August 2026

For some years, I've been wrestling and researching. Can you wrestle and research at the same time? I certainly hope so, because that's what tends to happen to me. Something starts to bug me, and I chase its implications until I either strike gold—or strike out.

What was bugging me this time was the increasing number of Western people who seem to be giving up on Christianity. Secularization itself is nothing new, but for a while, scholars noted America was bucking that trend with real church growth. Then the tables turned, and it became apparent we weren't immune after all. Perhaps even you, or someone you know, has given up on the faith.

Here's a contrast worth sitting with: Biblically driven faith continues to thrive in China, Africa, and South America. The fastest-growing church in the world is in Iran. Yet the unease here is real.

One pastor told me a third of his seminary classmates have left the ministry, the faith, or both. A younger ministry leader described friends abandoning their faith through that journey now called "deconstruction." And if it's true that the "religiously unaffiliated" has risen to 27% from 16% in 2006, that data cannot be easily ignored.

This felt like a fresh wave of challenge, and I wanted to understand it. I decided to get out of my box, climb down from my lofty pulpit, and talk to people who either had rejected Christianity or, despite pressure not to, had accepted it. I wanted real conversations. To be a sort of investigative reporter. I found out some fascinating things, and a pattern began to emerge.

That pattern was that Christianity had been framed — for many, associated with nefarious traits; for others, framed too piously to be believed. Either way, a frame stood between people and the actual teaching of the Christian faith. My task became clear: not to defend a mere Christianity trimmed to fit inside someone else's frame, but to present Christianity “unframed.”

This is the work God Centered Life has always been about—helping people see the gospel clearly and center their lives on God, not on a culture's distorted picture of him. Whether someone is wrestling with doubt or simply weary of a Christianity they've never really seen unframed, we want to put the truth in front of them as it actually is.

My wrestling and research eventually became my new book, Unframed: Conversations That Take the Gospel Out of the Box. It's for seekers, skeptics, and believers alike. I recount honest conversations with renowned scholars, skeptics, and believers about faith, doubt, and meaning. There’s also practical wisdom for the questions we all face about suffering, science, secularism, and spirituality. If you're looking for a book that takes the gospel out of the box and into real life, my prayer is you'll find it here.

Our team would love to send you a copy of either Unframed or Matt Smethurst's book, Before You Open Your Bible, as our way of saying thank you for a gift of any amount to God Centered Life this month. Your ongoing support is what makes it possible to reach thousands of listeners every week with the truth of the gospel clearly proclaimed. Your partnership in this work is invaluable. We truly need it!

Serving Him together,

Josh Moody
President and Founder
God Centered Life Ministries