Acknowledgments

Jeff Gannon—my pastor, friend and fellow worker in the kingdom.

Lyle SmithGraybeal—for never once doubting these books.

Vicki and Scott Price—for loving me and believing in these books.

Ashley Brockus—for encouragement and assistance so the work could get done.

Also, thank you to the people and pastors of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, Wichita, who studied and practiced the concepts in these books, and allowed me to learn from your experiences and insights. Your presence flows in the pages of these books.

Finally, I want to thank Warren Farha of Eighth Day Books for helping me find just the right books to read and study. There is no better “book person” in this world, and no finer bookstore.

Just over twenty years ago Richard J. Foster, my mentor and friend, said to me, “Jim, I’m starting a ministry. It is time for the walls to come down that separate denominations. The church needs to do better at its primary job—making disciples. And people need to learn how to practice the disciplines not just as individuals but within groups. We need to help the modern church connect to the ancient church. I’d like you to help me design it and help lead it.” I said yes. A month later we met for lunch and Richard told me he had come up with a name for this spiritual renewal ministry: Renovaré (ren-o-var-ay), a Latin word that means “to renew.” I knew right away we were in trouble: no one could pronounce it, and no one knew what it meant. But it sounded really cool, because from the very start it was already doing what nobody else dared to.

Most parachurch organizations set out to do what they think churches aren’t doing on their own, but Renovaré comes alongside churches and resources them without pretending to do their job, namely, making disciples of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, people have separated the word disciple from discipline. They forget that the followers of Christ were disciples because they practiced the disciplines of Christ, and the disciples’ spiritual lives were made rich through the practices of prayer, morality, sharing the gospel, service, Communion and spiritual gifts.

Renovaré is helping us—individuals and churches—to overcome our forgetfulness and rediscover these practices, these disciplines, in order that we, like the first-century Christians, can know what it is to walk closely with Jesus and become more like him. I’ve worked with Renovaré for all these years (and partnered with them in the development of this book series) because they know that following Christ goes beyond denominations, even beyond the latest church program, and gives us tools to discovering life with God in the very fabric of our everyday lives.

This book is very much a part of what Renovaré is all about—it has the same dna as Renovaré. So I hope you don’t stop here, because as an organization and a community of the most kind and Christlike people I know, Renovaré continues the conversation and the journey you have begun in this book. Come and walk with us.

Formatio books from InterVarsity Press follow the rich tradition of the church in the journey of spiritual formation. These books are not merely about being informed, but about being transformed by Christ and conformed to his image. Formatio stands in InterVarsity Press’s evangelical publishing tradition by integrating God’s Word with spiritual practice and by prompting readers to move from inward change to outward witness. InterVarsity Press uses the chambered nautilus for Formatio, a symbol of spiritual formation because of its continual spiral journey outward as it moves from its center. We believe that each of us is made with a deep desire to be in God’s presence. Formatio books help us to ful?ll our deepest desires and to become our true selves in light of God’s grace.