As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart, James Bryan Smith shares how important this book has been for his own life and for the work he does as a minister and a teacher. James Bryan Smith was a teaching partner and close friend of Dallas's for many years and is on the Advisory Board of Dallas Willard Ministries. 

He was mentored by Richard Foster while a student at Friends University, and later partnered with Richard in the founding of Renovare. Jim has remained at Friends University as an Associate Professor, and he now holds the Dallas Willard Endowed Chair for Christian Spiritual Formation. In response to Dallas's challenge to develop a Curriculum of Christlikeness, Jim authored the "Good and Beautiful" series and created the Apprentice Institute for Spiritual Formation. To hear more from Jim, we highly recommend his "Things Above" podcast.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart, psychologist Gary Moon tells the story of how he and Dallas created the 13-week video curriculum for Renovation of the Heart that is now available to watch and use with your study group for FREE at Conversatio.org. 

Three reasons Gary loves this book: 1. Dallas explains what can go wrong (and right) within the human being, specifically in our hearts. 2. The description of each functional aspect of the person and how to facilitate growth toward Christlikeness in each one. 3. The explanation of how the human person is uniquely designed to interact with the Trinity and the reality of God's kingdom. 

Gary W. Moon, M.Div. Ph.D. served as the founding Executive Director of the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Center for Christian Spiritual Formation at Westmont College and continues to direct their resource development initiatives through serving as the director of Conversatio Divina: A Center for Spiritual Formation. He also serves as Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Spiritual Formation at Richmont Graduate University and as the director of the DMIN program in spiritual direction at Fuller Theological Seminary. He served as the founding director of the Renovaré International Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation and as a founding Editor of the Conversations Journal.

Richard Foster and his son Nathan stopped for a moment during a hike to share a few thoughts about the 20th anniversary of the publication of Renovation of the Heart. Richard appreciates the practical way the book captures spiritual formation and how it covers the whole personality and our growth in grace and character formation. 

Richard J. Foster is a prolific author and the founder of Renovaré. He became the pastor of Dallas and Jane's church in the early 1970s, which began a 43-year journey of deep friendship and ministry together. Richard's first book, Celebration of Discipline, is largely sourced from the study of spiritual disciplines and the biblically-guided experiments Richard and Dallas engaged in together. Learn more about Richard on the Renovaré website. While you're there, be sure to check out the Renovaré podcasts.

Professor Siang Yang Tan, Dallas Willard's long-time friend and ministry partner, shares key concepts from two important segments of Renovation of the Heart along with an important reminder that the action of the Holy Spirit is a critical component in our transformation into Christlikeness. 

1. God can transform us in all aspects and dimensions of our being: the mind, the will, the heart, the spirit, character, body, social dimension and the soul, to make us more like Jesus. 

2. The VIM model has helped thousands of readers shape their discipleship to become more like Christ every day. "VIM" stands for: V - Vision: setting our vision on the Kingdom of God; I - Intention: making a true commitment to follow Jesus and live a life guided by his direction; M - Means: a reminder of the means of grace that God uses to help us become more like Jesus. 

Rev. Dr. Siang-Yang Tan, Ph.D. is Senior Professor of Clinical Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and Senior Pastor Emeritus of First Evangelical Church Glendale. He now serves as Spiritual Director of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC). He is associate editor of the "Journal of Psychology and Christianity," contributing editor for the "Journal of Psychology and Theology," consulting editor for "Edification: Journal for the Society of Christian Psychology," and editorial consultant of the "Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care." He has written numerous books, including "Shepherding God's People," "Disciplines of the Holy Spirit," and "Coping with Depression.”

In his studies as a graduate student in psychology, John Ortberg was seeking answers to questions about how we integrate spiritual life and faith into our understanding of the human condition. Decades later, Dallas Willard's "Renovation of the Heart" answered those questions with the depth, clarity and wisdom that John had been looking for all along. John credits Dallas's training in the combined disciplines of philosophy, psychology and theology with his ability to understand and explain the parts of the person and how to care for those parts to bring about positive change in our lives. 

We are deeply grateful for John's ministry and the way he has helped people understand Dallas's teaching. Currently John is offering a morning devotional study through Renovation of the Heart. Visit his YouTube channel to watch the series and sign up for daily (Monday-Friday) text messages with a link to each new episode.

John Ortberg, Jr. is an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and a former pastor at well-known churches like Menlo Church and Willow Creek. He is a member of the board of trustees at Fuller Seminary and the board for the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. Learn more about John and the amazing amount of books he has written.

Is it truly possible that we can become the kind of people we really want to be? 

Jan Johnson, chair of Dallas Willard Ministries, joins in our celebration of the 20th anniversary of the publication of Renovation of the Heart, with the encouraging words that change really is possible. Jan was so personally impacted by the teaching in Renovation of the Heart that she wrote a practical guide to help us put the teachings into practice. Learn more about her "Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice" on Jan's website.

Jan Johnson is an author, speaker, college professor and spiritual director. She has partnered with Dallas in teaching and writing for many years, and is one of the founding teachers of Dallas Willard Ministries' School of Kingdom Living. Jan has helped make Dallas's work accessible in many ways, including co-authoring a Study Guide for The Divine Conspiracy (with Keith Matthews) and offering workshops and online courses bases on Dallas's teaching (More About Jan)

Hear some fun stories about Jan's work with Dallas and get some good advice about ways we can apply the Renovation of the Heart material in our own lives, in this Renovare Podcast interview by Nathan Foster.

How many Christian books do you know that outlive their author? James Catford, Chair of SPCK Publishing, explains why Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart has had, and will continue to have, such a powerful impact on the worldwide Church and in the public square.

Dallas first met James when he was Publishing director at HodderHeadline in London, and James became very active in bringing Dallas and his books to the UK. Throughout his career, James has been integrally involved in the work of organizations like The British Bible Society, Renovaré, The Apprentice Institute, Amity Printing Company in China, The Dallas Willard Research Center, and the American Bible Society. Hear more from James on Renovaré's "Friends in Formation" podcast.

Renovation of the Heart is primarily based on the way Jesus identified the dimensions of the person. Here, we catch a moment from Natasha Sistrunk Robinson’s book club as she talks with Jan Johnson about the book that is now being called a spiritual formation classic. “Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we get that, then we get the gist of the message.” 

See the entire discussion on Instagram. 

Natasha Sistrunk Robinson is the author of the Afterword in the 20th anniversary edition of Renovation of the Heart. Her book club, "Natasha's Study," discusses a new book each month on Instagram (@asistasjourney). She is an author, speaker, leadership consultant, diversity and mentoring coach with more than 20 years of leadership experience in the military, federal government, church, seminary, and nonprofit sectors. (Learn more about Natasha)

Keith Matthews has been using Renovation of the Heart as a textbook for the Christian Formation class he teaches at Azusa Pacific Seminary. It has a powerful effect on the students because of how it discusses the self: "Dallas saw more than just a self that was filled with sin and bound with sin, he saw the redemption that God longed to bring and the shaping of our being into Christlikeness." 

Keith Matthews leads the Department of Ministry at Azusa Pacific Seminary, where he is a Professor of Spiritual Formation and Leadership. He partnered with Dallas Willard in teaching and ministry for many years and is currently helping extend Dallas's work as one of the founding teachers of Dallas Willard Ministries' School of Kingdom Living. Keith also serves on the Advisory Board of Dallas Willard Ministries and is co-author (with Jan Johnson) of the Study Guide for The Divine Conspiracy. (Learn more about Keith) 

“Even seismic shifts in human culture do not change the proximity of Jesus and the availability of his kingdom here and now.” 

Morgan Snyder’s “Become Good Soil” ministry offers 4-day intensive Campfire events during which men who are committed to becoming the kind of men to whom God can entrust the care of His Kingdom have the rare opportunity to glean from the wisdom of seasoned and substantial older men drawn from the Wild at Heart fellowship. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Renovation of the Heart, Morgan reflects on how the path of apprenticeship to Jesus that Dallas Willard modeled and invites us into has renewed his own vision for Jesus’s mission in the world. 

Morgan serves as a strategist, entrepreneur, teacher, writer, and speaker. In 2010, he established Become Good Soil, the comprehensive apprenticeship track for the mission of Wild at Heart; and in 2020, he published "Becoming a King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man." Morgan serves on the executive leadership team at Wild at Heart and has contended for the wholeheartedness of men and women alongside John and Stasi Eldredge for more than two decades. (Learn more about Morgan) 

If we’re going to care for our spiritual core, we must first understand it. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Renovation of the Heart, Steve Porter illustrates why it is so important for us to understand the nature of spiritual transformation in Christ and how this lack of understanding has been detrimental to the Church at large. 

Steve Porter is Professor of Theology, Spiritual Formation, and Philosophical Theology at Talbot School of Theology and Rosemead School of Psychology. He is the managing editor of The Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, the director of Biola University’s Center of Christian Thought, a Teaching Fellow at the Dallas Willard Center, and a prolific author. Best of all, he helped complete Dallas Willard’s “The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge.” (More about Steve)

As we near the end of our series of 20 voices celebrating 20 years of Renovation of the Heart, John Mark Comer expresses his gratitude for the "indelible imprint" Dallas's teaching has left on him personally, and in the world.

John Mark Comer is the author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (does that phrase sound familiar???) and Live No Lies. He is deeply committed to bringing the message of the fulness of life in the Kingdom of God to younger generations, and to fighting against the lies of our culture that seek to steal that life away. He is the founding pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, and is currently starting a non-profit called "Practicing the Way" to create resources for discipleship and formation in local churches in post-Christian contexts. (Learn more about John)

In this video that celebrates the 20th anniversary edition of Renovation of the Heart, Rebecca Willard Heatley recalls working with her father, Dallas Willard, on the first release. She expresses how completely relevant the book is today as people learn to walk increasingly in the “wholeness, holiness, and power of the kingdom of the heavens.”

Rebecca Willard Heatley (Becky) has been engaged in furthering the work of Dallas Willard since becoming his ministry assistant in January of 2000. Her work with Dallas includes establishing his website (www.DWillard.org) in 2001, and helping to bring us Dallas’s books The Great Omission, The Allure of Gentleness, and Life Without Lack. She is currently editing another set of transcripts which will become a book on Dallas’s teaching about the Parables of Jesus. Her ministry efforts also include working with Dallas Willard Ministries to expand the visibility of Dallas’ work, helping with the efforts of the Dallas Willard Research Center, and serving on the board of the Apprentice Institute.

Learn more about Becky and the rest of the Dallas Willard Ministries leadership team. 

Jay Pathak shares his enthusiasm for Dallas Willard’s spiritual formation classic, Renovation of the Heart: “There’s so many people that have lost hope that real transformation can take place in their life. Sadly, many of those folks are Christian leaders, pastors, ministry leaders who have just gotten beaten down by so many of the broken and confusing discipleship processes that we built over time. What I so appreciate about Dallas’ work in Renovation of the Heart is how clear it is. How biblical it is. How Dallas works through so many of the different texts that many of us are familiar with but helps sort to tie it all together into a cohesive framework that helps us think about how transformation takes place in our lives and the lives of people that we care about.

Jay Pathak is the National Director of Vineyard USA, starting in January 2022. He also serves as the Lead Pastor of the Mile High Vineyard, a family of neighborhood churches in Denver, that he and his wife Danielle, planted in 2001. (Learn more about Jay)

What is transformation? What does it mean to have your heart formed, or perhaps better said, RE-formed by God? 

Today Amy Boucher Pye briefly talks about what we can learn from Renovation of the Heart and the significant impact this book has to offer us in our lives. Amy is an author, speaker, retreat leader, and spiritual director in North London. Her most recent book is "7 Ways to Pray: Time-Tested Practices to Encounter God." More about Amy.

"Our spiritual formation is not a once-and-for-all static belief system; but instead, it is an ongoing journey of being transformed into the image of Christ." -- Bob Fryling 

If you are skeptical about Bob's statement, you’ll want to read Renovation of the Heart. Dallas Willard lays out a systematic process for transforming our minds, characters, bodies and souls as we move towards becoming “children of light.” This restoration and renovation prepares us for the ultimate presence of God in eternity. 

Robert Fryling (Bob) is a former vice president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and has recently retired after 19 years as publisher of InterVarsity Press. He writes, speaks, and teaches in the areas of spiritual formation, leadership, Christian faith, and cultural engagement. Having known Dallas personally, Bob finds the teaching in Renovation of the Heart to be profoundly authentic, spiritual and practical. Learn more about Bob. 

"Jesus doesn't call us to do what he did, but to be as he was."  

Juni Felix shares how she integrates the VIM principle (Vision-Intention-Means) into living and loving like Jesus. Juni is the author of "You are Worth the Work: Moving Forward from Trauma to Faith." She is a Tiny Habits Coach and member of Dr. BJ Fogg's Stanford Behavior Design Lab Teaching Team, a C.S. Lewis Institute Fellow, speaker, and podcast and radio host. More about Juni.

"You can't just believe something as the right answer. You have to believe it as a way of life, from the heart." 

This message is from Randy Frazee who created "The Christian Life Profile Assessment Workbook," which Dallas often recommended as one of the best available tools to measure our progress in spiritual formation. (See https://dwillard.org/articles/measuring-matters-of-the-heart for more about the idea of formation being something we can measure.) Randy's relationship with Dallas began as he was developing this workbook, and he later became the author of a very helpful edition of Renovation of the Heart adapted especially for young people. 

Along with being an Author and the senior minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, Randy is the architect of The Story and BELIEVE church engagement campaigns. More about Randy.https://www.randyfrazee.com

Trevor Hudson shares an important lesson he learned in South Africa that is critically important for every country in our world today: "If we're going to have a transformed nation, we will need transformed people." Renovation of the Heart shows us what this transformation can look like. Trevor is a Methodist minister, pastoral therapist, and retreat leader in South Africa. He is an author, international speaker, and a faculty member of the Renovaré Institute for Spiritual Formation. Trevor's newest book, "Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St Ignatius and Dallas Willard," will be published by NavPress in the summer of 2022. More about Trevor.

Tyler Staton kicks-off this “20 for 20” series by sharing his experience of reading Dallas’s book and the message of the hope of assured change that particularly moved him. Tyler is the Lead Pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon. His passion is a community that is unexplainable apart from the love and power of God. More about Tyler.