People call Rob Bell a rock star, a hipster and a heretic.
He's actually an author, presenter and pastor who challenges everything people believe about what it means to be a Christian.
He brings his "Everything Is Spiritual Tour" to Cleveland at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium at 3615 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland.
The Grog Shop is sponsoring the event. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $20 for the one-man two hour show.
His books include "Love Wins," "What We Talk About When We Talk About God," "The Zimzum of Love," "Velvet Elvis," and "Jesus Wants to Save Christians."
At 28, Rob founded Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan and turned it into one of the fastest-growing churches in America. In 2011, Time Magazine listed him as one of its 100 most influential people.
He left his own mega-church four years ago to reach a bigger audience. He found one on Oprah's 2014 Life You Want Tour.
The former evangelical mega-minister was viewed as controversial when he openly questioned the existence of hell. He believes that Jesus has been hijacked.
Rob sets him free with two words: "Love wins."
Yes, those two words that people used as a victory cheer after the Supreme Court ruled in support of gay marriage.
Rob publicly supported gay marriage in 2013 when he told folks in a San Francisco church: "I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it's a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man...we need to affirm people wherever they are."
He says things like, "Jesus is bigger than any one religion...He will always transcend whatever cages and labels are created to contain and name him, especially the one called 'Christianity'."
He writes things like, "If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters. To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone."
During his talks, Rob drives home his message using a big wipe board and copious doodles. Simple stick figure drawings simplify complex concepts and shrink them to the size of a dinner napkin.
He wants people to decide what kind of life they truly want.
"If you want a life that is full and overflowing with vitality and joy, you will probably have defining moments where you have to step forward and take a risk or a leap," he said.
He sees the beauty of both science and spirituality. He doesn't think anyone has to choose one over the other. He calls them "long lost dance partners."
For him, it's a science of the soul, where intimate thoughts and feelings are really connected to the bigger things going on in the universe.
How that all fits on a napkin is beyond me.
Rob's mantra is, "Keep risking. Keep leaping." He tells that to pastors who seek his guidance.
"Many of them are in a system that does not let them grow," he said. "They get a paycheck for repeating the same things year after year after year."
In his experience as a pastor, he discovered too many people have toxic, devastating ideas about who God is. He wants to create places where people can freely and openly wrestle with such questions, even laugh about them. Places that haven't bee co-opted by any one religion or political party.
For him, church isn't a noun, it's a verb. It's a journey you take with the people who share your life, on the deepest level, in the presence of the divine.
What's the biggest take away from his talk on Tuesday?
"Every day we have thousands of moments where we can shut down and be more cynical," he said, "or we can open up and expand and embrace and say yes to all the possibilities in this moment right now."
"Why have a belief system that doesn't let you have a great life? Why hold on to something holding you back?"
"What kind of life do you want?" he asked, as if it's a choice.
That's the exciting part.
It is.
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This undated photo shows the Rev. Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich. He is author of a book published this year and controversial among his fellow evangelical Christians, called "Love Wins," which questions the traditional belief that only a select few people make it to heaven after death while the rest suffer in hell. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press)
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