Nate Larkin is a storyteller with a timely message. An entertaining speaker, he engages his audiences with humorous vignettes drawn from real life. Before long, however, he leads them into territory few Christian commentators openly explore.
"Most Christians I meet harbor secret feelings of failure," he says candidly. "Most of them are waging a daily war against some sort of chronic self-defeating behavior, and many of them are alone in that fight. It's a lousy way to live. I know. I was a solitary fighter for years."
Nate's isolation was driven by a humiliating moral struggle. For years, he employed all the typical weapons against his besetting sin - personal devotions, Bible study and memorization, inspirational books, retreats, rededications, prayers for deliverance - but nothing worked for long.
"What I wanted was a private solution to my private problems," he explains,. "I was willing to trust Christ, but not the Body of Christ. I didn't really believe that God's Spirit inhabits all believers, and I didn't think He could use broken people to help me. I considered the Church a loose association of individual God-followers, not a single organism whose members are so interdependent that they can only move together."
Nate's only close friend during those years was his wife, Allie. "It was hard on Allie, being my only friend," he says. "She got tired of being the only one who could confront me when I was wrong, advise me when I was confused, and cheer me up when I was depressed. I piled the weight of all my missing friendships onto her and then got mad when she acted like a girl."
For Nate, the turning point came when he found a safe place to be honest with other guys. Today he shares his life with a group of friends called the Samson Society, and he gives his audiences suggestions for building authenticity and integrity in their own relationships.
"Christians are well-meaning," he says, "But unless we work hard to prevent it, the church can become the most difficult place on earth to be honest. We can actually force each other into falsehood. That's tragic, because false selves are doomed to empty lives of duty, outer conformity and inner numbness. Only our authentic selves, fragile but forgiven, can truly experience a spiritual life marked by love, joy, peace and self-control. And Christ intends us to enjoy that life together."
A popular speaker at youth events and men's conferences, Nate holds an M.Div. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was awarded the Preaching Prize in 1982. His first book, Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood, will be released by W Publishing in February 2007.
For booking information, contact:
Ray Ware Management
3108 St. Stephens Way
Franklin, TN 37064
(615) 790-7820
(615) 523-1309 fax
ray@waremanagement.com
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