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I’m back from the heartland. Awesome time with tons of people! I’m so blessed and exhausted. I also got to go to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library in Springfield, Illinois as I pass through. That place is incredible. If you live or go anywhere near there, you might want to plan a trip to that locale. There are some awesome technical displays to help tell that story.

I also returned to a very caustic letter from an angry pastor who thinks I’m the anti-Christ for writing Why I Don’t Go to Church Anymore. He accused me of some pretty ugly stuff, in belittling terms. I’ll spare you the details. Actually, my heart really goes out to the brother. I remember feeling like he does now. He has a great passion for God, but can’t see beyond the little knothole he’s known all his life.

As I read it, it reminded me how I used to feel about truth. Somehow when you’re caught up in religion, truth seems the least desirable thing on the planet and you have to attack everything and everyone one that disagrees with you. But when you discover that the life of Jesus is the pearl of great price, you don’t have to attack anything else. Just let people know how real Jesus wants to be in them.

But I also got a letter today from a brother in Alberta, Canada. I love what he wrote:

We are discovering quite by accident that as we keep Jesus centre, He raises up folks to function in specific leadership functions when they are needed. If we need hospitality, folks with that gifting take leadership. When we need pastors, folks with those gifts take leadership. It seems Holy Spirit raises up the right gift at the right time to provide leadership for whatever He wants to accomplish. Everyone gets to play!

This drives my professional pastor friends crazy!!! “What about order? What about accountability?” “You can’t build a church like that!”. That’s my point exactly! We don’t build the Church—Jesus does. When you don’t have something to build, control or to protect, it really frees folks to be who God created them to be and the freedom to step out and use gifts they have been given as He leads them to.

I love that part of not having something to build, control or protect. Then we really do get to be what God made us to be, and not what any institution needs us to be! So cool!

I am having a blessed time moving through the heartland this week. I was in Kansas City over the weekend with a broad smattering of different believers talking about this journey. I met some incredible people and hope I was helpful in encouraging others on this journey of living more deeply in the life of God every day. He has provided us an incredible life in him and we often trade that way for simply keeping religious rituals and trying meet the expectations of others who think that being a good Christian means that we keep certain rules instead of knowing God intimately.

Catching up on some email today, I got a great question from someone in Japan that I get asked a lot:

I don’t *think* God wants us to live under the favor line, but where does “obedience” fall into a favor-line-free relationship? In the Bible, God is shown as one who punishes disobedience among His people, Ananias and Sapphira is a New Testament image, and in Deuteronomy He certainly seems to warn His people that He’ll destroy them if they don’t obey Him in certain areas like shunning idolatry. Although He loves us, He still *seems* to be a Father who punishes disobedience. Can you shed some light here? I’d appreciate it.

I think my response to him might also be helpful for many others who struggle with this same issue. Here’s what I wrote: As to your question, I don’t know that I can do it justice in an email. Unfortunately this is a poor medium for sorting out such theological intricacies. Suffice it to say that Romans 8:15 makes clear that the God who in the Old Testament demanded our obedience under threat of punishment, has now in Christ sought to win our obedience through engaging us by his love and affection. God has not changed, but his ability to deal with our sin at the cross changes the way he relates to us. Now he is not our terrifying judge, but our loving Abba… And when I learn to live in that love I will find myself following him freely—the righteousness that trust produces—far more than fear would ever take me.

Read Hebrews 3 and 4 carefully and you will see that the problem in the Old Testament was never disobedience, it was the unbelief that caused the disobedience. Disobedience was only the symptom; unbelief was the disease. As Father wins us to himself through is love, our trust in him as our Father will grow. As our trust in Father grows, our sin gets displaced and we find ourselves truly living in the righteousness that comes from faith. People who live this way risk far greater obediences than those who are just afraid of being punished.

Does God punish us today? Not in the way most people think of it. Hebrews says he disciplines us, which means to train us to follow his ways. This training can be hard at times and even painful, but its purpose is not to punish us for doing wrong, but to help us learn how to live in the world as Jesus did, free from the tyranny self so that we could do what Father wants instead of being seduced by our own indulgences.

I guess the best way to say it is that the New Testament doesn’t change the goal of bringing us into God’s holiness, but it certainly changes the process. He always knew that his love being made real in us through the work of the cross, would change us far more deeply and far more completely than the law and its punishments ever could.

I know that may sound impossible for someone who has never tasted of this incredible process. The rules look far safer, but they are not. God has superseded them with a much better way to actually lead us into his life and our transformation from the bondage of sin…

Tomorrow I leave for the heartland with a stop this weekend in Kansas City, then Monday and Tuesday I’ll be in St. Louis, Wednesday in Springfield, IL and in the Quad Cities area of Iowa over the following weekeknd. I’ll be hanging out with some old friends meeting some new ones and might even get a game of golf in.

There are a number of upcoming opportunities, for people to gather from a broad region in some of my upcoming travel. If you live in or near any of the following places and want to join in, please email me for contact information.

• May 17-20: Palmer, AK
• May 20-22: Anchorage, AK
• June 15-17: Bournemouth, UK
• June 18-19: Holland (tentative)
• June 23-July 1: Dublin, Ireland
• July 20-23: Stratford, Ontario, Canada
• August 17-19: Lake Tahoe, NV

In addition, I’m going to be hosting two gatherings in the Southern California area. One will be the first weekend in May as an old friend and long-time colleague is visiting from the east coast. He has as good a grasp on the gospel of grace and the place of Scripture as anyone I’ve met. We’ll open up our home on Friday night or Saturday night for those who would like to glean from the wisdom in his life. Date will depend on who wants to come and when they’re free. Contact me if you’re interested.

Then, on Memorial Day Weekend Sara and I will be hosting long-time friends and a co-writer with me on some BodyLife articles, Kevin and Val Smith from Australia. We’re planning a Sunday get-together for folks in the area who would like to discuss the journey living in the Father’s affection and as the New Testament family with any who want to come. Again, please let me know if you are interested and we’ll schedule it on Saturday or Sunday depending on the availability of those interested.

One of the running jokes in our family is that you have to get my attention around the house before you can talk to me. Sometimes I’m so deep in thought about something or other that I tune out every other noise in the room. My wife and kids have learned to get my attention before talking to me. Oh, I hear their voices, they just don’t register. I only know some one’s talking to me when the room grows strangely silent and I look up to see people looking at me waiting for a response. But, not having heard the question, I have no idea how to respond.

Well, Aimee is starting to learn that about me as well. My daughter and granddaughter were over for dinner the other night because dad was away on business. Aimee is at the age now (two and a half) where she is just loads of fun. I was hanging out with her in the front room while Sara and Julie were busy in the kitchen. When it came time for me to start the grill, I told Aimee I’d be back and left the room. I was already thinking about something else when I saw Sara and Julie walk out of the kitchen with disapproving eyes looking in my direction. “You can’t hear that?” my wife asked.

Oops! Come to think of it I had heard some yelling in the back of my mind somewhere. “She’s been yelling ‘Grandpa, wait’ over and over again.” I turned and there was Aimee with sad eyes, completely bewildered as to why I hadn’t responded to her. Bummer! I gotta listen better and not so quickly shift gears into something that’s rattling around in my brain. I went back and made amends to Aimee and then took her outside with me, saddened that I had not responded when she called to me.

As I got the grill ready, I heard a faint chuckle in the back of my heart. “Wow! I know how that feels!”

Instantly I knew. How many times is the Spirit yelling, “Wayne, wait!” when I’m off to follow some passionate idea of mine or some busy plan of mine. It was a gentle rebuke, but a great reminder for me. I really do have to listen better. I don’t want Aimee or God feeling neglected because my mind is too preoccupied to hear them. And that goes double for Sara!

Finally! I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent on this amazing piece of fiction in the past 16 months, from rewrites to edits to layout and design to putting up the website, but the finish line is in sight. I can’t wait to share this book with so many of you whom we’ve tortured over the last year by talking about a book few of you could actually read. Well, we’re about to fix that.

As I write this, the books are being printed about 25 miles from my study. We should have them in hand to send out even before our May 1, 2007 pre-publication date. We’re doing two releases on this book to help us generate some buzz that might encourage bookstores to carry this book. As you know we did not go with a regular publisher here because some of the Christian publishers we talked to wanted to change the most powerful parts of this story and secular publishers thought the plot was too ‘Jesusy’ for them! So, we’re depending on viral marketing, word of mouth and ultimately a work of the Spirit to take this book as far and wide as he desires.

Many people I’ve discussed this book with cast a suspicious glance when they think I am talking about Christian fiction. And I understand why. I read very little Christian fiction because most of the plots are too predictable, the answers very religious and the characters often one-dimensional with plastic answers for life’s difficult challenges. This is NOT that book. In fact when many of those I talked into reading it, finished with it they wanted 10 or 20 more copies for their friends and family.

When I first read The Shack it reminded me of a young Lewis or Tolkien, and I realize that is high praise indeed! I’ve now read it seven or eight times and I love what this book says about the God I love so deeply!

If you’d like to pre-order a copy you can do so now at the Lifestream Book Page. You’re also welcome to vist TheShackBook.com where you can sample a couple of chapters and find out what others who’ve pre-screened this book have to say about it. I just got another one today by Bart Campolo, Founder of Mission Year, who wrote:

My biggest disappointment with Christian books is that almost all of them seem to say the same things in the same way. Not so with The Shack! It reads like no other book, and tells a story I guarantee you have not heard before. Enjoy the adventure!

Even you are even one tenth as blessed by this book as I have been, you’ll still consider it money well spent. And when you read it, I’d love to hear how it touched your life too.

I got this email yesterday and it is one I get a lot from people who are trying to rethink the nature of sanctification outside the religious process of setting expectations and trying to coform people to them. I don’t that that’s exactly what this brother was asking, but it does invite that deeper dialog.

Does God change us by setting a standard and holding us to account, or has he prepared a better way for us? Here is the question that got this rolling in my mind:

I’m confused as to how to distinguish between what you call “performance-based establishments” and churches with biblical expectations. The scripture clearly lays out some expectations for overseers and deacons (as just one example), but of course these expectations shouldn’t be interpreted as a reflection upon earning one’s salvation. Isn’t there a way to maintain the biblical expectations for the church without undermining the truth of grace in salvation?

‘Expectations’ isn’t one of my favorite words. It kind of reverses the process by which transformation takes place, though I realize you might be using it in a wholly different context than I hear it.

In my mind ‘performance-based establishments’ use guilt and pressure to conform people’s behavior. I think Galatians is makes it clear that this process isn’t necessarily evil, it just doesn’t work. The law may get people to ACT different in the short term, but it cannot transform them from the inside. Elsewhere Pauls says law only adds to our sin by increasing our temptation and multiplying our shame.

On the other hand nonperformance-based environments will extend people the authentic grace of Jesus as it invites them into a relationship with him that will transform them from the inside. So while the goal is still the same—being transformed into his image—the process is vastly different. And they wouldn’t see the attributes of an elder in Timothy and Titus to be an expectation to perform to, but the fruit of God’s transformation evidenced in their daily lives. Remember, the ‘elders’ in Ephesus and Crete didn’t have those lists BEFORE they were ‘appointed’ by Timothy and Titus. This was not something they tried to live up to, but rather what had become true of them out of their relationship with him.

Thus a performance-based environment will be one where people feel they have to pretend, are looked down upon when they don’t measure up, and usually picks on the obvious sins of sexual brokenness or the obvious failures that impact the institution, such as giving and attendance. But they ignore the weightier issues of spiritual arrogance, greed and gossip. Nonperformance-based environments encourage people to be authentic even in their doubts and struggles realizing that it is only Jesus who change us and thus none of us end up with anything to boast about, nor to look down on others…

If we introduce people to the living Jesus, we don’t need to “maintain biblical expectations without undermining the truth of grace. They will WANT to be like him and as they learn to live loved and love, they will keep the entire law. I don’t think the new covenant changed the outcome God wants in us, but id did change significantly our perception of the process.

I got this email a few weeks ago, and thought it appropriate to share on this Good Friday. This is from a lady in South Carolina who has been recently been reading some of the materials from Lifestream.

I just had to share this with you. I went out to eat with some friends tonight and (they were talking about a recent message they’d heard) about Christ on the cross and the two thieves and how we have destroyed out lives through sin. One repents; one does not, But… tonight as we shared that story I saw something incredibly awesome for the first time. I saw two men hanging next to Jesus that He loved with every bit of his being and one of them knew it and the other did not! I am telling you my eyes are seeing clearer and clearer.

I’ve just finished So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore. A friend gave me He Loves Me a couple of years ago and I’m in the middle of it now. I really believed I knew that Jesus loved me. I really did! But..,

I had no idea. After 32 years of trying to love Jesus with everything I had in me, I am beginning to get sight of what lays ahead! No words to describe!!!

That Jesus loves each of us has never been the issue. Somehow religion gives us the mistaken idea that there are some folks, those who work hard to please him, whom he really loves, and then there are those who don’t, whom he hates. When the love of the Jesus has never been the question. He loves—all of us! The question is only whether we’ll embrace the reality of his love, or deny it to our own destruction.

Sad, isn’t it? You would think that the one thing 32 years of living in Jesus would produce, would be the security in his affection that allows us to awake to each new day surely grounded in him. Instead, religion makes us busy with doing well-intentioned things for him, instead of coming to rest in the certainty of his affection for us.

And don’t try to tell me that those motivated by the fears of religion do more for God than those who rest secure in his love. I know better than that. Those who respond to the fears of religion may be caught up in a frenzy of activity they think is for him, but it the long run it is only for them and their hope of earning an affection he’s already given. While I will always acknowledge his graciousness to use even our misguided efforts for his glory, they can also cause much hurt to others in the process.

The people that I think are doing the most for the kingdom, are those who live each day in the security of his affection and do what he puts on their heart WITH him, instead of trying to do a bunch of stuff FOR him. And if it takes 2 days, 10 years or even 32, I pray you come to know just how loved you are and learn the joy and freedom of living in that reality.

I will be ruminating on the death and resurrection of my Older Brother Jesus this weekend, and all he did to secure for each of us a place in Father’s house. My parents and kids will be coming over this weekend. We’ll probably hunt a few easter eggs with Aimee. And then Sara and I are taking some days off. Her Spring Break began today and this year we’re going to enjoy some time off with each other! YIPPEEE!!!

I pray you all have a blessed Easter as well!

The Shack went to press today, and I’m very excited at how this whole project has come together and we can finally get it out for others to read. It will be released officially on September 1, 2007. But Windblown will offer a pre-release version for those who can’t wait. More details on that in the future.

We appreciate all of you who gave us your thoughts about our cover design. We knew we wouldn’t be able to please everyone, but here’s what we finally came up with:

You can also view the back of the book, if you like, at theshackbook.com.

And here’s what some others are saying about this book:

“When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!”

Eugene Peterson, Translator for The Message and Professor Emeritus Of Spiritual Theology • Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

“Riveting, with twists that defy your expectations while teaching powerful theological lessons without patronizing. I was crying by page 100. You cannot read it without your heart becoming involved.”

Gayle E. Erwin, Author The Jesus Style

“Finally! A guy-meets-god novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. The Shack cuts through the clichés of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life’s integral dance with the divine. This story reads like a prayer—like the best kinds of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it.”

Mike Morrell, Zoecarnate.com

“This book goes beyond being the well written suspenseful page-turner that it is. Since the death of our son Jason the lord has led us to a small number of life-changing books and this one heads the list. When you close the back cover you will be changed.”

Dale Lang, rockcanada.org, father of student killed in Columbine copycat shooting

I got this question today by email from someone. There’s nothing that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck more than this. But I have heard it taught a lot, especially by insecure men and women that are afraid of losing their supposed authority over people who are growing in freedom:

My pastor recently said at a leadership conference my husband attended that he, as the Pastor, hears from God more clearly than we do. Is that biblical? Is that true? It is frustrating because we are on this journey that is leading us to more freedom but we are confronted by people in our congregation that believe we are backsliders. It was said at this meeting that if you don’t serve in the church you are backsliding. It is hard. Hard to know what to believe anymore. Thanks for you words and podcasts. They mean a lot. If you could answer my question I would be grateful. You must be overwhelmed with questions.

Not only is the idea that pastors can hear more clearly from God untrue, but also no man of God would WANT it to be true. Jesus and the early church talked about from the ‘least to the greatest’ of them, ‘all will know me.’ Listening to God and following him is not what the mature folks get to do; it’s what he asked all of us to do. Those who lead don’t hear better, they help equip others to hear for themselves, because they would never want to see any person robbed from the delightful joy of learning how to listen and follow God. In fact a true leader will encourage you to follow him as best you know, even if you make a mistake, rather than follow what they think you should do.

Listen to these words from Matthew 23 in The Message:

“Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.â€

This is a kingdom in which there are no experts to lord over others. Anyone who truly hears God will spend their lives helping others do so as well, not tearing away their confidence so that they will become more dependent on human leadership. That isn’t to say, of course, that there aren’t more mature brothers and sisters around us who can help us learn to follow him, and help us see when we’re missing God’s best for us by following our own desires, thinking they are God’s. But they wouldn’t dare say anything like you’ve written above. They are not interested in replacing God in your life, but helping you let God be your Father, friend and guide!

And, unfortunately, when you fail to conform to the religious standards of an institution, people will think you are backslidding. That doesn’t make it true. In fact, I think the more closely you follow him, the less you’ll fit into the religious constructs of the day, because they are meant to conform people, not to free them to life in him.

I’m sorry for the flack you’re getting, but this is just part of the journey. Keep loving them and loving him, but don’t think you have to conform to their expectations to love them. God has invited us to something so much better.

I got an email today from someone who is struggling to sort out what’s going on in the fellowship she’s been a part of for some time. Suddenly she’s finding that she doesn’t want to sit through all the meetings and finding them an “ugly weight†rather than a joy. But she feels guilty if she thinks about not going. She is realizing that although she goes in hopes of encountering God, it rarely happens there and yet she still has wonderful friends there.

It’s not an easy thing when God begins to open your eyes to the manipulation of religious systems. Suddenly participating seems like a chore, and you begin to see how the classes and designations designed to provide protection are actually manipulating people’s desires to belong and to be approved by others. Now it feels like a game and participating in it a bit “creepyâ€. What does she do?

Here are some excerpts from her emails: “That’s not to say that the pastor or others are horrible people – far from it. I love them and respect them. It’s just that I’m not comfortable spending from 10:30 to 12:45 there when all I really want to do is leave. It’s like my heart is changing as is my way of thinking. But adding to that is this sense of ‘well what would I do on Sunday anyway?’ I almost feel like I’m distancing myself from church as an institution and don’t know if that’s right or how to handle it….

“I’m frustrated and restless and honestly don’t know how to deal with much of what’s going on in my spiritual life lately. It’s like I can’t rest and that troubles me. I really hope you don’t mind me sort of tossing this your way. It’s just that you seem to be at a place where you actually do know rest and you’re not striving to be right or make a point.â€

Knowing her concerns reflect what so many others go through at this stage of the journey, I thought others with similar concerns would appreciate reading what I wrote back to her:

I can appreciate your story. Once you start seeing through the illusion of religion, it can be a scary road. All the things you’ve found comfort in before, suddenly seem destructive.

I love what you’re seeing, though I know it can be disorienting. It is the result of God answering your prayers to know him as he really is. As we get to know him, our perception of the things around us change, especially those things we’ve thought are his. I have no idea where this will lead you. Going to gather with other believers because they are your friends is never a bad reason to go. To see it as your place to meet Father is problematic, since he wants to be with you all the time. And seeing how you and others get manipulated by well-intentioned policies and programs will cause some grief.

Will God give you the grace to live through it and love folks anyway? Will God give you the grace to walk away and see what else he has for you? I don’t know. Only he does.

What you can do now is to stop responding to guilt. That’s the real power of religious thinking. It manipulates us with shame and with wanting others to approve of us, so that we’ll jump through its hoops. You don’t have to jump through those hoops to love God and love the folks there. But when you stop doing so, it may make you a bit more dangerous for the powers that be. The system cannot love what it cannot control and that may result in problems over time.

For now, just listen to Jesus. Do what he puts on your heart. Stop giving place to guilt so it can whither and die away and be gentle with those who cannot possibly grasp what you’re seeing now any more than you could a year ago. In that he will make the way clear ahead and you, too, will get to learn to live in his rest, and enjoy the incredible fellowship that the body can have together when it is less concerned about the success of the institution and more focused on who this Jesus really is…

I know that’s not very concrete, but he did not promise us concrete. He promised us life!