Emergent Question #1: Bill, what motivated you to write The Porpoise Diving Life© and create a website by the same name?

Bill: To be perfectly honest, I was sitting at a writer’s conference in February 2005 and it just popped into my head. I lived in southern California at the time. I would go for walks on the beach and watch the Porpoise in utter amazement. When I got back from the conference, I started writing the manuscript.

Emergent Question #2: Isn’t The Porpoise Diving Life© really a tongue in cheek jab at the book by Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life.

Bill: When people hear the title, that’s typically their initial reaction. However, nothing could be further from the truth. I was blessed by Mr. Warren’s book. I have read it three times. If you haven’t read it, you should (a plug for Rick). However, God kept thumping my heart, telling me that “there’s another side to purpose-driven”….an inclusive rather than an exclusive side. That, of course, is “Porpoise Diving.” What I write has, believe me, absolutely nothing to do with some sort of a gimmicky reaction to Warren’s book and/or his writings or theology. It is solely based upon what God’s Spirit placed upon my heart and wouldn’t let up until I acted.

Jesus never promised us that our existence in this world and journey of faith with Him would be without pain, uncertainty, the unexpected, the incomprehensible and hardship. Perhaps there’s another dimension of truth to the Gospel message that people are yearning to hear that is outside the confines of a well-ordered, trouble-free, formula-based, prosperity laden, purpose-driven life. There is. It’s The Porpoise Diving Life ©. There is a flip-side to the “It’s not about you” theology from Warren that people are desperate to hear; “It’s all about us,” is the tag line for The Porpoise Diving Life © that appears to be terribly inviting to people, particularly when it’s coupled with the sub-title “Reality for the Rest of Us.” It’s about God, you and me. “It is time that we demand more of ourselves as Christians. We are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, and if the world is going to see, feel, and touch him, it will have to be through us.”(1) It’s all about us!

Life is filled with ups and downs, gasping for breath, playing on the surface and foraging for sustenance in the depths. People need to hear this truth from the Gospel through the life of Jesus that has practical application to their lives today, not conveyed as some sort of formula-based 40 day book that these people won’t even read. Jesus lived The Porpoise Diving Life©. Scripture proves that.

The point to the above is that it captures an important theme of the book: our commonality as children of God. The Christian faith is so fractured and antagonistic in the western, developed world, it makes me weep. I’m not alone. To live a life filled with “ups and downs, gasping for breath, playing on the surface and foraging for sustenance in the depths” is really what inhabits the experience of most people. We need to celebrate the authenticity of this reality rather than hiding behind theological dogma that castes guilt and shame upon people whose life experiences don’t match up with the current trend of the necessity for a relationship with God that is evidenced by a well-ordered, trouble-free, formula-based, prosperity laden, purpose-driven existence. God loves the person who lives The Porpoise Diving Life© just as much as those immersed within the currents of mainstream evangelicalism. The message of The Porpoise Diving Life© is inclusive and inviting, rather than exclusive and divisive.

Bill: A Prologue that provides the conceptual context for the reader. The Prologue is followed by forty, 3-5 page stories ( Beginning at “Day 41” through Day 80 ). These stories are non-fiction essays about people I have encountered in my own life, along with a discussion of what their experience means to me from a “Porpoise Diving Life©” perspective. These are true stories. I use pseudonyms to maintain confidentiality. The lead-in that starts each new “day” is a story about my actual observations of Porpoise. At the present time, we are working to get a publishing commitment.

Bill: We’ve had over five thousand readers from 70 countries with in excess of 20,000 page views in just 90 days. Corresponding with people all over the globe has really been a lot of fun, and incredibly encouraging, while humbling at the same time.

Bill: Age range does not seem to be a factor in terms of the feedback from readers of the site and/or by reviewers of the unpublished manuscript. Young adults to age 70’s are sending their thanks and enjoyment. What’s surprising to me I guess are both the number of mainstream evangelicals who are sending in their thanks, pastors of evangelical churches who are forwarding notes of their gratitude, and a large group of people who have been wounded and/or fallen away from the established institutional church and thought they were alone. Finally, there are those who just flat make me ball my eyes out…the one’s who have felt they were living as an exception to God’s grace, mercy and love because they just “don’t seem to fit” with the confines of the theology expounded by the mainstream, established church…the one’s whose lives have been filled with ups, downs, in-betweens, joy, tragedy, the unexpected, the inexplicable etc.

Bill: As much N.T. Wright as I can lay my hands on. Also a recent obsession with Oswald Chambers…wow! Also, devouring David Maransiss’s Pulitzer Prize winning “They Marched Into Sunlight – Vietnam and America – 1967.” Get your hands on Burke & Taylor's new book "A Heretic's Guide To Eternity" when it comes out in August 2006...it's the manifesto for a movement. Russell Rathbun's book, "Post Rapture Radio."

Bill: Los Lonely Boyz, Leslie West, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Roby Duke, Fernando Alvarez, Mourning September, Pillar, Anberlin, Gregorian Chants and Guns N Roses. Recently, I have been thrown back to the songs of social/cultural change … Country Joe and the Fish/Woodstock, Mellencamp, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Hendrix. Perhaps witnessing the recent demonstrations over immigration reform in the U.S. have rekindled the passions I experienced when I was younger during the civil rights movement, Watergate and the Vietnam War.

Bill: I love the value of the metaphor. I’m really spending most of my time on a work of fiction at the moment. It’s a story that has practical application for so many people today. It’s fashioned around the issue of leadership. Frankly, after reading for years about this issue (and having it crammed down my throat everywhere I turn in society), I’m absolutely convinced we are truly ignorant about it. The title of the book is called “Sheepmanship – The Flip-side of Leadership,” or “Placing Leadership in its’ Proper Perspective in the Pasture.” The essence of the book is that most of us have never really learned what it means to “follow.” Thus, how can we draw as near as we might when we hear Jesus say, “Follow Me.”

Bill: Jim Henderson at Off-The-Map is on the cutting edge of some very important work. Rob McAlpine (“The Post-Charismatic”) is someone you must read regularly. John O’Keefe at Ginkworld.net is a staple. Jeremy Del Rio in New York City is out-in-front with engaging young adults in our culture and transforming institutions, communities and organizations. I adore Spencer Burke’s photography (especially the graffiti stuff). Frankly, most blogs bore me. I wish people would take more time to expand their thinking on some of the issues I read on the emerging blogs in the form of full-length articles. It’s just my personal preference I guess.

Bill: Several come to mind very quickly; My wife Jacki is my day-to-day, in-your-face motivation. Charlie Wear at Next-Wave is unequivocally numero uno. What a blessing Charlie is to so many! I just happen to be “another one.” George Barna and Jim Henderson are two others that distinctly come to mind (Although I don’t know if George would like me placing him in the ‘Emergent’ category). Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out Mike Brantley, Director of CRM in New Zealand.

Thanks a bunch for checking in. Please ask readers send their stories about their Porpoise Diving Life of faith to me at wsdahl (at) bendbroadband (dot) com. We will publish the best of the best on the site to encourage all.

Bill is a freelance writer. He is an outspoken advocate for U.S. immigration policy reform and other social justice issues. He has been a contributing columnist to Los Angeles based Hispanic Vista. Over the past 17 years, Bill and his wife have worked extensively with the poor, the oppressed, the excluded and the marginalized. Most recently, they worked for several years with Hispanic young adults ages 12-22 in southern California. This particular neighborhood in Santa Ana, CA that is considered to be one of the most densely populated areas in the United States. The area is well known for its high crime rate, gang activity, drug activity, violence and devastating poverty. Their work focuses on enhancing the lives of children, teens, young adults and their families residing in this area by working together to encourage them to dream and hope again, and become all that they can be.

Bill is published in numerous professional publications, magazines, websites, journals, newspapers and newsletters. He is the author of several manuscripts, presently under consideration for publication. Bill earned a Bachelors and Masters degree at Washington State University. His writing is published regularly as a main page feature on www.theooze.com, www.ginkworld.net www.Dtour.com/au and www.next-wave.org. Bloggers routinely publish links to his emerging articles. He authored an article in June 2005 entitled “The State of the Church 2005 – What’s Cookin’ in Christianity’s U.S. Kitchen?” that has received national and international acclaim, profiling the last 20+ years of George Barna’s work. This work was published in the New Zealand Journal of Christian Thought & Practice in the November/December 2005 issue. His article entitled “Stop The Christian Hate Parade” was published in Los Angeles based Plain Truth Magazine as a feature in the January/February 2006 issue. Look for Bill's article entitled "The Summit" will be a feature in the June 2006 issue of Spirituality For Today (www.spirituality.org).