Paul Vieira

Some of you might be wondering where I am. It seems I’ve fallen out of the blogging world. My web presence is weak these days. There is a reason for this. My book came out 2 years ago this month and for the last 2 years I’ve been on a journey to find my place in Babylon. I feel like Daniel who was taken from the religious world of his homeland and tossed into the turbulent waters of a foreign culture. Babylon became his home and God used it to train and position him for his destiny. I’ve been in a two year shift that has not only changed how I express my spirituality but also a shift in how I make a living. After years in professional Christian ministry, I’ve spent the last 2 years teaching English to newcomers from all over the world. Recently, I accepted a job coordinating an English program at the University of Winnipeg. I have a strong sense that God is directing my path and I’m excited to see where it leads.

The organized church is far behind me now that I’ve spent this time in “Babylon.” Life is good and I’ve never been so content as I am now. I hope to write about it more in the days ahead. For now, I leave you with a passage at the end of my book. It is my farewell to the church:

Well this is it. We’ve come to the end. Although, I have spent the last several years mostly outside the walls of the church, I have never formally said, “Goodbye.” In some ways I have had one foot in and one foot out, as I have continued to speak in churches on Sunday mornings in my travels. However, I must go now. I must find my way out into the world that so desperately needs to see Jesus and hear Jesus through me. I have a house to build and garden to plant. I have to raise my kids and see them find their own place in this world. I am compelled to follow this path to its end.

I imagine for awhile, if you’re interested, you may hear or see me talk about the themes contained in the pages of this book. I am willing to further discuss it. I expect a flurry of activity for a season, as readers wrestle through the issues that this book raises. I am open to hearing from you and talking through what needs to be said. However, honestly, it has always been my intention for this book to be a farewell message to the institutional church. I am leaving for “Babylon” and I don’t imagine I’m ever coming back. I don’t know how much longer we will have to talk. Perhaps it will be longer than I think. Inevitably, and probably sooner than later, I will be gone. This is what I leave with you.

Hey everybody,
I haven’t blogged in such a long time. I’m sorry about that. I’m lost in Babylon this summer. I’m really busy, but life is good. Please be patient with me. Things will slow down in September and I’ll be back online.

peace
Paul

I started a new category of podcasts that you may be interested in. Please click the “podcast” tab above to learn how to subscribe. I’m posting teachings that seek to find Jesus in the writings of the Hebrew Bible. So far, I’ve posted a four part series that introduces the Scriptures to those who are interested in studying it more deeply. You can also listen to a 45 minute podcast episode that gives a solid orientation to the first five books of the Bible, also called the Books of Moses.

In other news, I’ve become the new guitarist in a band called WHY. The lead singer (Brian Cook) and I are writing songs together. We have about 11 songs on the go and I’m very excited by what is coming out. We hope to record these new tunes over the next year and get them out to you. In the mean time, please go to www.myspace.com/whyy to check out the music of WHY.

I just uploaded the second part of my new podcast series. This first lesson is where I introduce the scriptures. Check it out!

I managed to find some time today to put together and upload the first episode in a new category of podcasts called “Jesus in the Old Testament.”

One of the first things that Jesus did after He had risen from the dead, was teach two of his disciples along the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”. (v.27)

Imagine that you had to teach someone about Jesus, but all you had was the ancient Hebrew Scriptures. This is what Jesus and the early church used. In this study we will uncover the depth of what Jesus said in Matt. 22:45, “Moses wrote of me.”

This line of study is mentioned in chapter 11 of my book, where I describe the process of having a strong foundation in Jesus. The apostolic pattern in training new believers was to teach them Christ out of the Old Testament. Please feel free to subscribe to this podcast as the latest instalment in my Jesus Has Left the Building Podcast. Just click the podcast tab above to lead you to the page that explains how you can subscribe.

Peace.

It’s been so long since I’ve posted. As you can tell, I’m just not finding the time to keep up with the blog. All my time is being consumed with just living life. There used to be a time when my life in cyberspace was more interesting than my real every day life. This is not true anymore. I’m living here and now in time and space. I love it. I teach English to wonderful newcomers from all over the world. That is my day job. I’m a husband to an amazing woman and father to four incredible kids. I want to give them all that I have. That leaves me just enough time in my week to write music and be a part of a rock band. I really enjoy that. So, it seems that my internet presense is diminishing. I’m alright with that.

The other day, someone emailed me to ask if I was going to be uploading any more podcasts of chapters of my book. To be honest, I don’t think I have the time to finish that project. So far, there are ten chapters available through the podcasts. That is only about half the book though. I suppose if you really want to know how it ends, I would encourage you to get the book and finish reading it. The book has a bit of a twist ending, so I don’t think you’ll be dissappointed.

I have to let you know that we’re experiencing some trouble with the comments feature on this website. We’re getting too much spam and until we can fix it, the comments feature will be disengaged. If you want to get in touch with me, please use the contact page.

It’s been hard blogging these days simply because I’m so busy living, I don’t have as much time for a cyber-life. I’ll try to blog in small bits. This would be more manageable. In addition to working and raising my kids (which includes home educating them), I’ve joined a band. This band needed an electric guitar player and the lead singer really felt that I was the guy. I tried to convince him that I would be stronger at rhythm guitar and piano, but he really challenged me to give the electric guitar a shot. So, I rented a guitar and I’ve been making up for lost time all these years that I stuck to acoustic. Surprisingly, I’m loving the electric guitar and it’s coming along well. The lead singer is very happy with my playing and we’ve also been writing songs together. The collaboration has been really inspiring for me. I’ve written songs on my own since I was 15 years old. Collaborating with someone else was never really an interest of mine. However, I must say that the songs that we are writing together seem to be bigger and better than what has been typical as a solo song writer. I’m very curious as to where all this is going.

Sometimes I get discouraged that I’ve gotten into music so late in my life. I put it off to pursue formal church ministry for so many years. The other day I actually broke down and cried about it. I felt heart broken that I hadn’t followed the path of music that I was on when I was a teenager. I guess we’ll see what God has planned for me in this area.