I know the metaphor doesn’t make much sense, but I wanted to get your attention and ask for your help. Recently, our new book, Out Into the Desert reached best seller status. Help us ride the wave by sharing this amazing news with people you know. Good News! The Kindle version is $2.99 for a…
I’m not an expert at mental health issues, but I do know that anger is a very normal emotion. I know that it can be excessive and know that it can lead to other things, but it is also necessary sometimes when we see injustice and abuse in the world. I often use the illustration…
Several years ago when I started questioning my beliefs, I began to feel lonely because everyone in my circle of friends thought much the same way I did. When I continued to change, it felt like I was wandering out into the Desert. Eventually, I resigned from the church that I was pastoring, and started…
In my best evaluation, people have always been drawn towards things like religion to try to explain the things we could explain. The ceremonies and communities we built around our understanding and misunderstanding helped us shape some meaning into the world. I believe we can honor those traditions and, sometimes, even memorialize them while boldly…
Recently I listened to a discussion about a book I’m involved with called Parenting Deconstructed. It’s a great book for people that are making changes in their spiritual life and exploring different options, commonly known as deconstruction. A couple of the authors that I love talked about making space for their children. What they meant…
I know the metaphor doesn’t make much sense, but I wanted to get your attention and ask for your help. Recently, our new book, Out Into the Desert reached best seller status. Help us ride the wave by sharing this amazing news with people you know. Good News! The Kindle version is 99 cents for…
by Karl Forehand (Adapted from my blog on Patheos) Before we even get started, let me just say this. I know that many of you might have had good experiences with your church. It’s better than a fundamentalist, evangelical church that you know of and you are more accepting, affirming, and generally more progressive. I…
by Karl Forehand While it’s true that many millions of people are deconstructing their faith, some of them will be convinced to stop short of total deconstruction. I don’t want to judge or criticize them for this. Deconstruction is hard. But for many of us, it was necessary to continue on the journey that we…
That is where we are with organized religion. It is systemically broken. There’s a big problem and everybody in the room knows that it’s broken. We try to ignore it. We blame ourselves and we blame others, but every time we try to talk about it, we get defensive. This is a discussion we need…
In 20 years of ministry, I have never had anyone refuse to take communion from me. But this guy quietly told me he was not going to accept what we called The Lord’s Supper. I said, “okay” suspiciously, to which he replied, “I’ll talk to you later about it.” Sure enough, we had supper later…
We decided to release our next book as an e-book and offer it for free! Over a year ago, we stopped attending church. After our deconstruction, we immediately started attending a large church. It was a good church, but after about 2 years, we made a conscious decision to step away. There were too many…
Several months ago, when we stopped going to church, the most common injunction from people was, “Community is important.” As I said before, “I couldn’t agree more.” The best way I can answer this issue is to describe my current communities. That’s right, it’s plural. I don’t think any of us just have one community.…
Yesterday, I started talking about the need for community. If you haven’t had a chance, you might read it first. Community is not just within organizations and it is not without pitfalls. Today, I wanted to look a few of the dangers in joining a community, formal or otherwise. The most obvious danger in community…
When I try to discuss the status of organized church, the most prominent push back that I get from those that attend church is in the area of community. They will say to me, “But, we need community!” And, I will say, “I couldn’t agree more.” But, if we all agree that community is important,…
My mother is a strong person. I have heard her talk about having low self-esteem, and while that may have been true, she raised 5 children without a lot of support. My dad worked hard, but he never developed the skills to lead us effectively. Many of us were raised in systems that stressed the…
Karl I am pretty sure I heard the phrase first from one of my mentors. Although I very well could have heard in a secular boardroom. The phrase goes something like this, “We have to keep the main thing the main thing.” It is a little more than establishing goals or even priorities. The phrase…
Recently we decided not to go to church anymore. We don’t really know whether this is a permanent decision or just what we are doing right now. It probably depends upon which one of us you talk to and what day it is. One thing is for sure, we need some time to heal up…
Disclaimers: I respect my pastor friends that want to preserve the local church. Most of them agree, it needs to be re imagined. That’s what I think i’m doing here – imagining. This series of blogs is about what I’m thinking about. I think it’s good to think through things occasionally, especially in times like…
Disclaimers: I respect my pastor friends that want to preserve the local church. Most of them agree, it needs to be re imagined. That’s what I think i’m doing here – imagining. This series of blogs is about what I’m thinking about. I think it’s good to think through things occasionally, especially in times like…
Disclaimers: I respect my pastor friends that want to preserve the local church. Most of them agree, it needs to be re imagined. That’s what I think i’m doing here – imagining. This series of blogs is about what I’m thinking about. I think it’s good to think through things occasionally, especially in times like…
The Desert Sanctuary 