Renovated: God, Dallas Willard, and the Church That Transforms

Now this is a rich read! I’ve long been convinced the healing of our humanity comes through attachment to God. Jim shows you how.

Just when I thought I had extracted all that Dallas Willard had for me, Jim Wilder integrates something fresh from neuroscience into a revised model of transformation. Read this book one page at a time, or you will miss what it has for you and the people you lead.

Building on a classic understanding of the spiritual formation of the whole person with the latest relational discoveries in neuroscience, it is easy to see that this is what we are created for—and what joy the world so desperately needs to see in the lives of Jesus’ apprentices. A practical primer for disciples who long for a richer life with God and others.

Transformation occurs as we are renovated from the inside out, formed and reformed emotionally and relationally, changed and developed most powerfully in the context of the community of Christ. It all begins with love for God, from which our characters are healed and redirected toward the active presence of God. How kind of Jim and Dallas (and Jane), for guiding us thoughtfully and graciously toward a radical maturity based in healthy attachment love.

No one has taught me more about intimacy with God and relational discipleship than Jim Wilder. If he writes a book, I read it. The opportunity to sit in on this cutting-edge discussion between a giant of the faith like Dallas Willard and my friend Jim is a rare treasure. I guarantee this book will open new doors in your understanding and take you deeper in your walk with God.

Jim Wilder offers a genuine hope in Renovated. He uniquely combines the truth of Scripture with the truth in developing brain science to give us a path of renewal and restoration.

A breakthrough on so many levels. Renovated is a must-read for everyone who is serious about discipling people and seeing life transformation.

There is a fearful lack of intensity and low expectancy for releasing New Testament Christianity in a mad and muddled world today. You just might be holding in your hands the key to a massive return to a world-transforming Christianity, both corporately and personally, as we learn to think with God.

Dr. Jim Wilder has spent most of his adult life researching, praying about, observing, field-testing, pondering, and validating how God has designed people to mature and Christ followers to be conformed to the image of Jesus. His research and understanding are truly groundbreaking and provide vital missing pieces regarding how so much of Western Christianity has lost its relational foundation and focus. Renovated is his most important book to date.

Elegant, clear and bountiful in hope . . . a magisterial work that weaves together wisdom, application, and most of all, relational connection. If transformation for yourself and of your community is what you seek, I can think of no better place to start.

A gold mine of truth exposing the mother lode of God loving us and sharing love for us to love Him, love others, and love ourselves. Take as much as you want. The supply is eternally limitless.

An answer to prayer for those asking the question, How does God transform people into the likeness of Christ? The answer is found in the way human beings have been created: in attachment love with God and others. I highly recommend this book for anyone working in the field of spiritual formation and for all believers who are seeking guidance and understanding for how God transforms lives.

A must-read for your continued growth in faith and life.

If the goodness of a book could be measured in how many times I spontaneously smiled or exclaimed, “I’m loving this!” then Renovated is very good! Dr. Wilder shines in his understanding of the way of maturity and offers practical steps to get there.

A comprehensive, Trinitarian, and human-friendly way to carry out the great commission. It opens a revelatory door that will empower the body of Christ to actualize a more relational Christianity, even a relational revolution in Church and culture.

For too many people, this will be the book that finally connects their soul to the Father of creation. Dr. Wilder writes with compassion, graciousness, and understanding, all interspersed with bright humor and warm anecdotes about real people. Here is the gentle sharing of a sensitive pastor who is equally at ease in imparting biblical truths and counseling troubled and searching people.

For those of us who consider ourselves to be the most hopeless of cases in spiritual formation, our backs against the ropes, this book rekindles confidence that even spiritual-transformation underdogs have a puncher’s chance of becoming more like Christ.

Jim Wilder takes us deep into the heart of the question, How do people change? This practical and provoking work is greatly needed today. With many messages on transformation and maturity swirling in the world and in the church, Jim and Dallas together bring clarity and hope for God’s people to walk in wholeness. This is a must-read!

Mining the timeless truth of Holy Scripture as well as neuroscience, James Wilder builds on the profound teaching of Dallas Willard, adding clarifying insight regarding the primacy of attachment love in divine design and in the formation of emotional and spiritual maturity. This excellent book not only reframes prevalent spiritual-growth paradigms but also provides practical guidance to more fully experience the with-God life. I highly recommend it.