I have been reading your books for years - and enjoying them. My first take
on New Kind of Christian was that you had been reading my journal.
You articulated much better than I could many of the ideas and impressions that I had growing up. I was raised in an Assembly of God family - went to a
Mennonite Brethren College, then … joined the Evangelical Free Church. After 18 years there, we became Presbyterians. That's the short version of my life story.
I realized early on in my life that there was some kind of gap between what I understood that Bible to be saying and what I was told that the Bible was saying. Sometimes it was ignorance on my part, sometimes it was balderdash on somebody else's part. I have spent the greatest part of my life trying to sort out the two.
It has been a life of great adventure and rich rewards. Not too bad for a guy who never goes anywhere and is still just barely getting by financially. I just want to let you know that you have contributed greatly to my understanding and I encourage you to continue. It seemed to me that you were much too apologetic in your chapter "0" of Generous Orthodoxy. It helps to remember something that I heard from a road rep for Moody Press many years ago - "it doesn't matter what side you're on in religion, politics or sports or whatever - you will find people on your side that you wish were on the other side".
Answer: Thanks for the encouragement. It does help to keep a sense of humor, doesn’t it!