by: Neil Taylor
Neil Taylor was born into a family of privilege, but his privilege was offset by a childhood illness that often hospitalized him for weeks. As a teen, he turned to drugs to escape a deep sense of brokenness and longing for true friendship. When a group of hippies arrived in his town in a bus with the word JESUS painted on the side, Taylor dropped out of college to join them-a decision that devastated his parents and caused his mother to say, "You have nothing to offer anyone!"
Taylor sets out to prove otherwise, embarking on a mission to serve. He lands in Chicago as a founding member of the Jesus People, a Christian community dedicated to helping the homeless in Uptown, where he spends forty-three years co-pastoring the community while struggling to save his daughter from a decade-long battle with drugs and alcohol.
Eventually, a false accusation against Taylor causes him to break from his community and face the loss of his friends, his job, and his sense of belonging. Through it all, he is forced to examine what it means to belong to Christ and, ultimately, to surrender to the great unfixables of life.
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