Gary Black

Theologian Gary Black Jr., Dallas Willard s friend and apprentice, integrates the revered teacher s final conversations about death and the afterlife with his profound teachings on spiritual life, offering a unique and astonishing look at heaven and what it holds for us.In the year before his death, Dallas Willard shared moving and insightful conversations about the afterlife with Gary Black Jr, informal dialogues steeped in theology yet grounded in the here and now. Dallas believed that our mortal lives are preparation for what comes next. He maintained that death is not the end of one life and the beginning of another, but rather a transition during which we continue the spiritual work begun in this incarnation.In his acclaimed books, Dallas explored the Christian life in the earthly kingdom. Yet one topic remained untouched: his vision of heaven. For the first time, Preparing for Heaven illuminates Dallas s most intimately held views, including the few mystical occurrences he experienced while dying. Informative and moving, Dallas s final insights challenge us to reconsider our beliefs that perhaps the line separating the afterlife from this life is not as absolute as we think, and that there is work we must do both now and after our own deaths. And that perhaps our faith is more vibrant and eternal than we dare to imagine."

Dallas Willard, the author of the bestselling spiritual classic, The Divine Conspiracy, now fulfills his revolutionary vision of how the kingdom of God is made real on earth in this sequel, the last book he was working on before his recent death.In The Divine Conspiracy, revered Christian philosopher and scholar Dallas Willard critiqued the church's obsession with "sin management" and revolutionized our understanding of true Christian discipleship. Jesus is not a remote savior, waiting to welcome us into heaven after we die, Willard argued. He is a dynamic living force, a leader and teacher to whom we apprentice ourselves to learn the sacred skills God wants us to embrace, and to fulfill His son's vision when Christ declared that the "kingdom of God has come."In The Divine Conspiracy Continued, co-written with theologian Gary Black, Willard lays out the next stage in God's plan as this generation of disciples, including ordained and lay leaders, step into positions of authority across our culture and begin to transform the world from the inside out. To fulfill the Christian calling is not to remove oneself from the outside world and take shelter from its shortcomings, Willard reminds us, but to step into the world to lead and serve as agents of change.

Fortress Press' Foundations for Learning series prepares students for academic success through compelling resources that kick-start their educational journey into professional Christian ministry. In this introductory volume for the series, Black asserts that while the primary subjects of seminary and professional church work training may dominate the interests of students, students must engage in the principal pursuit of understanding, then applying, Christian theology. Black argues that the thread of theology must be distinctly woven through each of the other disciplines of biblical exegesis, ministerial leadership, spiritual formation, counseling, preaching, and worship. The following books in this series provide insight into these other key components of the minister's duties. Black, however, leads off by honoring ministers as leaders who follow in the footsteps of Christ.Just as Jesus was an expert in the issues of his day, demonstrated authority to speak on the matters he engaged, mentored other leaders in like manner, was emulated by his followers who witnessed the life he lead, and, therefore, initiated a revolution that has changed the course of human history, Black is convinced that ministers of the gospel have no less a calling on their lives today.