I absolutely love Jesus Christ. I don't think he is a figment or a crutch or some religious hangover. I think he is real and alive and wonderfully engaged in the world today. But, I have serious problems with the religion that bears His name. As a pastor, I have been a follower of Christ as well as a follower of Christianity. And I can't help notice there is a growing difference between the two. (Maybe that difference has always been there and I've just never seen it until now. Maybe each new generation must come to grips with this difference, as the church grows increasingly removed from its founder.)

My primary contention is this: Much of what passes for modern, western Christianity isn't of Jesus. We can (and do) lose Jesus right in the middle of prayer meetings and worship services. We can miss him in the Bible and in the church. As the Scriptures remind us, not all worship is pleasing to God, not all church services are attended by Jesus, not all teaching is sound teaching, and not all prayer is "in Jesus's name."

Why is that:

• Study after study shows no statistical difference between the behaviors of those inside the church and those outside it?
• So many Christians have adopted a "victim mentality" with an attitude of helplessness and have put much of our hope and trust in the political process and court system, implying that God's work on earth depends upon who sits in the White House?
• We currently see very little of the power, vitality, and growth today in our hearts and churches that once characterized the explosive movement of God?