Transformed E-Book

Joe Pellegrino

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 174

Beschreibung

Jesus did not only come to save us from our sins. He came so that we could, through His divine power, build a new and different life in Him. All men must ask themselves two questions: - What foundation am I building my life on? - What is my game plan to win in life and build my legacy? Transformed leads men to build the strongest foundation possible. Whether building a house or stronger muscles, the effort requires time, energy, and a plan. Transformed provides a 7-step game plan that will help men win in life and build a strong legacy for generations to come. - Prayer strengthens your relationship with God. - Persona (who you really are) is discovered through relationship. - Purity maintains unbroken relationship with God as your leader. - Purpose is discovered under God's leadership. - Priorities bring focus to live your purpose. - Perseverance pushes you to never give up. - Power is unleashed as you live out the first 6 pillars.Do not live with without a strategy. Focusing on these pillars will help you become a legacy-minded man and will result in a life of lasting impact. Choose transformation today and discover the victory God has for you.  

Leseprobe

In Transformed: The 7 Pillars of a Legacy Minded Man, Joe Pellegrino and Jack Redmond crystalize what every responsible man should aspire to, embrace, and run with. They have written the vision and made it plain. Silence the voices seeking to eliminate manhood from culture by leaving a powerful legacy.

—GERALD BELL, DeVos Urban Leadership

Strong men of faith and character are needed now more than ever! In Transformed, Joe and Jack give men the needed tools to develop a winning game plan for their own life while establishing a strong legacy for other men.

—DAVID D. IRELAND, Ph.D., Lead Pastor, Christ Church, and author of Raising a Child Who Prays, www.DavidIreland.org

I founded the K.I.N.G. Movement to empower and encourage men to be healthy in all aspects of life. Joe and Jack’s book Transformed is a powerful resource that can help men achieve that goal. Informative and inspiring, Transformed can help men break free from the invisible chains that leave them shackled in mediocrity (or worse) and jump-start them on the path toward fulfilling their destiny.

—CHRIS BROUSSARD, NBA reporter/analyst,www.KingMovement.com

For more than twenty years of my life, I lived as a “made man,” a soldier and caporegime in New York’s Colombo crime family. I was blessed to have been able to walk away from that life and survive some very serious challenges only a merciful and loving God could have provided for. I have since come to realize that being a “made man” was a misguided choice I once made, and that being a “Legacy Minded Man” is what I now strive to be. A legacy-minded man possesses all the qualities of character a man needs to be a real “man’s man,” a standard every man should want to achieve throughout his life. I can honestly say that Transformed: The 7 Pillars of a Legacy Minded Man is a blueprint for every man, providing all the qualities of character a man needs to become a real man’s man. In doing so, he will leave behind a God-ordained legacy for his children, grandchildren, and everyone who will be so blessed to have come in contact with him. I highly recommend this book, guys, and this is an offer you should not refuse!

—MICHAEL FRANZESE, former New York mobster with the Colombo crime family, inspirational speaker, and author

Calling all men! It’s time to report for duty. It’s time to be the man you were created to be! Joe Pellegrino and Jack Redmond are sounding the alarm to wake up men everywhere and provide them wise advice so they can fully grasp the awesome blessing of manhood.

—KELLY WRIGHT, Fox News anchor

Excellent book! Joe Pellegrino and Jack Redmond have set the table for a powerful move of God among men with this book. The honesty and transparency of these men are refreshing, and the insights are deep. May God help us to become men of integrity, Legacy Minded Men!

—REV. PETER AMMERMAN, Pastor, Living Waters Church

My friend, Joe Pellegrino, and Jack Redmond have written a very good book that will be a blessing to many men. We must think about our legacy, not just what we want to do this weekend. Joe and Jack help us focus on the long term, on what is really important. That is a Key Success Factor for all of us who want to be a good husband, great father, and a faithful friend. You’re going to enjoy this book!

—THE HONORABLE GREGORY W. SLAYTON, author of the global best-seller Be a Better Dad Today: Ten Tools Every Father Needs

Written in an engaging and down-to-earth manner, Transformed lays a great foundation for men to take a reality check on where they are. While we can do a lot of talking as men, this book gives you the space to reflect and then take action! If you’re like me, you’ll have struggled with, are struggling with, or will struggle with one or more of these areas. Read this book because there is wisdom here. You won’t be disappointed. Makes for a great men’s group discussion too!

—CHUCK EAPEN, President/CEO, C12 Group, northern New Jersey

The greatest endorsement of a book like Transformed is whether the content actually works in real-life situations. I have been personally involved in groups utilizing the 7 Pillars material, and the results are wonderful. Lives are changed! Transformed is fresh and practical, and translates the truths of the biblical principles described into ways that men can grasp and implement in their own lives. If you’re looking for a manual for manhood, this is the book for you!

—JOE BATTAGLIA, broadcaster, president of Renaissance Communications, a media-marketing company, and author of The Politically Incorrect Jesus and That’s My Dad!

Transformed: The 7 Pillars of a Legacy Minded Man will help provide the tools necessary for you as a man to build a strong foundation in Christ. Joe and Jack will teach you how to prioritize your life, assuring that your legacy will impact not only those who know you personally, but also the lives of future generations. It is a must-read if you want to ensure your legacy as a disciple of Christ.

—ROB BILLINGHAM, Executive Director, Training Camp Men’s Ministries

One of the greatest needs today in our society is to help men be strong husbands and fathers. Transformed can help men build the character and strength needed to navigate and overcome life’s challenges and come out victorious!

—MALIK M. CAREY, vice president and COO, The K.I.N.G. Movement Men’s Ministry, www.KingMovement.com

BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

Transformed: The 7 Pillars of a Legacy Minded Man

Copyright © 2016 Joe Pellegrino and Jack Redmond

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5267-2 (softcover)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5268-9 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture verses marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

Cover design by Chris Garborg, garborgdesign.com

Interior design and typeset by Katherine Lloyd, TheDESKonline.com

Printed in the United States of America

16 17 18 19 20  5 4 3 2 1

We would like to dedicate this book to

our families, who love us,

our friends, who support us, and

our Lord, who saved us.

—Joe and Jack

CONTENTS

Foreword: by Bishop Roderick R. Caesar

Prologue: First a Little Background

The Foundation: Built on the Rock

Pillar 1Prayer: It All Starts Here

Pillar 2Persona: Who You Are Is Who You Are

Pillar 3Purity: The Pathway to God’s Presence and Power

Pillar 4Purpose: Unlock What You Were Created to Do

Pillar 5Priorities: You Need a Plan of Attack

Pillar 6Perseverance: Tough Times Introduce You to Yourself

Pillar 7Power: The Holy Spirit Unleashed

Epilogue Now What?

Additional Resources

About Legacy Minded Men

Establishing and Sustaining a Strong Legacy Group

Legacy Minutes: Fourteen-Week Legacy Group Discussion Starters

About the Authors

Endnotes

FOREWORD

The real problem with the culture in which we live today is that we all know there’s a problem but very few of us are working toward a solution. Then along comes a man named Joe Pellegrino, who not only recognizes the problems but has a godly solution that can rid us of the lethargy and the lack of accountability that is so prevalent in male ministry today.

We tend to think that male problems can be solved with programs that engage a man in mostly secular semispiritual activities. But many failed attempts lead us to believe this is not an adequate solution. Transformed: The 7 Pillars of a Legacy Minded Man is not a book of theoretical suppositions. Rather, it actually presents seven pillars that all men who endeavor to leave a lasting legacy must establish as absolutes in their lives.

It is challenging to live without a strategy. But many men drift through life making mistakes from which they learn almost nothing, which is evidenced by the fact that they make the same mistakes over and over again. This book is designed to stop that downward spiral and give men the hope to believe they can make it to the top. Prayer, persona, purity, purpose, priority, perseverance, and power are mighty weapons that, if placed in the arsenal of a man, will guarantee his success in the attempt to win at life. I believe this is a must-read for all legacy-minded men.

—Bishop Roderick R. Caesar

Prologue

FIRST A LITTLE BACKGROUND

My name is Joe Pellegrino, and I am just a regular guy, an average Joe. May 26, 1995, is my reset date. It was on that day, during a Promise Keepers conference in Washington, DC, that God offered me a do-over. And I took it, putting my life in the hands of Jesus Christ. I realized what a shameful excuse of a man I had been for the first thirty-three years of my life—there was so much sin. And I mean so much sin. But that all began to change the day I accepted the gift to walk with Jesus Christ. Since then, my life has been a process of growth, transformation, and, even at times, failing forward.

Before I met Christ, I had been building my life like a man building his house on the sand. My life lacked a solid foundation. That day in 1995, however, I traded the foundation of sand and replaced it with a life foundation of solid rock (Luke 6:46–49). This new start gave me a strong base upon which to build my life, which was only the beginning. I finally had the right foundation, but I still needed the rest of the house.

The internal structure, made up of pillars and beams, comes next and supports everything else. Too many men stop with the foundation of their new life in Christ. But it is important to understand that Jesus Christ didn’t come just to save us from our sin; He came so that we could, through His divine power, build a new and different life in Him (John 10:10).

Just as my life before Christ lacked a solid foundation, it also had faulty pillars. A pillar supports weight, and several of them are required to hold up a structure. Up until that fateful day in DC, my pillars either didn’t exist or they had crumbled under the weight of my life and my sin. My pillars were built with cheap, inferior materials. I was cutting corners and taking the easy way out in order to build my empire quickly, only to find that my handiwork was insufficient amidst the storms of life and beneath the weight of my sin.

Through many painful life experiences, I learned that I would need something stronger and more reliable than myself as a foundation to build upon, and I learned that I would need better pillars to hold things up. On that day in 1995, after thirty-three years of paying dearly for my faulty design, I began working from a better blueprint. I traded my life plans for God’s. It was an awesome moment, and the journey of rebuilding began.

A Life of Lasting Impact

This book will point you toward the foundation of Jesus Christ and help you build a life on Him. It will also point you to the kinds of structures Jesus wants for your life. The foundation and pillars described will result in a life of lasting impact. In fact, they are the keys to becoming a legacy-minded man. To be clear, this is a book written by flawed men. It is not a substitute for the Bible, the book written by the Author of life Himself. Therefore, the Bible is the book to study. The book now before you, Transformed, is designed to help you along the journey with Him.

As the founder of Legacy Minded Men, an organization dedicated to “transforming lives by engaging, encouraging, and equipping men to build a Christ-centered legacy,” I have learned that when I take the time, make the right investment in materials, and have the right builder, it makes all the difference in the world. I’ve discovered seven pillars that can stand the test of life.

These seven pillars are nonnegotiable skills. Men can and should master them and use them to build their life on their newfound, solid foundation. These pillars will hold up, no matter what your life looks like. And they will outlast you. You don’t want to just have a good season or a good run. You want to have a good life. Your life will affect the generations to follow—that is your legacy. If you build well, what you build will stand long after you leave this world. This is the way a legacy-minded man thinks.

What Is a Man’s Legacy?

leg·a·cy [leg-uh-see] noun, plural leg·a·cies.

1.Law. a gift of property, especially personal property, as money, by will; a bequest.

2.anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.1

A legacy is a gift of property, which is usually given from an ancestor or a predecessor. But the definition could also include the skills and examples we learn from those who have gone before us. This means that a legacy-minded man lives so that he will have something valuable to hand down to his children, the next generation, the church, or to society as a whole. Some of these gifts are material, but many of them are spiritual or character based.

The reality is that we all hand down something. Some people leave treasured gifts, others leave debt. Some men leave great morals and family history, while others leave utter chaos. Some men leave a strong spiritual heritage, and others leave generational sin. The chances are you have certain possessions or character traits you are proud to hand down. And chances are even better that you have things you pray will end with you.

If that is the case, then you’re just like me. Before God began His work in my life, my legacy wasn’t looking good, so I made some changes. And I believe you are man enough to make changes too. If the legacy you are leaving now stinks, don’t give up. Rather, have the courage to change it. Through it all, know this: you are not alone.

Yesterday Is Gone

I’ve failed many times in my life. I’ve also had many successes. Both extremes have been part of my life—the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The truth is, I have lived through both. While victory and success have driven me forward to do greater things, I’ve probably learned more from failure. That’s because long ago I decided to let failure be my life coach, inviting it to teach me what I really needed to know.

Along the way, I decided I would win in life. Although my definition of winning has definitely changed over the years, I now know that the only victory is in Christ and Christ alone. I also decided to live a life that would make a difference long after I’m gone. I didn’t want to be someone who lived comfortably now, but did nothing to make the world a better place. And I further decided to help other men succeed where I had failed—to teach them to be husbands and fathers in ways I wasn’t.

I want to invite you to choose victory and to choose to help others win too. And I would love to help you do this. But remember, just as when the cabin in an aircraft loses pressure and the air mask drops down, the first thing you need to do is help yourself. It is only then that you can help others.

A legacy-minded man lives so that he wins, day in and day out. He honors God, he loves his wife, he trains his children, and he overcomes failure because he understands that God created him to succeed. All of this is a process, and Transformed: The 7 Pillars of a Legacy Minded Man is a map for the journey. You may swing and miss, but you have to get back to the plate and swing again. If you strike out, then you work, you practice, and you get coached—and then you step up to the plate again. You keep at it. When you’re up in the bottom of the ninth, you hit that walk-off home run. That’s what God has created you to do, and Legacy Minded Men is here to help you get there.

You Can Change

I am living proof that anyone can change. As a child, teen, and young adult, I was a chronic liar. In fact, I lied so much that I actually believed the lies I was telling, so much so that to this day I still cannot decipher some events as the product of my imagination or real events that truly happened. I also accepted the lies that society told me. Eventually, however, I learned from God’s Word that the truth would set me free. So I made the choice to stop the habitual lying, stop accepting the lies of others, and, most importantly, to stop living lies.

My prayer is that through Transformed, God will help you win in life. These seven pillars will focus on God’s Word—what He says about life and how it should be lived. We’ll answer questions like:

•Why are the seven pillars crucial to building my legacy?

•What does this look like in real life?

•How do I walk this out?

•How do I build these pillars in my life?

As you read this book, you will find over seven hundred instances where the word I is used. Stanford University did a study that revealed that only 5 percent of their students were able to remember points made in a lecture when statistics were the foundation of the talk. But over 60 percent of the students were able to recall a lecture when an “I” story was introduced to cement the message. Therefore, we (Jack Redmond, my friend and coauthor, and I) felt led to share stories, primarily from our own lives, to illustrate each pillar presented. Some will make us look bad. We’re okay with that, because we know that we have all done things we are ashamed of. But some of the stories will make us look good. We’re not trying to brag; we only want to help you remember the pillars.

It’s easier to build a great legacy when you are surrounded by other legacy-minded men. Join us. Our team is big and strong, growing every day. Hey, you may just be an average Joe, just like me, imperfect in so many ways, but that should not stop you from being bold and doing great things in His name and for His glory.

Paul laid out for us what it means to be a legacy-minded man in a concise manner: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13–14). That’s how I have chosen to live. What about you? Remember, yesterday does not have to define you if you use today to refine you. It’s up to you. Seize the moment!

—Joe Pellegrino

The Foundation

BUILT ON THE ROCK

The seven pillars described in this book will help you build a great life and a lasting legacy. But that will only happen if they are built on the foundation of a relationship with Jesus Christ and His Word. Simply put, it all begins with an understanding of the gospel.

What Is the Gospel?