5 Questions with Matthew Paul Turner

Welcome to 5 Questions With.....

Today's guest is author Matthew Paul Turner. Matthew is the author of the newly released book Churched as well as the Christian Culture Survival Guide, The Coffee House Gospel and the What You Didn't Learn From Your Parents series.

With no further ado on to the questions:

Hi Matthew

Question 1: What one word would describe your current relationship with God?

Hopeful

Question 2: Your book ended with you tentatively stepping back into "church". How comfortable are you now in your new church home?

I love the people, which of course, is what "church" is all about--people. Because of my experiences as a child and frankly in much of my adult life (stories coming in the next book) I developed a distrust of pastors and "churchy" people. But you learn as you get older--at least some do--that you can't let the past dictate your present. That's a lot easier said than done. But for now, in this moment, I am celebrating God with a group of people I love and trust. I feel content.

Question 3: This book covers a lot of early church memories. How long did it take you to write this book?

A little more than a year. Some of those memories required therapy. :)

Question 4: What do you think is the biggest hurdle for the church today in relating to the world around us?

Being right. We're consumed with being right, Rick. (That's not a political statement.) Our need to be "right" has surpassed in importance to our pursuit of loving God and people. But "we" think we're right about everything regarding God. "We" think we're right about how the world will end. "We" think we are right about who to vote for. But I tend to think that, if God could be completely and utterly figured out, we would no longer be pursuing faith, we could call it science. And while it's cool to learn about gravity or the Law of Thermodynamics, not very many people want to sit around in a small group and discuss it. From my vantage point, far to many churches pursue doing "church" like scientists pursue doing science or salesmen pursue doing business. Like it's something that can be measured and laid out in an Excel spreadsheet. But that's not any Christian faith that I know. And I believe that, if we were to allow freedom and doubt and questions and hope and compassion and acceptance become commonplace within the church's discussion and pursuance of faith, we would slowly over time get over the hurdle. I think the first step is for the church to stop pretending we have all the answers and get to a place where we're ok with that.

Question 5: If there was a Christian biography written about your life what would the title be?

Matthew who?

Thank you such much Matthew for taking the time to answer these questions.

Please go out and purchase Matthew Paul's Turner book today.

To see past 5 Question guests, check out the rotating interview links on the sidebar.