A New Season for Lifestream

Because of the surprise success of The Shack, a little book two friends and I published in May 2007, God has opened a wide door for me to become more involved in publishing on a national stage. Understanding this to be his calling has not been easy for me. Three years ago I could not have asked for a more fulfilling life—writing, sharing and meeting with believers who were truly seeking to understand how a real friendship with Jesus plays out in their lives. I published my own things, traveled where God asked and was free to the simple things Father asked of me.

I was glad to be out of the so-called Christian publishing scene, having felt incredibly hampered by the constant pandering to a religious mentality deeply ingrained in Christianity-as-religion that is based on performance not grace, rules and rituals instead of vibrant relationship, exalting the trappings of institutions and leadership instead of the reality of the ever-present Christ, and turning the joy of community into an obligation to sit through meetings, rather than the irresistible opportunity to share the life of Jesus with other followers.

My involvement with The Shack has changed all of that. Now #1 on the NY Times Best Seller list and a growing phenomenon, my partner and I were courted this spring to partner with one of the largest publishing houses in the world—the Hachette Book Group, which was formerly Time-Warner. They want to help us distribute The Shack in numbers that would have seriously taxed us, distribute my books to a wider audience, and allow us to bring in four to six new titles each year. They also want to help us build our imprint, Windblown Media, to represent books of serious spiritual dialog about the God of the Bible, without having to compromise the message to pass muster with modern-day Pharisees.

So, we ended up with a publishing company and an opportunity to publish into that space and help other authors to do so as well. Honestly, no one saw this coming, but I am excited at the opportunity this affords in the next season of my life. More of my time each week will go to this publishing endeavor, and to help steward The Shack into a major motion picture.

What this means for Lifestream, is that I will have responsibilities that won’t let me travel in this season as much as I have in recent years. I will continue blog updates and The God Journey podcasts to help encourage others on this incredible adventure. If you want to keep up with me, those are probably the best ways to do it since these BodyLife newsletters will become fewer and farther between. Eventually we’ll discontinue mailing them and only post the content on-line.

We will still maintain our passion to see people connect with the ever-present Jesus—seeing him transform their lives and raising up fresh expressions of the life of his church that will pulsate with his life and share his love with our culture. In fact, I will just have a bigger stage on which to facilitate that conversation. Please keep us in prayer as Father leads you. The doors are wide, but so are the challenges and the conflict from those who want to label us as heretics and keep the Body of Christ captive to the efforts of men. This should be a wild ride.

With that in mind, let me express my thanks to those of you who have over many years been a source of support for Sara and me, that freed up our time to help others without any thought of financial consideration. Also please know that this new venture brings some significant financial freedom to our lives that will lessen the financial burden at Lifestream and allow us to underwrite a lot of the free materials we make available to others. I am excited by that new reality.

We still deeply desire your prayers. There are many decisions and opportunities we’ll be sorting through every day. Your financial support, however, we will not need in this season. With grateful hearts, we would encourage you to find others whom God might want to help through you—those in great need throughout the world and to others whose time you’d want to free up so they can help others be equipped in this journey.

Aid to Kenya

This spring readers from Lifestream and listeners from The God Journey podcast gave over $16,000.00 to help with relief in Kenya following the tribal conflicts spawned by the contested election. The need continues there for displaced families, if you would like to add to it.

The Shack Audio Book

The audio book for The Shack will be released at the end of June and will be available through Windblown Media (www.windblownmedia.com). Read by Roger Mueller, a well-known stage and television actor, this seven CD set will retail for $27.99. We will not sell them at Lifestream, but you can get them from Windblown Media.

Who Is God Really?

We didn’t see this coming either. Those reviewers and theologians who have challenged the theology of The Shack, some even calling it heresy, have opened a new conversation in the public arena. Who Is God Really? Is he a terrifying bully who wants us to cower in his presence, or he is the Abba Jesus invited us to connect with in love? I can’t imagine a better discussion to debunk the bondages of organized religion. Even Sony Pictures has talked about doing a documentary on the backstory of the book and sponsoring a forum to discuss the theological debate it has spawned.

Expanding Audience

Time will tell if this is a good thing, but the exposure of my two books, He Loves Me and So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore in over a million copies of The Shack, has created a new wave of interest in both of those titles. It has also brought a number of new people to the resources of Lifestream and The God Journey.

Now Personal Assistant

Jess Glasner, a sophomore at Westmont College is my new personal assistant for the summer. It is her voice you might hear when you call as she handles orders and other details for me. She is a godsend this summer, but we will be looking for a longer-term solution at summer’s end.

BridgeBuilders Work in Utah

As part of BridgeBuilders, Wayne has been invited to help moderate an initiative in Utah this fall to help identify principles for a more civil debate in American politics that seeks the common good rather than the self-interest of politicians. I know, the chances for success are slim, but I love that folks are trying.

What a Joy!

With all the changes going on in our lives it has given both Sara and me a lot of time to reflect on this incredible 14 year journey we have had as part of Lifestream. We are incredibly blessed by all the ways our lives by have been enriched by the people we’ve met and by watching this growing passion in the world live in Christ relationally. We will continue to work with Lifestream though my time will also be shared with Windblown. May God lead us all by his grace!

The Naked Church Out of Print

We only have 83 copies left as of this writing and we do not have plans to republish it unless there is a resurgence of demand. The book is available for free download on our website as a PDF file, but if you want a hard copy, you may want to order one soon. What I most wants to say about the church is now in the Jake Colsen book, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. and in a new book I am currently writing entitled, Finding Church. Also, the Jake book has been published in Germany by Glory World and the publisher there has told us it has already become his best seller..