Radical Character for Pursuing God: Ten Character Qualities That Fire Up My Wild Pursuit of God

This book will help identify character qualities that move us toward the character qualities of Jesus. Pursuing godly character is important; it is also rare. From my experience, more marriages, more churches, more relationships, and more work situations are destroyed by lack of character than from everything else combined. Lack of character allows such qualities as pride, deception, arrogance, rebellion, selfishness, distrust, and rudeness to run rampant. Knowledge alone is not the answer. Accountability alone is not the answer. Spiritual discipline alone is not the answer. All of these things can help develop character, but I have observed some knowledgeable, accountable, spiritually disciplined leaders, including myself, doing foolish things for lack of character. I am fairly confident that Jesus is not really impressed with how much we know, how accountable we are, or how many spiritual disciplines we practice regularly. I believe He is more excited about a humble, obedient heart that follows Him faithfully and trusts Him explicitly more than anything else. I want to have that kind of a heart, and I want each man I coach and mentor to have that kind of a heart. In fact, I want everyone to have that kind of a heart. As you and I spend quality time with God, this intimacy should produce radical character. The character of Jesus is radical compared to that of a typical Christ-follower, so if you and I are going to live like Jesus, we need to possess radical character qualities that resemble His. He told us to make disciples, those who think and act like He thinks and acts. That is radical.

Dean grew up in a Christian Church near Lapeer, Michigan. His father was an elder in the congregation for 25 years. Dean and his family are currently members of the South Lansing Christian Church in Lansing, Michigan. Dean claims that outside of salvation, God's greatest blessing to him has been his wife, Bonnie. They were married in 1971 and live in Okemos, Michigan. They have two adult children. The oldest, Kim, and her son, DeShawn, also live in Okemos. The youngest, Ryan, and his wife, Reka, and grandson Zane live in Phoenix, Arizona. Ryan is a doctor working at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital. They consider their children and grand kids incredible blessings from God. In 1995, God uniquely opened a door for Dean to also begin leading prayer seminars around the country. To date, God has allowed Dean the opportunity to lead seminars in about forty of the states, and in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, and Thailand. He has also had the opportunity to teach on prayer in Hungary and China. God has also given him the opportunity to have a "front row seat" at several revivals on Christian campuses and university campuses. He firmly believes that prayer must be the basis of all we do individually and all we do in ministry. He also believes strongly in this statement, "God has blessed my ministry in spite of me, not because of me." He adamantly believes that his love for God must be more passionate than his love for his family and for his ministry (especially ministry). Dean had a book published in 2009 entitled The Path Toward Passion. It covers nine spiritual disciplines that help develop intimacy with God. In 2010, God led the board of directors of Impact Ministries International to birth two ministries out one ministry. The result is a campus ministry called Impact Campus Ministries and a teaching/coaching ministry called Intentional Impact. Dean oversees Intentional Impact, which focuses on ways to bless the kingdom of God. In 2011, Dean had a second book published entitled, God's Divine Appointments. It contains instructions about divine appointments and 58 stories of his best divine appointments. In 2012, Dean had a third book published entitled, Radical Character for Pursuing God. It contains 10 character qualities that will help us pursue God radically. Dean's interests include dating his wife, spending time with his kids, jogging, reading, teaching, and people.