Dallas Willard spent his life making eternal living concrete for his friends. With his unexpected passing in 2013, the world lost a brilliant mind. The wide breadth of his impact inspired friends, family, colleagues, students and leaders of the church to gather their reflections on this celebrated yet humble theologian and philosopher. Richard Foster, a friend for over forty years, writes of Dallas: "He possessed in his person a spiritual formation into Christlikeness that was simply astonishing to all who were around him. Profound character formation had transpired in his body and mind and spirit until love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control were at the very center of the deep habit-structures of his life. He exhibited a substantively transformed life. Dallas was simply soaked in the presence of the living Christ."Curated by Gary Moon, director of the Dallas Willard Center, this medley of Dallas's wise teaching and lived model of Christlikeness—as well as snapshots and "Dallas-isms"—will move and motivate readers. Whether influenced by him as a family member, close friend, advisor, professor, philosopher, minister or reformer, contributors bring refreshing insight into not onlyhis ideas and what shaped him, but also to his contagious theology of grace and joy.Contributors include:



- Richard J. Foster

- Jane Willard

- J. P. Moreland

- John Ortberg

- James Bryan Smith

- Alan Fadling

- Ruth Haley Barton

- and dozens more



John Ortberg is teaching pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and author of many books, including God Is Closer Than You Think and Who Is This Man?



James Bryan Smith is the author of The Good and Beautiful Series. He is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, where he also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith is an ordained United Methodist Church minister and has served in various capacities in local churches.



Dallas Willard (1935–2013) was a renowned teacher, an acclaimed writer and one of our most brilliant Christian thinkers. He was as celebrated for his enduring writings on spiritual formation as he was for his scholarship, with a profound influencein the way he humbly mentored so many of today's leaders in the Christian faith. His books include The Divine Conspiracy (a Christianity Today Book of the Year), The Spirit of the Disciplines, Hearing God, Renovation of the Heart, and others.



J. P. Moreland (PhD, University of Southern California) is distinguished professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in La Mirada, California. He has written or contributed to over ninety-five books, including The God Conversation,Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, In Search of a Confident Faith, and Love Your God With All Your Mind. Throughout his career Moreland has co-planted three churches, spoken and debated on over 200 college campuses around the country, and served with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) for ten years. He was selected in August 2016 by The Best Schools as one of the 50 most influential living philosophers in the world.



Gary W. Moon (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the founding director of the Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He continues to serve as the director of Conversatio Divina for the Martin Institute. He also serves as distinguished professor of psychology and Christian spirituality at Richmont Graduate University. He is the author of numerous books and curriculum resources including Apprenticeship with Jesus and Falling for God.



Richard J. Foster is the founder of Renovaré. He is the author of several books, including Streams of Living Water, Prayer, Freedom of Simplicity, Sanctuary of the Soul, and Celebration of Discipline, which has sold over two million copies worldwide; he is coauthor (with Gayle Beebe) of Longing for God. He and his wife, Carolynn, make their home near Denver, Colorado.



Preface



1. Gary W. Moon: Introduction: Living in the Glow of God

I. Husband, Father and Friend



1. Richard J. Foster: If Death My Friend and Me Divide



2. Family Voices



Jane Willard: Birth of the Books: He Never Planned to Write About Christian Spirituality



Becky Heatley: Living with the Great Thinker—and Feeler



Larissa Heatley: Give?em Heaven



John Willard: Fond Memories of My Dad



3. Jan Johnson: A Word from a Different Reality



4. Keith Matthews: The Beauty of a Virtuous Man

II. Philosopher and Professor



5. Steve Porter: Evidential Force of Dallas Willard



6. Greg Jesson: Dallas Willard?s Defense of the Radical Practicality of Knowledge



7. Brandon Paradise: From Secular Philosophy to Faith



8. J. P. Moreland: Reflections on a Day with My Professor and Friend



9. Gary Black: Five Tips for a Teacher



10. Widening Spheres of Influence



Eff Martin: Doing Business in the Kingdom



Quinton Peeples: Creating in the Kingdom



Gayle Beebe: Forming Education in the Kingdom



John Kasich: Public Service in the Kingdom



John Ortberg: Doing Church in the Kingdom

III. Mentor and Reformer of the Church



11. James Bryan Smith: Master of Metanoia, Bermuda Shorts and Wingtips



Sidebar: Emilie Griffin: He Made Me Feel Welcome and Told Me a Joke



12. Trevor Hudson: Journey into Joy



13. Todd Hunte: Dallas Willard, Evangelist



Sidebar: Bill Hull: Reclaiming the Word Discipleship



14. Alan Fadling: Developing Pastors and Churches of the Kingdom



15. Mindy Caliguire: Gray?s Anatomy and The Soul



16. Kent Carlson: The Kingdom of God Is Real



Sidebar: Mike Lueken



17. Keith Meyer: A Few Dallas-isms That Changed My Life



18. Ruth Haley Barton: The Real Deal



19. James Catford: Equally at Home in Private and Public Spheres



20. John Ortberg: Conclusion: Hey Dallas . . .



Notes