How a youth pastor quit to write and speak – with Josh Riebock

Someone compared Josh Riebock’s writing to Don Miller’s, you know, the guy who wrote Blue Like Jazz and a few other popular titles. Then I heard that same comparison again.

And a friend recommended him on Twitter.

I thought, Man, this guy must be pretty amazing.

Later, I learned that Josh Riebock is a full-time writer and speaker and the author of mY Generation, A Real Journey of Change and Hope. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

I did have the chance to chat with Josh. We talked about how he quit his job as a youth pastor to do what God actually wants him to do. We also talked about his book, and Josh shared a story from it toward the end of the conversation.

If you’re like me, interested in all the back story of becoming a writer and motivation to follow God, I think you’ll enjoy this.

*****

Marshall: All right, so for everyone who doesn’t know you (or know about you), can you give a rundown of who you are, Josh?

Josh: Sure. I’m from the Chicago area and lived there for most of my life. Through that, I became a huge Chicago Bears fan. I love the Bears.

I’ve been married now for coming up on five years, to an amazing girl, a girl I grew up just a few houses away from. A couple weeks after we got married, we moved to Austin, Texas, and that’s where we live now.

We love it. It’s a creative, warm, thought provoking, musical, and young city. Oh yeah, and I love Bon Jovi too. That’s important.

Marshall: Bon Jovi’s fun.

So why Austin?

Josh: I’ve seen them four times in concert!

As for Austin. Kristen (my wife) and I knew that we wanted to move. We just felt like if we stayed in the Chicago area, there was a better chance of us becoming stagnant. Not growing. Not learning. Not experiencing new things.

We wanted to move somewhere that was really different from where we were, somewhere that would stretch us, and by stretching us, really inspire us to live more and love better. Austin seemed to fit all of those things. I’ve never been anywhere quite like it.

Marshall: Very cool… or actually getting hot soon, right?

Josh: Haha. Yea, it gets really hot here. It’s been in the 80s for a while, and it’ll be in the 90s and 100s by June, I guess. But I like the heat. After living in the Chicago cold, the heat is a breeze.

Marshall: Classic Texas. I’m more a fan of heat than cold too.

The back story

Marshall: I read that you were a youth pastor for a while. Was that in Austin?

Josh: I was a youth pastor near Chicago for about three years and then here in Austin for about two.

Marshall: Okay, so how did you get into that in Chicago first?

Josh: Well, like a lot of things in my life, it feels like it happened by accident. I had finished college. I don’t know how, but I did. And afterward, I had no idea what I was going to do.

I knew I didn’t want to work in a traditional office setting, but that was about it. A friend of mine, a guy who’d played the role of friend and father in my life, told me that I should work in a church.

I told him that he was crazy. At that point, I really enjoyed being around God, but I didn’t really like being around church. But, I agreed to go to an interview anyway.

They offered me the job. And I took it. Like I said, it all felt like an accident.

Marshall: Wow, so when you moved, did you already have the other job lined up?

Josh: Yeah, the job at the other position was ready when we moved down here.

Marshall: But you’re a full-time writer/speaker now. How did you move into that from being a youth pastor? Accident?

Josh: Haha. Well, I think I just started to ask myself if I was really doing what I was supposed to be doing.

Asking myself, am I really putting my passions and gifts to use? Am I really doing what God wants me to do? Or am I working in a church because I’m too afraid to really do those other things?

So I woke up one morning and just had a sense that I needed to quit my job. And that freaked me out, because we’d only lived in Austin a little over a year. We’d just bought our first place down here. It seemed kind of… stupid, irresponsible, crazy.

But, that sense of needing to quit didn’t go away. And I didn’t want to be someone that talked about faith but didn’t live with it. I didn’t want to be someone that chose the smart thing over the obedient thing.

And so, with Kristen totally with me, we began praying/talking/thinking about what I should do. And I came to place of realizing that if I could do anything with my life, I’d want to just tell stories. I wanted to write and speak. And I’d been doing some of that through my 5+ years in church work, and I’d seen it produce some cool things in people’s lives.

So I quit. That was almost five years ago now.

Marshall: Those are some tough questions, things I think many of us go through… I know I do.

Josh: I had a really hard time with it.

Marshall: Listening to this back story, I feel like I’m in the same place you were. Looking back, are there any suggestions you’d give for how to put that into practice once you realize the new direction God’s taking you?

How do you just quit your job like that? What next?

Josh: Well, I’m not sure I’d always recommend it, but I did just quit me job, ha…

Marshall:

Josh: On a more abstract level, I think we all have to respond to what God is doing in our lives. I think He asks that of us. For me, I felt like that first step was to step away from where I was, but for others it might not be.

It seems like we all have to take that first step. That first step towards what we’re made to do. That first step may not be a grand one, it might be subtle. But the majority of people never take even that first one.

Marshall: Your first step was quitting your job. What was your second step?

Josh: Well, the second one was putting myself out there as far as writing and speaking went. I started writing articles, and getting rejected on most. I went after speaking gigs, and again, either got rejected or never heard back from most people.

But I just kept at it. And the scary nature of it all forced me into a kind of dependence on God that I’d never known. I was finally living, and oddly enough, I also experienced an intimacy with God that I’d never known.

I needed Him every day. I needed Him before too, I just never realized it. So much of what was going on was internal. My character needed to catch up to my ambition.

Marshall: Oh, I love that. I’m all about dependence. It’s one of those things that, as Americans anyway, we shy away from it. We want independence. But really when we look at the Bible, it’s the opposite – it’s all about dependence.

Josh: I know…

It’s really backwards. We think that we’ve “made it” when we no longer need help, when we’re strong enough to go a few days without God. When the Bible seems to suggest that we’ve made it when we realize, day after day, moment by moment, that we’re nothing without Him, and we need Him for everything.

But most of the time, we resist the steps and seasons that show us all of that.

The book

Marshall: All right, I love talking about all this back story, I could go on for a long time here. But lets get into your book, My Generation. How did that come about?

Josh: Well, I wanted to write. I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about, so I just started writing, and My Generation is what came out. I guess I figured that the content would tell me what I’m writing about.

Marshall:

Josh: And what came out were the stories of broken, messy people, including me, and how we were finding hope and healing.

Marshall: I should have spelled it “mY Generation” because that seems to help convey more of what it’s about, with the Y-Generation focus. (I like that by the way.)

Josh: No problem. I knew that you meant.

Marshall: Yeah.

Josh: But yeah, I guess I should have said that the stories are about this broken and messy generation. And about what it might look like for us to play a part in breathing hope and healing into it.

Marshall: Someone said, I’ll have to look up who it was [hey, it was Shawn in the comments], that it explores alternatives to the usual “how to reach Gen Y” methods. Do you think that’s accurate?

Josh: Well, I think so. I didn’t want to write a “how to help people” book, because I don’t think it really works that way. This book isn’t “go do these four things, and something great is guaranteed to happen.”

mY Generation is the stories of how people have been a part of changing my life, and about how God has, at times, used someone as screwed up as me to change the lives of others.

But what people do with it is up to them. So if people want a “how to” book, they’ll hate this, and it will drive them mad.

Marshall: Good point about how it really works, how we actually learn things.

Who do you hope reads it? Who did you have in mind?

Josh: I didn’t want to write a book for pastors, or only people that were in leadership positions.

I wrote it for anyone who wants to be a part of changing people’s lives. That could be a friend, a painter, a pastor, a business owner, a mom, or whoever. Simply those who care about this generation.

Marshall: And how did you figure out that’s what you wanted to do (or just were doing) in your writing?

Josh: Well, I wanted to talk to my friends and myself. I don’t think that pastor’s are going to change the world. It’s average Joe’s like us who will. God is going to use us, if we let Him.

Marshall: Reminds me of the book, Roaring Lambs, which focuses on lay people being the real, “in the trenches” people who are going to make things happen.

Josh: Yeah. I believe that.

Marshall: Okay, I just saw the time. I had no idea! Let me ask you just one more question – I want to be fair with your time.

Josh: Cool. Yeah, we’re flying.

Marshall: Let’s see, you’re not a how-to guy, but can you share one story, a sneak peek from the book or perhaps something new, of how people can change lives… like how someone’s done it for you or you’ve done it for someone else?

(Big question… sorry.)

Josh: Sure, man…

Well, Kristen and I had a friend who fell into a pretty dark life. Spirit channeling. Drugs. She was just surrounded by people who claimed to care about her, but they really only cared about getting things from her.

At some point along the way, she was out with some friends. She was attacked and raped. Through the rape she got pregnant. Through the pregnancy she had an abortion. And through all that, most of the Christians that she knew turned and ran from her.

They told her that God was done with her. They told her it was the last straw. They ran from her pain.

She was left trying to navigate all the pain and junk alone. She was living with a guy that sold LSD. And she just felt trapped.

So one night, we had her over for dinner, and Kristen (my wife) asked her to move in with us.

And for the next season of life, she did. The book tells that story, and what happened after she moved in. But the point is, often as Christians we wait for pain to show up, or we run from it.

But that’s not what Jesus did at all. He was always moving towards pain. Getting messy. Getting involved. Engaging the junk.

Sometimes we wonder why we aren’t a part of incredible moments, incredibly healing moments. And what I’ve found in my life is that I’m not a part of healing moments because most often, I’m not in the places where healing moments happen. They happen in pain and mess. And too often, I’m running from those places, rather than running towards them.

Marshall: “Moving towards pain”… I love that (I wrote about it somewhere too). That’s a fantastic observation, one that’s difficult to live but very rewarding.

The wrap up

Marshall: Thanks for spending so much time with me, Josh. I loved it.

We’ll have to leave it here for now.

Josh: You bet, Marshall. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Marshall: You’re welcome. How can readers get in touch with you?

Josh: <josh [at] joshriebock [dot] com> is great.

Marshall: Alrighty… and Amazon for mY Generation? Is that cool?

Josh: That’s perfect. Thanks so much.

Marshall: You’re welcome. Thanks again for all the time you’ve spent.

Josh: Have a wonderful day. Later, my friend.

Marshall: Adios.

*****

Serving Suggestions:

(1) You can check out Josh’s website for more information or follow him on Twitter if you’re into that. And if you want the rest of that story, you can of course check out mY Generation.

(2) Discuss the conversation. Did you like it? How could I improve these? What did you like best about what Josh said?