How much does finding learning to embrace the fullness of life that's in Christ depend on our pursuit?  Can we overdo it by striving in our own efforts, or alternatively, become so passive and miss what he has for us? Wayne and Brad discuss the process by which we learn to live in the fullness of the Spirit as a growing reality in our daily lives.  They talk about the spirit of the disciplines, what it means to be continually filled by the Spirit, and how to help new people on this journey find their footing at the fountainhead that will lead to a lifetime of growing realitionship and ever-increasing fullness from the Lord's love and grace.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's Travel Schedule

The latest news from our project in Kenya

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It seems like every time we try to mass-produce the life of Jesus, be it through a workbook or "church" program, it always ends up getting sidetracked. What may be life to the first generation gets lost in subsequent generations as people are instructed in principles they've learned, rather than helping them cultivate their own relationship with Father, Son and Spirit. It's an age-old story. Is that why Jesus didn't leave us with Five Steps to Whatever, or a discipleship program we could follow instead of him. He passed on the kingdom life-to-life, through relationships of love and growing trust rather than engaging human effort to follow a checklist.There isn't a system humanity has devised that cannot be exploited to serve the needs of our flesh, rather than let him engage us with a relationship that invites us out of our brokenness and into his life.

Podcast Notes:

Article Referred to in the Podcast: How to Become America's Fastest-Growing Church

Wayne's Travel Schedule

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

We're sorry, but Wayne and Brad weren't able to connect for some podcasts before their families went on vacation, and the vacations aren't synched up either. So, The God Journey will be taking a break for the next few weeks. We don't know when we'll be able to get back to it, so subscribe to the blog here or to the podcast (on iTunes or your favorite podcast app) to get the next one when we do it. Before we go, however, Wayne reads a bit of listener email responding to pasts podcast on Women, Breaking Up With God, and some breakthroughs some of our listeners have had in times of great darkness. In the meantime, you can also enjoy our archives.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's TEDx Talk (Sorry for the ad. Not our doing!)

The God Journey Archives by Topic

Wayne's Travel Schedule

Look up previous podcasts with Bob Stamps in our Guest Archive

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Can we unwittingly incarcerate Jesus in our own hearts by thinking he is the author of our biases, preferences, and false conclusions that free us to follow our own ambitions instead of truly following him? That's the danger of only having Jesus inside of us, and not a Jesus outside of us who can confront our prejudices and invite us to real transformation that runs counter to our own ambitions. Ending the last podcast with how the "church" today is falling for foolishness, Wayne and Brad along with their guest, Dr. Bob Stamps of Richmond, VA, continue last week's conversation and our need for objective truth that invites us into an ever transforming relationship with him.

Podcast Notes:

Part 1 of this conversation with Bob Stamps: The Infinite God in Finite Minds

Wayne's Travel Schedule

Look up previous podcasts with Bob Stamps in our Guest Archive

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Did Wayne throw Brad under the bus in a previous podcast about Breaking Up With God? Brad thinks he did as they revisit their discussion of Sarah Sentilles book. Is it arrogant to make final conclusions about God from our limited knowledge of him? And is that just as true for the brash theologian as it is the atheist? Joining them today is occasional guest, Dr. Bob Stamps, a long-time friend of Wayne's, a retired Methodist pastor, and a theologian. Though they've walked very different roads, they have come to very similar conclusions about God and his work int he world as they talk about theological study and experience in sorting out our views of God.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's Travel Schedule

Our Previous Podcast about Breaking Up With God

Look up previous podcasts with Bob Stamps in our Guest Archive

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

"If you are married, never be alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. Never." That's the so-called Billy Graham Rule, which he followed to avoid temptation and protect his reputation. Some think it communicates to women that they are fundamentally dangerous and objectifies women as sexual objects. In this second of a two-part podcast, Wayne and Brad continue their discussion with Tracy Levinson, author of unashamed and an occasional guest on The God Journey, as the delve into questions about male/female relationships. Is the Billy Graham Rule sacrosanct? Are there ways to break the rule and not risk undermining your marriage or opening a door to the enemy's ploy?  Does sexual attraction or protecting yourself against it have to dominate every exchange between men and women?

Podcast Notes:

Tracy Levinson's book, unashamed:candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness, and faith

It's Not the Billy Graham Rule or Bust by Tish Harrison Warren

The latest news from our project in Kenya

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Is there anything a man can do among the body of Christ that a woman cannot?  In this first of two podcasts about issues affecting their sisters in the body of Christ, Brad and Wayne invite occasional guest, Tracy Levinson, to explore that question and a few others about the role of women in the church and how they've been mistreated and demeaned by a dominating, second-class view of women. They also talk about a letter from Beth Moore detailing how she has been demeaned as a woman with a teaching gift, look at Peter's view of women as "weaker vessels", confront the Jezebel accusation used to silence the voice of women, and whether a covering is required for women. Even though Jesus treated women with equality, respect and dignity, his followers have had a hard time catching up to his example.

Podcast Notes:

Tracy Levinson's book, unashamed:candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness, and faith

NY Times Article on The Great #Metoo Awakening

A Letter to My Brothers by Beth Moore

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

We've visited this theme before, but not quite this way.  It's a popular theme these days: someone grows up, aspiring to Christian leadership, and then decides God isn't real and Christianity doesn't work. Then, they need to write a book and justify their decision to anyone who will read it. What's really going on here? Why are so many former Christians concluding God doesn't exist? Could it be that they never met a God worth loving for himself, and thus were not able to forge a real faith that goes beyond doctrine and ritual and grounded in a life-giving engagement with God himself? If we don't come to know him, our self-absorbed disappointments will make him seem unreal.

Podcast Notes:

Books by Sarah Sentilles

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Brad and Wayne catch up after a few weeks of travel for both of them—Brad to his son's wedding and a media event in Dallas, and Wayne to upstate New York. Through a strange set of circumstances, Wayne was able to spend some time with Jens Erik Gould, the Co-founder and Chief Editor of The Knife Media. As he shares their encounter with, it launches a conversation about personal bias and its impact on our convictions and our conversations. Who can be truly objective, especially when our biases hide so well?  What steps can we take to help us see our own biases and lean ever more consistently into what's really true, rather than what we want to be true.

Podcast Notes:

The Knife Media

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

It's impossible to make a discipline or obligation out of something only God can produce in the human heart. Wayne and Brad let their listeners shape the conversation today as they respond to a number of recent topics from previous podcasts. They talk about walking through the darkness to the rising Son, not trying to run away from the difficulties or painful bits of our lives. They wonder why achievement is also more valued that fruitfulness, when God sees it just the opposite. They discuss how people can find a healthy way back into reading the Scriptures, not just doing it out of obligation or expectation. And, they talk about the frustrations of prayer requests when they don't begin with a grateful heart in recognition of who God is and what he has already done in us.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's Travel Schedule

The latest news from our project in Kenya

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"