My Kaleo – Michael Chen from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

William Paul Young is the author of the best-selling book ‘The Shack’.  If you visit the website www.theshackbook.com you will read ‘Willie’s Personal Journey’ in which he says:
          “The Shack will tell you much more about me than a few facts ever could.  In some ways
           my life is partly revealed in both characters – Willie and Mack.  But an author is always
          more.  I hope that someday we can share a cup of coffee, or for me, an extra hot chai tea
          with soy.  If that happens, and if you want, I will tell you a little more about the bigger 
          story and you can tell me some of yours.”

Well, I had the privilege of doing just that, although we substituted a Chinese dinner for chai tea.  And while in the home of his son, who graciously operated the video camera for me, we sat down for an afternoon of honest, open conversation about God, family and of course, The Shack.  What you will see and hear is but a taste of what I experienced that afternoon.  If you’d like to stay current on the journey of William Paul Young be sure to visit his personal blog site at http://windrumors.com .

Thank you Paul for sharing your journey with us, we are better because you have.

Why The Shack? from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Response to Critics of The Shack from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Desire for The Shack from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

David Gregory – My Kaleo from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

If you’d like to see his works, a great overview is found on the Christianbook website.

One Sunday later that summer something happened unexpectedly. My gut tightened and I had an urge to go to NW Hills; so I did. The worship songs were simpler and more direct than I had heard before; yet I really appreciated that directness and the way we sung to God, not just about God. I was also taken by the pastor’s sermon. While I found out that the belief system was underpinned by biblical inerrancy and exclusive salvation (two things I resisted), I liked the message about living one’s total life for Jesus Christ, in whom we find true life. I began to attend NW Hills regularly and on the fifth Sunday, I felt something I had never experienced in any church before-a feeling of being “at home.”  

The ‘Prof’ from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Another important event was reading A. W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God. There was a ring of authenticity about Tozer that just blew me away. He wrote that the Bible alone was just a book, but illuminated by the Spirit, it was the Word of God; and he indicated that we ought to make Christ the center of our lives, that the relationship with God must take precedence over everything else. Tozer’s explanation of how pride and the sin of self-absorption blocked us from connecting with God impacted me. Roughly two-thirds or more into the book, Tozer refers to how the intellectual can become a “smokescreen.” I don’t recall the actual context, but somehow those words spoke to me about my own relation to the Bible. It hit me that, while I thought I was reading the Bible in a spiritual light, I was really subjecting it to skeptical scrutiny. Instead of opening myself to God and surrendering to God through the Bible’s words, I was too busy deciding what I did and did not want to believe had actually happened.

Over the following few days, I began to rethink the way I had been viewing the Bible. Instead of literal-factual or metaphorical, I began to think of “more than literal” as a way of seeing the Bible. Thus, my new orientation became one of not trying to ascertain exactly what happened at all, but to trust that God was somehow working through the pages of Scripture. Hence, I realized that my task was to open myself to, and surrender to, the God who spoke through the Bible. I was not to analyze but to listen. I had been blocked by intellectual defenses that kept me closed.

During the same time period, while talking to my friend Megan Brown at Starbucks, it just hit me-God is real, God is right here, I can pray to God, God is listening. I felt a fiery conviction in my gut that this was true-and it was mixed in with a peace and confidence. Suddenly, I “got it.” No longer was I worried about all the efforts I had put into ascertaining the truth or falsity present in the Bible. Instead, I found myself turning to God, to focus on God, as best I could. Also, I found myself feeling that Jesus really is my Savior, and that I need Jesus in order to be who I am supposed to be. Even more, I realized that I am not supposed to follow my own ego or my own lights, but to do my best to follow God as known in Christ; thus, Christ is also my Lord. Suddenly, I began to see things differently. The passage in Ephesians that indicates wives are to submit to their husbands and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church-a passage that I used to see as sexist nonsense, struck me as different. This was because I now see the God-factor, that it is the husband and wife first submitting to God, and then to each other. I now find myself taking seriously the idea of God, not as an idea any more, but as a present reality, as a personal force integrated into life that should be taken seriously.

A couple of weeks after my conversion to evangelical faith, I read a book that History Professor Gary Ferngren loaned me entitled The Future of Evangelical Christianity by Donald G. Bloesch. Gary figured it would help me delineate between different types of evangelical Christians, but I found myself reading with amazement for other reasons. First, Bloesch gave words to issues I had thought about but was not sure if anyone else had articulated, and he did so more thoroughly than I could.

For instance, Bloesch spoke of how the Bible itself was not inerrant, but that God’s Word (Christ) is somehow present in the Bible, and that is what is inerrant. Second, Bloesch cited Karl Barth’s reference to “superhistorical,” which appears to be the functional equivalent of my term “more than literal,” in describing Genesis. Bloesch’s point (using Barth) is that it is not merely literal or mythical, but more than either. Third, Bloesch argues that the church must stand as a check on the contemporary culture, that when the dominant culture and politics swing left, the church should swing right, and vice versa. To identify too closely with the Republican or Democratic parties was, in his view, to align too closely to kingdoms of this world.

As I was reading Bloesch, I was reminded of your words, Marcus, about how the source of Jesus’ compassion was in his experiences of the Spirit, a transcultural Spirit who calls us to a compassion beyond ourselves. As I look out upon the world, I am struck with the sense that we need this life-giving Spirit more than ever.

The events I have mentioned are the key ones, but there have been others-namely, a lot of seeming coincidences when various evangelical Christians have come into my life at the right time, supporting and encouraging me or simply showing me what they are about. While I am not totally convinced that those who are not consciously saved in Christ are damned (I leave that to God), and while I see the Bible as authoritative as opposed to inerrant, I do see the evangelical emphasis on the authority of Scripture and salvation through Christ as having the utmost significance. Indeed, I have needed this focused evangelical orientation in order to break through the bonds of my ego so as to find real life, the truly meaningful life of following God in Jesus Christ. Importantly, I do not think this is ultimately something I have done at all. That day in Starbucks-when I felt and perceived Christ was real as my Savior and Lord, and when my world changed and evangelical language suddenly made sense to me-was grace.

As you listen to his story, I pray you will be encouraged.

Don Snow – My Kaleo Life from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Despite having to go to summer school to graduate high school with grades barely above D, he proved everyone wrong when he went back to school at age 26. He had to work like a dog trying to catch up in all the skills he would have learned in high school when he started college and finished his first semester with a 4.0. He maintained a 4.0 for his first two years of college and still has an impressive 3.65 here at Oregon State University.

Despite the fact that he was a drug user and dealer during his teen years, he became a high school ministry leader at age 27 and gave his testimony to several high school kids and encouraged them to stay out of drugs. He did a Bible Study with a group of boys every Wednesday night. He would open the church gym every Friday night (trouble night) and play basketball with the guys and the other kids they invited. He mentored 6 fourteen year old boys who were all without a father – all while going to school, working part time and being a devoted husband.

Despite having a family that turns their back on God, Casey is a witness every chance he gets. Not only does he “live the life” but he prays with and for his family members when ever he can. He never fails to mention how God is the reason he has the life he has.

Despite the fear that can surround new Christians, Casey completely surrendered himself to God when he recommitted his life to Jesus in 2003.  Later that year, he went on a missions trip to Mexico where he repaired and built a church in the slums. He dreams of doing more mission trips and has never said “no” to God when He called him.

Casey Davis – My Kaleo from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Phil Doud – My Kaleo from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Phil Doud – My Kaleo Life from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Phil Doud – On Decision Making from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

The first category includes such things as providing help for medical, dental, hygiene, food, clothing and shelter needs, as well as teaching/training native people to become more self-sufficient in these areas.

Follow-up Proclamation evangelistic work aims to establish local churches, and develop/equip pastors and Christian lay-workers to spread the Gospel. Most churches begin as community “Bible Club” houses which are built with a combination of local and volunteer labor

When a friend in my church invited me to go on a mission trip to Mexico City and Oaxaca in 1995, I did not want to even consider it.

During the years since, I have taken another 14 trips with NWMTI (now MTI, International), doing a variety of different projects:

It is not always clear to me what God is doing in some of these places, but a few people show very clearly that the faithfulness of God’s people produce the results He intends. We met a young man teaching children in the Huruma school on practically a volunteer basis. Peter was teaching language arts by forming letters, then words, then sentences from little pieces of modeling clay, as the children have no pencils or paper. (He also tutored the children of wealthier people for $0.20/hr.) This Christian man’s love for his people touched us and we are now the proud “Wzungu” big family of Peter Wakori, a junior in Daystar Christian University, majoring in education and computer science. Upon graduating he plans to return to Huruma to develop educational systems.

In the case of Oaxaca and other Mexican locales, God’s blessings have become crystal clear to me. I was privileged to help build the initial Bible Club Houses in certain villages, then invited back years later to help build additions onto rapidly growing churches. On my last trip I was gently informed that the native pastors, teachers, lay-workers and Christian service organizations have assumed essentially all critical functions and that MTI is no longer needed in these areas. In what was possibly my last church service in Oaxaca, I attended a Sunday evening worship service on Feb. 15, 2009 which lasted from 6:00PM until 11:00PM. People sang, clapped, danced and prayed, many coming forward to kneel on the dirt floor of the sheet-meta and cinder-block worship building which they proudly call their church.

Kaleo Life Story – Eric Peterson from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

I am a teacher but what I really do is mentor my students and urge them to pursue godly living.  On any given day you’ll see me having lunch with my students, lead a Bible study for them – or just do whatever I can to build relationships with them.

Kaleo Life Story – Eric Peterson2 from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Kaleo Life Story – Eric Peterson Passion from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.

Kaleo Life Story – Eric Peterson Teaching from Shawn Penn on Vimeo.