Dallas Willard: Onward to Glory

Dallas Willard died today. I have been listening to his teaching pretty much every day for the last five months or so. Though I read The Divine Conspiracy and Renovation of the Heart and really liked them, it wasn't until I started listening to Dallas that his teaching started to help me to grow. It was like I needed to hear and see (in the case of videos) his example to take his teaching all the way to heart.

As it turns out, I listened to this message this morning, which completely pertains to Dallas' transition:

Start at 19:17 and listen for at least 2 minutes.



Here I copy today's note from the Dallas Willard Center:

Early on the morning of May 8, 2013, Dallas Albert Willard awakened to a full experience of the reality of the Kingdom of the Heavens he described so beautifully. Fittingly, his last two words were, “Thank you.” 

“Thank you” is the feeling I am sure so many have for the contributions he has made to their lives. I believe Dallas Willard has been one of the great reformers of Christian thought of the past century and that his most powerful lessons were taught by how he lived an unhurried life, in love with God. 

We wanted to provide an opportunity for you to share how Dallas’ life and teachings have impacted you. We invite you to share your reflections and tributes in our forum: Please visit our forum here. 

We were delighted and honored to have Dallas share his last public teaching at our inaugural Conversation on Christian Spiritual Formation, the Knowing Christ Conference, in February 2013. We have been releasing the videos from the conference over a period of several weeks. However, in celebration of Dallas’ life, we’re releasing the final videos early as the final session on Blessing seemed particularly appropriate. These videos will remain on our site for a few weeks where you can watch them free of charge. After that they will be removed as we are working on a DVD release in the future. Click here to access the videos. 

A primary desire for the Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center is to help fan the flames of authentic transformation into Christlikeness that is at the heart of Dallas Willard’s writing and teaching.

A Facebook note from Renovare:

"What is most valuable for any human being, without regard to an afterlife, is to be a part of this marvelous reality, God's kingdom now. Eternity is now ongoing. I am now leading a life that will last forever..." -- Dallas Willard, "The Divine Conspiracy"

And another one:

We are grateful for the life and ministry of our Ministry Team member, Dallas Willard, who we lost today. Pray for his family and friends who grieve this loss, and yet rejoice in knowing that our brother is experiencing the full reality of the Kingdom of the Heavens he so faithfully taught us about:

"..To one group of his day, who believed that 'physical death' was the cessation of the individual's existence, Jesus said, 'God is not the God of the dead but of the living.' His meaning was that those who love and are loved by God are not allowed to cease to exist, because they are God's treasures. He delights in them and intends to hold onto them. He has even prepared for them an individualized eternal work in his vast universe." -- Dallas Willard, "The Divine Conspiracy"

And here's a Christianity Today profile on him from 2006.

I look forward to knowing Dallas in eternity.