NEWSLETTERS

Throughout the year, John sends out newsletters about his recent thoughts and the ministry's recent history. 
June 20, 2019
I love summer; it’s my favorite time of year. The world is so brimming with life. It’s warm and beautiful, the flowers are blooming, all the earth seems washed with color and radiance. The grass is green, the trees are leafed out, our hummingbirds... READ MORE
May 22, 2019
Dear Friends,
I hope I’m not too late.
This is my annual “sabbath” letter, more commonly remembered as my “What are you going to do for your soul this summer?” letter.
I’m guessing you’re making plans for the next several months, even if they are... READ MORE
April 29, 2019
Stasi and I attended the memorial service of a family friend last fall, a beautiful young man whose life was cut short in his twenties. But that is not my story to tell here. Our family needed to be together afterwards—you can’t just go home after... READ MORE
March 29, 2019
I’m sitting in a hotel room waiting to visit some extended family. Stasi and I flew here for a memorial service. Gosh, I hate these occasions. So awkward. So painful. Death was never meant to be part of the human experience, and we reel when it... READ MORE
February 26, 2019
Dear Friends,
I received a text the other day from a friend of mine. It began as a surprising intrusion of joy, which grew into a rescue of my soul.
First came simply a photo, taken from the window of a bush plane somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness... READ MORE
December 13, 2018
Last month I reached out to you to ask your help meeting our budget by the end of the year, and I wanted to thank all of you who are able to send in a financial gift! We are so grateful for your generosity! 
And now all of us are, one way or another... READ MORE
November 26, 2018
On the wall of our Outpost is our mission statement. The first three sentences read:
Recover the Lost Treasure of the Gospel
Transform the Lives of Men and Women as Men and Women
Teach them to Live in the Kingdom of God
So much in such simple... READ MORE
October 29, 2018
God drops things in our laps at just the right time.
He puts barriers in our paths that look like roadblocks, but are really gifts in disguise, beckoning us to take a closer look at what’s going on inside. We can either step over them, or choose to... READ MORE
October 01, 2018
In this world we find ourselves living in, having joy often feels both crazy and out of reach. That’s why I included the word “defiant.” Defiant means to stand against the tide. It means to go against the flow, even when the flow is comprised of a... READ MORE
August 22, 2018
I want to share something that God is reminding me of this morning with the hope that it brings encouragement to you.  Are you familiar with St. Patrick’s Breastplate?  It’s a powerful prayer that begins in this way:
I arise today 

Through a mighty... READ MORE
July 20, 2018
Dear Summertime Friends,
I confess it—I have an iPhone. A love-hate relationship with my iPhone. Love the photo and video quality. Love a few of the apps (particularly the FIFA World Cup app this summer). Hate the fact that I feel tied to it as do... READ MORE
June 21, 2018
I’ve been enjoying something from Ephesians lately, and wanted to share it with you. Allow me to begin with a passage from the opening of the letter…
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual... READ MORE
May 29, 2018
Dear Friends,
I write these letters, for the most part, to people who want to have a richer life with God. (A richer life period, which we know only flows out of a richer life with God.)
We want to draw closer and closer; it is the yearning and... READ MORE
April 26, 2018
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about “The World” lately. 
Not the world as in planet earth; not meaning global affairs. Rather, The World as Scripture speaks of—The World it has some fairly strong words about. In fact, it was passages like these... READ MORE
March 28, 2018
February turned out to be an especially busy month for us; among other things God is really increasing our reach internationally. But I am trying to practice a more sane life, a soul-friendly life. Those two things usually mix like oil and water—... READ MORE
January 15, 2018

I have a beautiful story to share with you. One that I hope will encourage your hearts and your faith, which would be lovely as we all begin a new year.

 

In order to tell this story well, I need to take you back to the founding of Wild at... READ MORE
December 14, 2017

Dear Friends, Comrades, Fellow Pilgrims,

 

A very happy Christmastide to you.

 

December is upon us with a rush, and soon the holidays, and then, perhaps, a breath before 2018 gets underway. The swift passing of the days—and even that... READ MORE
November 10, 2017

Dear Friends,

 

I have a beautiful picture I want to share with you…

 

Our team has been praying for some time now, asking God what His next move is on the earth, and the role He has for us to play. (We have this growing conviction, a... READ MORE
July 31, 2017

I first remember the Romance calling to me when I was a boy of six or seven, just past dusk on a summer evening, when the hotter and dustier work of the farm had given way to another song. Something warm and alive and poignantly haunting would... READ MORE
June 13, 2017

Now summer is all around us.

 

I was sitting on the porch early this morning, sipping a cup of tea, enjoying those very early moments before the sounds of the city have ramped up, before I needed to rush into the day myself. In the cool of a... READ MORE

Pages

 
 
  2016 December Merry Christmas
  2016 November We need you
  2016 October Hope
  2016 September Soul Care
  2016 August We Live Forever
  2016 July Spirit of the age
  2016 May Disappointment in Prayer
  2016 March Story
  2016 February Consecration
  2016 January Attention to Prayer
     
  2015 December Renewal of Creation
  2015 November Give the Message Away
  2015 October Transformation
  2015 September We are Branches
  2015 July Invitation Only
  2015 June What am I Doing with the Void?
  2015 May Thank you
  2015 April Healing for the Soul
  2015 Feb/March What are you looking at?
  2015 January Will you come with me?
     
  2014 December The Availability of the Kingdom
  2014 November Taking This Message Throughout the World
  2014 October Free to Be Me
  2014 September Killing Lions... Marriage
  2014 August Identity
  2014 July Is the Bible important?
  2014 June Share Your Discovery
  2014 May Enforcing the Kingdom
  2014 April Pursuing Wholeness
  2014 March What You Do with Disappointment
  2014 February It Would Transfom Your Daily Life...
  2014 January  Find Me
     
  2013 December Restoring Hope
  2013 November Pressing in
  2013 October Connect, Pray, Give
  2013 September Embracing Ourselves
  2013 August Beauty Forged Through Suffering
  2013 July Becoming Myself
  2013 June This Beautiful Mission
  2013 May Deeper Refuge in Christ
  2013 March/April We Need Love
  2013 February Strengthen Your Heart
  2013 January An Absolute Utter Relief
  2012 December Eagerly Awaiting
  2012 November Radical Generosity
  2012 October Hope
  2012 September Church
  2012 August Shaping Your Perception
  2012 July Trust the Larger Story
  2012 June Apart from Me You Can Do Nothing
  2012 May Hope
  2012 April Look at Me
  2012 March The Rush to New
 

2012 January

 Thoughts and Questions for a New Year
     
  2011 December Advent
  2011 November OutlawCast
  2011 October Finally, Jesus
  2011 September Beautiful Outlaw
  2011 August The Son of God Becomes a Son of Man
  2011 July We Are Desperate for Jesus
  2011 June Cunning
  2011 May What Are You Doing for Groundedness?
  2011 April Fierce Intentionality
  2011 March Suffering
  2011 February Jesus Offers...
  2011 January The Playfulness of Jesus
     
  2010 December Let's Stop, and Find Jesus
  2010 November And So We Give Thanks
  2010 October How Do You Relate?
  2010 September Joy Is Opposed
  2010 August Union with Me
  2010 July The Sabbath
  2010 May My Heart
  2010 April Do What Makes You Strong in Christ
  2010 March Knowing the True Jesus
  2010 February Romance Requires Freedom
     
  2009 December The End of the Great Battle
  2009 November Love and War—Agreements
  2009 October Love and War... and Sex
  2009 September Love and War
  2009 August Epic and Intimate
  2009 June Hard Work and Sabbath
  2009 April Fathered by God
  2009 March The Personality of Jesus
  2009 February Church
     
  2008 December God Is with Us
  2008 November Economy, Politics, and Walking with God
  2008 September Sonship and Following
  2008 August Desire
  2008 June Build a Bigger Fire
  2008 March Walking with God
  2008 February Feedback Request and Mission
     
  2007 December My Love
  2007 November Make a Right Judgment
  2007 October The Battle for Joy
  2007 September Happy Little Life
  2007 August Looking Under the Hood
  2007 July The Utter Relief of Holiness
  2007 June We Need You
  2007 May What He IS Giving
  2007 April Learning to Hear God's Voice
  2007 March Forgetting
     
  2006 December Advent
  2006 October Disrupted
  2006 July Stepping out of the Battle
  2006 May Renewal
  2006 March New Directions
     
  2005 December Christmas
  2005 September The Kingdom of God
  2005 June Desperately Wicked?
  2005 March Suffering and Breakthrough
     
  2004 December Thanks
  2004 September All That I Have Spoken to You Remains True
  2004 June Beauty
  2004 April Need for Life
  2004 February Know Who He Is
     
  2003 December Remember
  2003 October The Path of Life and the Wild Goose
  2003 August Major and Minor Themes
  2003 May Fellowship
  2003 February The Thief
     
  2002 December The Mighty One
  2002 September Things Are Not as They Seem
  2002 June Your Heart Is Good
  2002 March Impact on Lives