- 2011 Golden Canon Leadership Book Award winner

Ministry to others and growing the church were the center of Keith Meyer's life. And yet he was arguing with his wife about how many nights a week he was spending in meetings. His temper was short, and he was exhausted.Keith writes: "I can see that I was pursuing a twisted idea of 'success'--not in the secular forms I regularly preached against, but in the sanctified activism and workaholism sometimes called 'professional ministry.' A growing church, defined mostly by higher attendance at church services, more and more programs, and bigger budgets and buildings were the marks of a successful ministry in the clergy circles I ran with at that time.In the midst of his pain Keith discovered a new way of living--one that truly depended on Christ to redeem and reform his character. And then as he was transformed, he discovered that the change in him was changing the way that he was pastoring andleading others. Drawing from the riches of church history and the experience of contemporary ministry, Keith Meyer writes with the voice of a prophet and the heart of a pastor.If you're ready to stop trying to follow Christ and start training to be a Christ follower, this is the book for you.



Keith Meyer (D.Min., M.Div.) is a speaker, teacher and retreat leader through his organization, Becoming the Change Ministries. Having served as a pastor for many years, most recently at Church of the Open Door, he is also a senior teaching fellow with the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Institute and an adjunct professor at Denver Seminary. His books include Whole Life Transformation: Becoming the Change Your Church Needs. Visit his website at www.keithmeyer.org.



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.



Foreward by Dallas Willard



Introduction



1 The Transformation Gap



2 The Double Life



3 What Ministry Masks



4 Church as Business



Interlude



5 Formation by Family and Friends



6 Church asa Catching Force



7 Training for a Trust That Obeys



8 Ruling in Kingdom Life



9 Leaving the Results to God



Conclusion



Acknowledgements



Notes



About the Author



"Is your spiritual life stagnant? Have you wondered if there was more to this whole 'Christ-follower' thing? Do you need a spiritual shot of adrenaline? You might be in need of a Whole Life Transformation, and this book might just be youranswer. Keith Meyer takes you through his own personal struggle with what he learned from the church as a child versus the words of Jesus and Paul, and how that led to a whole church transformation. Packed full of practical examples, life-changing questions, thought-provoking insights and a few controversial statements, this just may be the book you need personally to push you to the next level."



"Whole Life Transformation is a book of remarkable honesty and authenticity. In a text rich with anecdotes and hard-won wisdom, Keith Meyer summons evangelicals to abandon their adumbrative 'gospel' in favor of a fuller grasp of the liberating gospel of the New Testament."



"For years churches have emphasized the message that 'Ye must be born again!' While this is obviously the core of Christianity, Keith D. Meyer contends that too many churches have embraced a reduced Gospel of Christians accepting Christ and then simply being satisfied their eternity is secure. But Meyer stresses that following Jesus involves transforming and growing in every aspect of life, not just 'holding on' until reaching heaven. He explains that there should be tangible behavior changesthat testify to an ongoing deepending of a believer's relationship with Christ, truly becoming a discple seeking to continuously transform into His image. Salvation assures our final destination, but meaningful transformation and committed discipleship make the journey more fulfilling individually and more effective for a church sincerely desiring to reach out to others with the full Gospel."



"Whole Life Transformation will show you how God uses spiritual disciplines to transform people and how that transformation impacts ministry. It will help you move from spiritually 'trying hard' to 'training well.' If you're ready to stop trying to follow Christ and start training to be a Christ follower, this is the book for you."



"To know and read Keith Meyer is to be thrust into a vortex of contrasts. Is he a pastor with the mind of a scholar or a theologian with the heart of a soul friend? An activist who has learned to slow down or a contemplative bursting with missional energy? An evangelical rooted in the Catholic saints and Eastern fathers or an Anglican divested of formalism and ritualism? The prodigal son or the compassionate father? Yes, he is all of these and more. Get to know him and the Jesus he knows. You will become the change your church, your family and your world need--whole life transformation!"



"Keith Meyer provides us with an honest and thoughtful account of a pastor deeply tempted to find his identity in the busyness and success of ministry. His journey gives us a window into the process of one leader turning his heart back to true transformation that occurs in ordinary places of honesty and reflection such as at home and with people who share a common life in their weakness."



"'Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you'" was my repeating thought as I read this book. Keith Meyer encourages and challenges us to reach far beyond the quantity of disciples to where the impact lies—quality of disciples. We all know from personal experience that the challenge lies in 'observing' all that Jesus commanded. In this book, Keith lays out the path to true transformation. I was challenged on a personal level and inspired on a leadership level as I read. For anyone interested in measuring quality, this is a must-read book."



"Not another pastor-tells-it-all book. Keith Meyer understands that he leaned his ladder up against the wrong wall, and when he sees the troubling view from there he tells how he climbed down and enlisted others to help him move the ladder to the wall of life and hope. This is a prophetic book that is not angry, for the author more often points the finger at himself than at anyone else. Not content to simply describe his own wanderings, he graciously and concretely invites Christian leaders to follow Jesus more closely and receive his wisdom and healing."



"On some level every pastor will identify with Meyer's dysfunctional experience in ministry. He asks why so many of us fail to experience the transforming power of Christ we proclaim. That is a dangerous question, but Meyer's raw honesty is matched with a hope-filled rediscovery of the gospel."



"Keith Meyer's Whole Life Transformation is a compelling invitation. His particular blend of divine grace, community life, intentional discipline, inner healing and a sense of humor is a blue-ribbon recipe for Christian maturity. Meyer opens his wounded soul and—as we look on—we are the ones who long for more. It is personal, devotional and practical. We cannot read this book and rest satisfied in a complacent Christian walk."