I know it’s cliché to describe it as such, but a few years ago I began a journey. This journey led me through a sort of crisis of faith, where much of what I believed in was called into question. There were moments when I wasn’t sure I could consider myself a Christian, though such moments were brief and tentative, at best. Nearly three years later, I believe I have arrived at the end of this journey, and I am ready to begin a new one. But first, let me tell you what I’ve been through put myself through.
On Monday, while driving to Wichita, I stumbled across a radio preacher teaching on Revelation. To me this virtually guaranteed, as it always had in the past, complete disaster, so I stuck around to shake my head disapprovingly at the fallout.
But instead of a complete disaster, what followed was an incredibly sound and profoundly meaningful discourse on Revelation, chapters 1 and 2. Most importantly, Nancy Leigh DeMoss delivered a message that I needed to hear: That from a Biblical perspective, there is no such thing as an “unchurched Christian,” and that no matter how frustrating being part of a local church may be at times, it’s simply not an option. And for good reason.
A few years back, I helped start a website called Epinoia Cafe. It was many things, I’m sure, but from my perspective at least, it was me and several friends exploring the new (at the time) Emergent Church movement, in a common forum. But as those who were in on it from the beginning may have noticed, I haven’t written a word at Epinoia Café in a very long time. And I’ll be honest with you: I haven’t really stopped by to read, either.
The other day, I was thinking about why that is. After all, I helped Josh Kagi and Anthony Doheny start the thing; it wasn’t my idea, but I was in on the brainstorming, and at one point, I was very excited about it. Early on, I both wrote and responded frequently. But as far as I can tell by browsing through the archives, that lasted but a few months, dwindling off sometime around February of 2007.
What happened to me?