No Exceptions Ministries, Inc

 There’s no way around it: what you do matters immensely to how people perceive (and receive) you.  As St. Paul said, "You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men" (2 Cor 3:2).  Those not yet awakened to their fully reconciled standing with Love Himself will read our lives, which are living epistles, long before they pay any heed to the scriptures we quote or even the God we adore.  Indeed, our lives often scream what the still small voice of Father only whispers.  For these reasons, how we treat people, and ourselves, is if significant importance.  So all that to say this: as you read what follows, may no one lay upon me a false charge of having no concern for behavior.  That is categorically untrue.   But in our desire to see behaviors change we have turned the life-giving message of accomplished, reconciled grace perfectly depicted in the person of Jesus Christ as somehow secondary to human conduct; as a mere means to an end.  Oh yes, lip service i

  We Give Because He Gave The abuses of 'giving' as it is often taught in churches is so rampant and trauma-inducing that it necessitates no explanation. If you know, you know. From applying contractual elements of a covenant to which most were not ever bound to begin with, to using manipulation and guilt as a means of soliciting support, one of the greatest acts of worship has been corrupted to such a devastating degree that many have disconnected from it altogether. And that is absolutely tragic! In giving, we are invited into a place of co-creation with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Not merely spectators, giving allows us to assign our endorsement to that to which we support. Each time we give, whether that is materially or immaterially matters little, we are pouring all that we are into the mission and purpose of another. But most of all, we give because He first gave! The Firstborn of which we are called and equipped as the 'many brethren' set the tone by com

Door-to-door proselytism… “Gospel” tracts that, equal parts cartoonish and horror, have nothing whatsoever to do with anything remotely describable as ‘good news’… Revival tent meetings preaching fear and separation to a room mostly comprised of the converted, sadistically savoring every moment of it… Purposefully misleading ‘family fun’ community events that only care about people insofar as they are brought into the doctrinal…and tithe-paying…fold… With this circus of absurdity and disingenuousness going on all around us, is it any wonder the word ‘evangelism’ leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouths of so many?  This works-based, formatted, programmatic focus of institutional religion has become so entrenched in the western faith that it has its own movement descriptor: evangelicalism.   And therein lies the real tragedy.  The movement has redefined its foundational term to such a warped degree that true, scriptural, Christ-centered evangelism is entirely foreign to most of the fait

It was for FREEDOM.  Not so we’d worship Him.  Not so we’d obey Him.  Not even so we’d love Him.  Nope.  For freedom.  We were in bondage and He hated it.  That alone was the purpose of Him freeing us: just so we would be free.  Love wants nothing in return.  It’s not a contractual exchange.  Love releases out of abundant benevolence to one entirely incapable of offering anything in return even remotely comparable in value.   That’s what real Love looks like.   There is no substitute for freedom and there is no trade-off worth compromising it.  If you think there is, I would kindly submit you’ve never actually experienced it.  Love Himself loved us (shined forth His very nature on us).  And from that love, Love freed us.  Don’t make it complicated.    

 Elitist corporatism over intimate family. Programs over transformations.  Budgets over people.    Codependency over freedom.   The western church has lost its way.  Having adopted a decidedly Americanized style of either stoic pageantry or contemporary pizzaz at the expense of substance, it more closely resembles a board meeting, or alternatively, a rock concert (depending on your particular denominational flavor) than an organic, vibrant community of faith.  The Gospel mission of spreading the Good News of Christ’s total victory over misery, death, and every false sense of separation has been abandoned for a seemingly more lucrative counterfeit that makes one dependent on the institution and its administrations to access the fullness of God.  It’s no longer about the Kingdom…but building personal empires.  Large, complex, self-important, and mostly ineffective, empires.   Transforming people’s lives as they discover who they really are (and Whose they really are), while still given a

1 Samuel 15:22 (NASB) “Samuel said, ‘Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.’” Whenever interacting with scripture translations it is important to remember that the very process of translation itself, no matter how hard one tries to the contrary, ultimately includes a heavy degree of bias.  Words are not black-and-white but contain extensive nuance that require the translator to make judgement calls as to which meaning of a word is the one most likely intended by the original author.  The translator’s own perceptions, theological framework, and experience hugely impacts their decision.  Even so-called ‘literal’ translations, while quite helpful, invariably contain heavy bias.  Such is the case with the word rendered ‘obey’ in 1 Samuel 15:22.  שָׁמַע (šāmaʿ) (Strong’s #8085) means to hear, to listen, to give something or so