Millions of Christians in the last century have been martyred for their faith. And even today, in many parts of the world, following Jesus can cost you your life.

And here’s the question: Is it worth it?

Let me tell you a story that might help answer that question. I want to tell you about a woman I’ll call Maryam. She lives in Iran, where converting from Islam to Christianity is illegal and punishable by death.

Sorry to break in like this, but Grounded is currently at 650 subscribers. Please help me boost this to 1,000 by the end of next month. This is important to give the ReJesus Everything book launch its needed momentum. You can help by sharing this publication with people in your address book you feel it may help. Thank you so much for joining the reJesus Everything team! This is such an important matter and can have truly eternal consequences in many lives as we help our families and friends avoid spiritual shipwreck and anchor their lives completely to Jesus. Thanks!!!

Convictions: Imagine having to choose between Christ and your child.

This is a true story I heard from someone who knows “Maryam” personally. It has impacted me deeply and I want to share it with you.

Maryam grew up in a devout Muslim family. She prayed five times a day, fasted during Ramadan, and followed all the rules. But she always felt like something was missing—like there was a distance between her and God that she couldn’t bridge.

Then, through a secret house church, she heard about Jesus. She heard that God loved her so much that He sent His Son to die for her. She had a powerful encounter with Jesus and became his disciple. This is where the power and pain of convictions started for her.

Maryam’s story illustrates something profound: Conviction costs, but it’s also the most valuable thing you can have.

Maryam’s husband demanded she renounce Christ, but she refused. He took her before a judge calling for him to grant a divorce and to strip her of contact with her daughter. It was a horrible test—follow Jesus and lose your child, or go back to Islam and renounce your relationship with Jesus.

She told the judge that her connection with Jesus was real. He told her to just say the words of renunciation even without meaning them in her heart and he would let her keep her relationship with her daughter. She replied, “What are my words then? God is listening to my words even now. I cannot deny Jesus.”

The judge sighed, granted the divorce, and stripped her of her child. She had to flee Iran for her own safety. All she could do now was to pray diligently for her daughter and trust Jesus to support her in her convictions.

Over the years she was allowed to speak regularly to her daughter by phone. When the child was old enough, she also became devoted to Jesus and joined her mother abroad. Her mom’s convictions were the light that guided her life from halfway around the world.

I’m so glad that story has a happy ending, but the point would be the same even if it did not. Convictions are the power that brings change in our personal world.

Here’s what I’ve learned about living with conviction:

1. Know what you believe and why.

Don’t just inherit your convictions from your parents, your pastor, or your culture. Examine them. Test them. Make sure they’re yours. Because when the cost comes—and it will—you need to know that your convictions are worth it.

2. Be willing to stand alone.

There will be times when you’re the only one standing for what’s right. When everyone else is going along with the crowd, you’ll have to stand firm. And that’s lonely. But remember: you’re not really alone. Jesus is with you. And throughout history, the people who changed the world were the ones who stood alone first. That’s what leaders are.

3. Count the cost—but don’t let it stop you.

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” He didn’t sugarcoat it. Following Him will cost you. But He also said, “Whoever loses their life for me will find it.” The cost is real, but the reward is greater.

4. Find your people.

You can’t do this alone. You need a community of people who share your convictions, who will encourage you, challenge you, and stand with you. Find them. Build deep relationships with them. Because conviction is sustained in community.

5. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

When the cost feels too high, when you’re tempted to compromise, when you’re wondering if it’s worth it—look at Jesus. He had convictions about the kingdom of God, and He was willing to die for them. And because He did, we have hope. We have life. We have a future.

6. Don’t give up because of your own failure to live up to your convictions.

Simon Peter became the great early leader of the persecuted followers of Jesus. He was known to have a great marriage. He and his wife were inseparable. Despite the dangers they both faced, they roamed the Middle East together, encouraging the people of God until he was arrested and martyred leaving a powerful legacy until this day.

Peter built this life after one of the most extreme moral failures in the history of the church, denying Jesus three times out of fear.

People with convictions get back up, even when they fail to live up to their own standards. We are serving the God of the second chance.

That’s the privilege and the cost of having convictions.

What does conviction have to do with deconstruction and reconstruction?

The reason we need to talk about convictions on this podcast is that one of the reasons some sincere people are walking away from institutional Christianity is that the form of religion they’re experiencing does not align with their convictions about the way of Jesus.

They are voting with their feet to walk away. That’s one step, but embracing a more satisfactory way of following Jesus than some of the institutional systems you aren’t aligned with is going to take a lot more effort than just leaving the church you attend.

It’s a lot easier to just go to church and sit and follow along. If a person is just leaving Christianity because they got mad about something or someone wasn’t nice enough to them, or they think that the failure of another person is reason for them to walk away, then that’s up to them. But I’m convinced there are people out there that are walking away because of a deep set of personal convictions concerning Jesus.

You see, to really be a disciple of Jesus requires you to have convictions.

Wrap Up

So here we are, at the end of Act I: The Pain.

We’ve talked about:

- The quiet exodus—millions leaving the church

- The paradox of faith—being drawn to Jesus while repelled by a form of Christian religion

- The slow erosion of energy—ministry burnout and exhaustion from trying to prop up a failing system you no longer believe in.

- The privilege and cost of convictions—what it means to stand for something in a world that doesn’t want you to.

We’ve acknowledged the pain. We’ve named it. We’ve sat with it. But we can’t stay here.

Because pain without diagnosis is just suffering. And diagnosis without solution is just despair.

The Next Movement in This Series

So starting in our next episode, we’re moving into Act II: The Noise. We’re going to diagnose the problem. We’re going to look honestly at what’s gone wrong with Christianity and why so many people are feeling disconnected from it.

We’re going to talk about:

* - Multiple voices and the chaos of having so many authoritative teachers and yet no central authority

* - The Everything Religion and how Christianity has become a buffet where everyone picks and chooses

* - Doctrinal chaos and the theological anarchy that results

* - The Malleable Messiah and how we’ve recreated a Jesus in our own image

* - Influence without authority and why Jesus has been subordinated in Christian systems around the world, despite all of our songs and nice words about him,

This next part might be a bit uncomfortable. We’re not going to belabor it and look for a million things done wrong, but we are determined to define the central problem that has introduced new corrupting code into the Jesus movement. We’re going to have to be honest about what’s broken.

But here’s my promise: diagnosis leads to solution. And the solution is coming.

It’s called ReJesus Everything! We’ll spend the last half our energy in this season unpacking how we can return to the simple (but challenging ) way of Jesus.

My deep desire is that this becomes a true discussion among us. You don’t have to agree with me. It’s just that some very large gears are turning within the Christian community globally, and mature people have to engage the forces causing millions of our youngest to look to other forms of spirituality, turning their back on the faith of their childhood.

Join the Community!

This topic is very close to our heart. Some of us are losing our children from the faith, and we are deeply disturbed about it. Some of us are very close to leaving Christianity ourselves, and we need the support of a group to process our thoughts openly. I really care about what’s happening in the faith lives of people around the world. That’s why I’m dedicating so much of my time and energy to this discussion.

Let’s take this as an opportunity to build a robust community of faith online. I will be deeply engaged in the comment section on these episodes which also play out a few days later on my YouTube channel. I will try to monitor the social media channels, but they move too quickly for me to keep up with.

If you want to get into deep discussion, please stay here on Substack at Quinley.com where I will put most of my energies this whole year.

Here’s our discussion question for the week: What conviction has cost you the most—and was it worth it?

I look forward to hearing from you in the chat box.

Let’s get Grounded!

Chuck

Grounded S02 E03

There’s a kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from working too hard. It comes from working on the wrong things.

Imagine you’re a marathon runner, but instead of running the race, you’re spending all your energy maintaining the track, organizing the water stations, managing the volunteers, and promoting the event. You’re exhausted, but you haven’t actually run a single mile.

That’s what’s happening to millions of Christians in ministry today.They’re not tired from doing kingdom work. They’re tired from running the church machine.They’re not exhausted from making disciples. They’re exhausted from managing programs, budgets, buildings, and committees.

They’re not burned out from encountering Jesus for too many hours each week. They aren’t weary from all the disciples they’ve been training. They’re burned out from maintaining an institution that increasingly feels disconnected from His core mission.

This is the relentless slow erosion of our energy. And it’s one of the most dangerous crises facing the church today. Because when the people who are supposed to be leading us closer to Jesus are themselves running on empty, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Today’s topic.

Today, we’re going to talk about what it’s like to serve in ministry while feeling increasingly disconnected from the presence and power of Jesus. We’ll explore why so many faithful servants are burning out, and what it means for the future of the church.

Quick Recap: In our first episode, we talked about the quiet exodus—the 40 million Americans who have left the church. In our second episode, we explored the paradox at the heart of that exodus—how you can be drawn to Jesus and repelled by Christianity. Today, we’re turning our attention to those who haven’t left. Those who are still showing up, still serving, still leading—but who are slowly dying inside.

Maybe that’s you.

Maybe you’re a pastor who started ministry with fire in your heart, but now you’re just trying to survive another Sunday. Maybe you’re a worship leader who used to feel God’s presence when you sang, but now it feels like you’re just performing.

Maybe you’re a volunteer who used to love serving, but now it feels like an obligation. If that’s you, I want you to know that what you’re experiencing is a symptom of a much larger problem—a problem with the system itself, not with you.

So let’s talk about it: Running the Church Machine We’ve All Inherited

The Experience Business

Imagine sitting down with a friend of yours named David. David planted a church 15 years ago with a vision to create a community where people could encounter Jesus, grow as disciples, and serve the world. He was passionate, energetic, and deeply committed to following Jesus. If you sit down with David recently he looks exhausted. Not the kind of tired you get from a long week—the kind of tired that comes from years of carrying a weight you were never meant to carry.

He says, “I didn’t sign up for this.”

“For what?” you ask.

“For running a business. For managing staff conflicts. For fundraising. For building maintenance. For navigating denominational politics. For keeping the board happy. For competing with the megachurch down the street.”

He pauses, then says, “I wanted to make disciples. But I spend 90% of my time managing an experience business.”

David’s story isn’t unique. It’s the norm. Here’s what happens: You start with a vision to follow Jesus and help others do the same. But over time, the institution takes over. The programs multiply. The budget grows. The staff expands. The building needs maintenance. The staff need managing. The donors need stewarding.

And before you know it, you’re not a pastor anymore—you’re a CEO.

You’re not making disciples—you’re managing a machine. And the machine is hungry. It demands more time, more energy, more resources. It never says, “That’s enough.” It always says, “More.” So you give more. You work longer hours. You sacrifice time with your family. You neglect your own inner life. You push through the exhaustion, and slowly, imperceptibly, the fire that once burned in your heart begins to dim.

But it’s not just pastors who are experiencing this. It’s also many who are trying to faithfully serve in the church system as staff or volunteer.

Five Signs of Ministry Burnout

If you’re serving in ministry—whether as a pastor, a staff member, or a volunteer—you probably recognize some of these symptoms:

1. You’re emotionally exhausted.

You used to feel energized by ministry. Now you feel drained. Even thinking about Sunday morning makes you tired. You’re going through the motions, but your heart isn’t in it anymore. You’re running on fumes.

2. You’re bone dry inside.

You used to encounter Jesus in worship, in prayer, in Scripture. Now it feels like He’s distant, silent, absent. You’re teaching others about Jesus, but you’re not experiencing Him yourself. You’re giving out of an empty well.

3. You’re becoming cynical.

You used to believe that the church could change the world. Now you’re not so sure. You’ve seen too many scandals, too much hypocrisy, too many people leave. You’ve become jaded, skeptical, disillusioned. You don’t trust the system anymore

4. You’re quietly resentful.

You used to serve with joy. Now you serve out of obligation. You resent the people who don’t show up, who don’t give, who don’t volunteer. You resent the demands on your time, the expectations placed on you, the lack of appreciation. You’re angry, and you don’t know what to do with it.

5. You’re questioning everything.

You used to be certain about your calling, your theology, your purpose. Now you’re not sure about anything. Is this really what Jesus wanted? Is this really what the church is supposed to be? Am I even making a difference? Should I just quit?

If you’re experiencing these symptoms, as a couple with over 25 years in pastoral ministry, Sherry and I can empathize with you. You were never meant to run a machine. You were meant to follow Jesus and help others do the same.

Faith That Requires Constant Effort Is Unsustainable

One of the quiet assumptions in many Christian spaces is that faith is supposed to be hard in the sense of constantly demanding more energy, more commitment, more resilience. But when faith consistently drains without restoring, something is misaligned. Jesus spoke often of rest, lightness, and renewal—not as exceptions, but as the daily reward for walking in His way.

Jesus Calls to the Weary

Jesus once said, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Notice what He didn’t do:

* He didn’t scold the weary

* He didn’t question their sincerity

* He didn’t tell them to just push through

He assumes weariness is part of the human condition, but he points those who are weary to a sure solution.

Jesus is Our Oasis

In this verse, Jesus positions Himself, not a system, a retreat center, or a long vacation, as the place of rest, the shelter…direct fellowship with Jesus is the oasis for weary seekers.

If you are weary from your ministry, my friend, let Jesus fill you up right now. Let his strong arms comfort you. Just stop reading now and let him do his work of restoration.

So how did we get here? How did ministry become so exhausting?

From Movement to Institution

Jesus didn’t start an institution. He started a movement. He gathered a small group of disciples, taught them how to live in the kingdom of God, and sent them out to make more disciples. It was simple, organic, reproducible. But over time, that movement became an institution.

And institutions have a way of prioritizing their own survival over their original mission.

Here’s how it happens:

Step 1: A movement grows. More people join. More communities form. More leaders emerge. This is good—it’s what Jesus wanted.

Step 2: The movement organizes. To manage the growth, structures are put in place. Roles are defined. Processes are created. Buildings are built. This is necessary—organization isn’t bad.

Step 3: The organization becomes an institution. This is where things change. To an institution, perpetuating the structure, even enlarging it, becomes priority. More departments, more buildings, more employees, more budget. Any institution will prioritize its own survival over its original purpose.

Step 4: The institution demands maintenance. Now, instead of making disciples, we prop up a massive, aging institution. Instead of being the church, we’re doing church. We run the machine.

This isn’t a new problem. It’s happened a million times throughout history.

The Cost of the Erosion

What happens when the people leading the church are running on empty? When ministry leaders become exhausted from institutional maintenance—running the machine, here’s what we lose:

1. We lose prophetic witness. Prophets challenge the status quo. Institutions ARE status quo. The older and bigger they are the more fiercely they resist change, or correction, or downsizing.

2. We lose authentic community. Community requires presence, vulnerability and …the most scarce resource of all—spare time. When you’re running from meeting to meeting, managing crisis after crisis, you don’t have time for deep relationships. You have transactions, not transformations.

3. We lose spiritual vitality. You can’t give what you don’t have. If your own soul is dry, you can’t water anyone else’s.

4. We lose the next generation. Young people can smell inauthenticity a mile away. They can tell when you’re going through the motions. They can see when the institution matters more than the mission. And they’re walking away in droves.

5. We lose the presence of Jesus. This is the most tragic cost of all. You might think this is impossible, I mean, how can you have church or Christianity without Jesus?

The answer is in the first few chapters of the Revelation of Saint John, where Jesus addresses fledgling Christian communities across Asia Minor, and points to character and obedience flaws within this earliest example of Christianity.

His threat to them is always the same. “Fix it or you can do this by yourself. I will remove your candlestick.” As far as I can tell, that means their participation in his presence and mission.

So what do we do? How do we stop the erosion?

In the coming episodes, we’re going to explore what that looks like practically. We’re going to talk about how to ReJesus everything—theology, mission, church, discipleship. We’re going to rediscover the simple, life-giving way of Jesus.

But first, we have to acknowledge the cost of staying where we are.

Because the slow erosion of energy isn’t just a personal problem—it’s a systemic problem. And it’s killing the church from the inside out. We are standing at a crossroads as Christian people. We will either reform our ways and the systems we have created, or we will watch them crumble in our lifetime.

Charting Our Discussion Progress So Far

We’ve talked about the quiet exodus—the people who are leaving. We’ve explored the paradox—how you can be drawn to Jesus and repelled by Christianity. And today, we’ve looked at the slow erosion of energy—what it’s like to serve in ministry while being depleted by institutional maintenance .

But there’s one more piece of the pain we need to address.

It’s that we’re living in a time when having convictions—really believing something and standing by it—comes at a cost.

In our next episode, we’re going to talk about the privilege and the cost of having convictions. We’ll explore what it means to hold firm beliefs in a culture that demands conformity or silence.

We’ll look at why conviction is both a gift and a burden. And we’ll ask the question: Is it worth it?

Because if we’re going to ReJesus Everything, we’re going to need conviction. We’re going to need people who are willing to stand firm, even when it costs them something.

If you’re someone who’s tired of compromising, tired of going along with the crowd, tired of staying silent—this next episode is for you.

Discussion Question: What part of your faith currently requires the most effort to maintain, and what do you think that effort is costing you?

There’s a question that puzzles millions of people today, and maybe you’re one of them:

How can I love Jesus and cringe at Christianity?

It feels like a contradiction, doesn’t it? How can you be drawn to the object of a religion and repelled by the religion itself?

But here’s what I’ve discovered over 40 years of ministry: this isn’t a contradiction at all. In fact, it might be the most healthy thing you could feel depending upon your circumstances.

Because Jesus and Christianity are not the same thing.

In our last episode, we talked about the quiet exodus—the 40 million Americans alone who have left the church in the last 25 years. Today, we’re going to explore the paradox at the heart of that exodus: how you can be drawn to Jesus and still be repelled by Christianity.

And more importantly, why that’s okay.

Maybe you read the Gospels and you’re moved by Jesus’ compassion, His radical inclusion, His challenge to religious hypocrisy. But then you look at Christianity today—the culture wars, the scandals, the obsession with power and money—and you think, “This isn’t what Jesus taught.”

And you’re right. It’s not.

So today, we’re going to quickly explore three things:

1. What Jesus modeled

2. What Christianity has become

3. Why the gap between them is so painful—and what it means.

The Jesus of the Bible

If you want to know what Jesus is really like, you have six sources in the Bible: the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Plus the beginning of the Book of Acts and Some scenes within the last book of the Bible, the Revelation of St. John. These are the earliest and most reliable accounts of Jesus’ life, teaching, death, and resurrection.

And when you read them for yourself, here’s what you observe:

Jesus Modeled Compassion for Anyone Suffering

When you reflect the heart of God you don’t become a harsh legalist. His heart draws you to the suffering of others and you do whatever you can to make things better for them.

* It could be suffering from the result of our own sins and unwise actions as in the case of the woman taken in adultery. Her pain was her own doing, but Jesus had compassion anyway.

* Jesus seemed to have deep awareness of mental suffering. He resonated with what it felt like to be afraid and worried and often said to his followers, “Do not worry…” and “Don’t be afraid little ones…”

He was a powerful man, but he was full of compassion.

Jesus Welcomed Outcasts

Christ took delight in helping outsiders become insiders. Every society has outsiders. They feel the walls of rejection raised against them. Jesus created a door in those walls and helped them enter and function in society.

Jesus challenged hypocrisy, especially within institutions.

Jesus’ harshest words weren’t for drunkards and “sinners”—they were for religious leaders. He called them “whitewashed tombs,” “blind guides,” and “hypocrites.” He said they “shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces” and “travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

Strong words. But Jesus wasn’t being mean—He was being truthful. He saw how the structures of religion can actually function as a barrier between people and God, and He refused to let that stand.

Jesus prioritized people over rules.

Understandably, every society needs a set of behavioral rules and guidelines in order to function. These rules improve the general tone of behavior and regulate what you can expect to encounter when you go out each day.

But the rules should protect the weak and broken. When he was criticized for allowing his followers to gather wheat to eat on the Sabbath, He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Jesus consistently prioritized the practical circumstantial needs of humans over any system of rules.

Jesus taught radical love.

“Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Give to everyone who asks. Forgive seventy times seven.” Jesus’ ethic of love was so radical, that even today it sounds impossible.

Jesus confronted the entitlement of those in power.

In every society, power corrupts those who hold it. This is true in government, education, finance and even in religion. Jesus stood up to the establishment, the Roman Empire, and rebuked the religious authorities of His day. He overturned bankers tables in the temple. He refused to bow to political or religious pressure. He spoke truth to power, even when it cost Him His life.

Jesus offered grace and forgiveness.

To the woman caught in adultery, He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” To the thief on the cross, He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” To Peter, who denied Him three times, He offered full restoration. Jesus’ message was always grace first, then transformation will follow.

This is the Jesus of the Gospels. This is the Jesus people are drawn to.

But then we look at Christianity today, and we often see something very different. That’s probably enough said.

The Disconnect

I’m not here to bash Christianity. That’s too easy, doesn’t fix anything, and frankly, seems juvenile to me. I’m not a deconstructor.

In fairness, it must be stated with conviction that Christianity has done immense good in the world. Because of core concepts, patterns and initiatives taken by forces within Christianity, we have hospitals, universities, orphanages, and the concept of universal human rights in most of the nations of the world. Christianity in it’s many forms continues to be a blessing to humanity in countless ways.

But all is not well in Christianity. And if we’re going to be honest—if we’re going to have integrity with Jesus—we have to acknowledge that much has gone wrong. There is a growing gap between the clear teachings of Jesus and the actions of leaders representing Christian institutions. So many scandals. So many coverups. Millions of dollars misappropriated. Preachers with private jets. Christian groups selling out to politicians, to a million money-making schemes, etc., etc. It’s just too much and everyone is nauseated.

Cognitive Dissonance

So why is this gap so painful? And what does it mean for those of us who are caught in the middle?

Psychologists have a term for what happens when you hold two conflicting experiences at the same time: cognitive dissonance. It’s deeply uncomfortable. Your brain wants consistency, coherence, alignment. When you believe one thing but your experience of it is different, it creates internal tension.

And that’s exactly what millions of people are experiencing right now.

They read the Gospels and they see Jesus—integrated, compassionate, righteous, radical, grace-filled. They’re drawn to Him. They want to follow Him. They love Him.

But then they look at the ongoing flow of experience in their particular form of organized Christianity—and they think, “This doesn’t match.” The cognitive dissonance squeezes them.

What makes it even more painful mentally is to say that if you have a problem with Christianity, you also have a problem with Jesus because it His Christianity and founded it. They’re trapped.

Because if this Christianity around you is the system Jesus personally established and you have trouble with it, then you have trouble with Jesus. If you reject your church, you’re rejecting Christ. Sometimes you might even be told that your questions alone are evidence of rebellion against the Lord.

So, in that case, you feel guilty for saying anything from that point on. You wonder if something is wrong with you. You try harder to make it work, to ignore the disconnect, to just have a faith life.

But the dissonance doesn’t go away. It gets louder.

And eventually, you face what feels like an impossible choice: “I can stay and live with the belief that all this is fake and I’m participating in it, or leave my Christianity and risk losing my relationship with Jesus too.”

But I think that’s a false choice. There’s a third option. You don’t have to choose between blind compliance with flawed human religion, and wholesale abandonment of Jesus.

Because Jesus and Christianity are not the same thing.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

Here’s the key insight that changed everything for me:

Jesus is a person. Christianity is a system.

Jesus is alive, dynamic, personal, relational.

Christianity is a set of beliefs, practices, organizational structures, activities and traditions.

You can have a relationship with Jesus.

You can’t have a relationship with a system, even if it’s Christianity.

Christianity is the circumference. Jesus is the bullseye.

Everything else—Christians, church history, traditions, denominations, theologians—are the outer rings.

Jesus is the center.

When there’s a conflict between Jesus and Christianity—and there are many— Jesus must win. Always.

Internally, if there’s a conflict between how Jesus says to live and how I actually live, Jesus must win if I'm to be his disciple.

Jesus is the Standard.

Christianity is the Attempt.

Perfect vs Imperfect

What I mean is that Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. He is God in the flesh. Christianity is humanity’s numerous imperfect attempts to follow Him in an organized way. It’s a human thing.

Jesus is eternal and divine. “Christianity” is a jumble of traditions, organizations, rituals, political alliances, and businesses, organized by at least 40,000 separate groups of humans attempting to live out the Jesus way.

We’re going to get it wrong sometimes. We’re going to mess it up. Humans always do. But that doesn’t change who and how Jesus is.

Here’s the bottom line: You can be drawn to Jesus and repelled by your local form of Christianity because they’re not the same thing. And recognizing that distinction isn’t a sign that you’re backsliding—it’s a sign of healthy discernment.

It means you’re paying attention. It means you’re reading the Gospels.

It, hopefully, means you’re refusing to settle for a version of Christianity that doesn’t align with Jesus.

And that’s exactly what we need today. So what do we do with this? How do we move forward?

A Path Forward

If you’re experiencing this disconnect—if you’re drawn to Jesus but repelled by Christianity:

1. You’re not alone.

Millions of people are experiencing the same thing. This isn’t a fringe movement of angry ex-Christians. This is a massive, global reckoning with what Christianity has become.

2. You’re not crazy.

The disconnect is real. The gap between Jesus and Christianity is real. You’re not imagining it, and you’re not being overly critical. You’re seeing clearly.

3. You’re not weak.

In fact, the opposite is true. It takes courage to question, to push back, to refuse to settle for a version of Christianity that doesn’t align with Jesus. That’s strength, not weakness.

4. There’s a way forward.

You don’t have to choose between staying in a broken system or leaving Jesus behind. There’s a third way—a way that involves neither blind compliance nor wholesale abandonment.

It’s the way of “ReJesusing”* everything.

*Disclaimer: His way is much harder than the other two options, but if you pay the price you’ll get to experience what Jesus brought to our world. It’s the pearl of great price, but it will cost you all you have to own it.

And that’s what this podcast is all about. Stick with us.

So here’s where we are:

We’ve acknowledged the quiet exodus—the 40 million in the USA alone who have left the church in the last two decades. In this episode we’ve explored the paradox at the heart of this exodus—how you can be drawn to Jesus and at the same time repelled by your surrounding Christianity. We’ve established that this disconnect between the Jesus of the Gospels and the reality of institutional Christianity is real, it’s painful, and it’s not your fault.

But there’s even more going on in this story,

Because it’s not just people on the fringes who are feeling this disconnect. It’s also people in the trenches—pastors, ministry leaders, missionaries, church staff. People who have dedicated their lives to serving Jesus but are finding themselves emotionally exhausted from running the machine they’ve inherited.

In our next episode, we’re going to talk about the slow erosion of energy—what it’s like to serve in ministry while feeling that your institution is increasingly disconnected from the presence and power of Jesus. We’ll explore why so many faithful servants are burning out, and what it means for the future of the church. Stay with me one more episode as we acknowledge the depth of the struggle behind the curtain in many of our churches, schools, and organizations.

Because the crisis isn’t just about people leaving. It’s also about people staying—and slowly dying inside.If you’re in ministry and you’re exhausted, this next episode is for you. If you know someone in ministry who’s struggling, share this podcast with them. It could save their ministry.

Discussion Question:Where do you sense genuine attraction to Jesus—and where does your form of Christianity feel more like friction than fuel?

Thanks for joining me on Grounded in this season, Let’s ReJesus Everything!.

I look forward to meeting you in the chat box and online…

Something NEW: I’m going Live 12 noon EST Thursday to answer questions and reply to some comments on this episode, I particularly want to explore the possibility that Jesus might not have started Christianity.

That’s not to discredit it or say it should be abandoned. There’s just a lot to unpack here conceptually and it won’t fit in a newsletter so hopefully you can check in here at NOON Thursday Feb 12. I’ll send you a link by email.

Hi Friend! Welcome to the Grounded Podcast 2026! We’re naming this season, ReJesus Everything! We’re going to explore the current crisis going on within Christianity worldwide, the reasons for it, and work to recover the original foundation of the Christian movement—Jesus himself. I hope you’ll stay with us throughout this series and add your perspective in the chat and comment section. Let’s dive in!

47,000 is a Big Number

Last Sunday 47,000 Americans walked out of church for the last time. They didn’t plan it. They didn’t make a big announcement. They just... didn’t go back. And here’s the thing—most of them still love Jesus.

They’re not rejecting Him.

They’re rejecting This system that has grown up around Him. If you’ve ever felt that tension—if you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to love Jesus and still feel deeply unsettled by Christianity as you’ve experienced it—then this season of the Grounded podcast is for you.

The Data

According to research from The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham, 40 million American adults—16% of the U.S. population—used to go to church but no longer do. This represents the last 25 years, roughly from 1998 to 2023.

Let me put that in perspective. This is the largest and fastest religious shift in the history of the United States. More people have left the church in this period than all the new converts from the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham’s crusades combined.

And it’s not just happening in America. Across Europe, church attendance has also plummeted. In Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and even among Chinese house churches, the story is the same. Traditional Christianity is in decline across most of the world.

But here’s what’s important to understand: this doesn’t seem to be primarily a story of people rejecting Jesus. It’s a story of people rejecting what their local form of Christianity has become.

According to the Barna Group, 42% of all U.S. adults say they have deconstructed the faith of their youth.

Why We’re Devoting This Season to The Topic of Reconstructing the Christian Faith

This isn’t a fringe movement of angry ex-Christians. This is happening in the pews, in Christian colleges, in pastors’ families, and in missionary communities around the world.

The quiet exodus is real. It’s massive. And it’s accelerating.

Sherry and I’ve spent more than four decades in full-time ministry—inside churches, seminaries, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations. We’ve seen Christianity at its best.

We’ve also seen it drift—sometimes far—from the person it claims to follow.

This is the first episode in a new season of the Grounded podcast. It’s is not about defending Christianity. And it’s not about abandoning faith.

It’s about re-centering everything—belief, discipleship, spirituality, mission—directly on Jesus, not the religion built around Him. The living person Himself.

Most conversations about this subject leave you with two choices:

* Defend Christianity as it is

* Leave everything entirely

But I believe there is a third way: to reJesus everything. (More on that later.)

The Global Exodus from Institutional Christianity.

Okay, so let’s unpack this.

Something historic is happening beneath the surface of Christianity that many Christians haven’t noticed. Large numbers of people raised in Christianity (we’re talking millions here) are no longer finding spiritual nourishment within its institutions.

In the last five years alone (basically since Covid), approximately 15 million regular church attenders in the USA alone have stopped going to church.

Many others are still attending occasionally, still listening to sermons online, still praying—but with a growing sense of distance and fatigue. They are fading out. This is not rebellion; it’s disillusionment.

Losing Faith in the Train

It’s like being in a once-busy train station late at night. The lights are still on. The signs still work. The announcements are blaring, but fewer and fewer people are boarding the train. There’s no big protest going on. It’s just that fewer and fewer people still believe that train will take them home.

The good news is that despite popular narratives, most people in the current faith crisis are not rejecting Jesus. They are stumbling over the gap between the Jesus of the Gospels and the Christianity they experience in real life.

When belief systems, practices, power structures, or cultural battles seem to contradict Jesus’ words and way, something inside us resists. That resistance may actually be a sign of spiritual integrity.

The Anatomy of a Faith Crisis

Faith crises rarely happen all at once. They begin with small questions, quiet disappointments, unresolved contradictions. Over time, the weight accumulates until the structure can no longer hold. What feels like sudden collapse is often a long, invisible unraveling.

Think of a rope under tension. It doesn’t snap immediately. Individual fibers begin to fray—one by one—until eventually the rope can no longer carry the load. I’m bringing this up because millions of sincere Christians around the world are under that tension, and for many of them, it’s more than their rope can support.

In case you’re thinking of walking away

Many people assume they must choose between staying in Christianity as it is or abandoning faith entirely. But that may be a false choice. Before walking away, it’s worth asking a deeper question: am I leaving Jesus—or am I leaving a system that no longer reflects Him? That distinction changes everything for me.

It’s the difference between leaving a noisy, overcrowded marketplace—and leaving the person you came there to meet.

If you’re listening to this and thinking, “This is me,” I believe that your questions are not a failure of faith. They may be an invitation to return—not to a simpler religion—but to the center of it all. I believe God is moving around the world, responding to those who are reaching out to him even if they feel really disconnected to the institutional forms of Christianity they may have grown up in.

This is a life journey. No rush. No pressure. It’s too important for that.

In this season, we just want to make an honest return to the question that matters most: Who is Jesus—and what does it actually mean to follow Him?

In this season, our series is entitled “Re-Jesus Everything.” If you think this discussion could be important to someone you know and love, please forward a link to them.

In the next episode, we’re going to talk about that strange inner experience many people are having right now—feeling drawn to Jesus, but increasingly alienated from Christianity. Why that split exists. Why it’s growing. And why it might be the beginning of something healthier, not the end of belief.

I would love to hear from you in the comment section on YouTube and on Substack, which is my home, at Quinley.com. Thanks for reading!

This week’s discussion question is: In your opinion, what are the friction points causing so many to drift away? I look forward to hearing from you.

Grounded Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. No pressure. I just want to keep the conversation going.

Hi Disciple!

Money. In 2 Corinthians 8-10 Paul spends three whole chapters just talking about giving money away. There's tipping, then there's truly sacrificing something you love to meet the true need of another person who is suffering and stuck.

I was raised in an ascending lower middle class family. My dad's people were hard-working farmers and turpentine gatherers. Not much money in that. My dad's generation got more education and all of them left farming for factory and professional jobs. My dad became an accountant and rose to become the head of the entire international firm. That’s America. This journey took a lifetime.

My generation across the extended family got the benefit of our parent’s steady rise. I think all of us got the education we wanted and with it all the opportunities we could pursue. Like all other families, we had times when money was short and we had to work harder to have the things we wanted.

We always had food, shelter, and clothing, however. For this, I'm so grateful.

For the past 35 years Sherry and I have lived in Southeast Asia and in the last 10 years we’ve been working closely with a ministry focused on trafficking which connects to the deepest kind of poverty.

I sat at a table in a communist country with ministry friends talking to a young lady, modestly dressed, about her current work as a prostitute. She said she was from the mountains, doing this job to try and get the money to pay someone to take her to Malaysia so she could get a job in a factory.

Poverty is complicated. I’m not sure there’s a clear formula for eradicating it. In general, good food and a chance to get an education seem to be a working prescription.

This young lady’s entire life story could've been rewritten had she just been embraced by a local church that loved her and saw her potential and would help her find transformation through Jesus. There she could have put her chaotic childhood to good use as fuel for a determination to break the cycle in her own life and for her family members. She intended to send her factory wages home to them.

The body of Christ is so powerful when it pulls together.

At other times there’s a disaster and God’s people sacrifice and throw their tools and extra beddings and food in the backs of pickup trucks and fly out to give help in those crucial first hours after a tornado, flood or fire.

We can feel God’s smile on us in those times.

Paul’s Counsel to the Corinthians

If you read 2 Corinthians 8-10 you'll find Paul telling the church that they need to put some system into their good intentions. Most people have good intentions. They sincerely want to be a blessing on the Earth.

Paul reminds this gifted, wealthy church that good intentions are not enough. They need to make a plan as givers, set giving goals, and start pooling the money up, not waiting for a moment of inspiration.

Sherry and I have been able to give every day of our lives to world evangelism and the training of a new generation of leaders because of a set of friends who emerged in the first ten years of our journey (you know who you are). These friends made a plan and told us, “You can count on us monthly for X amount. We won’t stop as long as we have jobs.” We’ve watched our friends return from the field year by year because they lacked a group of friends like ours.

Systems matter. Systems make things happen.

Maybe it’s an extra 5% set aside to create your giving pool. Maybe it’s that emergency $100 in your wallet. Some kind of plan so that when you see someone pumping gas into a milk jug to carry to their broke down car you can put some money in their hand and give them a ride back to their car.

This Jesus Quest is about stepping up your level of sacrifice for those who are in trouble so you can be God’s hands extended to them.

It’s a happy lesson, because it’s one of the big ways we can all fulfill our purpose as humans created to be the image of God.

Hope you Enjoy this Quest and work on it daily!

Every Blessing,

Chuck

PS: Your daily prompt questions are below the video for this week.

Thanks for reading Grounded! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Here are the prompts for your devotional time this week:

## Jesus Quest Week 4: Making Genuine Sacrifice for the Poor

### Day 1: Recognizing the Poor Among Us

**Scripture Reference:** Deuteronomy 15:11

> "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land."

**Reflection:** This week Jesus Quest has us trying to decide how to rewrite the life story of other people by intervening in life conditions caused by poverty. For example, no little girl dreams of being a prostitute someday—that life generally comes to the poor. Some families suffer from generational poverty and they just can't reach high enough to unlock the door to a better life. God will bless us so we can be a blessing to them and boost them up through interventions so that they can escape the poverty that has trapped their family for generations.

**Prompts:**

1. How does God's command to be "openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy" apply to your community today?

2. Who are the poor that you know? Is anyone you know under a financial burden or limited from pursuing their development because of a lack of resources?

3. Are there specific people or families you feel God is calling you to help in some way?

4. What is stopping you from reaching out or offering help to those in need?

5. How has God opened your eyes to see poverty and need in places you might have previously overlooked?

6. What assumptions about poverty or the poor might be preventing you from engaging with compassion?

7. How can you develop a heart that truly sees and responds to the poor as God sees them?

---

### Day 2: Understanding Genuine Sacrifice vs. Comfortable Giving

**Scripture Reference:** Mark 12:41-44

> "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.'"

**Reflection:** Sometimes our intervention hardly affects us—we have extra money or things and we share them with others. This week we're focused on genuine sacrifices that we need to make on behalf of others. Jesus distinguished between giving out of abundance and giving sacrificially. True sacrifice costs us something significant and requires faith that God will provide for our needs as we provide for others.

**Prompts:**

1. How does the widow's sacrificial giving challenge your understanding of what constitutes genuine sacrifice?

2. What valuable resources (money, time, skills, influence) have you been given that you can honestly say you are willing to put on the altar for others' benefit?

3. What's the difference between giving out of your abundance versus giving sacrificially? Which characterizes most of your giving?

4. What would genuine sacrifice look like in your current financial and life situation?

5. What fears or concerns hold you back from making sacrificial gifts to help the poor?

6. How might God be calling you to trust Him more deeply through sacrificial giving?

7. Are you willing to sacrifice anonymously, without recognition or acknowledgment?

---

### Day 3: Empowerment vs. Dependency - Wise Intervention

**Scripture Reference:** 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

> "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.' We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat."

**Reflection:** True love for the poor requires wisdom in how we help. Our goal is not to create dependency but to provide genuine intervention that lifts people up and helps them escape the cycles that have trapped them. This requires discernment, relationship, and sometimes tough love that encourages responsibility alongside provision.

**Prompts:**

1. How does Paul's teaching about work and responsibility inform your approach to helping the poor?

2. How can you ensure that your help empowers people rather than creating dependency?

3. What is genuine intervention that lifts people up versus help that might actually harm in the long run?

4. What skills, connections, or opportunities can you provide beyond just financial assistance?

5. How can you build relationships with those you help rather than just providing charity?

6. What would it look like to address root causes of poverty rather than just symptoms?

7. How can you help people develop their own capacity to escape generational poverty?

---

### Day 4: Examining Your Heart and Motivation

**Scripture Reference:** 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

> "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

**Reflection:** Our motivation for helping the poor matters as much as our actions. God desires cheerful, generous hearts that give freely rather than grudgingly. When we examine our hearts honestly, we may discover mixed motives—seeking recognition, alleviating guilt, or maintaining control. True sacrifice flows from a pure-hearted desire to serve like Jesus.

**Prompts:**

1. How does Paul's description of cheerful giving challenge you to examine your heart motivation?

2. What is your attitude or motivation when you consider giving sacrificially—do you seek recognition, relief from guilt, or a pure-hearted desire to serve like Jesus?

3. Are you willing to sacrifice anonymously, never receiving acknowledgment for your generosity?

4. What would it look like to give "what you have decided in your heart to give" rather than giving under pressure or compulsion?

5. How can you cultivate genuine joy and cheerfulness in your giving to the poor?

6. What fears, pride, or selfish desires need to be surrendered before you can give with pure motives?

7. How does your giving to the poor reflect your understanding of how God has given to you?

---

### Day 5: Commitment to Ongoing Impact and Transformation

**Scripture Reference:** Isaiah 58:6-7, 10-11

> "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ... and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a dry and scorched land and will strengthen your frame."

**Reflection:** God's heart for the poor is not about occasional charity but about systemic change and ongoing commitment. When we "spend ourselves" on behalf of the hungry and oppressed, God promises to guide us, satisfy our needs, and strengthen us. This is about lifestyle transformation, not just one-time giving.

**Prompts:**

1. How does Isaiah's description of true fasting challenge you to think beyond occasional charity to systemic change?

2. How will you measure whether your sacrifices are truly making a difference in someone's life?

3. Are you willing to commit to ongoing support rather than one-time efforts?

4. What would it look like to "spend yourself" on behalf of the hungry and oppressed in your context?

5. How might God be calling you to address not just individual poverty but systems of injustice?

6. What lifestyle changes might be necessary to sustain long-term commitment to helping the poor?

7. How does God's promise to "guide you always" and "satisfy your needs" encourage you to take greater risks in sacrificial giving?

8. What specific commitment are you willing to make this week to begin or deepen your genuine sacrifice for the poor?

Humans Need Community

Humans require community in order to survive. We are not like sharks or some other solitary animal which can do just fine on their own. From the dawn of time, we survive because we build communities that develop into civilization. With that arrangement, there will be security from predators, more than enough food, and extra hands to help everyone survive.

The greatest threat to human survival is not a T-Rex, it turns out. We have survived every apex predator that has walked the Earth in our time on the planet.

The greatest threat to humans is simply the breakdown in their feelings for one another. Friends become enemies, and the love we felt before can become channeled into a murderous rage. Fixing damaged relationships matters to God.

Jesus said that we should not bother to continue with our religious practices of church going and Bible study, making prayers, or offering sacrifices to God, until we have fixed our damaged relationships. He said just leave the gift at the altar and go fix it, then come back and God will want to be with you. He will even leave his blessing on the works of your hands, but only if you fix things. Fixing things often requires an apology on your part.

How to Destroy an Apology

There are two ways to torpedo an apology even after you gathered up the courage to face the problem with someone you’ve hurt.

“But”—you can spend 20 minutes, apologizing with absolute sincerity, then, as you wipe your tears and blow your nose this one little word can undo everything you have said. Do not end an apology with the word “but”. You're gonna be so tempted to offer some kind of justification for what you have done so it won't be quite as bad on you but resist the temptation. Just put a period at the end of that apology and say, "So I hope you can forgive me for doing that” and then look at them until they speak. Probably it will get really easy at that point and you may have saved your friendship, working relationship or even your marriage.

“If” —this is not quite as bad as the last word, but it is a form of equivocation, sort of like a plea bargain with the judge, when you are trying to get the crime down to a misdemeanor. “I'm sorry if I might've done something that might have contributed…” :-) that's a really cowardly way to start things off.

By adding the word “if” to the apology, we muddy the water. Did you do something wrong or not? If you did not, then don't apologize. If you did, then toughen up and give a legitimate apology, admitting what you did.

Even if you don’t feel that you did the wrong (and who does?) if you have a messed up relationship there’s probably something you could legitimately apologize for just to get the conversation started. Apologize for any little thing you have contributed, and then say something like, “I value our friendship and I really don't want anything to mess that up.” Smile and wait for them to speak.

The point is that as far as Jesus is concerned, it's not OK to scratch off relationship after relationship because something went wrong and you are not willing to go face that person and try to save your relationship.

So, if we want to be a disciple of his, we have to live by a higher standard than that. Here’s this week’s Jesus Quest challenge.

Grounded is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

And here are this week’s prayer prompts:

## Jesus Quest Week 3: Fixing Damaged Relationships - Apologizing and Making Restitution

### Day 1: Examining Your Heart and Taking Responsibility

**Scripture Reference:** Matthew 7:3-5

> "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Reflection: Before we can effectively repair damaged relationships, Jesus calls us to honest self-examination. This week we are going to do some amazing repair work on our relational network, but it begins with taking responsibility for our own contributions to relational damage. The Holy Spirit will guide us in strengthening these relationships and mitigating any pain being felt by others.

Prompts:

1. How does Jesus' teaching about removing the plank from your own eye apply to your damaged relationships?

2. Have you done anything that contributed to the problems in your damaged relationships?

3. What patterns do you see in your relational conflicts that might indicate areas where you need to grow?

4. Are you willing to take responsibility for your part in relational damage, even when the other person was also wrong?

5. What fears or pride might be preventing you from taking the first step toward reconciliation?

6. Who is the Holy Spirit telling you to contact this week?

7. Do you need to speak out your apology even to someone now dead just to get it said and off your heart?

---

Day 2: Restoring Family Relationships

Scripture Reference: Ephesians 4:31-32

> "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

**Reflection:** Family relationships are often the most challenging to repair because they involve our deepest wounds and longest histories. Yet these are also the relationships that can bring the greatest healing when restored. God calls us to approach our family members with the same kindness and compassion that Christ has shown us.

Prompts:

1. How can Paul's instruction to "get rid of all bitterness" guide your approach to family relationships that need repair?

2. Which family relationships are currently strained or damaged? What specific issues need to be addressed?

3. Who in your family network should you reach out to and affirm that you respect and value them?

4. Are there family members you need to apologize to for specific words or actions?

5. What bitterness, rage, or anger toward family members do you need to release before attempting reconciliation?

6. How can you show kindness and compassion to family members who have hurt you, following Christ's example?

7. What practical steps will you take this week to begin healing a damaged family relationship?

---

Day 3: Repairing Workplace and Professional Relationships

Scripture Reference: Colossians 3:23-24

> "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Reflection: Our workplace relationships are opportunities to demonstrate Christ's love and character. When these relationships are damaged, it affects not only our work environment but also our witness. Approaching workplace reconciliation with the mindset that we are ultimately serving Christ transforms how we handle professional conflicts and restoration.

Prompts:

1. How does viewing your work relationships as service to Christ change your approach to workplace conflicts?

2. Which workplace relationships are currently strained? What role did you play in these conflicts?

3. Are there colleagues, supervisors, or business partners you need to apologize to for professional mistakes or attitudes?

4. Who in your workplace should you have coffee with just to try and restore the flow between you, even if there hasn't been a known problem?

5. What professional promises have you broken that might require an apology or restitution?

6. How can you demonstrate Christ's character in your approach to workplace reconciliation?

7. What fears are holding you back from reaching out to repair professional relationships?

---

Day 4: Navigating Romantic and Intimate Relationship Restoration

Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 4:8

> "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

Reflection: Romantic relationships require special wisdom when it comes to restoration, as we must be careful not to create new problems on top of old ones. Whether dealing with current relationships or past ones, we must approach restoration with deep love, appropriate boundaries, and careful consideration of all parties involved.

Prompts:

1. How does Peter's teaching about love covering "a multitude of sins" guide your approach to romantic relationship restoration?

2. Are there current romantic relationships that need healing? What specific issues need to be addressed with love and honesty?

3. Regarding your romantic past, are there apologies that need to be made while maintaining appropriate boundaries?

4. What wisdom do you need from God and trusted advisors before attempting to restore a relationship with someone with whom you were once romantically involved?

5. How can you ensure that attempts at restoration don't create new pain or complications for anyone involved?

6. What patterns in your romantic relationships need to change to prevent future damage?

---

Day 5: Healing Church and Spiritual Community Relationships

Scripture Reference: Luke 19:8-9

> "But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.' Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.'"

Reflection: Church relationships can be the most painful to repair because they involve our spiritual family and sacred trust. Yet Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus shows us that true repentance often requires restitution—making things right in practical ways. In our church we have a belief called "restitution where possible"—a beautiful idea that our hearts tell us to do, but how seldom done in the end.

Prompts:

1. How does Zacchaeus's example of restitution inspire your approach to repairing church relationships?

2. Which church or spiritual community relationships need healing? What specific wounds or conflicts need to be addressed?

3. Are there church leaders, fellow believers, or ministry partners you need to apologize to?

4. Like Zacchaeus, is there any restitution you need to make—returning what was taken, repaying what was owed, or making amends for harm caused?

5. What church conflicts or divisions have you contributed to that need your repentance and active reconciliation?

6. How can you approach church relationship restoration with the same humility and generosity that Zacchaeus showed?

7. What practical steps of restitution might God be calling you to make in your spiritual community relationships?

8. Who in your church network should you reach out to simply to affirm your love and respect for them, even if there's been no major conflict?

Hi! Hope you are having a great day today and also that last week’s focus on walking with Jesus as a true disciple has brought new growth into your life.

Forgiveness Week

Today week 2 of our 7-week discipleship sprint begins! This week is about fixing our heart and cleaning out the hurts. In live we accumulate wounds. Some are suffered in our childhood. Others come through a failed romantic love. Probably the deepest and most abiding happen in our family. It could be from your extended family, or your mom and dad, your brothers, or even your children or grandchildren. There are betrayals in our career usually because money and position are involved. Then, there are those horrible hurts that occur in church. Usually we don't see these coming and they really hit us hard. Any of these that stick to us rob us of joy and interfere with the forgiveness Jesus wants to bring to us.

So this week, we're gonna deal with all that stuff and get rid of it, OK?

Here are your Prayer Prompts: Use one each day as your devotional time with the Lord.

They are designed to unearth hidden hurts so you can follow the process of:1. Listing the person who did it2. Writing exactly what they did3. Describing how it affected you 4. Declaring them as released from all debt to you

You may think that you don’t need to do this because you did it once already, but let’s follow the program anyway and ask the Holy Spirit to do a deep healing this week in you. Long term marriage generally had lots of irritation under the skin as you repeat in your mind some well-worn criticisms of your partner. This is the week to let it all go and start living with more freedom.

Prayer Prompts

### Day 1: Wounds Received in Your Family

**Scripture Reference:** Zechariah 13:6-7

> "And they shall say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'"

**Additional Reading:** Genesis 44-45 (Joseph's revelation of himself to his betraying brothers. You can tell he has long ago forgiven them and sees the sovereign purpose of God even in their treachery against him.)

**Reflection:** Welcome to Forgiveness Week! Today we begin our journey into forgiveness by thinking about the wounds we have all suffered in our family and intimate friendship circle. Because family is supposed to be the safe place in our life, and the one place we would never expect to receive hurt, these wounds go the deepest. They also come the earliest in our life, and since we are still in formation, the impact of these wounds is generally felt for the rest of our lives.

**Forgiveness Protocol:** This week we will begin a long time of soul cleansing. This will entail something of a ceremony of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the cancelling of a debt. In order to do this we must name the debtor, state exactly what they did to us, and explain how their actions affected us. That's the debt, our of our heart and now recorded officially on paper. The only remaining step is to go before the Lord and say, "I release you" to each debtor. They owe us nothing from this point on. We are free to move on in life with the matter at rest in the lap of the great Judge of the earth.

Take a blank sheet of paper and make four columns for the following headings: Name, What they Did, How it Affected Me, I Forgive them. Day by day we will carefully examine the path of our lives to unearth buried hurts we have received and release these person and the wound they caused us.

**Prompts:**

1. Looking back at your early childhood, can you identify a hurt or rejection that still affects how you see yourself or trust others today?

2. In your teen years or young adulthood, what wounds—whether from parents, siblings or extended relatives—still carry weight in your heart?

3. Were you assaulted by a family member or close friend?

4. Were you hurt by a system of favoritism within your family?

5. Were you betrayed by anyone in your inner circle?

6. Were you sexually wounded by someone you trusted?

7. Were you physically or verbally abused by family members?

8. Did someone in your family introduce you to dark or harmful things?

Ask the Lord to help you surface wounds received in your family as a child, young person or even now. We praying for you this week to go through the deepest cleansing your heart has ever known.

---

### Day 2: Forgiving Wounds Received in Romantic Relationships

**Scripture Reference:** 1 Peter 4:8

> "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

**Reflection:** Romantic relationships, while often sources of joy and connection, can also lead to deep emotional, psychological, and spiritual wounds due to their intimate nature. Below is a detailed exploration of specific ways a person can be wounded in romantic relationships. As you survey your relational past, think on ways you might have been wounded and are just trying to ignore it instead of facing it and forgiving it.

**Prompts:**

1. How does Peter's teaching about love covering "a multitude of sins" guide your approach to forgiving romantic wounds?

2. Have you experienced emotional neglect from a romantic partner—when they consistently ignored or minimized your feelings?

3. Have you suffered verbal or emotional abuse, including harsh words, relentless criticism, controlling behavior, or gaslighting?

4. Have you experienced abandonment or rejection—being left by a partner through breakup, divorce, sudden withdrawal, or being "ghosted"?

5. Were there broken promises or unmet expectations that led to disappointment and disillusionment?

6. Have you experienced manipulation or control where a partner used guilt, coercion, or power dynamics to control your decisions or behavior?

7. Have you been wounded by a partner's lack of forgiveness or their holding grudges against you?

8. Have you experienced sexual disrespect, coercion, or disregard for your boundaries?

9. Have you been betrayed through infidelity, emotional affairs, or other violations of trust?

---

### Day 3: Forgiving Wounds Suffered in the Context of Our Work Life

**Scripture Reference:** Colossians 3:23-24

> "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

**Reflection:** Our workplace relationships are opportunities to demonstrate Christ's love and character. When these relationships are damaged by wounds we've received, it affects not only our work environment but also our witness. Approaching workplace forgiveness with the mindset that we are ultimately serving Christ transforms how we handle professional hurts.

**Prompts:**

1. Have you been betrayed by colleagues or superiors-—undermined, deceived, or had credit taken for your work?

2. Have you experienced unfair treatment or discrimination based on gender, race, age, faith, or other factors?

3. Have you faced workplace bullying or harassment—verbal abuse, intimidation, public humiliation, or aggressive criticism?

4. Have you suffered job loss or unfair termination without clear explanation?

5. Have employers or business partners broken professional promises regarding raises, promotions, equity shares, or project support?

6. Have you received excessive criticism or had your contributions consistently ignored or undervalued?

7. Have you experienced workplace competition and sabotage—colleagues undermining you to gain advantage?

8. Have you been overburdened with excessive workloads or unrealistic deadlines without adequate support?

9. Have you faced pressure to compromise your Christian values or experienced judgment for your faith in a secular workplace?

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### Day 4: Forgiving Wrongs Suffered in the Church

**Scripture Reference:** Psalm 55:12-14

> "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, who has done this. We took sweet counsel together and walked among the throng at the house of God."

**Reflection:** Today we focus on forgiving wounds suffered in the church. This is such a sensitive matter for all of us who follow Jesus, especially for those of us who have dedicated a significant amount of our passion and energy to ministry in any form. In a church setting, we can experience a range of emotional, psychological, and spiritual wounds due to the deeply personal and trusting nature of these environments. These wounds can be particularly painful because we believe churches and religious figures should be safe sources of spiritual care, and we let our guard completely down. These hurts go deep.

**Prompts:**

1. How does David's pain about being wounded by a close friend and companion in the house of God resonate with your church experiences?

2. Have you experienced public embarrassment, judgment, or condemnation from church members or leaders for personal choices, struggles, or sins?

3. Have you suffered spiritual abuse or manipulation where religious representatives misused their authority in order to control or coerce you?

4. Have you been excluded, shunned, ignored, or rejected from the church community?

5. Have you been betrayed by trusted leaders who violated your trust or used craftiness to disadvantage you?

6. Have you witnessed or been hurt by hypocrisy or double standards where church members acted contrary to Jesus' teachings?

7. Have you been caught up in unresolved conflicts, church splits, or factionalism within a congregation?

8. Have you faced legalism and rigid expectations that went beyond biblical principles and were enforced without grace?

9. Have you experienced neglect or lack of support from the church during personal crises when you needed care?

10. Have you been hurt by moral or ethical failures of religious representatives, such as financial misconduct or sexual scandals?

11. Have you been shamed or dismissed for questioning doctrine or practices, often framed as a lack of faith?

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### Day 5: Forgiving Yourself

**Scripture Reference:** Luke 11:4

> "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."

**Reflection:** The Lord's prayer now applies to you. Today our focus is on the Lord's prayer in Luke 11 verse 4. Because you have spent this whole week forgiving others, you have the privilege to come before the Father and ask Him to forgive you for everything you have done in your whole life against Him and against your own progress. Jesus was pretty clear that without giving forgiveness we cannot receive forgiveness, so now we have a great opportunity to have all the burdens of our heart lifted off of us. What a great week!

**Prompts:**

1. How does Jesus' teaching that we must forgive others in order to receive forgiveness challenge you as you approach self-forgiveness?

2. What sins, mistakes, or failures from your past do you need to bring before God for forgiveness?

3. Are there ways you have hurt others that you need to confess and receive God's forgiveness for?

4. What patterns of sin or destructive behavior do you need to repent of and receive God's grace to change?

5. How have you hindered your own spiritual progress or growth? What do you need forgiveness for in this area?

6. Are there ways you have failed to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength that need His forgiveness?

7. What guilt, shame, or self-condemnation do you need to release as you receive God's complete forgiveness?

8. Will you now extend to yourself the same grace and forgiveness that you'd offer others?

OK, I just lifted my head from my work today (writing a book and putting the finishing touches on our two upcoming schools in Thailand (Photojournalism and Content Creation for missions) and realized there were only 18 week’s left in the entire year.

This happens every year.

I putt along being busy, always busy, then on some day about 2/3 through the year, I realize how short the time is if I want to make this one a “significant” year. (Mid life does the same thing in a much more scary way, right?)

Jesus Quest

JQ is the most amazing thing I’ve been involved with all year. We’ve seen “old time Christians” revived in their faith and newbies grounded on their journey with Jesus.

So, I’d like to propose a challenge for you. I’m going to do a seven week Jesus Quest sprint via email blast and I really hope you’ll join and make it a priority. It may very well be the most important thing you’ll do all year.

How it’s Different

Jesus Quest is not a Bible study. It’s a guided group experience in Action Discipleship. That means we actually DO, not talk about, one practice of Jesus each week. It becomes our focus all week in our devotions and it is the ONE item on our daily to do list.

Hope you’re ready!

When will it Start?

More Good News! No waiting! Let’s start now.

Click the Video Below. Check the CHAT below all week for our ongoing reports on what Jesus is teaching all of us as we do his teachings. We’re going to actually be disciples of Jesus, not just students of the Bible!

Jesus Quest Week One: Master Your Things

Here are the Prayer prompts for this week:

Spend 15 minutes each day before the Lord working your way through an honest conversation with the Holy Spirit to answer these questions. Then get up from your prayer time and take action. The point is to do the teachings and practices of Jesus, not just study them. If you will dedicate yourself to applying the ways of God to your own life, you will see tremendous progress in your life in just seven weeks.

---

## Jesus Quest Week 1: Mastering Your Things - Let Jesus Help You Master Things

### Day 1: Mastering Things We Ingest - Food, Drink, Medicines, and Stimulants

**Scripture Reference:** 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

> "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

**Reflection:** Our bodies are a gift from God, and what we choose to ingest impacts our health and well-being. Jesus invites us to trust Him for health and healing rather than relying excessively on substances or fearing unhealthiness. When we view our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, our consumption choices become acts of worship and stewardship.

**Prompts:**

1. How does viewing your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit change your perspective on what you choose to ingest?

2. Are there unhealthy habits or fears controlling your choices about what you eat, drink, or consume?

3. What substances—food, drink, medicines, or stimulants—might be hindering your physical health or spiritual well-being?

4. Are there habits of hoarding, overeating, or over-relying on medications that may indicate a need to trust God more for your health and safety?

5. Do you over-medicate? What does that say about you?

6. Do you celebrate and honor your experience of eating good meals, savoring your meals and focusing on the power of a shared meal to build relationships?

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### Day 2: Trust in God's Provision - Houses, Clothing, and Resources

**Scripture Reference:** Matthew 6:25-26, 31-33

> "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ... So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

**Reflection:** God provides all of us daily with all that we need—our homes, clothing, and resources. Today is an opportunity to release what no longer serves us, freeing our hearts and minds for the new days to come. It is also a time to celebrate the lifetime provision promised from our Father. We can live in peace, confident that our needs will always be met.

**Prompts:**

1. Despite all the blessings in your life, is there any poverty mindset still living in you that contradicts Jesus' teaching about God's provision?

2. Is your space cluttered by too many possessions? Do you have an obsessive need to continually buy more things?

3. Do you have expensive possessions that make you feel a trace of arrogance or superiority over others?

4. Do you live in conscious gratitude for the level of house, clothing, and transportation you own?

5. What possessions or attachments do you need to give away as a surrender to Jesus today?

6. What fears about your needs can you release to Jesus today, trusting in His promise to provide?

7. Is there something in your home, closet, or life that you need to declutter or give away?

8. Is there anything you need to burn, donate, or destroy because of its hold on you?

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### Day 3: Mastering Technology and Tools - Especially Mobile Devices

**Scripture Reference:** 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

> "'I have the right to do anything,' you say—but not everything is beneficial. 'I have the right to do anything'—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others."

**Reflection:** There's never been a tool greater than the mobile phone. It can do seemingly anything! As with all things, this amazing tool has become a major source of bondage to children of God around the world, causing anxiety, depression, and becoming a gateway to materialism and harmful content. Disciples must take a serious look at the outsized role their phone has in their life and ask whether this tool is truly serving God's purposes.

**Prompts:**

1. How does Paul's teaching about beneficial versus permissible apply to your relationship with technology and tools?

2. How often do you check your phone without a specific reason, and what do you feel when you can't check it?

3. Can you go a full day without using your phone, like putting it in a box for 24 hours? If not, what stops you?

4. Do you feel anxious, restless, or incomplete when your phone is out of reach or turned off?

5. How much of your phone use is purposeful (e.g., work, learning, connecting meaningfully) versus mindless scrolling or habit?

6. Have you ever missed out on in-person moments—like conversations or experiences—because you were focused on your phone?

7. Do you use your phone right before bed or first thing in the morning? How might this affect your connection with God?

8. If someone asked you to turn off your phone for a day each week as a spiritual discipline, how would that idea make you feel, and why?

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### Day 4: Things Believed to Have Value in Themselves - Status, Luck, and Security

**Scripture Reference:** Matthew 19:21-22

> "Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth."

**Reflection:** Some possessions we hold onto not for their practical use, but because we believe they bring us confidence, status, luck, or security. These items can become idols that compete with our trust in God. Jesus challenged the rich young ruler to examine what truly had value in his life, and He asks us the same question today.

**Prompts:**

1. Like the rich young ruler, what possessions or status symbols might be keeping you from fully following Jesus?

2. Do you have anything that you feel brings you confidence, status, or luck apart from God?

3. Are there possessions you use to impress others or establish your identity?

4. Do you hold onto any objects or charms believing they will bring you luck or protect you from harm? How does relying on these affect your trust in God's protection and sovereignty?

5. If Jesus challenged you as He did the rich young ruler to abandon 100% of your possessions and come follow Him with only the clothes on your body, what fears or feelings might emerge?

6. Does having extra finances make you feel more secure than trusting in God's provision?

7. How would your life change if you truly trusted the Father to be your 100% provision and security from cradle to grave? What fears would melt away?

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### Day 5: Gratitude and Stewardship - Celebrating God's Provision

**Scripture Reference:** 1 Timothy 6:17-19

> "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

**Reflection:** God has richly provided us with everything for our enjoyment, but He calls us to hold these gifts with open hands. True mastery over our things comes not from accumulating more, but from recognizing God as the source of all provision and using what we have been given to bless others and advance His kingdom.

**Prompts:**

1. If you've ever bought a book, that action alone places you in the top half of all humans, financially. Do you feel rich? Why or why not?

2. How does Paul's instruction to "put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" change your perspective on your possessions?

3. How often do you thank God for the amazing way He has always provided for you?

4. How do you need to change to be "rich in good deeds" and "generous and willing to share" what God has given you?

5. What would it look like to hold your possessions with open hands, ready to use them for God's purposes?

6. What is God telling you to give away this week?