This website is for  anyone who has been wounded or burned by the modern American church, whether they consider themselves Christians or not. This website is for people who either don't attend church because they have been somehow negatively impacted by Christianity or who attend but do not like church because they are wounded. Our desire is for this website to be a safe place for the wounded and the “walking wounded.” We are outside the box, and more importantly, outside the bubble.

Because the legalism, self-righteousness and political posturing of the modern church has hurt the people the Church should be helping. Christianity is known today for what it is against and which lifestyles it does not affirm instead of being known for love and forgiveness. We started this website for the poor in spirit, whom Jesus loves but mainstream Christianity has ignored, rejected or hurt. We want to start a conversation that we hope will reclaim Christianity, restoring it to something that resembles Christ instead of the gross perversion of His name that it has become.

What is First Hand Ministries
First Hand Ministries is an Internet ministry consisting of a network of websites dedicated to pointing people to Jesus Christ, the original source of all life. This website is the newest venture under First Hand’s umbrella of websites.

Who is Uncle Luther?
Every family has a crazy uncle that nobody listens to who is the black sheep of the family. Uncle Luther is that for the Christian family. He has taken it upon himself to warn of bad ideas, keep his family members in check and be a constant reminder that the core of Christianity is Jesus and not religion. The Christian community generally responds with eye rolls, elbow nudges and sighing.

Who is Chewy Anne?
Chewy Anne hails from various parts of the country, making new paths wherever she roams. She is a snarky member of Your Local Mainstream Denomination and a former member of the Holy Rollers Society. Because she never had a rebellious phase, she found herself in seminary for a few years to learn professional GodSpeak where she learned to poke Christian culture with a sharp stick. Suspecting that she may be too silly for ordination, she currently spends her time learning how to be more bad-ass and musing with Uncle Luther.

Absolutely not! This website was formed out of our love for The Church. Though she is tarnished, misrepresented and dirty, she is the bride of Christ, and that is the point. Despite her brokenness, she is beautiful. The Biblical metaphor for the church is that the church is an unfaithful prostitute and Christ is the groom who rescues her and purifies her. There’s beauty in that. In that metaphor is the entire story from Genesis to Revelation. The bride requires Christ alone to cleanse her. Only her prince charming, the Prince of Peace can restore her life and give meaning.

One of the worst things the church does today is that it tries to purify itself. It will not admit its brokenness and clings to self-righteousness and superstitious works to try to make itself look better than it is. In doing so, we cheapen the work that Christ has done and we tell a story that is nowhere near as true or as beautiful as the work God has been doing since the beginning of time.

We love the Church. We are the Church. But we are tarnished and we need Jesus to make us beautiful. We cannot and should not hide that or cloak it in any way. This website may be blunt and it may be edgy, but we do it all out of our love for Christ and His church. That love compels us not to cloak the Gospel message in the mores and norms of Christian subculture or in the deeds of religion. Love should be authentic and honest when it is right and when it may be wrong.

If you mean should you run from a toxic congregation that is putting religion before Jesus, then yes—by all means. But find another congregation. The Church is the body of Christ—that is, all the believers on Earth. Never let individual members or a bad experience at one church lead you away from Christ. Christians are imperfect. We are mean, bitter, lying, cheating angry people. We are not good and are not capable by our own merits of ever being good. But the Christ whom we serve is loving and forgiving and perfect. He is everything we are not—and then some. So please, don’t be turned away by us.

And for those of you who have been turned away because of the mess we’ve made and the damage we’ve done—please forgive us. We didn’t know how our actions would hurt you and we weren’t representing Jesus. We understand if you hate us for it, we don’t blame you one bit if you never want to step foot in a church again or if you never want to talk to us again, but please don’t give up on Jesus. Whatever we did that hurt you may have been done in His name, but it wasn’t Him.