We finished the conference in Kitale this morning, and had excellent interactions with nearly 300 church leaders about living loved and loving others. By their questions and comments it was clear that God was giving them insight into these things even as many of them realized that this is a major shift in how their world understands God and that most people might prefer the illusion of safety religion gives, to the wild danger of living in the love of the Father. Man, I so remember being there.

But coming alive in these things is not a quick process. Remember, Paul spent 17 years out learning from God before he started teaching others how to live this journey. It must be something we live first before we can ever help others see it. But I greatly admire the faith and resolve with which these people live. They are not like many of our congregations at home that live for their own amusement. In the overwhelming need of the people, they give themselves away to care for the poor, the widows and the orphans. I am amazed at their heart for God, even if they have only known religious ways of applying it. Perhaps God will open a door.

Last night we met some brothers who drove up 9 hours to visit with Kent and I. Johnny and Kate Brooks from Texas are living full-time in Kenya running some orphanages and caring for the poor just as God’s people in the earth. They are not part of any mission and are not planting a church in the traditional sense. They are living out missions from a relational context, simply loving people freely, meeting whatever needs they can, and for those who want to know the God they love, they help equip them. Kent and I have corresponded with them through email, but this was the first chance we had to cross paths. Johnny came up with two of the brothers he works with and will be here the next couple of days. We love what they are doing and how the grace of God is touching Kenya through their lives. If you’re looking for something on the mission field to bless check out their website.

I love that so many of you are praying for us. Much appreciated. Thanks for the encouraging notes. If I don’t answer them at all, nor not real quickly, please know that our time here with email and with the Internet is very limited. Please be patient and if you can hold emails that need a response until I get home on March 4. Thanks….

Touring Nairobi on Day 1

Kent and I arrived Monday night and are settling in to our two-week visit to Kenya. We spent the first day getting to know some of the people that planned for our coming and mapping out what was ahead. Then they gave us a tour of Nairobi. That’s them above hanging out with me in the city center. Unfortunately Kent took the photo so he’s not in it.

Then we took a flight north to Eldoret, and then a three-hour, sixty-mile drive, that would be impossible to describe here) up to Kitale. Let’s just say it had its scary and risky moments with the traffic, a very rough road, the pedestrians and some malfunctioning equipment on the vehicle. Needless to say Kent and I had some great laughs.

Now we are in the middle of our first conference here in Kitale, and hundreds of their church leaders have come from all over Kenya and some from Uganda to hear about living loved. I am working through an interpreter, which is always a bit more difficult, but I think the message is getting through. Let’s say I’m seeing just about the right amount of people really excited to hear it and some who look like they are deeply concerned that I might be a heretic. The grace and freedom of love sure runs counter to our religious sensibilities and things we think we’re supposed to do for God. But the questions they are asking tell me they are sorting through it. I’m grateful for that.

Unfortunately we’re not having a lot of personal contact with the participants due to language barriers and the way this was set up to deal with some harsh realities of Kenyan life. But I think God is having his way in spite of the limitations. One highlight was hearing from a group of ladies who lost husbands in the tribal violence two years ago. They saw their husbands beheaded and then were forced to carry their husband’s head on a stick through the village. Unbelievable! They sang with passion and joy about the Lord Jesus and the power of forgiveness. The people those areas that were affected by violence are working to bring together people from both sides of the conflict and build relationships they hope will prevent this from happening again should the political coalition collapse. It is still a great concern in this region.

Internet availability is very difficult here. I’m not sure we’ll be able to post very often, so this may be it for awhile, and I don’t even know when I’m going to be near enough an Internet connection to post this. Pray for us if God brings us to mind. We know many of you already are, and we’re incredibly grateful. There is much that makes this trip extremely difficult and I think the enemy has had no small hand in some of what we’re dealing with in the details of this trip and some of the realities of this culture.

We were finally able to secure the audio from the marriage seminar that Sara and I conducted a few weeks ago in Pennsylvania, and have added it to the website for free download. The audio quality was not sufficient for us to print out CDs of this presentation, and we apologize for that. But for those who want to listen, they can find that sharing in our Audio Library.

Living Loved In Marriage

Wayne and Sara share from their 35 years of marriage and how they’ve found a way to grow closer together through the twists and turns of life and each other’s journey. I think many women (and men) will deeply benefit from the story behind Sara’s transition 15 years ago and how it has shaped our life since.

(Recorded at the Christian Life Center in New London, PA. The audio has some flaws in it, which are in the original master. We apologize for the problems, but knew many people wanted to hear us share this part of our journey. You can listen on-line by clicking the link below. Once there, you can also download the audio to your computer for listening later, if you so wish.)

Session #1: Only And Always: The Growing Endearment of a Life Live Loved
Session #2: Finding Our Way to Us: Unity Where We Don’t Agree

Listen to these sessions now

The brothers and sisters who have been praying for our upcoming trip.

On Sunday I head for Kenya to gather with group of brothers and sisters I’ve written a lot about over the last two years. Kent Burgess, a good friend from the St. Louis area will be going with me. We have no idea what will unfold in these days together, but I did get my schedule today, so if you want to keep us in your prayers while we’re there, here’s what we’ll be doing. Kenya is 11 hours ahead of the Pacific time zone, and 8 hours ahead of the east coast of the U.S.

MONDAY 2/15/2010 – Arrive in Nairobi

TUESDAY 2/16/2010 – Nairobi during the day and flight to Kitale in the evening

WEDNESDAY 2/17/2010 – KITALE CONFERENCE BEGINS
11:00 – 1:00pm – Start of the 1st section of the conference.
1:00pm – 2:30pm – Lunch break
2:30pm – 5:00pm – Second section
5:00pm – Break for supper – End of day 1

THURSDAY 2/18/2010
9:30am – 11:30am Start of 1st Section
11:30am to 11:40am – Break
11:40am – 1:00pm and 2nd Section
1:00pm – 2:30pm – Lunch break
2:30pm – 3:30pm – 3rd Section
3:40pm – 3:40 – Break
3:40pm – 5:00pm – 4th Section
5:00pm – Break for supper . End of day 2

FRIDAY 2/19/2010
9:30am – 11:00am – 1st Section
11:30am – 11:40am – Break
11:40am – 1:00pm – 2nd Section
1:00pm – 2:30pm – lunch break
2:30pm – 3:30pm – 3rd Section
3:30pm – 3:40 Break
3:40pm – 5:00pm – 4th Section

SATURDAY 2/20/2010
9:00am – 11:00am – 1st Section
11:00am – 11:10 am – Break
11:10 am – 12:00 pm – 2nd Section
12:10pm –n 12:20pm – Entertainment
12:20pm – 1:30pm – Introduction of IGEM representatives giving of votes of thanks.
1:30pm – Lunch.
End of Kitale Conference
4:00 – 5:30pm – Visiting one of the slums called Bosnia Community

SUNDAY 2/21/2010
You will be having a fellowship in different places.

MONDAY 2/22/2010
9:00am – 12:00 pm – Free time and lunch
2:00pm – Departure form Kitale to Western which is a 3hrs drive.
7:00pm – 8:00pm – Supper time

TUESDAY 2/23/2010 – 27/2/2010 Noon – WESTERN REGION CONFERENCE BEGINS
We shall be following the last time table.
DAILY: 9:30am – 11:00am – 1st Section
11:30am – 11:40am – Break
11:40am – 1:00pm – 2nd Section
1:00pm – 2:30pm – lunch break
2:30pm – 3:30pm – 3rd Section
3:30pm – 3:40 Break
3:40pm – 5:00pm – 4th Section

SUNDAY 28TH/2/2010
The whole team will be in Southern region for Sunday gathering fellowship at one place called Chwele.
You will spend you night at Bro. Michael’s home at Mukuyuni where there is a branch of children home called Christ Hope Children Care Center.

MONDAY 3/1/2010
9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Meeting the IGEM leaders which includes IGEM leaders from Uganda.
1:00pm departure to Eldoret where you will spend your night.
4:00pm – 4:30pm Eldoret IGEM members team
4:30pm – 5:30pm – Hills School Slum where you will meet orphans, widows who are infected.

TUESDAY 3/02/2010
9:00am – Departure to the airport

You can tell you’ve stopped cherishing your spouse when the little quirks that endeared you to him or her in the first place become annoying. The problem lies not within the spouse.

Just in case you haven’t already become sick of hearing my voice, I thought I’d list a couple of new recordings that were put on the web this week.

For those who want to hear the presentation I did for the Sunday morning services last week of a Presbyterian congregation in New London, PA, you can listen to it here. This was a conversation that I did with their pastor sitting at a table in front of the congregation. He’d never done anything like that and yet we both really enjoyed it.

For those who want to hear a recent podcast I did with the brothers at Family Room Media in Sacramento, you can listen to it here.

And, of course, as with most Fridays there’s a new podcast over at The God Journey. This one is about continuing to live in our first love.

Sara and I are back from Pennsylvania, and a weekend with a bunch of Presbyterians. We had an amazing time with some amazing conversations about living loved and how all the religious noise can get in the way of that. We were there for a marriage retreat, with Sara and I sharing a couple of sessions. Being up front is not Sara’s comfort zone, but her story had a profound impact on a number of folks there, especially some of the women.

It was a pretty honest time about our own journey and our hopes in marriage. It was taped and I’m hoping to put that in the audio library when we get some copies or a link to their site. They also asked me to stay over for three Sunday morning services. Did that bring back some memories! But instead of teaching their pastor and I sat at a table and talked about the challenge to live inside a relationship with Jesus and how some of the religious elements of Christianity do more to undermine that reality than support it. That was pretty cool and the people seemed to eat it up. That was so much more fun than giving a lecture, and I think had much more impact as well. The pastor told me later that CDs ordered after the service was off the charts.

I also want to share some quotes with you. Chalk this up to finding truth in the strangest of places. And I mean really strange.

A few months ago I read a book called Beautiful Lies. It caught my eye in a bookstore and I thought it might be an interesting mystery to read when I needed an escapist novel, like when I’m pounding that exercise bike. I can’t tell you that I love the book. Parts of it were interesting, other parts were more graphic than I enjoy, and a lot of it is more girlie than I want in a mystery, but I paid for it so I was determined to read it. But there were some magnificent observations in there that transcended the plot line of this book and have come to mind often sense. I thought I’d share them here:

When you love someone, it doesn’t really matter if they love you back or not. Having love in your heart for someone is its own reward. Or punishment, depending on the circumstances. (p.51)

Nobody likes people who speak a truth you’re not prepared to hear. (p. 132)

Isn’t it just like a man to pretend that trying to control you is the same as trying to protect you? (p. 134) (I don’t know that women get a pass on this experience either!)

Tomorrow morning early Sara and I leave for New London, PA, to spend the weekend with a Presbyterian fellowship that has been reading some of my books and wanted me to visit. This is not my usual venue, to be sure, but their hunger drew our hearts to spend some time with them. We’ll be doing a Friday night conversation, a marriage seminar on Saturday, and then sharing Sunday morning. Lots of folks from other places are joining in, including a couple flying in from Spain. Should be an interesting weekend.

As I go, I wanted to leave you with this. I received this email yesterday, and talk about an email that can make an entire day, this is it! I’m thrilled at how this young lady has responded to the books, and even more grateful that they helped rescue her from sliding into the hard legalism of religious obligation. I’ve withheld her name and location because of her age, but how could anyone not be touched by God’s working in this young life.

It reminded me of an email I got some years ago from a man reading He Loves Me to his ninety year-old father on his death bed. He told me that his father came to understand the Father’s love one hour before he slipped into eternity. All if it makes me rejoice that God is making his heart known to all of us—from the youngest to the oldest.

Hi, I’m 13 years old. I want to thank you soooooooo much for your books, He Loves Me! and So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore, and especially for He Loves Me! It’s the most awesome book EVER! A good friend of mine said it was a good book, a really good book, then gave it to me in ’09 for Christmas. I thought I would read it every once-in-a-while because I was still finishing another book. As I read the first chapter, I found myself reading it every chance I got!! Before I knew it, 2 or 3 weeks later I got to chapter 23.

I was reading it with two other friends (one was reading it for the second time). We saw each other every Sunday, and shared our favorite quotes from it. We were amazed at how much God was using this book in soooooooooooooooo many amazing ways! Thank you!

This book meant so very much to me because in the last 4 months I felt guilty about every wrong thing I did. I felt like I had to drown myself in guilt to make Father accept me. I just couldn’t grasp the fact that He just loved me, regardless of who I was or what I did. I felt like I had to make up for all those mistakes, and that God must NOT be bigger than all of them. It wasn’t any major things, only things like wrong thoughts, believing lies, saying the wrong things, not loving others, looking for satisfaction in things that could never give me that, and just struggling, I guess. I felt so guilty! I don’t know. But I struggled in these things again, and again. I couldn’t see Father anywhere in the middle of all this.

I had gotten so caught up in the do’s and don’t’s that I had this thirst to know the God–that maybe did love me. I just couldn’t seem to tell at the time. Then I read your book, it got me right at the right time. As soon as I saw the cover, I thought : “That little girl looks so content. She looks loved. Oh! I want that!!” I read it, and one day God showed me in a special way how much He really loved me. I felt so free for at least a few days– but then the lies only came back. My dearest friends could tell me they weren’t true, but I just couldn’t believe them. I’m learning that it’s only Jesus who can free me of the guilt, lies, and the shame. I’m now on that journey you talked about in So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. By the way–thank you soooooo much for that book too, it’s shown me how far religion goes–or doesn’t go!

So that’s my story. I lived for about 4 months unloved, to the extreme, and then I read your book. Father is working in amazing ways through it!! Thanks for caring about people like me, people who are longing to be free. It means so much. Thanks for caring! Thanks for your book! I’ve told so many people about it, and currently have 3 copies (of He Loves Me!). One’s mine, another is for another great friend, and the other I’m lending out because it’s my lend-out book. Thank you again for your openness and love for Father.

Someone sent me this link today and I was met with an incredibly inspiring movie of how believing a lie can devour our lives, and discovering the truth can transform even the most painful circumstances: The Butterfly Circus

I have no idea who is behind this, or what their intended meaning was. I can’t imagine that it wasn’t a redemptive portrayal. At least that’s how it resonated with me. This touched me far more than Avatar, for which I paid far more.

ADDED NOTE: I guess I do know these people. Just found out from Brad, my partner over at The God Journey that he is involved with the folks who made this movie and they are dear brothers and sisters with a passion to tell powerful stories of God’s work in the world. So, for those of you who think Brad and I share everything with each other, it’s pretty clear we don’t. I had never heard of this before today and am so blessed to find out that I’m only one degree of separation away from those involved… How cool is that?

The brothers and sisters who have been praying for our upcoming trip.

Many of you know that over the past two years we have been corresponding with and sending relief money to some brothers and sisters in Kenya. Over the last two years we have been able to channel about $50,000.00 into the desperate need of that country that was overrun with violence following a disputed election. My engagements with the brothers and sisters in Kenya has truly been one of the highlights of the past couple of years. Not only have they been deeply grateful for the resources we have sent, but they have also expressed a real hunger to engage a more relational way of living as the church in Kenya. They have devoured some of my books and have invited me to come and share with them firsthand how to live loved and love others. This February I’ll be spending two weeks in Kenya visiting in the northwest part of the country around the city of Kitale. I will be accompanied by a good friend, Kent Burgess of St Louis, MO. We would appreciate your prayers for our trip and the people there.

Even though their need is ongoing, they wrote me today to let me know they were praying for the people of Haiti and their devastation as well. People who know incredible scarcity have great compassion for others who face it, too.

I first became aware of these Kenyan brothers and sisters when they wrote me a couple of years ago wanting to know if I’d come to visit them in Africa. That led to a lengthy email exchange to find out how they felt I could serve them in coming. I sent them copies of my books and was surprised that they were so taken with my view of Father’s love and biblical examination of the nature of the church. The teaching caught on like wildfire among their entire community of churches and pastors. They translated some of Authentic Relationships and passed it out freely. I was blessed at very simple changes I saw them making to be more responsive to a less hierarchical structure of their group.

And, as Father would arrange it, I had a couple of people I knew traveling through Kenya and asked them to stop in and visit them and find out what they were about. I was assured by independent verification that they were who they were presenting themselves to be and that the man I was communicating with had a heart of gold and I could trust him.

Then two years ago Kenya erupted in tribal violence after a disputed election. Homes were burned, people brutally murdered, and thousands of people displaced. I wrote my new-found friend and asked if he was OK and if they needed anything. He told me he had 25 families who’d been displaced camped at his home. When I asked about sending money, he said no one had ever sent money to them before. We made the need known on this blog and my podcast audience a few times through the spring and summer.

Money we have sent has provided food for the hungry, shelter for the displaced, school tuition for students and seed money to finance new business ventures. To our joy, they not only used it for themselves, but also shared with unbelievers in need, and believers in other corners of the country that needed help as well. One of the high points of this year for me is this connection and how God has used it to build up the body of Christ, there and here. So many of have sent checks both large and small to share with our brothers and sisters in this time of need.

The need in Kenya is ongoing—more food, tuition to attend school, and helping people establish new lives that were displaced by the violence. If you have any extra to send their way, you may do so through the “Make A Donation” button on our donation page. Just make sure you let us know it is for Kenya. Every dime we receive we send directly to these brother and sisters. They are always overwhelmingly grateful for whatever they receive in these desperate times.

I want to close with a recent email from one of the key brothers there. This one is about a translation of my article, “Why I Don’t Go to Church Anymore.” And this is from the head of a large denomination that encompasses a number of countries in eastern Africa:

I would like to thank you very much. Our translation team has completed the work we decided to take only parts of “Why I Don’t Go to Church Anymore”. The message is so touching and this message will benefit thousands of Saints across Kenya,Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and some parts of Uganda. I have already send it out to Rwanda and Burundi through email. There are nine pages and we are praying if God can open a way that we may get our own photocopy machine and spiral machine and this can give us easier work to save thousands of money for photocopy. Then we will only buy photocopying papers instead of using thousands of money for photocopy. We are having around 200,000 church leaders who are in need of this material and this material will help more in rural areas, interior places and even in urban where there is misinterpretation of the word ‘church’. This message has changed totally my life and the lives of our congregation so we are praying that God will provide us with the photocopy machine that we may start immediately distributing to church leaders. I have put some copies in our offices that some leaders may photocopy. May the Lord bless you so much for what you are doing. If you may want to publish in the internet you may do so because it is so needed worldwide. We have around 39 million people Swahili speaking across East and Central Africa who can be able to read.

Corn that we purchased being prepare for distribution.

Hungry people waiting for the food to be distributed.

A group of widows who lost their husbands in the tribal violence.

Some of the orphans who are needing financial gifts for their school fees.

It will be a joy to finally meet these people face to face and see what God might do in that exchange. We will learn from what God has been doing in them, and share freely what he wants to give them through us. After corresponding for so long, it will be wonderful to finally connect face to face.