I want to tell you three stories about three men who wrestled with the authority of Jesus. And none of them met Jesus until they had first achieved phenomenal success in the secular world.

Story One

Sam showed up in worship after he married Cheryl, a lifelong member of the congregation. He had been raised as a secular Jew, and when I met him he was a curious agnostic — eager to argue and debate the fine points of theology. The congregation I was serving has shared space with a Jewish synagogue for over fifty years. Sam joined the Bethesda Jewish Congregation while he continued to worship with us every Sunday morning. When Lucy was born, Cheryl and Sam were faced with the decision every interfaith couple has to make — which community of faith would become their daughter’s spiritual home? …