Who am I?

Joshua S. Hopping is an ordained Vineyard pastor who over the past thirteen years has been been involved in the Vineyard Movement at local, national and international levels. He graduated from Vineyard Leadership Institute in 2007 and is currently pursuing a Master of Ministry degree through St. Stephen’s University in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. Joshua is an avid blogger at “WildGooseChase.org” where he posts book reviews, life thoughts and whatever else he finds interesting.

What am I doing?

I’m raising funds to publish a book that will help the average Jesus follower understand the central message of Jesus as recorded by all four gospel writers, namely that the kingdom of God has come, is coming, will be coming soon, and is delayed (i.e. Kingdom Theology). To be true to the Scriptures, we have to hold all four of these items in tension while understanding the cultural and historical background of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

Split into two parts, the first half of the book explores the biblical concept of the kingdom of God throughout the Old and New Testaments. The second half builds upon this theological framework by applying the concept of Kingdom Theology to the different areas of our lives as learning for learning's sake is useless.

The working title for the book is The Here and Not Yet: What is Kingdom Theology and why does it matter? The full table of content is posted at the bottom of this listing for those who want to know more about the topics covered in the book.

Recommendations for the Book

“What I love about Josh's book is the way he melds powerful truth with an easy reading style. This makes the theology accessible to all without losing any of the impact of what it means to live ‘in the now, but not yet’. Historical truth, accurate theology and practical application makes this a handbook for people who want to "do" Christianity.” - Kevin Thienes, Pastor of Prayer Ministries, Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Boise

"Josh's The Here and Not Yet is an absolutely outstanding work on the theology of the kingdom and corresponding practices. Not only does he lay the necessary biblical-theological framework, Josh demonstrates how the kingdom applies in every area of life. I highly recommend this to fellow pastors and churches alike!"  -Luke T. Geraty (Th.B, M.Div., M.A.), Lead Pastor of the Red Bluff Vineyard Church

In addition to the above, Dr Peter Fitch, Dr Derek Morphew, and Dr Winn Griffin along with a few others have all read early drafts of this book and provided thoughtful feedback. The book has been edited by Judy Twycross, who worked on Doug Erickson’s book Living the Future as well as books by Dr Derek Morphew, Alexander Venter and Costa Mitchell.

Why am I doing this?

Thirteen years ago I was introduced to Kingdom Theology through the Vineyard Boise (Idaho). As I learned about and embraced the tension of living in the here and not yet of the kingdom of God, my life was radically changed. I had found a theological framework that allowed for the mystery of God while providing answers to some of the hard questions of life.

As I dove deeper into the realm of Kingdom Theology, I wanted share my discoveries with my friends and the people in my church. However I had a hard time finding anything that I could give to people that would fully explain the kingdom of God. I found thick scholarly books full of very technical theological terms. Or books about a specific topic (i.e. healing, prophecy, etc.) that used Kingdom Theology as an underlying framework but really didn’t provide an overview of the concept.

I also discovered that the term “Kingdom Theology” was being used by different people from various backgrounds to mean almost anything. The Pentecostal/Charismatic crowd used it to talk about signs and wonders while a new breed of Evangelicals used it to talk about social justice. Still others used the term to describe the church – local or global – while still others used it to talk about Jesus’ Second Coming.

No matter how many books I read, I couldn’t find a single volume that retained the tension of the here and not yet while explaining how Kingdom Theology affects our daily lives that could be read and understood by the average person sitting in church. Seeing that I couldn’t find it, I decided to write the evasive book myself.

In financially helping publish this book, The Here and Not Yet: What is Kingdom Theology and why does it matter? , you are helping release a resource that will help hundreds, if not thousands, of people understand the kingdom message of Jesus. As you can see from the above recommendation, the book is written in a conversational style that is easy to read so that the average church member can pick it up and enjoy learning about Kingdom Theology.

How you can help?

Being a first time author, I have to cover a lot of the expenses myself even though my book, The Here and Not Yet , has been accepted for publication through Vineyard International Publishing (Cape Town, South Africa). This is where you all come in as I need help generating the necessary funds to pay for the book editing, layout, and cover design. A breakdown of the cost is listed below:

Editing cost: $1,300

Page layout: $450

Cover design: $350

Total: $2,100

You can also support the publication of the book by buying a handcrafted magnetic locking book safe through myEtsy.com store.

What do I receive for my donation?

For those who financially support this endeavor, I will be exclusively releasing a PDF version of the book manuscript along with  two essays that did not make it into the final version of the book along with two others previously published on my website. All the essays will be released in a PDF format. Details about these essays can be found below .

“The Lord’s Prayer”

Now most of us don’t think about the “Lord’s Prayer” as something to help us through the in-between times of the Kingdom. For most of us, it is just a nice poetic prayer that we hang on our walls, pray before football games or just recite in a flippant manner when someone ask us to pray. A look through history tells a different story as this prayer was the marker for those who truly gave their lives to follow Jesus. Even when everything else changed – cultures, tradition, Christian sub-group, etc. – the followers of Jesus have always kept this prayer close to their hearts, even when they really didn’t understand why they held on to it. However, if one looks at this prayer through the lens of Kingdom Theology – through the lens of the here and not yet of the two peaks of the kingdom – well, everything changes and the prayer takes on a whole new meaning.

Note that a version of this essay appeared on my website in February 2015.

“Kingdom Theology Resources”

In my journey to learn more about Kingdom Theology, I’ve read over 100 books on the subject. Knowing that not everyone has the time or interest in reading that many books, I have created a list of the 25 plus Kingdom Theology books along with a short review of each of them. The resource is divided into two sections with the first section dealing with the theological foundation of Kingdom Theology. The second section contain those books whose focus in the practical application of Kingdom Theology (e.g. healing, miracles, environmental stewardship, social justice/human rights, etc.).

Note that a version of this resource appeared on my website in September 2015.

“The Calling Out Of A People”

Abraham is one of the key figures in Scriptures with all followers of Jesus being called “children of Abraham.” This previously unpublished essay dives into the call of Abraham by the Creator King of heaven and earth as recording in Genesis 12 and 15. Portions of this essay are included in the final version of my book; however the full multiple page essays did not make it into the book due to space limitations.

“The War of the Ten Plagues”

The people of the Ancient Near East (i.e. the Egyptians and Israelites) typically believed that the world around them was controlled by the gods of the land. Life revolved around gods – one was either appeasing the gods, asking permission of the gods, or receiving punishment from the gods. Seen against this background of polytheism, the Exodus story takes on a new light. It becomes less of an elaborated rescue attempt and more of a war with each of the ten plagues as a battle between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of the Egyptians. Or, more specifically, it was a power encounter between the High King of the universe and the self-proclaimed king of the earth and the forces of darkness. In this exclusive previously unpublished essay, I try to connect each plague with the gods and goddess of Egypt to understand more about the war between the Creator King and spiritual forces that kept God’s people in bondage.