We try to fill that gap by increasing activity, getting spiritually fit the way we would get physically fit. We compare ourselves to others, feel a vague sense of guilt and decide to try harder. "The result of misguided trying harder is fatigue," Ortberg said. Once tired, we stop trying. Once we stop trying we feel guilty again and restart the cycle.
"What if there's another way?" Ortberg asked. "What if this is not God's will for spiritual formation?"
Ortberg is senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church after nine years as a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. His books include "When the Game is Over, it all Goes Back in the Box"; "If you Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat"; "The Life You've Always Wanted; and "Faith and Doubt." His wife, Nancy, was the 2006 Ministry Forum speaker.
Our do-it-yourself spiritual formation fails because we don't fully understanding grace. "We have restricted grace to just the forgiveness of sin," Ortberg said. "We're meant to live in grace."
Living in grace is not about doing more. It's about treating grace like water. Jesus told the thirsty to come to him. "To be thirsty means to be driven by unsatisfied desires," Ortberg said. These desires come from wanting to be something we're not, whether we reflect that by taking too many classes or trying out for American Idol.
To walk with Jesus is to have rivers of the living water of grace flowing "out of your belly," Ortberg said, quoting the King James Bible. "Your belly is the deep place you can't fake."
Among the few details the Bible gives about the Garden of Eden is that a river flowed through it. "That's not just geography," Ortberg said. When we live in grace we flourish like a watered garden--not because we earn more, do more or even read the Bible more--because we receive and give blessing from beyond ourselves. "That's grace," he said.
The annual Ministry Forum is FPU's contribution to building Valley churches. Sponsors were KDUV-FM, the Pacific District Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, Growing Healthy Churches, MB Biblical Seminary, Link Care Center, Fresno/Madera Youth for Christ, Uncle Harry's Bagels, Pura-Vida, Fresno Produce, Producer's Dairy, Christian Businessmen's Connection and Wawona Foods.