Receiving two threats via a Christmas card and a voicemail this December make me feel like this.

…while you discuss this invasion in a committee.

The illusion never turned into something real.

When you leave UBF, remember that your UBF shepherds no longer have dictator-style control over your life. You don’t have to obey anything they say. They are just people you used to know…

So we set our faith in who You are
Even though You reign high above us
You tenderly love us
We know Your heart
And we rest in who You are

The young man in this video just wants to drive his car (“live by faith”) but he keeps running into the facts of reality (flat tire, no gas, policeman, etc). God calls us to go beyond belief (orthodoxy) and let Him live in us through action (orthopraxy).

Yes Christians are “not of this world” but yes we still live “in this world”. We are not free from reality. The recklessness of the young man in the video reminds me of my reckless decisions in my prior UBF lifestyle.

The song “Say a Prayer for Me Tonight” is a true story. My band and I were touring the East Coast and we used a sound & lighting company out of Philadelphia for the tour. This was about six months before the “Make It Right” CD was released. After the very first concert on the tour, a young guy named Richard, who was running lighting for the tour, came up to me to talk. It was late, I was hot, sweaty, tired, and really thinking about the next 12 days of concerts. He said that he had never heard music like mine before…cool rock, but with a powerful message. I said thanks. He said, “Can I ask you a favor, Kenny”?. I said yes, of course. He said “Would you say a prayer for me tonight”? And I did. Something simple, like “Lord, You brought Richard and I together on this tour and You, Dear Lord have a reason for it. Bless us all, give us a powerful and significant time together, in Jesus Name, Amen”!!!

During the next 2 weeks I learned that Richard was a talented, yet complicated person. He had a lot of heartache and sadness that was palpable. You could feel it. One afternoon he asked me to climb up into the huge truck he was driving for the tour, (filled with sound & lighting gear). He played a couple of songs that he had written on the cassette player in the truck. Sad, but interesting musically. I gave him some pointers and gentle critique of his music, we laughed, and that was it. About 2 days later the tour ended and we flew back to Nashville. I was home for about 24 hours when my telephone rang. It was a youth pastor outside Philadelphia calling to tell me that Richard took his own life. How sad, it was so devastating. I hurt so deeply for him. “You never know someone’s heart. You never know how they feel”.

(source)

Fast, on a rough road riding
High, through the mountains climbing
twisting, turning further from my home.
Young, like a new moon rising
Fierce, through the rain and lightning
Wandering out into this great unknown.

And I don’t want no one to cry, but tell em’
If I don’t survive…

I was Born Free!
I was born free
I was born free, Born Free.

Free, like a river raging
Strong, if the wind I’m facing.
Chasing dreams and racing father time.
Deep like the grandest canyon,
Wild like an untamed stallion.
If you can’t see my heart you must be blind.

You can knock me down and watch me bleed
But you can’t keep no chains on me.

I was Born Free!
I was born free
I was born free, Born Free.

And I’m not good at long goodbyes but look down
Deep into my eyes.

I was born free!

Calm facing danger
Lost, like an unknown stranger
Grateful for my time with no regrets.

Close to my destination
Tired, frail and aching
Waiting patiently for the sun to set.

And when its done believe that I will yell it from that mountain highhh!

And I will vow to the shining seas and celebrate God’s Grace on me.

But among senior staff, the “r” does not mean reform. It means “rebels”. As a staff member, I heard the term “rebel” associated numerous times with people who left the ministry. Those who left are considered to have become rebellious toward God’s servants and toward God. Even those who left with a pact to “agree-to-disagree” are spoken of in terms of being rebellious in some way.

I have exchanged emails with many of the “r-group” people during my defense of UBF ministry. I did not admit it at the time, but I did not find them rebellious at all. Some were bitter and angry, indeed, and for good reason from what I could tell. But when I saw through the emotions, I could see facts.

Here is one of my favorite songs from the late ’80s by the Altar Boys, dedicated to all the “rebels” of the world. Our actions shout louder than any words. Yet sometimes we need the guts to speak.

Rebels, attention, can you hear me?
Man, we’ve got to take this message out in the streets
In this wilderness our voices must be heard
With everything we’ve got to be a light in this world

Rebels, attention, do you hear me?
It’s not easy I know, but you’ve got to stand with me
I’ve seen too many people fallen to the lies
The truth has to come from you and I

Chorus:
We’ve got to shout louder! louder!
Louder than the world!
Shout it straight from your hearts
Give it to them all you’ve got, shout it!

Hey rebels, attention! you can hear me
All the fired out brains and kids without names get to me.
I see them lying there in the city morgue
Mom and Dad’s wondering what went wrong?!

Hey rebels, I’m pleading did you hear me!
The way we live the way we love is everything
So what if I memorized every verse
We shout louder than the world by the way we serve!

Shout it! Make actions scream
Shout it! What this world needs
Shout it! Stick to our guns
Cause from our hearts (then) from our lungs.

If you want a good litmus test for whether a church is in step with the Spirit of God or is becoming a gathering place for old wineskins, here it is: voice a differing opinion. How do the church leaders react? People of God who know Jesus and have met the Spirit and respect the Father will welcome differing opinions. They will welcome questions and desire to engage in dialogue in order to understand.

It is said that some of the worst ideas in history have come from a group of like-minded people who had no opposing opinion or differing thought. What happens when you ask a question at your church? Do you get a phone call telling you to get lost? Do you get invited to a meeting to discuss why there are so many meetings? Do you get repeated demands to stop discussing matters through email? Are you prohibited from taking verbatim notes during a meeting because someone else will decide what was discussed? Do you get letters riddled with “I’m sorry” but receive no evidence of repentance? Do you see the same pattern of people with different ideas being driven away from the church, over and over again for decades? Are you required to develop the same church programs for all age groups regardless of their life situation?

The song “Against the grain” by the Altar Boys comes to mind:

Should we stand for mediocrity?
What do we mean by Christianity?
We throw our words around thinking we’re doing great
Love is what we need, it goes against the grain!

http://lyrics.wikia.com/Altar_Boys:Against_The_Grain
http://www.altarboys.com/