Publisher's Synopsis
You are invited... to a change of heart, Jesus' way! Transformation isn't about being more disciplined or trying harder, but establishing a life-giving connection where Jesus fills your heart's deepest desires for love, significance, belonging, freedom, security, and more. God's change strategy isn't focused on fixing your bad behavior, but on filling your heart with himself. Experiencing desire fulfilled changes what you want-and that makes change easy!
In this practical, down-to-earth manual on heart change, master coach Tony Stoltzfus teaches you the revolutionary approach he's used to walk thousands of Christian leaders through personal transformation. Here's how it works. Behavior comes from the heart, and the heart is motivated by our desires--desires for things like for recognition, acceptance, significance, or joy. Most of crazy, twisted stuff we do that causes us so much pain is aimed at filling these unmet desire with things in this world. The surprising key to Jesus' approach is this: your heart's desires were meant to be filled in your relationship with God; not by things, but by Jesus himself (see James 4). Encounter Him touching your desire every day, and it will transform your behavior without even trying. Jesus' way of change is better than you ever imagined!
The Invitation takes you on a journey to this realm of desire. We'll start with the common Christian approach to change (disciplining outward behavior), and contrast it to what the New Testament says about changing from the inside out instead. Then you'll learn about how the heart works, the different levels of the heart, the 16 deep desires, the Two Guardians of the heart (beliefs and emotional memories), and the steps to identifying beliefs and desires. The author is eminently practical: for instance, he presents four tools you can use to encounter Jesus in your desires and six for changing beliefs, with clear steps and multiple examples for each. This book is a practical manual, not a theoretical discourse: it is filled with intimate stories of real people from all walks of life experiencing transformation through using these techniques to encounter Jesus in their deep desires.
As a special bonus, The Invitation also includes four hours of free, on-line video keyed to the text, featuring live, unrehearsed demos of how to coach the heart!
For coaches, counselors, pastors and anyone who wants to be more effective at helping facilitate personal change, The Invitation is a gold-mine of skills and tools, and an invaluable training resource. An entire suite of training aids are available to help you bring these techniques into your world, including DVDs, workshop and course outlines, a mobile app, and more. Professional training and certification are also offered through the Leadership MetaFormation Institute.
A Testimony from the Book
"All my life I have heard that God loves me. And I believed it because I know that that is who He is. ...but for the first time in my life, I saw God smile at me. I SAW HIM SMILING AT ME! And I have not been the same. Nothing about life looks as it did. It was like my life was a messy Rubik's cube that I have spent decades trying to align. In a moment, every piece shifted into place. I am whole. Still on the journey, but whole."
