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I once saw a bumper sticker that said…..

It’s not God that I have a problem with….it’s His fan club that I don’t like.

As a member of that “fan club”, I was hurt and even a little angered with the statement.

But let’s be real.  There are times when churched people (myself included) don’t look at all like the shining lights that Christ intended us to be.

In a new book titled, churched: one kid’s journey toward God despite a holy mess, author Matthew Paul Turner (@jesusneedsnewPR) shares many stories about growing up churched in a fundamentalist church setting.  Matthew cleverly uses his wit and sense of humor in his writing as he describes his personal journey through a religious mess.  I found myself simultaneously laughing and cringing at the absurdity of some of the situations that Matthew encountered as a churched young man.

Like the annual boxing matches that Matthew’s pastor would have with Satan……

“Hello Preacher, it’s me again!” Satan mocked.  He spoke with the eloquence of a born-again redneck.  ”One of my demons tells me there’s a man of God in this building.  You wouldn’t know who that is, would you?”

It felt weird standing on my pew and booing Satan at the top of my lungs.  But since everybody else did the same thing, it was also weird not to.

“I’m the man of God around these parts.”  Pastor Nolan gripped his belt with one hand, smacked his Bible against the pulpit with the other, and swaggered up to the front of the stage.  ”What business does the devil have in my church?  You here to get saved?”

Or the time Mr. Moose set fire to Sally the Barbie Doll to illustrate to the children of the church “what happens to heathens that smoke”…..

Moose reached into his pocket, pulled out an organge cigarette lighter, and flicked on the flame.  As he held Sally by her lustrous blonde hair, he put the small flame just under her rubbery feet.  ”THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IN HELL, BOYS AND GIRLS!” he screamed.  Then set Sally’s feet on fire.

“SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO HEATHENS THAT SMOKE?” yelled Moose, and he began to cough.

At the end of the book, we learn that, despite growing up in a “holy mess” of legalism and inaccurate portrayals of God, Matthew develops a love of and passion for Jesus.

I am passionate about Jesus.  I think his death on the cross is so much bigger than what I’ve been told in the past.

Today, Matthew is churched again at a church that our family had the opportunity to visit this summer while traveling:  Pastor Pete Wilson’s Cross Point Community Church in Nashville, TN.  At Cross Point, I am hoping that Matthew may have found what he was looking for when he wrote……

What I’m hoping to find in a church is a place all about joining God in the resurrection story.  I want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

If you are

looking for a good laugh

willing to think about what church should not be

and interested in helping church become what it should be

then you will want to check out this entertaining, challenging, and well-written book.

Buy the book here

Read Matthew’s blog here

Follow Matthew on Twitter here

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