Being The Outsider

Recently, a friend from the last congregation we served as pastors started listening to the podcast. He asked me about the name and where it came from. It occurred to me that if he asked that there are others wondering the same thing.

Jesus' Outsider was born from the life that the Lovely Bride and I have always lived. When it came time to shut down my (mercifully) short-lived political program and go back to the Gospel, we spent a lot of time in prayer about the name and the format. Ultimately, it was our identity in Christ that was the inspiration for the name.

For as long as I can remember, I have been an outcast. As a kid and teen, I was too geeky for the cool kids, not good enough for the A Band, and not athletic in the slightest. Even in the Navy, I wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity. Once I came to Christ, that continued. At first, many well intentioned people tried to shape me to fit the mold of what they thought I should be. Once that didn't work, I was relegated to the work that no one else really wanted. On occasion, I found a few people that I fit with but, for a wide range of reasons, these times were relatively short. The same is true of the lovely bride.

We've been a part of a lot of groups but, with most of them, we were in the but not really part of the group. The best description I can come up with is that we have been the socially acceptable outcasts.

This is the source of the name. We belong to Christ (There's a possessive to Jesus that we are His) but have always been on the edge of His people. After lamenting this for years, we finally accepted the situation as an asset rather than a liability. As outsiders, we can take on the issues that the insiders may not be comfortable addressing. We can reach out to the people that the majority doesn't know how to reach. Since then, the Lord has been close to us. We are outsiders and outcasts that found our home in Him.

Over the years, we have found others that are like us. They want Jesus but feel rejected by His people. Many, like us, have experienced what it's like to be forced into a mold that they just don't fit into no matter how hard they try. The outsiders, the hurting, the mentally ill, the seekers, and the rejects within the Body are the ones we connect with. As fellow outsiders, we understand where they are.

As I said, being outsiders for us has been freeing. There's nothing we can't address. We are privileged to preach freedom from the challenges and sins that the church doesn't want to address. Porn, mental illness, and others avoided by too much of the Body are our bread and butter. Our mission is to reach the unreachable, the teach the church to love the unloveable, and speak what many consider unspeakable.

We are Jesus' Outsiders. We belong to Him in Whom the reject, the outcast, and the nobody can find home.