Wayward Son

Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.

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So Enough About Me and What I Think (For the Moment)…

8 comments

Categories: fun, theological questions

…I’d be interested in knowing where you are at on your journey. So this is the interactive part of the blog experience…

In the comments, feel free to answer any or all of the following questions:

  1. Are you a Christ-follower, agnostic, atheist, pagan, or something else? How would you identify yourself? Alright, don’t be a wise guy: if you’re “something else”, say WHAT you are. Don’t leave us guessing. 🙂

  2. If you consider yourself a Christ-follower, what does “church” look like for you? Are you in an institutional setting, living room, meeting at a coffee shop, or somewhere in between?

This is a preview of So Enough About Me and What I Think (For the Moment)…. Read the full post (170 words, 2 images, estimated 41 secs reading time)

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Exciting Updates, and How You Can Help a Brother Out

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Categories: random stuff, Things that are too good to keep

As I may have mentioned earlier, our recent move to Denver was not for the typical reasons people move from one place to another. We moved with a dream incubating in our hearts, to start a new life based on focusing on our strengths, and on doing the things we love…to see what God would do with that. We didn’t come here knowing what everything was going to look like, but believing that God would show us when we got here.

This is a preview of Exciting Updates, and How You Can Help a Brother Out. Read the full post (851 words, 1 image, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)

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The (Reluctant) Wrench In the Works

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), moments of truth

You might not think it of me if you read this blog…but there’s a huge part of me that really doesn’t like rocking the boat.

I grew up as a compliant child, an overachiever, eager desperate to please–for reasons that have taken a lifetime of soul searching (and a little counseling) to discover. I’ve spent most of my life with this go-along-to-get-along strategy. I’ve always hated being viewed as a troublemaker.

This is a preview of The (Reluctant) Wrench In the Works. Read the full post (1062 words, 2 images, estimated 4:15 mins reading time)

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The Snare of Self-Importance

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Categories: church, food for thought

I might have quoted this line before…but in the movie Pearl Harbor, when Ben Affleck’s character (a fighter pilot) volunteers to participate in the Royal Air Force as they battle the German fighter planes, one of the commanding officers essentially asks why an American would do so. “You anxious to die?” he asks.

“Not anxious to die,” the American pilot replies, “just anxious to matter.”

This is a preview of The Snare of Self-Importance. Read the full post (1273 words, 2 images, estimated 5:06 mins reading time)

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An Age-Old Grudge Against Women, and How Jesus Ruined Everything

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Categories: changing mindsets, healing wounds

This post picks up a continuing thread from “Why the Heart of Every Man Should Be Breaking,” which I posted several months ago.

Last week, my blogger friend Sarah published three posts in a series called “Jesus Breakin’ the Rules“, quoting extensively from Walter Wink’s book, The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millenium. I haven’t read the book, but the quotes Sarah took from it had to do with what Wink calls the “Domination System” of women, and how virtually every record of Jesus’ interaction with women flew in the face of this system. You might not agree with every (or any) of Wink’s specific interpretations (I agreed with about 90% of it), but his take should get you thinking, at least.

This is a preview of An Age-Old Grudge Against Women, and How Jesus Ruined Everything. Read the full post (983 words, 1 image, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)

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It’s Different Here

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Categories: church, food for thought, religion

We’re still finding our bearings around our new digs–not just within walking distance, but also in the area.

Comparing Denver to the Bible Belt…it’s different here.

I might submit that last sentence to a “best understatement” contest, if I can find one. 🙂

This is a preview of It’s Different Here. Read the full post (859 words, 1 image, estimated 3:26 mins reading time)

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Church as Business (part 3–The Alternative)

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Categories: church, food for thought, Rantings

Part 1, Part 2…

“So…if we’re not meant to be a business, what are we meant to be?”

How about a community?

How about a family?

How about a living organism?

You see, with all this businesslike structure we’ve shoved the church into, we have forgotten that the church is not a business–it never was. The church is people. When we make it about the other, we are trying to be something we are not. And the suit doesn’t fit.

This is a preview of Church as Business (part 3–The Alternative). Read the full post (876 words, 1 image, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

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Church as Business (part 2–The Bottom Line)

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Categories: church, food for thought

Let’s pick up the thread from part 1 by repeating something I wrote at the end of it…

This leads us to the most painful truth about church being structured as business…Because what is the bottom line in any business?

Money.

The bottom line is that when church is structured as a business, money naturally becomes the primary factor in the decisions that are made. And that can often create a huge conflict of interest between the interests of the organization, the best interests of the people, and the interests of the kingdom of God in general.

This is a preview of Church as Business (part 2–The Bottom Line). Read the full post (1101 words, 1 image, estimated 4:24 mins reading time)
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