Jason Clark's Blog, page 18
January 16, 2023
FELICIA MURRELL / EMPATHY; THE TREASURE OF THE INCARNATION
iTunes Spotify Google YouTube “The Spirit said to me, ‘I want you to hand to me everything that you believe to be true about God and let me hand back to you everything that is true.’”
Racism, deconstruction, shame, guilt, certainty, empathy, infinite mercy, grace, healing, and other-centered, self-giving love, in this amazing conversation, Felecia and Jason visit fear and prejudice while leaning into the AND of God’s always present, empathetic, reconciling love.
We don’t get to healing without Truth…(we) don’t get to healing in denial – so (we) have to own both the wound and (our) responsibility and completeness….”
For more on Felicia Murrell
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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly
Derek Turner
Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Gracewww.rivercharlotte.com FollowFollowFollow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. FollowFollowFollowFollowFollow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!
YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… ROD WILLIAMS / UNION WITH DISTINCTION by A Family Story | February 2, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
Union, a Triune God, mutual indwelling others-centered love (perichoresis) approaching scripture to discover Jesus, and communion are some of the themes Rod Williams dives into. What if “all” means “all” and God isn’t distant? There is no distance, no separation in God and this conversation is a beautiful invitation to awaken to that discovery and our union with Him.
Read More KRISTIN DU MEZ / JESUS AND JOHN WAYNEby A Family Story | May 26, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 1 Comment
Patriarchy, authoritarian rule, the nature of power and privilege in America and the Church, the deconstruction movement, Christians in politics; in this podcast, Professor and Historian Kristin Du Mez, examines the impact of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, white evangelicalism. This conversation explores how evangelicals have stepped away from the Jesus of the Gospels, from sacrificial love. “But what was once done, can be undone.”
Read More PETER HIETT / WHAT ABOUT HELL?by A Family Story | March 2, 2022 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
The goodness of God but hell, atonement but hell, reformation but hell, scripture but hell, Calvinism but hell; in this podcast Peter Hiett describes hell as “Satan’s big but.” In this conversation Peter walks us through the story of our own creation, the goodness of God’s reconciling love, the relational kindness of a God who encounters, sets free and transforms.
Peter describes a God who delights in His creation, a God who destroys what is evil, creates what is good, and invites us to observe our own creation in Christ Jesus.
Read More DANIEL GROTHE / THE POWER OF PLACEby A Family Story | March 15, 2022 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
Daniel Grothe and the guys discuss his new book, The Power of Place, which speaks the sense of loneliness that many feel in today’s age of hypermobility and noncommittal wandering, reminding us of the ancient vow of stability and teaching us how we can lead a richer life of friendship, community, and purpose.
They also touch on the deconstruction movement within the church, how authoritarian leadership has wounded and undermined trust, and how healing and connection are available only where we practice the long game of family.
Read More DON KEATHLEY / THE GOSPELby A Family Story | February 3, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 12 Comments
Don Keathley touches on the goodness of our Father, Jesus as perfect theology, grace, our union, our identity, how to approach scripture, and the lie of eternal conscious torment.
Read More THOMAS JAY OORD / GOD CAN’Tby A Family Story | January 13, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
“Given that we start with God’s power…we end up giving God the kind of capabilities that make God culpable; in other words, morally responsible for not only causing but allowing bad things…I think there are good biblical reasons to object to that standard view of Gods power.” Thomas Jay Oord
Read MoreThe post FELICIA MURRELL / EMPATHY; THE TREASURE OF THE INCARNATION appeared first on A Family Story.
For or Against; The Christian Hypocrisy
In Gethsemane, after Peter tried to establish his idea of God’s Kingdom through the violent use of a sword, Jesus rebuked him, “If you live by the sword, you die by the sword!” 1
Another way of saying it—is if you live by ‘for or against thinking,’ you will die by ‘for or against thinking.’
Then, Jesus modeled the way of eternal life by taking up a cross and laying down His life for His friends.
Today, much of the church—including her leaders, because they are obsessed with retribution—often behave like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, swinging their swords in defense of ideologies absolutely contrary to cruciform love.
Much of the church—specifically, many of her leaders—exult in the knowledge of good and evil. We pick sides for or against a politician, a pastor, a movement, a group, a race, a country, a specific sin, or a specific sinner, and then justify waging war on behalf of our devotion to our side or point of view.
And war makes cruel hypocrites out of even the best-intentioned Christians.
And nothing undermines trust quicker than this hypocrisy.
Do you know why Jesus can be trusted? It’s simple. He laid down His life on our behalf, not counting our sins, political affiliations, tribalism, cruel ideologies, or punishing theologies against us.
He was not against us!
There is no for or against in Christ crucified and risen.
Yes, there is great evil and injustice in this world. And yes, we are in a battle, but not against flesh and blood. Our fight is against the dualistic nature of Satan, against the hierarchal thinking that empowers us to swing a sword at another person in defense of our certainties about God. 2
The Christian devotion to a leader, institution, ideology, or theology in the spirit of for or against has birthed a call to arms that is counter to the gospel of Jesus. Today, the church is often better known for our abuses and whom we are against than for being a living expression of Greater Love.
The whole world is looking for somewhere to place their trust. We look to our politicians, government, news media, and institutions—including the church, and they are all failing us. Sadly, when the world looks to the church, they often see sword-wielding, spear-flinging, untrustworthy Christians justifying their punishing devotion to for or against.
Whenever Christians defend cruelty and condemnation in the name of a punishing God, people’s ability to trust the church is compromised.
The church’s unwillingness to leave retribution has birthed a hypocrisy that suffocates—and people are leaving. And that may not be a bad thing. You see, today, the church is being sifted like wheat. But Jesus has prayed for our faith…
Christians are rethinking the doctrines we’ve been taught about God, the Bible, and the meaning of being a follower of Jesus. “Sixty-five million adults in the U.S. have dropped out of active church attendance, and about 2.7 million more are leaving every year.” And that statistic is from 2018-19, before the pandemic. 3
Meanwhile, the United States has more atheists than ever…
This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Order Now At AMAZON.COM
Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. FollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Seed by Lloyd Clark | September 25, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Lloyd's Corner, Relationship, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
Take your desires and plant them in your heart, meditate on them. You don’t have to know how it works, you just need to know that it super-naturally produces like a seed.
Read More Interstellar Loveby A Family Story | June 3, 2021 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Miracles, Popular, Relationship | 0 Comments
Brand, quietly at first, but then with greater conviction says, “Maybe it means something more, something we can’t yet understand. Maybe it’s some evidence some artifact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive… Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that even if we can’t understand it yet…”
Read More Jonah And An Angry God?by Jason Clark | June 18, 2020 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Popular, Sin | 2 Comments
…With self-righteous arrogance, Jonah determines it’s the will of god that he die for his sin. Instead of repenting, Jonah, with his sanctimonious gospel, preaches himself overboard as a sacrifice to his angry god. And worse, he makes the sailors complicit in his death religion…
Read More Religion vs. Graceby Lloyd Clark | January 28, 2022 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Lloyd's Corner, Popular | 0 Comments
“Christianity is not a religion: it is the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The gospel, however – the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over – period!” Writes F. Robert Capon.
Read More God Out of the Boxby Lloyd Clark | September 18, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Lloyd's Corner, Relationship, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
God doesn’t live in a box! No religious limits! He’s not a tightrope walker, no narrow road into His love, what a ridiculous idea!
Read More A Wide Open Love…by Jason Clark | November 6, 2009 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.
Read MoreThe post FELICIA MURRELL / EMPATHY; THE TREASURE OF THE INCARNATION appeared first on A Family Story.
January 4, 2023
A Hard Teaching?
“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” That visceral word picture capped a message Jesus gave to a large crowd of followers. (10)
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” “This is the hard stuff,” they thought.
But it wasn’t the hard stuff—just the opposite. It was a prophetic invitation to communion, a description of our participation in union, an invitation to consume and embody Christ within us. The words Jesus spoke, as He went on to explain, were “full of Spirit and life!” (11) The disciples just didn’t understand them—yet.
Jesus’ message revealed how Measureless Love reconciles and restores all humanity to Himself. Jesus’ words contained an invitation for the disciples to leave their limiting certainties and lean into faith. It was an invitation to engage with the Emmaus Road burning that cries out from deep within, “We knew eternal life in our hearts even when our heads heard cannibalism.”
“Does this offend you?” the Emmaus Road Jesus asked His disciples. For many, it did, and understandably so. “From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.
‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God.’” (12)
How had Peter and the remaining disciples come to believe that Jesus was the Holy One of God? That’s a good question.
In hindsight, we know their belief wasn’t extra-biblical, but neither, at that moment, could they have referenced chapter and verse. So, they hadn’t “come to believe” based on their current understanding of Scripture—nor was it because Jesus broke down His systematic theology. There was no biblical exegesis, just the Word Who Became Flesh speaking to burning hearts.
This was not an exercise in literal inerrancy. Rather, this was about faith. The disciples had come to believe and know that Jesus was the Holy One of God because, in the context of relationship, they recognized eternal life as the nuclear explosion burning within them when The Word Made Flesh spoke to them.
“You have the words of eternal life,” Peter said, trusting a measureless love that transcends dimensions of time and space, as well as finite understanding. Because they stewarded the burning, the disciples were not put off by their inability to understand Jesus’ offensive words.
They had “come to believe” God was better than their best understanding and current biblical interpretation.
It’s called faith.
This faith is discovered in the One who laid His life down for His friends, and this burning is the only way we can know God and truly interpret Scripture.
When our experiences and understanding seem like hard stuff, cruciform love and resurrection life can be trusted. And where we can trust, we don’t have to understand.
“…Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you….” There was literal error in Jesus’ words, but because the disciples were in a maturing relationship with Greater Love, even though they literally heard Jesus preach cannibalism, their hearts knew Jesus wasn’t preaching cannibalism…
This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Order Now At AMAZON.COM
Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva.
FollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… No More Drudgeryby Lloyd Clark | October 2, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Lloyd's Corner, Relationship, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
Oh so grateful to be free from the self-inflicting, self condemning, judgmental and pompous BS…
Read More Good Soilby Jason Clark | January 20, 2022 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
As a kid, I listened in earnest when this parable was preached. You see, I really wanted to be good soil. But I could do the math well enough to realize the odds were against me, cause 3 out of 4 soils suck.
It seems 75% of all soil is in for some bad news. But there was also good news, for 25% of us. And that was the gospel I was raised in.
A lot of those early formative prayers could be boiled down to “Dear God, I was bad soil again today, please help me beat the odds tomorrow, amen”
Read More The Glory of God… Without Lifting A Fingerby Lloyd Clark | October 5, 2021 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Lloyd's Corner, Sin | 5 Comments
The romance is in the truth that God always loved me, before my co-operation or obedience. Long before I put my trust in Him, He was passionately in love with me. I have always been the apple of His eye! “I was in Him before I was in Adam!” And the incarnate Christ redeemed the glory that I already was!
Read More Lightning On The Lakeby Jason Clark | December 16, 2009 | A Family Story, Art, Articles, Prone To Love, Short Story | 2 Comments
The lightning and thunder did not disappoint. The rain fell so heavy you couldn’t see 10 yards. I was a boy again, making jokes, laughing and though I didn’t sing, it was close. We told stories about people getting struck by lightning – each one of us trying to better the previous tale.
Read More Flip Your Lid with Kim Honeycuttby Jason Clark | October 20, 2021 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship | 0 Comments
I had the incredible honor of conversing with psychotherapist Kim Honeycut for her podcast.
Below is a synopsis of our conversation. It was a good one!
Jason Clark is a pastor, writer, producer, and many more titles. He is also a cisgender, white male who was removed from a church because he had different ideas about the Bible. This is his story about leaving and rediscovering Jesus.
Read More Was Jesus The Most Obedient Person To Ever Walk The Planet?by Jason Clark | September 23, 2021 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy | 3 Comments
What if Jesus doesn’t call us servants because servants can’t know what’s in the mind or heart of the master? What if, instead, Jesus calls us friends because in this union, this friendship, we can discover all the Father has revealed? (see John 15:15)
Read MoreThe post A Hard Teaching? appeared first on A Family Story.
December 29, 2022
What Is God Like with Troy Mangum
What is God like? with Troy MangumA few months back, I had a great conversation with Troy Mangum, author of, Fatherhood Faceplants and host of, The Kindling Fire Podcast. Troy is a former YWAM missionary, hardcore punk singer, substance abuse counselor, busker, long boarder, exotic fruit farmer, vert skater, singer-songwriter, software engineering manager, traveling hitchhiker, and seminary dropout.
Check out more about Troy’s ministries here: troymangum.com
Check out Troy’s podcast:
Apple Podcast
Spotify
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY ORDER NOW!
Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. FollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollow YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… I Exist To Know His Love by Jason Clark | March 23, 2013 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Parenting, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
My story and yours will continue to be one in which we discover our Dad and in turn ourselves. Discovering our Father is the most important thing we will ever do. It transforms us and sets us free to live as His sons and daughters. The good news is, Jesus was sure in his identity and because of this, we can also become sure in ours…
Read More A Walk with Novaby Pete Scheller | July 1, 2020 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Life, Prayer, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
However, He shows it, God is squeezing as much love into us as we can handle.
Read More Panic In The Backseatby Jason Clark | September 26, 2022 | Articles, Books, Faith, Hell, Intimacy, Leaving and Finding Jesus, Life, Popular, Short Story | 2 Comments
When Karen was five, she had her first and only panic attack. It was on a Sunday, after church. She had a tummy ache and, with it, a sudden terror. What if she died? She began to hyperventilate. So, dad and mom put her in the car, where she sat in the back seat between her grandmothers. And they raced to the hospital.
In that moment of paralyzing fear, when five-year-old Karen thought she was dying, she told her grandmothers she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart.
And she did.
Read More Heart Hungryby Jason Clark | September 20, 2018 | Articles, Faith | 0 Comments
When is the last time you felt God’s absolute joy and laughter over your life? When was the last time you knew to your very bones that He was absolutely in love with you?
Read More Rethinking Godby Jason Clark | March 18, 2020 | Articles, Faith, Popular | 1 Comment
Humanity had “God-boxes” and Jesus kept blowing them up. Humanity was convinced God was one way and Jesus kept contradicting those paradigms.
Read More Doubting Thomas?: Why God Loves Our Questionsby Jason Clark | February 16, 2018 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control | 0 Comments
I don’t call Thomas “doubting” anymore. He was a man of faith willing to live in the tension of the question so he might discover the whole story, the greater revelation.
Read MoreThe post What Is God Like with Troy Mangum appeared first on A Family Story.
Every Breath I Breathe
Oh, Poppa, it’s a beautiful day!
You’re comfortable in my skin, and I am comfortable being Your skin…Christ in me!
You are here, in me and around me, filling every atom and cell, absorbing every bit of darkness, every lie, every distortion. Every breath I breathe,
Yahweh.
Whispering praise,
completely at rest,
expectancy rising.
Thank You, Father, that I get to live in You today!
This is our day.
Light up our world today.
Every city, every county, and every state throughout this nation. Peace be still!
Light up this world with Your truth and Your love.
You’ve got this, and I can rest right here, right now!
A PrayerMy crafted morning prayer goes something like this.
With one hand on my head and the other over my heart.
“Oh, Father, thank you, thank You, thank You, that I get to live in You today! This is the day that You made! I rejoice in it!
Thank You for this union, this oneness with, and in You! I soak in Your love today…
Christ in me, yes, it’s Christ in me, every day as I am on my way, it is Christ in me!
In You, I live, move, and have my being!
Today I live from this place of rest, fullness, bounty, wholeness, wellness, affection, and love!
Peace flowing like a River!
The fountain of joy welling up into life!
Thank you, Jesus! For giving life to me!
May everything I do become the thing that pleases You…
Amen.
Love you, Lloyd
Happy New Year!
Lloyd Clark is an entrepreneur, a former pastor, and a writer. He is passionate about being loved by our Heavenly Father and revealing that same love to everyone he meets. He and his wife Mary have 5 children and 7 grandchildren and live in North Carolina. FollowFollowFollowFollow ORDER NOW!
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Stubborn In The Right Direction by Jason Clark | August 26, 2021 | Art, Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Life, Music, Popular | 0 Comments
Love is how I address politics, religion, culture, the news cycle, nationalism, the United Nations, COVID, Vaccines, flat earthers, and misplaced trust in corporations and government…
Read More When the Veil Gets Liftedby Jason Clark | July 24, 2019 | A Family Story, Articles, Faith | 0 Comments
Let me tell you how it is between my wife and me. We could be driving down the road or sitting on the couch watching Super Store when suddenly I am gripped with a revelation of how amazing Karen is. I will remember how... Read More 10 Rules Of Engagement For Social Mediaby Jason Clark | June 10, 2021 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Leadership, Miracles, Popular, Relationship | 1 Comment
Sacrificial love is my guide. I know this love to be like Jesus on a cross, unoffended, forgiving, and reconciling all to Love. There is no “us and them” in this good news, we all belong to each other. With that in mind, here are some thoughts I have had through the years…
Read More The Lost Coinby Lloyd Clark | January 22, 2020 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Life, Lloyd's Corner, Popular, The Fathers Love | 11 Comments
No one can fully engage in heavens perspective unless one’s heavenly origin is realized! The Son of Man declares mankind’s Genesis is from above!
Read More C. BAXTER KRUGER / JESUS MEETS US INSIDE OUR DELUSIONby A Family Story | June 3, 2020 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season One | 0 Comments
“Jesus has pitched His tent in our flesh… If I didn’t believe that Jesus, Father and Holy Spirit is inside every person on the whole earth, I would not open my mouth… But we are bearing witness to something that is real.”
Read More The Gas Attendant Job: And Nine Other Reasons Not To Go To Bible Collegeby Jason Clark | February 4, 2009 | Articles, Faith, Funny, Short Story | 0 Comments
When I gave Jesus my life, He promised He would always be with me. Through the years this promise followed me like a lovely ghost. I encountered it in a song, in a book. I dreamed it. I watched it in a movie; I heard it from the pulpit. It was a gradual unwinding, a realization of who God is, that He lived in me and that He is good. He is always good.
Read More Sovereign Love God Is (Not) In Control / Six-Part Teaching Series FREE Learn More JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORYThe post What Is God Like with Troy Mangum appeared first on A Family Story.
December 21, 2022
THE POLAR EXPRESS WITH JASON CLARK
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“It’s Christmas Eve, and instead of dreaming of the best day of the year, the boy is in his bedroom agonizing over the universal question: Does God…sorry, I mean Santa Claus, really exist?”
In this final podcast of 2022 and season three, Jason shares a story from his first book about the Polar Express, and faith. Whether you’re tired or wide awake, full or empty, lost or found, sick or whole, you are loved by Triune God who walks beside you, will never leave you, and invites you to awaken to His affection and love. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, and goodwill toward men!”
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Please rate, review, share, and subscribe!
Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly
Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. FollowFollowFollowFollowFollow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY ORDER NOW!
YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… DALE HOWIE / UNSPOKEN SERMONS ON THE GOOD NEWS OF INCLUSION by A Family Story | June 23, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 3 Comments
Paraphrasing the sermons of George MacDonald, Dale Howie shares his sometimes painful, often beautiful, journey of awakening to the irreducible truth of life discovered in relationship. He speaks to grace, our common Fatherhood, our inclusion in Christ’s life, death and resurrection, our union, and the wonder of our humanity. A humble storyteller and relational theologian, Dale speaks as a father on behalf of Our Father, who loves all His children with a reconciling love.
Read More DAVID TENSEN / YOU ARE NOT ALONEby A Family Story | May 12, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 5 Comments
Trauma, pain, empathy like Jesus, and healing for the oppressed, misunderstood, lost, or broken; in this podcast David Tensen shares how we are loved and not alone. Addressing how shame and condemnation are compounded by religion, the guys talked specifically about abortion and the LGBTQ community with an invitation to love like Jesus, through our union with God and reconciliation.
Read More ALLEN ARNOLD / CHAOS CAN’Tby A Family Story | January 27, 2021 | Art, Crisis of Identity, Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 1 Comment
God creates order from disorder and we have been invited to co-create with Him. In the midst of chaos, “we associate peace with answers. God associates peace with Union.”
Read More THOMAS JAY OORD / GOD CAN’Tby A Family Story | January 13, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
“Given that we start with God’s power…we end up giving God the kind of capabilities that make God culpable; in other words, morally responsible for not only causing but allowing bad things…I think there are good biblical reasons to object to that standard view of Gods power.” Thomas Jay Oord
Read More AWAKENING! with DEREK TURNER & JASON CLARKby A Family Story | June 2, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
An infinite love, the nature of revelation, a kindness that changes our minds, the joy of our salvation discovered as we awaken to the resurrection, the risen Christ within us, in this podcast Derek and Jason discuss how all creation is awakening to the transforming certainty of sacrificial love and resurrection life.
Read More DOUG CREW / WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW?by A Family Story | March 24, 2021 | Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
Navigating through loss with a good God, experiencing the presence of God as a loving Father, loving our neighbor, democrat and republican, and love answering every question that aches in the heart of humanity, Doug Crew shares on these subjects and more with insight and grace. Doug is the executive leader of Shiloh Place Ministries and a good friend of the podcast.
Read MoreThe post THE POLAR EXPRESS WITH JASON CLARK appeared first on A Family Story.
December 14, 2022
SHEILA & KEITH GREGOIRE / THE GOOD GUYS AND GIRL’S GUIDE TO GREAT SEX
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“Biblically, sex is something that is mutual, intimate, and pleasurable for both…But in the church, we have made sex into a male entitlement, and a female obligation. And it’s really hurt us.” Sheila Gregoire.
In this conversation, the guys talked with Sheila and Keith about intimacy, sex, and God’s design for our marriages. Based on groundbreaking surveys of more than twenty-five thousand people, the Gregoires shared how our theology impacts our intimacy, the nature of our sex drives, porn addiction, and freedom, all for the purpose of helping husbands and wives discover intimacy and experience great sex! This is both an insightful and fun conversation.
For more on Sheila & Keth
www.baremarriage.com
www.sheilawraygregoire.com
Twitter
Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly
Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com
YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… THOMAS JAY OORD / OPEN & RELATIONAL THEOLOGY by A Family Story | March 29, 2022 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Hell, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, Sin, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
Thomas Jay Oord shares about open relational theology; how it connects with the way we live and matches our deepest intuitions. The guys talked about a relational God who is genuinely loving, looks like Jesus, and walks through each day with us, impacting and impacted by our friendship.
Thomas describes an uncontrolling, loving God, that harmonizes with scripture. In this podcast, he dives into the subjects of hell, prayer, and evangelism all through the lens of open relational theology.
Read More KRISTIN DU MEZ / JESUS AND JOHN WAYNEby A Family Story | May 26, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 1 Comment
Patriarchy, authoritarian rule, the nature of power and privilege in America and the Church, the deconstruction movement, Christians in politics; in this podcast, Professor and Historian Kristin Du Mez, examines the impact of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, white evangelicalism. This conversation explores how evangelicals have stepped away from the Jesus of the Gospels, from sacrificial love. “But what was once done, can be undone.”
Read More WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN / with DEREK TURNERby A Family Story | April 2, 2021 | Faith, Intimacy, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
He came and he walked beside us, He said, “I will never leave you, I will never forsake you; you are not alone, you belong.” When we discover this love, we are transformed and we begin to love like He does. On Palm Sunday Derek speaks about the cross and how we are invited to live surrendered and sure in love. He talks about laying down our loves, loving our enemies, and seeing the kingdom come.
Read More THERE IS NO “US OR THEM” AT THE CROSSby A Family Story | September 15, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three | 3 Comments
This podcast highlights Jason’s book, Leaving and finding Jesus, where he writes about his deconstructing faith journey. The book is Jason’s Emmaus Road discovery of a love that is reconciling all creation; a journey where he’s awakening to a burning heart while leaving every Jesus who won’t lay His life down for His friends.
Read More JAMIE & DONNA WINSHIP / OUR TRUE IDENTITYby A Family Story | February 16, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 1 Comment
How to experience God, confession, faith, fear, freedom, our true identity, and cruciform, others-focused, self-emptying unconditional love barely scratches the surface of this packed conversation on the goodness of God. Jamie and Donna Winship share how we can discover our true identity through a relationship with God and each other.
Read More KIM HONEYCUTT / SHAME, AND WHAT TO DO WITH ITby A Family Story | February 10, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
In this podcast, Psychotherapist Kim Honeycutt addresses shame, blame the trauma of rejection. She brilliantly highlights our intrinsic worth, our identity in Christ, and the journey from rejection to acceptance.
Read MoreThe post THE POLAR EXPRESS WITH JASON CLARK appeared first on A Family Story.
SHEILA & KEITH GREGOIRE / THE GOOD GUY AND GIRL’S GUIDE TO GREAT SEX
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“Biblically, sex is something that is mutual, intimate, and pleasurable for both…But in the church, we have made sex into a male entitlement, and a female obligation. And it’s really hurt us.” Sheila Gregoire.
In this conversation, the guys talked with Sheila and Keith about intimacy, sex, and God’s design for our marriages. Based on groundbreaking surveys of more than twenty-five thousand people, the Gregoires shared how our theology impacts our intimacy, the nature of our sex drives, porn addiction, and freedom, all for the purpose of helping husbands and wives discover intimacy and experience great sex! This is both an insightful and fun conversation.
For more on Sheila & Keth
www.baremarriage.com
www.sheilawraygregoire.com
Twitter
Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly
Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com
YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… NAEEM FAZAL / REIMAGINING GOD by A Family Story | June 30, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 5 Comments
Naeem Fazal, founding pastor of Mosaic Church, and author of Ex-Muslim, talks about deconstruction or reimaging God. Naeem talks about the importance of being able to recognize God outside of our personal context, how to view sin, how to approach scripture, and a beautiful gospel that’s not just about a Jesus who saves but about a Jesus who is restoring humanity and all creation.
Read More MATTHEW HESTER / GOD WAS PLEASED TO REVEAL HIS SON IN MEby A Family Story | March 17, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments
Mystery, faith, salvation and awaking to Christ’s likeness within us, adoption and sonship, being in the family, discovering the Word in scripture, and living from union, we discuss this and more with Matthew Hester in a passionate conversation around the love of God. Matthew is an author, pastor of Dominion Church (Greer SC), and founder of Hester Ministries and Present Truth Academy.
Read More GOD IS NOT IN CONROL / SOVEREIGN LOVE with JASON CLARKby A Family Story | March 31, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, Sovereign Love Series, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
What if control is a flawed word to describe God’s sovereignty? What if there is an infinitely better word, a greater revelation, LOVE! Through a fresh look at God’s sovereignty, Jason invites you into a transforming encounter with the love and goodness of our heavenly Father.
Read More KRISTIN DU MEZ / JESUS AND JOHN WAYNEby A Family Story | May 26, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 1 Comment
Patriarchy, authoritarian rule, the nature of power and privilege in America and the Church, the deconstruction movement, Christians in politics; in this podcast, Professor and Historian Kristin Du Mez, examines the impact of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, white evangelicalism. This conversation explores how evangelicals have stepped away from the Jesus of the Gospels, from sacrificial love. “But what was once done, can be undone.”
Read More THOMAS JAY OORD / GOD CAN’Tby A Family Story | January 13, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
“Given that we start with God’s power…we end up giving God the kind of capabilities that make God culpable; in other words, morally responsible for not only causing but allowing bad things…I think there are good biblical reasons to object to that standard view of Gods power.” Thomas Jay Oord
Read More JOHN CROWDER / TRINITARIAN THEOLOGYby A Family Story | May 25, 2022 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Hell, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, Sin, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments
John Crowder pulls from the different streams of the church to talk about Christilogical Trinitarian theology, grace, union, contemplative practice, intimacy, and mystical Christianity. John and Jason dive into the Cross, Western atonement theories, and the religious industry built upon separation; how Jesus is healing the human race. John describes a relationship with a person, Christ. He invites us to embrace mystery so we might discover that God looks like Jesus.
Read MoreThe post SHEILA & KEITH GREGOIRE / THE GOOD GUY AND GIRL’S GUIDE TO GREAT SEX appeared first on A Family Story.
December 7, 2022
Judas’ Salvation
The priest looked at the boy, smiled, leaned down, and responded, “Yes, of course!”
When he looked up and caught the concerned and questioning gaze of the boy’s parents, he stood and whispered, “I don’t know what it could mean for Judas, but it will be very good for your boy.”
I love this story for a couple of reasons. First, the priest empowered the young fella to steward a reconciling heart in alignment with our heavenly Father’s heart “that none should perish.”
Second, he protected the boy’s heart from aligning with the punishing sin-counting mindset of the older brother in the parable of The Prodigal Son—the fella who willfully opposed his father’s heart of forgiveness and reconciliation toward his younger brother.
When I heard this story, I realized that many years ago, long before I’d answered that young woman’s question on Facebook, I’d decided to be like that priest. I’d decided Greater Love is in the business of reconciliation—forever—and I would align my affections with this ultimate Love.
So, when asked, “Can I pray for Judas,” or, “Can I be saved after I die?” or, “Can I place my hope in a God who reconciles?” I answer earnestly, “Yes, of course!”
Not because I know what it could mean for Judas or anyone else who has passed on, but because I’m convinced reconciling love is the ultimate truth Jesus revealed about the heart of our Father; because I’m convinced love transcends dimensions of time and space, even if I can’t understand it yet. Because I’ve made Greater Love the Cornerstone of my faith—it’s where I’ve placed my trust.
And as I near age 50, I’m discovering that aligning my affections with Jesus’ affections in this life, and for the next, is the joy of my salvation. The same joy that sustained Jesus through the hellish lie of separation He experienced on His way to and through the cross—a hell He exposed and defeated—forever.
This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Buy on Amazon Buy on A Family Story Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. FollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… MAKO NAGASAWA / A RESTORATIVE GOD by A Family Story | April 10, 2020 | Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season One | 0 Comments
Early Church Fathers, the formation of the New Testament, how to approach scripture, Starwars, Puff Daddy, The Police, and the vast difference between retributive justice and restorative justice. Mako Nagasawa’s insights and generous communication were insightful, hopeful and transformative.
Read More My Grandma Was Prone To Love…by Jason Clark | July 2, 2012 | A Family Story, Articles, Books, Faith, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 1 Comment
The cross is only beautiful because of the empty tomb. We celebrate His death because of His resurrection. I would like to suggest that the power of Love is perfected when sinners become saints. That was the whole point of Jesus death and resurrection – that we would encounter Love and become love.
Read More God And The Polar Expressby Jason Clark | December 20, 2018 | Art, Articles, Faith, Short Story | 6 Comments
It’s Christmas Eve and instead of dreaming of the best day of the year, the boy is in his bedroom agonizing over the universal question: Does God—sorry, I mean Santa Clause—really exist? He used to believe, but now…
Read More His Desire Is To Be Lovedby Jason Clark | January 4, 2013 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Relationship | 2 Comments
JESUS DIDN’T SAY, “NEED THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIND, AND STRENGTH.” HE SAID “LOVE.”
Read More THERE IS NO “US OR THEM” AT THE CROSSby A Family Story | September 15, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three | 3 Comments
This podcast highlights Jason’s book, Leaving and finding Jesus, where he writes about his deconstructing faith journey. The book is Jason’s Emmaus Road discovery of a love that is reconciling all creation; a journey where he’s awakening to a burning heart while leaving every Jesus who won’t lay His life down for His friends.
This podcast features a message Jason gave at an icuTalks where he addresses trauma within the church. He confronts the myth of separation with the truth that absolutely nothing, not life or death, powers or authorities, not present or future, not our understandings, beliefs, systems, or actions, nothing separates us from the reconciling love of God.
The guys discussed the fivefold in connection with the nature of God as non-hierarchal and inclusive, laced throughout creation and culture, reconstituted and perfectly exemplified in the life and ministry of Jesus, embedded into the very foundations of the Church, and subsequently expressed through the lives of the countless saints that make it up.
by Aimee Perry | October 21, 2020 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Popular, The Fathers Love | 9 Comments
Masks, no masks, a black woman, a middle-aged white woman, a red neck, an old white man, and a black man met up yesterday on the corner of 5th and 2nd to work together for the good of humanity!
Read More ORDER NOW!
The post SHEILA & KEITH GREGOIRE / THE GOOD GUY AND GIRL’S GUIDE TO GREAT SEX appeared first on A Family Story.
Why Evangelize?
I met with a church board member at his house to discuss the article for the purpose of connection and understanding—so we could move forward together. At least, that’s what I thought we were doing. Karen and I had no desire to leave the church; it was our extended family.
“If we can be saved after we die, why evangelize?” He asked.
“We evangelize because life is infinitely richer and more beautiful when lived in an ever-transforming revelation of God’s measureless love in the here and now—right?” I asked.
“Of course, yes!” he agreed wholeheartedly.
Then he continued with the same line of questioning. “But, if we can be saved after we die, what stops someone from living a life of unbounded riot and debauchery,” he asked with a pastoral tone. Except his example was more specific, “What stops me from cheating on my wife and doing drugs?”
I realized he had personalized specific sins in order to connect. But I took him up on his premise.
“Are you saying that your fear of eternal punishment is the only thing that restrains you from cheating on your wife and doing drugs?” I asked, matching his pastoral tone.
“Of course not!” he said, upset.
“Exactly,” I responded, matter of fact.
Then I told him about a question I’d received earlier in the week similar to the one he’d just posed.
“What if a belief in hell is what stops a man from raping a woman?” I’d been asked.
“Then, dear God, that fella needs to believe in punishment for his sake, the woman’s sake, and ours,” I’d responded.
The board member looked at me, confused.
“If a punishing view of God is the only thing keeping a person from hurting himself or others, that person may need to keep believing in punishment for a time. But let’s not pretend that person is whole or free. And whatever we do, let’s not give that kind of thinking a pulpit in our lives.”
He nodded enthusiastically, and I continued.
“If we need punishment to motivate us in any way—either to avoid evil or to do good, then we haven’t fully experienced, nor understand the gospel of Jesus, and we still have much to learn about freedom.”
He nodded again, enthusiastically.
But before I left, he made it clear there was likely no room for my non-punishing thoughts about God within our church…
This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Buy on Amazon Buy on A Family Story Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. FollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollowFollow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Donald Millers, The Open Table: An Invitation to Walk with God by Jason Clark | July 24, 2011 | Articles, Books, Faith, Life | 0 Comments
In early 2010, my brother Joel asked me if I would be interested in writing the guide book to the second offering of Donald Millers “The Open Table.” …
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Bob Mumford was a man of God. I knew this because my dad told me so. My dad was a man of God himself, this I knew first hand. So if anyone would know, it would be him. Bob is a gifted speaker, a storyteller with incredible revelation directly from heaven. But as a kid, more importantly, Bob was funny.
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I believe God is always saying one thing: “I love you.” And He always follows up with a question, “do you believe me?” What would our lives look like if we could answer this one question that God is always asking?
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Brad discusses high Christology and gives insight into how our early church fathers thought about God and how they read and interpreted scripture. He also discussed what the wrath of God means in scripture.
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Though it has felt just the opposite during this quarantine time, this has been one of the greatest times of personal growth and Kingdom advancement for the body of Christ.
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In this highly charged political season of us and them, we must not find our belonging or identity in a political party or persona. Otherwise, we become lost.
Read More ORDER NOW!
The post Why Evangelize? appeared first on A Family Story.
