These are the most FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Ronnie gets; the Top Ten, actually. Enjoy!

1) Leaving Salem? What does that mean?

Well, it has nothing to do with running away from a witch trial, but it is the same town. A man named Roger Williams left the village of Salem, Massachusetts to escape religious coercion and embrace a Christ-centered walk of faith. For me, Leaving Salem is a metaphor of sorts for the journey away from the religious establishment and toward Christ. Read more here.

2) So, just when did you leave Salem?

It's hard for me to answer this one. There was no single moment when I began to see the Evangelical-Puritanized-Denominational-Americanized religious institution as a manipulative machine. It happened over a few years resulting in me leaving the denomination of which I was a part, briefly checking out of church altogether, but coming back to the need for Christian community, but not the instutionalism as I had known it.

3) Does leaving Salem mean you've also left the Christian church?

Not at all. Yes, I left for a time, but only briefly. Even then, I can't say that I left the church known as the Body of Christ, only the organizational models of "doing" church with which I was familiar. These models use power, intimidation, and fear-mongering as acceptable tools of spirituality.

4) What about that verse that says we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together? Doesn't your site encourage people to disobey the Bible?

God made us for communion with him and others. But filling a pew once a week to be pulvarized by religious propoganda, to be guilted into filling an offering plate or our schedules with churchy activities, or manipulated into "Christian" service we find trite, cheesy or downright nauseating, is not communion with God and others. I think such models of assembly should be forsaken and replaced with something much more honest and meaningful.

5) What happened to all the Keeping the Faith articles that used to be on your site?

You'll find a smaller collection of articles here. I was in negotiations to get Keeping the Faith syndicated in multiple settings, but have decised to offer it on a case by case basis. I have discovered that large syndicates are not that pleasant to deal with. Imagine that.

6) You are involved in this thing called "A Simple Faith." What is that exactly?

When I reach the point that I can explain A Simple Faith, it won't be A Simple Faith any longer. This is a congregation of folks from a wide array of backgrounds: Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, agnostics, pantheists - you name it. But we gather together to worship God, follow Christ, and serve the world. We are distinct Jesus-followers, but organizationally not much more than that. Someone asked a friend of A Simple Faith recently, "I've heard about that thing. Who runs that church anyway?" His answer was perfect: "Well...nobody." Read just a little more here.

7) What's your background?

I was reared in a strict, fundamental, hard-shell version of the Baptist faith with a whole lot of Appalachian fire-and-brimstone thrown in for good measure. The setting was so oppressive I wanted to be a Southern Baptist. Let that sink in for a minute. Eventually, as a teenager, I left the fundamentalism of my familiy's faith and became a Southern Baptist. A little college and seminary later and seven years into an SBC pastorate, I looked around and discovered I had become the very thing I despised - a hard-ass legalist that needed to control people more than free people to follow Christ. I left the Southern Baptists, who now look a whole lot like the Baptists of my childhood, and did bi-vocational, nondenominational church ministry combined with social justice ministries. Today, I write and speak on these Leaving Salem issues. You can visit the Talks and Audio page or Contacts page for more.

8) Who has been the greatest influence on you in your own journey of faith?

I suppose we are all handmade quilts of sorts. We are made up of stiches and pieces of everyone who has ever crossed our path. From a writing and preaching perspective, I have been greatly influenced by Brennan Manning, Clarence Jordan, N.T. Wright, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. Personally, no one has had greater influence on me than my maternal grandmother, Artie Bearden, and my pastor during my teen and college-age years, Jether Cochran. How's that for Southern names? Artie and Jether.

9) But God Meant it for Good was just released. Do you have any other books in mind?

Always. To stay in touch about up and coming projects, asked to be put on my e-mail list here.

10) How can I book Ronnie McBrayer for a conference, retreat, or meeting?

Visit the Contact Us page for this information.