faithrunner

Get a copy here Norman Blackaby and I consider character a matter of the heart. This is why we wrote, Character: The Pulse of a Disciple's Heart . Here's our premise: Biblically, character is defined by the quality of our intimate relationship with God. In our relationship with God we find our moral compass, calling and spiritual strength to live in an intimate relationship with Him and to complete what God has called us to do. (19) Character is God's working in our lives to mold us into the image of his Son in order for us to be God's blessing to those around us. Our behavior--public or private--grows out of our relationship with God. The more intimate our relationship with God, the more we think and ultimately act like Jesus. The less connected we are to God's Spirit and Word, the more we live life on our own terms, and our resulting actions reflect more our natural desires and impulses than those of our Rescuer and Leader, Jesus, the Christ. Character ...

Sunset Friday I spent this past Friday and Saturday outdoors. The days were hot, summer North Texas days, but I was outside the walls of my fabricated environments I dwell in most of the time, so the conditions did not matter. Friday afternoon I followed Chris and Jessica Branch up Preston Rd (289)  to Lake Texhoma outside Pottsboro to see and experience a youth camp they had attended and led since they were children.Chris' parents run the camp now. While it was hot and humid and we all wore "camp glow" (sweat) on our faces, I re-lived my days of camp. Climbing out of the rut of your routine, stepping into God's good creation, hearing God speak to you in a breeze, a bird's song, a friend's voice or a passionate teacher changes your heart. I believe such retreats from the war of our days are required to refresh and restore the soul. Lakeside Praise I liked the Native America motif and Gospel message of Camp Straight Arrow . Jessica was th...

In our new book, Norman Blackaby and I state the importance of the topic of character in our society today: We do not have to look far to see that character is no longer a prerequisite for success in our culture. Politicians, religious and community leaders, business leaders, and individuals have demonstrated that we live in a culture that values results above character . We have segregated our private lives from our public ones, and our faith is a matter of personal conviction and no longer a player in the public square...Character and integrity are optional to the bottom line...We depend on spin, not truth, to clear our soiled character, and we count on sound bites and news clips to be authentic portraits of those we elect to office. Companies hide unfair and unethical practices behind carefully produced advertising campaigns and, sadly, churches sometimes cover up the unseemly messes of their leaders and their spending habits in order to portray a benevolent image to the commu...

Description and Orders Character matters. We mostly hear about the topic when a leader or someone we know fails morally in some way. We know people should have it, and we are disappointed and confused when someone we respect proves they don't have it, but that leaves us with the question, "What is it, and how do you get it?" From the book, we write, What determines if a person will live out God’s full potential for his or her life? We believe it is the issue of character. Character is the single most distinguishing aspect of a person’s life . . . . God cares more about character than our skills, personality, or intelligence because, biblically, character is a matter of the ‘heart.’ Character: The Pulse of a Disciple's Heart is a collection of biblical case studies of people God chose for his purposes which can be used for personal, small group, or church-wide study. Dr. Norman Blackaby and I got the idea for this book from our shared teaching of ...

I am finishing up a manuscript that I am writing with my friend, Dr. Norman Blackaby. We have facilitated a PhD seminar for three different cohorts at Dallas Baptist University called Biblical Servant Leadership . As part of the work in the seminar we ask the candidates to write case studies on biblical servant leaders in order to discover that leader's strengths and weaknesses as he or she led. We also look for principles and practices we can apply to current leadership theory and practice. As we guided the seminar we observed the importance of character as a person called by God led and how character squarely centered on his or her relationship with God . Outward appearance, skills, and personality were not enough to lead effectively under God's guidance. Character matters. We also observed that not much had been written about character in leadership studies . So, we decided we would address the need and write something of our own. As we began to talk to the publisher a...