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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Programming Note

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Categories: What the heck was THAT?

Glenn over at re-dreaming the dream is hosting another synchroblog this Monday, May 5. It’s open to anyone who wants to participate. I want to participate, so Monday I’ll be, um, participating.

The questions for the synchroblog are these:

How are you doing?
What are you doing?
What are you learning?
What are you dreaming about?

Kind of an appropriate theme for me to take stock on where I’m at…since Monday happens to be my birthday. (Blatant, shameless hint.)

(Hope this doesn’t trigger a mid-life crisis or anything.)

I might post more later today, but wanted to let you know about this in advance. The synchroblog, that is….not the birthday. 🙂

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Jaded? Or Just Hungry for More?

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), Rantings

Heather began her latest post with a monologue of hype many of us churched folks have heard–about going to the next level, getting fresh vision…well, heck, read it for yourself:

“I’ve decided. I’m going to the next level in God. I’m going to be empowered by an incredible, enthusiastic, visionary leader and take this city for Christ. I’m going to be a vibrant, passionate, charismatic believer who takes excellence seriously. I’m joining a vibrant, contemporary, growing church with a powerful message that impacts the world and has a vision statement that involves loving life, loving people and loving God. I’m getting connected to a small group that will move me into that next level and take me into the unknown, teaching me to drink that living water and walk by faith. I have a vision for this nation, I’m going to see revival sweep across this land.”

This is a preview of Jaded? Or Just Hungry for More?. Read the full post (736 words, 1 image, estimated 2:57 mins reading time)

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Subversive, subversive, subversive…bwahahahaha

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Categories: What the heck was THAT?

WARNING: The writer’s tongue is firmly inserted into his cheek for this post.

So I got this Subversive Bloggers Award the other day, and true to form, I played it up like I’d won an Oscar. Then I find out Shawn apparently thinks this whole thing is a crock. Oh, well.

Seriously, though, he brings up the question: If you say you’re subversive, how can you really be subversive? Almost like, If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound? It’s one of those questions that can just bounce around in your brain and go around and around and you can’t really answer it, but you think about it for days.

I didn’t sleep well last night. Thanks, Shawn.

This is a preview of Subversive, subversive, subversive…bwahahahaha. Read the full post (336 words, 2 images, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

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Processing the Pain

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

I’m sure that there are some people who have chosen this path outside the walls. But for me, and for most of the folks I’ve heard about–it’s more like this path chose us.

If you’re one of those people who chose…sometimes I envy you.

It would have been nice to have just come to the conclusion one day that institutional Christianity wasn’t working the way it should, and just walked away in search of something more real. It would have been nice to have had the foresight and wisdom to realize this system wasn’t cutting it–that something more was needed–and gone in search of that “something more.”

This is a preview of Processing the Pain. Read the full post (868 words, 1 image, estimated 3:28 mins reading time)

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You Like Me, You Like Me, You Really Really Like Me

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Categories: fun, Things that are too good to keep

Wow, what an honor! I have been awarded the coveted Subversive Blogger Award. Thanks be to God, and to Jim. 🙂

I’d like to thank all the “little people”–oh, wait…subversive blogging is all about us “little people”, isn’t it? So, okay, what I said before. Thanks to all the little people. You are not so little in the eyes of Jesus.

Jake Bouma, who started this round of awards, says this on his blog:

“Subversive bloggers are unsatisfied with the status quo, whether in church, politics, economics or any other power-laden institution, and they are searching for (and blogging about) what is new (or a “return to”) – even though it may be labeled as sacrilege, dangerous, or subversive.”

This is a preview of You Like Me, You Like Me, You Really Really Like Me. Read the full post (347 words, 2 images, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

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The Big 1-0-0

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Categories: awesomeness, fun


Woot woot! This is my 100th post!!!

Since starting this blog around the end of last year, I have made some great new online friends from literally all over the globe, and I’ve even been able to reconnect with some old(er) friends. And I have been privileged to join a huge ongoing conversation about finding fresh expressions of authentic faith in Christ–and I’ve learned a great deal from the interaction.

In an act of pure self-indulgence and narcissism…to commemmorrate this mmmommmentus occasion… {Cue tympani} …

…here are some links to some of the more significant moments along the journey so far.

This is a preview of The Big 1-0-0. Read the full post (167 words, 2 images, estimated 40 secs reading time)

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About a Dog

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Categories: fun, What the heck was THAT?

This is Jordy. He is our dog.
The Wild One took this nature shot of Jordy in his natural habitat.
Here are some truths that Jordy lives by:
  1. Everyone wants to pet me.

  2. All birds and rabbits must be stopped.

  3. When other dogs in the neighborhood are barking, I need to bark too. This is just how it is done.

  4. When kids are playing in the playground beyond the backyard fence, I need to bark. This is to let them know that I am trapped in the backyard and need to go play with them.

This is a preview of About a Dog. Read the full post (389 words, 2 images, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

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The Issue of Authority–My Own Journey

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Categories: changing mindsets, My Story

In the informal blog-circle in which I’ve found myself–many of whom, like myself, are going through different stages of re-thinking institutional Christianity–recently the issue of authority/leadership has come up. Because so many have been wounded through abusive leadership (or even well-intended leadership operating in a broken system), there are some understandable questions being raised about whether we’ve got the authority issue right. Does Jesus intend us to submit to human spiritual authority, or is He alone our Shepherd and leader?

I have a lot of thoughts on this myself, and right now they are all kind of jumbled. In other words, if I put them down here now, they’d probably look like this:

This is a preview of The Issue of Authority–My Own Journey. Read the full post (1438 words, 1 image, estimated 5:45 mins reading time)
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