The Shack Author William Young to Speak at Concordia University Portland

It’s not too late to hear a special presentation by William Young, author of The Shack, at Concordia University Portland. Mr. Young will be speaking at the Life Journey Conference, which is billed as "a great conference designed to equip participants to be God's presence in the workplace as they let faith transform you and your work. They will do this through open mikes and multiple times and settings to interact with fellow participants."

The conference is sponsored by Life Journey Ministries, Concordia University, Portland; and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Life Journey Ministries was formally begun in 2005 when Carolyn Schoenborn (who is now its Executive Director and primary course leader, keynote speaker and author) “was asked by the Leadership Advancement Process (LAP) of the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to develop an on-line process to help people more clearly identify their specific God-given purpose and how to do ministry outside congregational walls. She developed a process for showing people how to combine faith and life in a manner that makes God more visible wherever God places them and with whatever resources are available” (online reference). Mrs. Schoenborn “has a BA in Religious Education; a Masters of Ministry from Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho; and a Masters of Organizational Management from The University of Phoenix. She is certified in conflict resolution through The University of Idaho, and as a life-coach with Dream Coach University. In addition to working as a trainer, performance specialist and project manager for Micron Technology, she was an independent consultant in organizational management; and she is still a partner with Performance International. She is a pastor's wife with multiple years of experience in parish ministry” (online reference).

No additional information is provided about Mr. Young’s presentation other than its title "Is God Really That Good?," and that he will be available afterwards for a book signing. It’s not apparent how or if the presentation will relate to the theme of the conference, but if his presentation includes the same god presented in The Shack, it will be a false god to which her refers. This makes me wonder if his appearance will be one which presents valuable truths for the assembled guests to digest or an exercise in honing one’s apologetic skills.

Pastor Todd Wilken described The Shack as “…a book about God that get’s God wrong,” and which contains “glaring errors” and “erroneous ideas and propositions.” Layman Jim Pierce stated that “The Shack contains deep, troubling, doctrinal errors.” The Shack mangles the Trinity and does away with justification by grace through faith.

The latin phrase caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, comes to mind, although in this case, there is no charge to attend the presentation or the book signing.