Bill H.

A little about Bill H.

My name is Bill Huffhine. I'm the publisher of www.wesojourn.org, the architect of the Sojourners Social Network, and host of the forthcoming local Sojourn community in Columbus, Georgia. My wife and I have been married since 1990 and, together with our golden retriever, Neo, plan to welcome an adopted child into our family soon. I became a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ in 1986 at the age of 17. I immediately knew that the meaning of my life was to be found in helping others to discover the grace, forgiveness, and life that I had come to know. I eventually became an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church of North America. My wife and I pioneered a new church and pastored there for three years until the unthinkable happened. I was overtaken by a wave that had been building for many years; I lost all faith in Americanized Christianity and much of her church system. I resigned from the pastorate and today am learning what it means to live in authentic community with others with Jesus Christ alone as our magnificent obsession. After resigning from the pastorate I spent a year and a half disconnected from any body of believers. God did a lot of things in my heart and mind during this time, but much of what He wanted to do required that I be in relationship with others. Though He was very present in my wilderness, I remained angry, bitter, and judgmental of others during my season of disillusionment. When we did finally relocate to another city we connected with a healthy body of believers. But because of my season alone I connected in a quite unhealthy way. All of my anger, bitterness, and judgment followed me into relationships that could and should have been beautiful and life-giving. I know I am not alone. Every year hundreds of thousands of people across America are overtaken with a conviction that to preserve their faith, they must leave the church system. And it is out of this shared experience that God has reaffirmed the nexus of my life and inspired me to form this community online, in my own city, and across the country. My hope is that this can be the kind of community that I needed, but did not have. Perhaps God will form a place here for church refugees to work through their pain and disillusionment in environments of shared struggle and flagrant grace. And perhaps God will move among us in such a way that we re-emerge as whole, spiritually vibrant followers of Christ who can reconnect with healthy faith communities or even forge new healthy faith communities out of our relationships with one another.