Kelley - Radically Normal

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Except where noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Cover by Harvest House Publishers, Inc., Eugene, Oregon

Back cover author photo by Jason Weigner

RADICALLY NORMAL

Copyright 2014 by Joshua C. Kelley

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kelley, Josh, 1973-

Radically normal / Josh Kelley.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5938-4 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5939-1 (eBook)

1. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4501.3.K4455 2014

248.4dc23

2013048207

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To the two people most responsible for this book

Marilyn Kelleyfrom raising a family, to serving in ministry, to writing this book, we are on the same team.

Brother Jack, C.S. Lewisas you once said of George MacDonald, now I say of you, I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written [anything] in which I did not quote from him.

I owe many people debts of gratitude. I hope I dont forget too many.

To my familymy wife, Marilyn, for believing I could do this, and our daughters, Grace and Sarah, for filling my life with joy. To my parents, who demonstrated Gods unconditional love. The longer I live the more I realize how great and rare that gift was. Thank you to all of the family members who supported us in so many ways during the writing of the book.

To my church, the Gathering, I owe a particularly large debt. I couldnt have done this without you. Thank you for being such a loving and supportive community. Youre my glory and joy.

I also owe a great debt to my first church, His Place. Serving with you has been one of my greatest privileges. Only God knew how he was using you to prepare me for this book. Red ink equals love sustained me through the editing process.

Thank you to the Skagit Starbucks. Im proud to have been a partner with you and hope you enjoy these stories. To the Mount Vernon Haggen Starbucks, where I did most of my writing, thank you for providing such a welcoming second office.

Thank you to many friends who have been such an important part of my journey. I owe so much to so many that I am afraid to even begin listing them. I have to limit my thanks here to Jon and Rachelle Brown and Nate and Heather Baker, who supported us and this book so much.

Thank you to my proofreaders: Mom and Dad, Aunt Terri, Rachelle Brown, Gretchen Cohen, Pam David, Brian and Susanna Heinze, Scott and Jacqueline Hendrickson, Dan Holland, Michel Jevons, Israel Kloss, Leslie McDaniels, Cheryl Neff, Marian Orange, Christian Overman, Denise Skelton, Joy Steem, Matthew Steem, Nellie Strong, Tiffany Watkins, and Karen Westra. Special thanks to Cheryl Lanahan, Nate and Heather Baker, and Bruce Wersen for invaluable input when the book was still very rough, and to Kyle Dillon, who provided a scholars perspective. Above all, thank you to Cheryle Coapstick, whose brutal edits on the earliest drafts prevented this from becoming a dry treatise.

Thank you to my publisher, Harvest House, for taking a chance on me. Im truly fortunate to be with such a warm and supportive team. Special thanks to Terry Glaspey, the acquisitions editor who championed my book and helped others catch the vision, and to Gene Skinner, whose work and guidance made this a better book.

Simply acknowledging God seems to trivialize my complete dependency on him. Hes the very soul, inspiration, purpose, and hope of this book. Instead, I will just sign,

To the glory of God and the joy of the saints!

Contents

I wrote this book assuming that most of my readers would be Christians and familiar with evangelicalism. If you arent, Im delighted to have you read itmaybe it will help you see Christianity in a new light. Please forgive me if some references dont quite make sense.

All the stories in this book are true to the best of my recollection. In some cases I changed nonessential details in order to obscure the identities of individuals.

My stories might give you the impression that I grew up in a legalistic church or a strict family. Nothing could be further from the truth. I grew up in a loving family and attended a great church. Granted, they were both a little quirky in their own way, but I couldnt have asked for a better home or home church. The self-righteousness I struggle with springs from my own heart.

Finally, I didnt write this book as a response to any other book or author (even the title was created well before I read a similarly titled book). Rather, I wrote this book to correct a large assortment of ideas and practices, some of which have been around since the early church. For that reason, and because I prize the unity of the body of Christ, I avoided naming specific books and authors I disagree with. If youre dying to know, Im sure youll be able to figure it out with a little research.

There is no use trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it.

C.S. L EWIS , Mere Christianity

S tarbucks is a big part of my life. I hold most of my meetings at Starbucks and write my sermons there. I have my monthly father-daughter dates at Starbucks. Im at Starbucks as I write this. But in the spring of 2011, I had no idea the role Starbucks would play in my story.

I had been an assistant pastor at one of the biggest churches in Skagit Valley (about an hour north of Seattle). When I became the lead pastor of one of the smallest churches in the area, I was filled with dreams of all Id do. In the first three and a half years, I grew the Gathering from about 100 people to about 75not the sort of thing that one brags about at pastors conventions.

This is the story of the lessons God taught me through Starbucks over the next 18 months. Its also the book I wish I had when I was growing up. All the books I read back then seemed to imply that following God with my whole heart meant enjoying this life less and less.