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While Boyd believed this was a message God had put on his heart, it wasn't received as positively as he had hoped. Though many church members appreciated his radical message, many others didn't. He was called everything from unpatriotic to heretical. Over the next few months, 20 percent of his congregation—some 1,000 people—left Woodland Hills.

Boyd says, "I knew there would be rumblings, but to be honest, I was a bit disappointed by how much of a stir it caused. I think I assumed my congregation was significantly different from churches that buy in to various political agendas, where people don't want to hear disparate ideas. Looking back, I think this was arrogance on my part. I had misread who we were and how far people were willing to go with me."

In the face of this gradual attrition, Boyd's board remained supportive. Still, there was a steep price for the church. The loss of so many people meant the entire budget had to be reworked. As a result, seven staff positions were cut. And, of course, there was the emotional and spiritual fallout.

Still, nearly two years later, Boyd knows he made the only decision he could make. "As a church we have always said that God calls us to plant and to water, but that God alone is responsible for the increase. We should never adjust our message because it might not be popular. Jesus preached and people left (John 6:66). He wasn't shooting for the lowest common denominator to make sure He attracted people. He counted the cost of saying what He needed to say. Over and over, we see Jesus laying His cards on the table, even if it made some people angry. It grieved Jesus, but He never compromised for the sake of a crowd."

Knowing that Boyd is not afraid to stand apart from the crowd, it's no surprise his journey toward a life of faith took some unusual turns. He grew up Catholic, but by the time he was a teenager, he'd given up on church, started taking drugs, and dabbled in Eastern religions. By his junior year in high school, Boyd was essentially checked out of school, out of religion, out of life.

But then something changed. "I remember we were discussing the play Our Town in my humanities class. Something about the discussion caught my attention, and I—quite uncharacteristically—began to passionately participate. After class, my teacher pulled me aside and said, 'Greg, you're a philosopher. You have a knack for seeing things other kids don't see.' She was the first teacher to ever to affirm my potential—and it changed my life. She pointed me toward some philosophy books and I found out I wasn't the only one thinking about the weird things I always thought about. I started reading Kierkegaard and other philosophers asking the big questions about life and meaning and existence.

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