About the author: James Penner

I started The Faith Proposition as a simple exploration of the blessings and tangible benefits of living with a positive faith in God. After 30 years of working in full time ministry with some of the largest and most successful ministries in the world, I have witnessed how…

Faith Changes Everything.

Statistics will tell you that roughly one third of America’s population have no religious affiliation, and that only one third regularly attend church. Quite frankly the statistics are understandable. Humans, being as flawed as we are, struggle and fall short as ambassadors for the Creator of the Universe. Add in a healthy dose of politics, a general distrust of authority, our busy lives with daily distractions, and God quickly gets crowded out of our lives – our choice not His.

So, why start ‘The Faith Proposition’, you may ask? Quite frankly, a still small voice in the back of my mind that says, “You need this”. You may not think you need it, but give it a read for a few months then share with me the blessings you start to experience. You see, God made a promise in the bible that goes something like this,  

“if you search for Me, you will find Me.” Contrary to popular myth, God is not that hard to find. We just have to get out of our own way.

So, here is my commitment to you. ‘The Faith Proposition’ will bring to you a daily one to two minute dose of positive faith and will leave all the guilt at the door. You will not see me wander into the wide morass of controversial topics. You are a child of God and this space is about encouragement. The way I see it, the miracles Jesus performed for people were not preceded by someone confessing their sin to Him. Quite the contrary.      

So, who am I?

My journey is in a word, unique. I was born in a rural farming community in Nebraska and grew up in the very small Mennonite Brethren Church. Yes, we were distant cousins to the Amish, and if you saw the movie “Witness” with Harrison Ford the Amish referred to Mennonites as ‘the ones with telephones’. We also drove cars, and yes boys and girls sat next to each other in church, you just couldn’t dance (aka…Footloose). While still a child we moved to the big city of Denver where I grew up and attended college. I don’t think my childhood church would have recognized the hopelessly lost me that I was during my party college years. I did manage to graduate with a degree in Finance from the University of Denver, and faith finally became real to me on a journey to California. Don’t worry, this transformation will show up in these pages along the way. Along life’s journey I managed to marry the love of my life 35 years ago, and went on to receive a Masters in Business Administration from California State University. 

Through the years I have been a commissioned pastor with the Reformed Church in America (its most famous alumni include “power of positive thinking” author Norman Vincent Peale and television ministry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Schuller), and as an ordained minister with both the Crystal Cathedral Ministries and Morris Cerullo World Evangelism. I served as the Executive Producer of the Hour of Power with Robert H. Schuller from 1999 to 2012 and have met everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to Maya Angelou, to Rosa Parks, to Normal Peale, to James Ingram to David Foster to Charlton Heston and the list goes on. I’ve also served as the Executive Producer of Morris Cerullo Helpline from 2005 to 2008 which we originally launched at CBS Television City on the original Carol Burnett stage, while the adjacent stage was filming American Idol. I’m currently serving as the Executive Director of the Legacy International Center in San Diego California.  

In my lifetime I’ve seen Faith at work in both the famous and unknown. You see, God being God, He can do anything, and will do amazing things in the lives of those who simply take the time to look up and believe. Start your own positive journey and join, The Faith Proposition.