the other leaders at my church the following question: "What if the church has so highjacked people's lives that liberation from it actually seemed sinful?" 

After 25 years of church ministry I had become convinced that we were spending 99% of our time and money on the "Sunday Big Show" and not on the church's true purpose. Every church previously, where I tried to bring about change was also economically, culturally and emotionally tied to its delivery structure. But there has always been this part of me that said we can do this in a totally different way. So I left and started this ministry.

I just couldn't shake the feeling that far too many Sunday services have become the "pet/ego project" for competitive pastors and critical parishioners instead of an open invitation for all comers to "come and see..." (John 4:29) I felt like I was in the "Matrix" and all the walls were becoming binary code.

Because of you, this 150th episode is connecting more and more people who feel serving our fellow man should be a lifestyle and not a vocation. There is a growing population of people who have discovered that going deeper is not a Sunday event, but an intentional daily engagement. As a result, the need for a weekend, "pump up" is not as vital as having accessible content like this throughout the week.

This newsletter and ministry has been birthed by people who desire to explore spirituality without all the pomp, promotion, turf wars & slogans. By stripping away all the unnecessary scaffolding that bloats and slows institutions, I and others like me are able to point people more clearly to the Thing behind the thing. I discovered through this venture that the biggest hinderance to the church's mission, was the church structure itself. People actually do want to talk about God, just not to "church people."

I'm so encouraged and thankful to you, my fellow sojourners. This newsletter reminds us that faith is something we ALL possess, and finding and loving God is not a weird thing that is laden with obligation. Love is a far superior motivation for engagement than fear, guilt, or duty. We have learned that once love takes hold, we never do anything begrudgingly again. 

In one form or another, we've all overcome our fear that God would abandon, or hate us if we stopped feeding the machine. It has taken us a lot of courage to trust that God is the source leading us out of these various systems and into this movement of like minded brothers and sisters. We are called out. The Greek word for this is EK-KALEO, from which we get the word ecclesia or CHURCH.  

Imagine that, the Church are actually those who GET OUT. Those who are called out of their false, formative containers (institutional or personal). I'm so privileged to be able to serve you as I do. I love to repot people.

Welcome one and all. Come to the meeting place of your mind & spirit, and see what happens when your life is no longer highjacked. Come and see what happens when you are taken out of religion and put back into your life in faith with the power of love. That's what the last 150 weeks were all about.

Thanks so much for telling your friends about this work, and I look forward to serving you and this ever growing wave of free people for another three years. 

What a ride this has been. I'd do it all over in a heat beat.