BodyLife - Letters
From BodyLife • March 2010
Tony in California
Regarding So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. I loved it... and hated it!!! My spirit soared with joy at the rediscovery of long forgotten truth, and my stinking rotten flesh recoiled at the thought of not doing 'church' as we've always done 'it'.
Justin in Alaska
Knowing what I know now, I realize that so much of religion is entirely upside down and backwards. There "things" that we are told to do first are not bad in themselves, but they are all outward signs and activities that mask the true condition of a person's heart. A person can do all of these things and be as dead as a grave inside. As Father wraps me in His love and I understand exactly what that means to me, day by day, I am now at such peace that words would fail to describe it. I have stresses at work that no longer worry me. My wife and I are now on the same page in this journey. I find myself changing every day from the brutal, unloving, uncaring, crass, and rude person I used to be, into someone who sees the broken with compassion, the lost with hope, and those around me as an opportunity to love.
Vivian in Brazil
I am overwhelmed with everything I heard during (the week you were here). I wanted it to last forever. Now I'm looking forward to starting my journey, reading and enjoying your book so much, and sharing with passion this conquering truth I have learned about the God I love. I had been carrying so much burden that deep inside I knew did not belong to me. I was deeply blessed with your visit! Thank you for your patience, for your understanding, for sharing and living what God has done in you.... It makes such a difference to actually spend time with you, rather than only hearing a teaching, or reading a book you wrote. I have been sharing so much of what I have learned these days, and I cannot begin to express how light and peaceful I feel. And more than anything, how amazing it is to share it all as a gift and not as a burden.
Achim in Germany
I am fascinated by your book So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. I am a pastor myself on a long and sometimes painful, but still encouraging journey, towards relational Christianity. Your book put new words in my mouth.
Maria in Brazil
I have been going through the "Transition" audios with our older daughter and she is just so receptive to it all. There is not an audio that she listens to that she doesn't say in the end: "Mom, this has always been the way I felt in my heart. I now feel that God actually has been speaking to me as I see that there are others in the world that feel the same way inside - and I don't even know them!"
David in Mississippi
I have two more Sundays to pastor and it is rough. I feel like a UFC fighter who is getting the crap beat out of him and the referee won't stop the fight. There are rumors that I have joined a cult, had a affair, my wife has left me, my kids are running wild and I can't control them.....and the list could go on. Some of these people profess to be friends and then spread lies like this. I would have never thought that it would turn this vicious, but I was wrong. I am glad that you have been so honest about what you and Sara went through. It has helped me more than you will ever know. When you tell of how Jesus loved you through it all and you did not defend yourself, it encourages me. I used to think I was walking with Jesus by being what others expected me to be. When that changed their attitude toward me did also. I am still learning that Jesus loves me if I never preach again. I am resting in the reality of who Jesus is even when I don't feel it. I have always been a good performer now I just want to be close to Him. Your material and the podcast have helped move me from a place of spiritual arrogance to a real and vital walk with Jesus. I have not arrived, but I have the best guide to get me there--Jesus.
Sara in Illinois
I just finished your book So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore and I literally cried at the end since I perceived God's love through all of it. My tears were both because I was very touched and because I finished the reading and I don't have anymore of these amazing chapters left. I needed to know more than ever that Jesus is always with me and that He's always calling me to a deeper relationship with him.
David in Alabama
God has really given you a gift for putting into language what we know is true in our hearts
Jim in Michigan
Thank you for writing He Loves Me. I hated you and loved you all at the same time. I have never read anything so disturbing yet so freeing. I'm a former pastor who "gets it." He Loves Me exposed the lies that I have been hammered with my entire life.
Leslie in Massachusetts
Thank you so very much for your book So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. It has touched my life in a way that has surprised me. I am not much of a reader and I read this book in one day. That to me is a miracle in itself. I just couldn't put it down because I kept wondering, "What is John gonna say next?" It's helping me personally to reevaluate my relationship with the Lord and really opening my eyes to the ways that I might be missing what Jesus has asked of me and wants for me.
Judy by email
I have just finished reading He Loves Me! It is one of the best books I have ever read, and certainly one that helps me understand God's love for me better than any other. I wish I could have known and understood the content of this book from the time I was a child. How different my life would have been! Now a seasoned missionary getting close to 60 years of age, I am beginning my journey--a journey I've longed for since childhood--of living in the knowledge that my Abba is fond of me. I have a lot of wrong thinking to overcome, but oh the joys in the moments when I know that I am precious to Him personally, not just as a speck in the sea of humanity.
Carlayn by email
Confirming. That's the word I'd use to describe So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. The message of the book made its way into my heart eight years ago from other resources and since then I've been so incredibly unsatisfied with church as an institution. Still, I go to church out of obligation (I'm told I'm supposed to), pride (if I don't, people will think I'm backsliding), and I now realize fear (how will I connect with other believers?). The last is the most ironic as our family goes to a small church up the road and my husband and I have absolutely no fellowship with anyone there (and we've been there two years!). I know if our family chooses to follow Jesus freely with no confines of an institution our Christian family, friends, and acquaintances will think we're absolutely nuts. This got me thinking about persecution in the Bible and how my belief system is already questioned by mainstream believers. Now they'll be even more perplexed. I wonder if a great many of those verses really talk about Christians being persecuted by other Christians, not necessarily unbelievers.
Chuck in Pennsylvania
I want to thank you for writing such an insightful and powerful article, Bait and Switch, that hits the nail on the cross.
Shean in Alabama
I wanted to especially thank you for you. Father has placed you in a more visible spot before America and beyond, which has increased your workload quite a bit I'm sure, yet you haven't changed your basic nature of being a brother to Christ's followers all around the world. Your voice of freedom in Christ rings loudly and your sacrificing of your time to be a blessing refreshing. So, once again, thank you Wayne and Sara for sharing your lives unashamedly with the world.
Shannon in Colorado
He Loves Me came to me when I needed God's love the most...I was at the end of myself, my religion and didn't like the God I was taught to believe in. I asked Him to show me who He really is--to sweep out all the lies and start over. Along came your book and God used it to reveal His great love for me. I have not been the same since.
Devin by blog comment
I cannot tell you how many pastors/former pastors I have passed your stuff on to and the healing it has brought. Wayne, your "Transition" series has utterly changed my perception of Jesus, the cross, and guilt. I have worked in the church for 4 years and have been almost completely burnt out... and in desperation reached out to some friends who I had tagged as having "flaked out" or burnt our or lost sight of the church and was shocked to see the huge world that they had to offer - one of grace!
Stacy by email
Your book So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore was on my reading list for over a year before I was brave enough to read it. I didn't want to be given more ammunition for not going to "church" nor did I want to be guilted into going to "church." Your words didn't provide me with an argument for either. It just made me feel a bit more sane. I am not alone in my desire to know God deeper, nor am I alone in my impatient frustration as I try to avoid the church dance. (Ironically, the more I try to avoid the church dance, the more I dance. Ugh.) That said, I still went to the service yesterday. I sat in a room of mostly strangers and listened to the pastor (an old friend of mine) say some amazingly gross stuff. I wanted to stand and scream. Thank you for seeking, for sharing, for making it OK to want more.
Jerry in Louisiana
So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore has enlightened the misconceptions I have been walking in for all but the first few weeks of my ten-year journey. As I read it, all of the reasons I resigned from being percussionist in a worship band were illustrated. Having finished the book and retrieved my jaw from the floor in an attempt to re-attach it, I just wanted to let you know that revelation of what I have been seeking has finally taken root and for the first time.
Duncan in India
I just wanted to thank you so much for your book So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. All I can say is that it has ministered more to me than any book I have read for years. I just loved the spirit of your writings - not accusing or aggressive - but just loving truth, which touched the heart. I have so far bought six copies of your book and all have been read by one or more people. Everywhere I go I am recommending your book to people who have been bruised in one way or another by an imperial system.
Nicole via email
I would just like to thank you both for sharing Jake's journey. Every review I read was true. Jake's journey left me laughing, crying and in complete awe of God's love for me and the plan yet to unfold. I look forward to exploring your websites and to furthering my own journey of trusting God and learning to live loved.
Roberto in Spain
Over the past 3-4 years the Lord has slowly but decisively brought us out of the box of organized religion. You are the latest footprint in the path. Months ago I "accidentally" ran across a reference to So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. I downloaded and devoured it immediately. Then it went to all my English-speaking friends. Then last Easter, in a gathering of folks from several cities in the south of Spain, one of the brothers asked me if I had run across your podcast and I had to say no, I had no idea about it. So, on Easter Sunday 2009 I started devouring the podcast archive and it was there that I found out about He Loves Me, and more recently, "Transition". Thank you for helping my head go where my heart has been for so long.
Julie in AZ
I just wanted to tell you how much it has meant to me being able to meet Father again for the first time through your books and testimony. I am 39 years old and have been raised in "church" all my life--saved at 8, re-baptized at 19, (I guess I thought the first one didn't stick), and was never really introduced to the Father you know until I read The Shack and then He Loves Me. It is like the foggy road I have been trying to navigate all these years has somehow turned very clear and full of hope. Thank you for listening to God allowing Him to use you to change mine forever.
Darlyne by email
Last night I found a link to your LifeStream website and I followed it. Well, what impressed me was your message to live loved. No anger. No grudges. No blaming. I just need to bask in the Father's love. Wow! You don't know how I needed to hear that. How could I have forgotten my "first love"? It is such a relief to remember where it all started for me. With the knowledge that I am loved. The Father loves me. What more could I want? What more could I share?
Craig in the Navy
I wanted to thank you for So You Don't Want to Go To Church Anymore and He Loves Me. Your books make Jesus come alive. You have really helped me deal with a lot of things in myself and the environment I am in. I am learning to lean on Father and walk with him however he leads. Just wanted to say thanks.
Jenn in Canada
He lead me into the pages of He Loves Me and I haven't been the same. The way you've described relationship with the Father is unlike anything I have ever heard or read before. It has liberated my mind and heart. I can't express my gratitude. I find myself listening to the podcasts repeatedly on my hikes in the morning. I guess when you hear your whole life, when something is too good to be true, it normally is. What I've discovered is that He is too good, but He is True...
Rod via email
I have felt so alone and almost afraid to share my thoughts and frustrations with any of my christian brethren, especially since I have been so much a cog in the big wheel of church. Your book and website have been such a blessing to me; you have no idea. It's like the elephant in the room can finally be talked about. I just realized this weekend that I have been dreading Sundays for a couple of years and now I am actually looking forward to Sundays as a time to bond ever more closely with my wife. I actually feel like I am growing in my personal faith and maybe even returning to my first love.
Walter in South Carolina
I have to thank you from the bottom of my being. Words could not begin to express my appreciation for you and for your obedience to God for writing this book, So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore. I have just finished reading within one day of getting it. I must say that the book helped me out tremendously! I have been wandering aimlessly through my Jesus walk. I have started embracing the New Testament church way of life, and started to tell those closest to me about that and that Jesus wasn't happy with the church of today and that there was a better way. They would look at me like I was a heretic! I have been told that I was unspiritual, that I was not submitting to authority, that I was hindering the work of God. You have brought under control my confusion, distaste for the church, and my questions. Wow! What an incredible way to live.
Lorie by email
We read The Shack and thus began a whole new chapter in our lives together. Then we found you and Brad on The God Journey and have appreciated the further fullness of the Father in our lives through your podcasts. When I read the little info recommending your book, He Loves Me, I thought, once again, "Well, I know He Loves Me, so I'm not sure the book is for me at this time." But after several weeks, I decided to go ahead and order it since we've appreciated the podcasts, as well as your input to The Shack - maybe there would be a nugget or two in this other book, too. Well... I had NO IDEA the effect your book would have on my husband!! Of course, I've received a lot of truth from it as well, but it has been a great challenge and food for thought for him. I have spoken to him time and again (and then some!) of his need to really come to a place of KNOWING that he is loved by the Father. He would always say he knew that he was loved, but I think it was just from the mind. God is stripping away the old layers that have overshadowed almost every aspect of my husband's relationship with the Father and with people in general, and especially with regards to fellow believers. It is truly amazing and wonderful. What I have shared here doesn't even begin to describe the wonderful changes that have taken place, and continue to take place.
Julie in Florida
My husband bought, "So You Don't want to Go To Church Anymore for me". He truly bought it as a joke. I have said that line in tears many many times. I thought I was going nuts. It turned out that it was a great book. I look to see what else you have written and I started reading "He Loves Me!". YOU ROCK! My husband is reading it and I have told many people about it. My husband said to me today how good that book is. He said I finally get what you have been saying to me all these years. What freedom. I feel closer to God then I have ever felt and I am doing nothing different. I am just accepting his love.
Michael in Texas
I just finished "He Loves Me!" Thank you for helping me to get a clearer look at my Lord. For helping me strip away all that the enemy has put between me and my Father. And thank you for doing it with scripture (my litmus test) and not just opinion. THAT was what drove it home for me...when I read those scriptures in a slightly different light. It reminds me of how we can so easily misinterpret emails...because we cannot see the sender or hear the tone or inflection in their voice. We seem to do the same with the Word...and it doesn't help that we've already been indoctrinated to view it in a somewhat negative way.
JC in Canada
After reading The Shack and He Loves Me I found myself hoping deeply and wishing hard that the God described in those books was really what our God was like...I cried buckets of tears as I read ...This is the God that I would like to think I fell in love with years ago. I believe the LORD led me to these books and your podcast because I had believed lies about Him for all of my 46 years. I felt like the light bulb finally came on, after all these years....I felt like I just woke up from dreaming, and the dream wasn't that good. I cannot put into words what this process has meant to me.....I was blind, but now I see.... I was asleep, but now I'm awake..... I was lied to, but now I know the truth....