What exactly is Donkey Talk?

The best way I know how to cultivate an atmosphere that legitimately teaches a person to do that is to incorporate the wisdom of Calvin Miller who simply says practice loving worthy things every day, till all you love is worthy of your practice. This four volume series endeavors to challenge the reader to daily live and love by God's grace in a manner that is worthy of being considered a bona fide disciple of Christ.

Why did you decide to title the books The Donkey Talk Series?

Two Christian musicians deeply influenced my decision to name this series after a donkey. The first musician, Rich Mullins has passed away but the lessons of his well-lived life to this day linger in my heart and mind. Though Rich used the King James Version of the word donkey, one of his favorite quotes was the following: God spoke to Balaam through his (donkey), and he has been speaking through (donkeys) ever since. So if God should choose to speak through you, you need not think to highly of yourself.  If for no other reason than to remain appropriately grounded through the constant reminder of this symbolic title I felt it was worth it.

But the second component that ties together the appropriateness of this title is due to the well-known British worship leader named Matt Redman. Matt says he views his function of leading people into worship kind of similar to the function that the unknown donkey played recorded in Matthew 21 when he carried Jesus into Jerusalem. That is what I foresee hopefully happening with this book series, another unknown donkey of sorts carrying Jesus into clear view of this generation's sightline.

What do you mean by a daily devotional that goes beyond the labels?

Part-time humanitarian, part-time poet/theologian/rock star Bono says The left mocks the right. The right knows its right. Two ugly traits. How far should we go to understand each other's point of view? Maybe the distance covered on the cross is a clue. Without a doubt the greatest education I have ever received in all of life is the consistent exposure to the varied yet vital disparate components that truly are the Body of Christ.

The entire structure and curriculum of our discipleship program has been built upon the premise that Jesus actually meant what He said when He stated that A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

One of the main reasons I have subtitled the series a daily devotional that goes beyond the labels is because I am doggedly determined to honor the distinct and many times divergent parts that make up the anatomy of Christ. I believe in many cases the church is impoverished as a whole because of the unfounded fear of Christian syncretism. This phobia of stereotyping other parts of the Body inevitably leads to clusters of Christian clones who advocate a modern-day verbal version of John Calvin's persecution of Christian diversity.

In no way though will this devotional series gloss over doctrinal differences and say that all our discrepancies are relative and ultimately don't matter. Just as I personally believe that the theologians of the Jesus Seminar and the preachers of the prosperity gospel are deceiving millions with their false teachings so I'm sure some who read this series may feel the same about a few of the labels advertised here which I consider to be authentic Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. But as Dave Fleming declares you need a few voices in your life with which you clash so you remain authentic, humble, teachable and appropriately small. So hopefully at the very least this devotional series will serve to project those dissonant voices to those who are always exposed only to voices that are similar to their own.

As Dr. Paul Brand writes the basis for our unity with Christ's Body begins not with our similarity but with our diversity. My prayer with this book series is that the extreme diversity that is represented on the pages of Donkey Talk will somehow mysteriously unify and edify those reading it with the keen realization that the rich red blood that was spilt on the cross of Christ forever links without exception all authentic followers of Jesus even if our emphasis about Him and the Scriptures appears to be worlds apart.

Does the world really need another book?

That is debatable depending upon your perspective but ultimately it is the wrong question to pose to a book lover. It's like asking a preacher does the world really need one more sermon or asking a musician does the world really need any more CD's. My personal perspective on the subject tends to align with C.S. Lewis who wroteyou can't get a book long enough or a cup of tea big enough to suit me.

I genuinely desire for this book series to be published one day and I do bel ieve at the very least it will be used by God to make a difference in at least one person's life, my own. Without exception every talk I have prepared or article I have actually spent time on in writing has changed me in some way. If God chooses to use me as a modern day version of Balaam's donkey to speak to others through what I have to write that will be an immeasurable joy that is tough to fully fathom at this point. If not though, I still believe the Donkey Talk series is supposed to be written.

How do you envision the book ultimately being used and in what context?

As someone who consistently advocates not always presuming to know what the future holds, I'm not completely sure. But that doesn't keep me from planning and preparing just in case God decides to do something with this project. Resources such an interactive website, video/audio podcasts and supplemental questions/projects for those who may want to use the devotional series in various small group contexts are things that I plan to embed within the structure of this book series.

I also would love to eventually publish certain sections of the Donkey Talk Series into other languages so that it could be incorporated into the discipleship programs that we conduct overseas. As much as anything though my desire for the Donkey Talk daily devotional would be for it to become one of those tools that assists other disciples in their journey with Jesus and allows their perspective concerning the essence of Christ to be forever expanded.