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I had an e-mail from a woman whose boyfriend was a Christian and had died suddenly. She wanted me to suggest some scripture to read at his funeral because she knew it would have been important to him. I was able to suggest Eugene Peterson's The Message and show her some scripture. She wrote back weeks later, liking that Bible.

I had an e-mail from a woman who used to be a man. She has become interested in God since the operation, but wondered if there was a church where she would be accepted. On and on and on and on. I saved all of these e-mails and my responses. I wonder if there might be a book there someday. The lesson I have learned—and I feel it in my heart—is that many people stand outside the church, and we don't communicate very well with them. Maybe fault lies on both sides, but I feel grief at our inability to talk with people of this world.

How has that need to communicate outside the Christian world affected your pastoring to Christians?

I have become very disinterested in many "churchy" things. I have become disconnected from my denominational participation. I used to serve in some key leadership roles for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship here in Texas and nationally. I wish them well, but I don't have the time.

I've become very disinterested in some of the things that seem to be of great interest to "churchy Christians." I don't really care what kind of music we play at church. I don't care how many people are there. I don't care what kind of clothes people have. I really don't care about the finer points of theological discourse. If a person is willing to follow Christ, that's all I need to know. Numbers and attendance don't mean anything to me.

I feel driven to write by a deep force within me. I want to write about the goodness God brings to this world, and I want to write in ways that can be heard by people outside the church. All of this tends to put me out of step with a lot of American Christianity. Thank God the people in my church love me and are affirming my strange journey.

I've thought for some time, I need more non-Christian friends. Do you think blogging is a way to do that?

Absolutely, but be very careful. If you try to become a blogger so that you can minister to the world and develop non-Christian friends, you will fail. Bloggers tend to be very intelligent and they will smell the stink of marketing on you. Become a blogger if you wish to be a part of blogging, if you want to write and to share who you are. I started Real Live Preacher because I wanted to write and share my voice and view of the world in a forum where everyone is doing that. If you become heavy-handed in your evangelism, people will ignore you. I've watched a few Christian blogs sputter and die in the Salon community in the last year or so, just because you could sense the arrogance and the purpose behind their writing.

It sounds like a principle to use outside the "virtual" life.

I really think so. I started Real Live Preacher not wanting to do anything for anyone other than myself. I think people feel safe to engage me because of that. I think, in our modern world where everything is marketed to death, many people smell something false in us. Have you ever had someone be friendly to you, then discover that they want you to go to their church? It feels like someone asking you out on a date only to get the phone number of your roommate. I still refuse to write anything that is intended to achieve any clear goal. I write what I want to write and let the chips fall where they may.

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October (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48