Last weekend Sara and I spent four days with a wonderful group of believers around Youngstown, Ohio. That’s them above at or Saturday night barbeque. They are two years on a journey of discovering relational life together. They gather weekly in various homes to share God’s life and also have a [...]

I have been reading Richard John Neuhaus’ Death on a Friday Afternoon about the seven statements Jesus made on the cross. I was so encouraged by his perspective on what is to live in the real world. Here he tells us how easily we mistake the real world where God dwells for the false [...]

This was too good to pass up! Shortly after I posted the latest blog, a friend from New Zealand sent me this quote from one of John’s books:
This reminds me of something from one of John’s books, the guy who said “I used to have a problem - I couldn’t hear [...]

Over the last few days I keep thinking of one more tidbit from our conversation with John and Mary Beaumont in Christchurch, New Zealand. This has really been an encouragement to me as I’m freshly evaluating some of the things I feel like God is doing in my own life right now.
John said that once [...]

I attended a local consultation over the last two days regarding community transformation. The promotional material said it was “a roundtable gathering of Christian leaders looking at church outside the walls.” I didn’t really expect them to mean it. But one of the questions we sorted through on the first day [...]

Except for the stupid spam proliferating on the Internet like rats, nothing more fun than opening my email every day. Here are two back-to-back emails that I opened this afternoon. I get many emails like the first one. There is great angst out there about how organized religion thwarts people’s attempts [...]

[Stuart and George, I appreciated what you both added to this to clarify my remarks. Thanks!]
Lucy,
Obviously you’ve seen people deeply hurt by the religious sytems of our day. As have most of us who hang out here. I am so sorry for that, and sorry someone wasn’t around to provide the help [...]

One of the few lists I subscribe to on the Internet is the Daily Dig, from the Bruderhof communities. It offers a thought-provoking quote every day and most of them are incredible. I got this one a few days ago. I know it is an old illustration, but one worth [...]

Sara and I are home from New Zealand after two incredible weeks traveling throughout the country and meeting with brothers and sisters. (Oh yes, Sara got to see penguins too!) If you haven’t read the blogs of our conversations and the incredible story of a group of in Fairlie, you might want to read [...]

We are finally back in the states, catching up on book orders and email and trying to get over a severe case of jet lag.
On our last day in New Zealand, we headed back into Christchurch to spend some brief moments with John and Mary Beaumont. They filled in a few wonderful details [...]