"Leaving Religion, Following Jesus" is a book about running after Jesus, about a journey with the Christ-his journey and yours. It is a book about looking and listening to the unexpected. It is a book about opening our eyes, unstopping our ears, and soaking up the gracious wonder that he is, the wonder that surrounds us. We do not know where Jesus will lead us; we have no idea of the long journey that waits for any of us. But it begins with that first step; that first halting, timid step that puts you on the road away from religion and onward to the Christ.

We operate under the notion that America belongs to us Christians and that we belong to it. We believe the preaching of the Kingdom of God and the rallying around the red, white, and blue are always compatible, but if you are like a growing number of Jesus followers, you've had this splinter in your mind for a while now that tells you there is something suspicious about attaching a national flag-any national flag-to the cross. With the Sermon on the Mount as the constant reference point, "The Jesus Tribe" begins to flesh out the implications, possibilities, contradictions, and complexities of...

About the Contributor(s):
Ronnie McBrayer is a pastor, author, and columnist. His weekly column "Keeping the Faith" is nationally syndicated in more than seventy print and online outlets with a circulation of more than six million readers. He leads A Simple Faith, a congregation in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and is the author of multiple books and publications including Leaving Religion, Following Jesus (2009) and The Jesus Tribe: Following Christ in the Land of the Empire (2011).