Contrarian Christian living

Jesus didn’t die and raise again just to make me a “nice” or comfy Christian.

I love Jesus more than anything

However, just because I love and follow Jesus doesn’t mean my faith has to look like the majority of white evangelicals who have subscribed to a mainstream, comfortable Christianity. After all, Jesus didn’t reinforce the status quo or make the religious people of his day feel warm and fuzzy all over. He disrupted everything and He’s still doing it today—if we let Him.

Though I’ve been a Christian since 1987 and walked with God since then, I would say that I’ve been pursuing the deeper things of Christ since 2010. A lot of people ask me what prompted the journey I’ve been on and how I’ve reached my current beliefs. The answer isn’t cut and dry, but the best I can summarize it is this:

Discovering what’s good about following Jesus is not enough for me when there remains a best.

Just because I’ve been eternally saved through faith doesn’t mean I’ve encountered God’s complete salvation from the world system. Just because Jesus can—and does—use the mainstream American church doesn’t mean it’s His ideal blueprint for what the community of God should look like presently. Just because I have a personal relationship with the Lord doesn’t mean I have scratched the surface of God’s eternal purpose. I want more (everything!) I can experience of Jesus on this side of heaven, and I’m following the Way to discover it. To discover Him.

In short, what I’ve learned (and unlearned) about following Jesus looks rather contrary to the traditions of American evangelicalism as they’re often encountered today. I wholly believe it is the church’s call to be the hope of the world, and I pray that I might participate in being—and helping others learn to be—what it means to live that out in daily life. That’s why contrarian Christian living is the first and central theme of my life.

What a gritty, glorious adventure.

In service of others

Knowing that my life is not about me, I aim for this theme of my work to help curious believers:

Discover more of the inexpressible treasure found in Jesus and Jesus alone
Set aside the Christian’s easy good in pursuit of God’s costly best
Lament, repent, and turn from the widespread complacency, ideology, and idolatry found within much of the American evangelical church
Experience radical, transforming expressions of Jesus Christ through the gift of familial, Spirit-led Christian community
Learn how to practice submission to Jesus as the active, functioning Head of the local church rather than to men or women
And more, because there’s always more in Christ