Behind the Scenes

I just have some quick notes to let you in on here since many of you have been asking and praying about Sara and what we’re up to this fall.

First, for those interested I’m going to be on The Vince Coakley Radio show tomorrow morning (Friday) at 11:05 Eastern Daylight Time (8:05 PDT) that airs in Greenville, South Carolina on WORD 106.3. Vince is a good friend of mine and has asked me to talk about The Nashville Statement that came out last week and my response to it that caused no small stir on my web page.  You can find out more about the show here, and if you want to listen in you can stream it live using the button at the top right of that page.  You’ve got to listen when it airs; there is no podcast posted later. Sorry.

Also, next week my wife, Sara, will be having hip-replacement surgery at UCLA Medical Center. This has been a long year for her with a number of medical challenges that have hampered her from many of the things she enjoys. Over the last year we have tried every other option and honestly feel this is our next step. We don’t need medical advice and know a number of people who have enjoyed the benefits of this surgery.  We would appreciate your prayers as she goes through this and I will be taking the time to nurse her through the recovery.

There will be new podcasts this Friday and next, though the rest of my pages may be quiet during this time.  Our friends in Pokot can use your help as they are learning to farm their own crops around the wells we drilled them. Remember these tribes have been nomadic for centuries, and are only now learning to grow crops instead of scavenging for food wherever they can.

After this, who knows where the Lord will lead us. If she recovers well from surgery I am planning on being in France and Belgium at the end of October, and though I have other trips to consider, I’m not confirming that or scheduling anything further until we get through surgery. This should give me some time to write and finish up a few things around here.

When I was a little boy our family always vacationed in the Sierra Nevada mountains above Fresno. No place on earth rejuvenates my heart and soul as much as some time spent in the pines, alpine lakes, and rocky outcroppings of the Sierras. That’s where we are headed today to visit my dad and to enjoy a two-week vacation. Some of that will be with our extended family who will join us for a week, and some of that will be Sara and I just relaxing together. This past year has been brutal physically for us. I’ve undergone two surgeries and Sara one. And Sara will have one more in the next month or so. She has been in constant pain since last year at this time and we’re hopeful that hip-replacement surgery will soon provide the relief she needs. It seems we’ve spent most of the last year in hospitals or in recovery, or in my case being on the road to the midwest, east coast, and most recently South Africa.

So you can expect these pages to be quiet for the next few weeks.  After I get home I’ll be helping my son move to Denver where he’s taken a new job at the University of Denver, and it happens to coincide with the solar eclipse in late August. You can also expect me to get hopelessly behind on my email, so it might be best not to write me until August 15 if you need an intelligent answer.  At the end of the month I’ll be in Amarillo, TX. I’m not sure where else I’ll end up this fall. There’s talk of going to North Carolina and possibly to France, but we’ve got to get Sara’s surgery sorted out first, and then I’ll be announcing what other travel I’ll be able to get in this year.

However, during this time book orders will still go out, since we have people covering that for us.

Until then…

• You might think about our friends in Pokot and possibly share some of your resource to help them.
• Until August 15, grab a free copy of John Langford’s, Living Beyond the Borders,
• Or take a look at the latest read in the Phenomenon of the Dones series: Do You Need A Covering? 

Blessings and love to al our friends around the world,

We will no longer be selling CDs of Wayne’s audio teachings here at Lifestream. Over the years the income we have derived from these sales has helped us pay for our websites and some of our other projects in the world, but the time of CD audio is passing so we’re going to discontinue the infrastructure we’ve needed to keep this going.

You can access the free recordings on-line here.

So beginning today the audio teachings we think are the most helpful will be joining the free side of our website. You can listen to them online, or download them to include in your mp3 player. We will not continue to make and sell CDs.  However, for those who would prefer a CD, we are having a close-out sale of those remaining in stock. If you would like to have them, you’ll need to write to our office and let us know which ones you want. We will be selling them at half-price, plus postage.  Because supply is limited you’ll need to claim yours by writing Sara (office@lifestream.org) and she will let you know if they are still in stock, and what the cost will be including shipping.  Then you can go to our On-line Giving Page and pay for your order there.

• Transition (8 CDs)
• Combo Book Disc (1 mp3 disc) HE LOVES ME and SO YOU DON’T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH ANYMORE in mp3 files with Wayne reading
• Heart of Relational Church Life (4 CD)
• Letting Jesus Perfect Your Faith (4 CD)
• Letting Jesus Take Shape in You (4 CD)
• Living in Father’s Delight (4 CD)
• Abiding in the Vine (1 CD)
• Seasons of the Vineyard (4 CD)
• Essentials of the Journey (4 CD)
• Finding Your Place in the Body  (4 CD)
• Get real! Get Free! Get Holy!  (3 CD)
• Living in God’s Reality  (4 CD)
• Living in His Kingdom  (4 CD)
• Power of the Cross  (4 CD)
• Security of Father’s Love  (4 CD)
•  Sharing the journey (2 CD)
• Thinking Outside the Box (4 CD)
• Will the Real You Please Stand Up  (3 CD)
• Superdisc (mp3 files of all audio recordings)

When these are gone, they’re gone. We’re not going to be printing any more CDs. I remember when we stopped audio cassettes, and now CDs…. Technology just keeps shifting. Downloadable audio is so much easier, and now it’s free as our gift from Lifestream!

The book on the left is one of the first copies of Finding Church in French. The man on the right is my good friend Silvio Viotti who translated the work as he as done with many of my other books.  He has done all this as a labor of love simply to make these works available to the French-speaking world. Thank you, Silvio, for your service to the Gospel in this way. I hear from so many who are touched by the availability of these books in French.

The evangelical community in France is incredibly small and those looking outside the borders of the traditional congregation are even smaller. So these don’t sell in great quantities there, but they do provide some encouragement to those who are learning to live more freely in the life of Jesus.

Sara and I have been with Silvio and his wife Dominique many times over the past decade. We met them first at their home in Switzerland, but have also enjoyed their company in the U.S., Ireland, England, France, Israel, and Italy. I’m so happy that this project is finally done.

If you know anyone who wants FINDING CHURCH in French, they can find it here.  It is only €4,50 for a copy. (They also have He Loves Me as Il M’aime! and So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore as Alors tu ne veux plus aller à l’église?)

It is also available in German, Dutch, and Spanish as Encontrando a la Iglesia in free PDF Download.  You can find links to all our international translations here.

In addition to the original book in English, it is also available by audio through Audibles and iTunes. Also, there are a number of us doing a study through Finding Church, just about to start Chapter 15 at the Lifestream Discussion Forum.  You can join us where we are or start back at the beginning.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the book:

The church of the new creation is more like wildflowers strewn across an alpine meadow than a walled garden with manicured hedges. I realize such a seemingly amorphous view of the church will make many nervous, especially those who think it their God-given duty to manage a group of people on his behalf or else the church can’t exist. But it can. And I’m not advocating for the isolated, everyone-is-a-church-to-themselves idea. The church takes her expression in relationships we have with others who are also following him—local friendships as well as international connections that he knits together.

I’m not sure what I’m getting into here, but I was invited by Bill Hale to appear on his radio show on the Liberty Works Radio Network this afternoon, starting at 1:00 Pacific Time (4:00 Eastern). They wanted to talk about my life, The Shack, and my past work with Bridgebuilders, so it should be a wide-ranging conversation. They asked if it was OK to get into some controversial stuff, and I told them it was fine with me. So I have no idea where this will go. You can listen along here if you like.

But first, this morning, I’m doing some recording with Brad for future shows of The God Journey. So I will be doing my share of talking today.

We’ve been inundated with orders for He Loves Me after reducing the price to $9.00 for those who wanted copies. That will continue for another week if you want to get in on it. I’ve also had many people write me to let me know that So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore was their favorite book, so maybe we’ll have to do something there down the road. I’m always glad to get these books out further in the world and help others discover the joy of a living relationship with a gracious Abba.

No, it doesn’t seem possible.  Forty-two years ago this week, Sara and I were married and thus began an adventure that has exceeded both our expectations and in this season of our lives brings us great joy and support through the twists and turns of life.

Who would have thought? We’ve had many friends not make it this far, who  have been deeply hurt as the life-long marriage they thought they were in came unraveled with pain and heartbreak. We’ve known those whose spouses have passed away at far younger ages. Our hearts go out to all of them. A long-term marriage is nothing to boast about; it is its own reward. We don’t think we’re anything special to get along this far and have been through some of the intense struggles that sometimes shipwrecks good relationships. I’m just grateful we’ve both had the strength to stay true to the promises we made to each other, that we keep finding our way to mutual love and respect even though we are built very differently and have differing tastes in so many things. In fact this longevity feels like a whole lot of grace. The joy has been in learning how to lay down our lives for the other and love more deeply at each unfolding season of our lives.

This week we are taking some time just to be together and to enjoy the fruits of Father’s work in our relationship. While I have amazing friends all over the world there is no one I’d rather be with than Sara. She is far and away my best friend. I love our laughter, conversations, and even though we know so much about the other we can still be surprised when something unexpected pops out. I always look forward to an extended time for just the two of us to be together and celebrate the love that continues to grow between us.

However, since this is a two-horse operation most of the time, that means we’ll close the office until Monday, May 21 and apologize for an inconvenience that may cause you with book orders or travel invitations. You see, none of this happens without Sara. She is truly the unsung hero of Lifestream, Kenya, the God Journey, and everything else that goes on around here. She is the office manager and detail person. Without her I couldn’t do what I do in writing, podcasting, or traveling. Every time I travel I leave with her blessing because of what she gives up in our time together so that others can be enriched in the world. I love it when people acknowledge the price Sara pays when I’m out of town. I couldn’t go out as often if she wasn’t so committed to the work we do in the world and so capable of handling all things Jacobsen while I’m gone and does it with such grace and joy. While that means some lonely nights for her, she is fully on board with any trip I take, or I don’t take it.

When people ask why Sara doesn’t travel with me all the time, the answer is it is not as much her calling as it is mine. She has traveled with me a lot, but being more introverted a day of conversation with new people completely wears her out and she will need a couple of days to recover. Me?  Not so much. I can keep going for two weeks or so in conversations that span almost the entire day and with multiple groups. Though Sara is welcome to come with me any time she wants, I am able to give myself far more to the people I’m with if she’s home taking care of the rest of our lives. It’s not easy doing what I do and when she has the grace for it she comes. If not, I’d rather have her here at home with the family, dogs, and garden she loves. And when I get to be home, she is great at really being present with me.  Also Sara has some health issues now and diet restrictions that make it very difficult to travel and she hates to inconvenience others who would need to accommodate those. I know most wouldn’t mind just to have Sara there, but it is hard on her. We’re still hopeful that some of this will improve in the months to come.  That’s our prayer, anyway.

I always told Sara that my calling didn’t have to be hers. She’s my wife, and what we share together is incredibly special, and all the more because our absences really do make the heart grow fonder.

So if you can hold that correspondence you’re dying to have with me until next week, we’d appreciate it.

This week I was back on the set of A Christian and A Muslim Walk into a Studio for a conversation with Bob and Ermza about the Law and how Jews, Christians, and Muslims look at this differently.  The episode is called A Follow-up Conversation With Wayne Jacobsen. I loved the conversation and think we not only unpacked things we view in common, but also the differences we have between us. One of the most revealing aspects for me is how Muslims view the Bible in line with the Quran.  Their final revelation from God comes in that book, and thus they judge everything in the Old Testament and New Testament by how it is interpreted in that book. Thus, they don’t have a lot of regard for Paul’s teaching and why they end up seeking to attain grace through law.  It’s a fascinating discussion and one that also reveals how much hope Muslims put in mercy and compassion as well.  It’s also lengthy… about an hour and twenty-two minutes.  What can I say? We were exploring some big issues.

Also, I recorded a podcast a few months ago with Jared Gustafson that is just airing now on New Nature’s Podcast.  It’s called Slinging Freedom Everywhere with Wayne Jacobsen.  We talk about moving from religious obligation to an intimate and transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. We talk about how to embrace the dynamics of a growing relationship over trying to conform ourselves to God’s expectations by our own will and performance.  I hope you find it helpful. It’s shorter, only 48 minutes.

Just when I thought I’d survived my birthday and was getting back to a more normal routine, a medical emergency again intervened. I woke up on March 22 in the middle of the night with severe abdominal pain. Thinking it was food poisoning from the night before I tried to ride it out. By 5:30 am, I knew that wasn’t possible and woke up Sara to head for the Emergency Room. Being so close to my heart surgery, the doctors’ first concern was that summon the sac around my heart had either ruptured or become infected. Early tests indicated otherwise, which sent them down another track. After two days of testing the discovered that I needed my gall bladder removed, which was done on Friday morning by laparoscopic surgery that took four different small incisions to do the deed. I returned home later that afternoon to begin recovery.

Again.

Welcome to my life! What a crazy four months it has been since my last surgery, recovery, two-week trip to Jordan and Israel, back for THE SHACK opening and then quick trips to Wyoming and Montana. I thought I was getting my groove back. In fact, I had finally scheduled the make-up trip that my heart surgery cancelled, to Michigan and Wisconsin at the end of April and early May.

I just got a call from the hospital doctor that the biopsy showed no bacteria and no malignancies, so I’m grateful for that. But honestly, I’d rather be in Vermont tonight, which was my original plan than sitting home nursing a very sore abdomen. I was supposed to be on the east coast between Boston and Baltimore with lots of people I was looking forward to seeing. It’s hard to be on the bench again, or should I say couch and I am feeling a bit too badly at the moment to even make use of the time to write. Hopefully that will change by the end of the week. And guess what, I’ve got to start walking again for a couple of weeks until more strenuous activity is allowed.

There are times when things like this come up and I can see how God wonderfully spins these things together. Even my heart surgery with its cancellations seemed important to take care of a congenital need I had and the fact that it didn’t keep me from the Israel trip was a bonus. This last week, however, has seemed more like an attack of some kind, as if the enemy thwarted something God was about. That happens too. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about his attempt to visit them again, “For we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, more than once — and yet Satan thwarted us.” I don’t know that it was Satan in my case. I’m sure a lessor demon would have done, but I’ve been feeling a bit robbed this week.

Oh, we’ll reschedule the time back east, already looking to nail down early June, but it’s more than that. And will God make better use of Plan B? Of course he will. He’s just like that. But that doesn’t mean that his way always unfolds without conflict. That’s why he calls us to be faithful stewards, praying and responding as we are able.

and praying for others too. One of the hardest things to do with growing trust in Father’s affection is not to become fatalistic, and assume that whatever happens is what God wants. There are two kingdoms at war around us. Sometimes because of the obedience and prayers of the saints Father’s will happens, and sometimes the enemy has his way. I have greatly appreciated all those who have written my through this second surgery with prayers for my recovery. Also pray for God’s will to unfold in the places he wants to send me these days. I don’t claim to know for sure, but there seems to be some resistance.

And I know that while we may not win every battle, we do win the war. Victory is guaranteed, I only want to ensure that my heart is yielding every day his lead and that I am brimming full of his life and power.

And I pray that for you, too!

Please note: This trip has been postponed due to unexpected surgery.

This week I head for the East Coast with a weekend near Boston before I head over to Milbury, MA and then up into northern Vermont.  I’ll finish the trip with stops in Lancaster, PA, Hagerstown, MD and then have a weekend in Sykesville, MD through April 2. This is a great mix of old friends and new people to discuss the journey with.

I will also be doing a live appearance on a panel for Moody Radio’s Up For Debate radio show on Saturday, March 25 from 11:00 am – 12:00 noon about whether or not we should take our theology from books or movies like THE SHACK.  You can listen to it on line if you want.  I did one with them a year ago on church attendance. That should be fun. And then Brad and I are doing an appearance at USC to engage some college students about the movie on April 19.

Then I’ll finally pull off my make-up trip to Wisconsin and Michigan at the end of April and the beginning of May. This is the trip I had to cancel when my doctors rushed me into open-heart surgery the day before I was supposed to leave in November.  I’m glad to have it re-scheduled.

And then I’m headed to South Africa at the end of June and beginning of July. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, so I am going to crawl on that 19-hour jet ride to go do a YWAM DTS there and to visit those who’ve enjoyed my books and podcast.

You can get all my travel details on my Travel Page.  If you’re nearby, I’d love to have the chance to meet you.

From the New York Premiere of The Shack movie, to our own home-town opening of the movie with 250 people who flew in and drove in to watch the movie with Brad and me, it was a wild week. It was fun to see so many people who have been God Journey listeners and Lifestream readers and see the work God has been doing in their lives. I’ll post some pictures at the bottom to capture some of the flavors of the weekend here in Thousand Oaks.

As fun as all this has been however, I’ll be glad when all the hoopla settles down and the star of the show isn’t the movie, the actors, Lionsgate, Paul Young, Wayne Jacobsen or Brad Cummings, but God himself.  That was the joy of the book, seeing how God used this story to invite people out of the places they may have gotten stuck into a more compelling relationship with him based on his love and his work, not our own efforts.

It is already doing that. Here are just a few of the emails I got over the weekend as people were seeing the movie all over the country.  (And my apologies to those frustrated readers from other countries who cannot see the movie yet. I ‘m so sorry.  Your turn is coming!)

From a mother in Nashville: My 19 year old son saw it last night. He said “all I can say Mom is Wow! I feel better from just seeing that movie. I just want to hug you!” I don’t know what all God is doing in his heart…  But He has used you and this movie already!!! Can’t wait to see it tomorrow!!!’

Marlowe: Such a POWERFUL movie for anyone who has ever suffered heartache, and struggled to move forward… or wrestled with “why the pain?”… or longed for a closer relationship with God. If you can relate, RUN, don’t walk, to The Shack!!!

Chris: Just saw The Shack with my wife all I can say is wow, so powerful. Broke my heart and put it back together again, it’s life changing.

Jennifer: I’m sitting in the theater parking lot after my 2nd time of seeing it. It was even more amazing than the first. I was a complete movie nerd taking notes because some quotes I do not want to forget.

John: Just wanted to tell you thank you for all you have done. This movie bears your language and words and poetry and love in Christ. During the movie people in voluntarily were calling out. Thank you for all you have done without fanfare or attention.

Loren: Took my family to see The Shack tonight. I did my best to put on my critic hat and leave my personal bias for it at home. My take on it is best summed up by a Darth Vader line, “Impressive! Most impressive!” It was far better than I expected it to be. I haven’t cried like that in the theater since I was ten years old and saw E.T. Plus it was super cool seeing Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings names pop up on the first end credit. I’ve never seen a wide release movie in the theater in which the name of someone I know shows up on the screen. I got so caught up in the movie it actually caught me off guard when their names popped up. That was fun! Great job guys! All the actors were fantastic and overall the movie was great! Totally worth seeing!

Now I’m up in Wyoming and Montana helping some others process this story before I head to the east coast (Boston and Baltimore) at the end of March.

Oh, and here are the pictures I promised

Sara registering people for the movie

Brad and I interacting with the audience after the show

Even the grandkids showed up for the After Party, though two of them didn’t see the movie

Brad and I sharing the story at the After Party

Our celebration cake at the open house the following day