8 Habits for Growth: A Simple Guide to Becoming More Like Christ

I’m excited to share the endorsements for my forthcoming book, 8 Habits for Growth: A Simple Guide to Becoming More Like Christ.

I’m grateful to each of the people who were kind enough to read and endorse the book.

If you’re interested in learning more, I’m also including the table of contents below. It releases on August 3. Special preorder bonuses are available now.

I like ebooks, but I especially recommend the paper version for this book. Moody has done a great job making it look really nice.

Endorsements

A faithful life is the sum of a million daily decisions over the course of a life. This is why 8 Habits for Growth is so important. Darryl Dash clearly, biblically, and simply shares the secrets to life with Jesus, the rituals and practices that form our hearts and are used by the Spirit to sanctify us into spiritual maturity. Pastoral, wise, and practical, this will be a book every pastor will need to have at the ready to give to their people and a book every family should have in order to form habits for spiritual growth.
Daniel Darling, Senior VP, NRB, and bestselling author of several books

As one writer has said, beautiful people do not just happen. Becoming the best version of ourselves — whether it be professionally, relationally, personally, or otherwise — requires a commitment to practices that get us there. To flourish optimally as people of God, we also must habituate several soul-nourishing practices. For those who need a field guide for this pursuit, Darryl has written a fabulous field guide.
Scott Sauls, senior pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN

It’s hard to imagine a more “user friendly” book for Christians who want to cultivate personal habits for spiritual growth! This book is especially ideal for small groups and discussion groups to work through together. Darryl Dash has given a wonderful gift to the church with this edifying, practical, and Christ-honoring book.
Gavin Ortlund, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ojai, and author of Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t

8 Habits for Growth is like a conversation with a grounded, thoughtful, faithful friend who wants nothing more than to encourage you in your walk with Christ—a spiritual coach who buys you a coffee and a donut and shares with you some things that worked for them (and multitudes of others). The “clean- slate policy” of just picking yourself up and moving on if you flounder is especially grace-filled and refreshing. In Darryl’s own words: “The habits are good, but the habits aren’t the point. The point is that we were made to know and worship God.” This book will help you get there.
Karen Stiller, author of The Minister’s Wife, coeditor of Faith Today magazine

This wise and inspiring book is packed with profound insights and practical applications! Highly accessible and immediately actionable, Darryl’s powerful book can change the way you move through the world.
Ken Shigematsu, pastor, Tenth Church, Vancouver, BC, and bestselling author of God in My Everything

Healthy habits are fundamental to our flourishing as Christians. But habits are hard, and developing new habits — or maintaining existing ones — is daunting. This is an accessible, practical, and actionable book—perfect for small groups, families, and friends seeking sustainable growth in a culture of fads and quick fixes.
Brett McCracken, senior editor at The Gospel Coalition and author of The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World

With welcoming clarity, 8 Habits for Growth offers the reader a cup of encouragement and food for discernment in the holy care of body, mind, and spirit for the purpose-filled pilgrimage ahead. Fortunately, there is nothing we can do to earn grace. And fortunately, we have a model in Jesus of God’s best for us. In light of these blessings, Darryl Dash provides a thoughtful and thorough guide on how to number our days.
Carolyn Weber, professor of literature and award-winning author

You make decisions, but eventually your decisions make you. In his new book 8 Habits for Growth, Darryl Dash does a wonderful job of cutting through the noise that has become life today to isolate eight critical habits that, practiced regularly, will benefit you for years to come. These habits will become investments that will pay off for the rest of your life.
Carey Nieuwhof, founding pastor, Connexus Church

In this immensely practical and hopeful volume, Darryl Dash reminds us that the Christian life is formed in us through the ordinary habits of our days. We often want spiritual transformation to be quick, but Dash points us to eight small habits—showing us how things like decluttering and caring for our bodies work alongside corporate worship, prayer, and Bible reading — to actually experience transformation. 8 Habits for Growth is the resource individuals, parents, and church leaders need to help themselves and others experience real gospel fruit.
Ashley Hales, author, pastor’s wife, and host of the Finding Holy podcast

Normally, I am not into how-to books. Maybe it is the fact I was a teen in the late Sixties, and I am sure there are remnants of that rebellious era still in me. As it has been said, “the child is the father of the man.” But I found this new book on developing life-changing habits by my friend Darryl Dash quite different from what I expected. Maybe it was the tone with which he addressed me, the reader: not frenetic and legal, but compassionate and reasonable. Maybe it was the gems that he sprinkles throughout this book, like “We were made to live in a rhythm of work and rest.” Yes! Whatever it was, I found this a delightful primer on developing patterns of life that, if followed, will help nurture a life that truly flourishes and is a blessing to others.
Michael A.G. Haykin, chair and professor of church history, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Gospel-motivated habit change is what Darryl is after in this book, not for mere change, but so that we can more deeply behold, enjoy and look more like Christ. The book does not shame, condemn, or mock us for our reality. Rather, we are shepherded into a pasture we are meant for, but at a pace we can handle. This is my new “must read” recommendation for developing new habits!
Dwight Bernier, lead pastor of Church 21 in Montreal, Network Director of Acts 29 Canada

Masterfully done. Beautifully simple. Don’t miss this incredibly approachable and easy to follow guide that will help you form eight habits to catalyze your spiritual growth.
Daniel Im, lead pastor at Beulah Alliance Church, podcaster, and author of several books, most recently You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love

To be honest, I didn’t find this book helpful. I found it soul-stirring and thrilling, encouraging and motivating. Darryl Dash is spot-on. The right small habits, even when practiced imperfectly, will make a huge difference in one’s life now and forever. I’m still pondering the advice of Saint Basil of Caesarea (you’ll find it in the book!), and I’m trying to identify the yellow light actions I can minimize in my life (again, you’ll find them in the book!). I’m also wondering how I can afford to buy a copy for all of my family, friends, and the folks in my church family. I believe it can ignite the kind of growth in them — and in you — that is has in me.
Steven Mathewson, senior pastor, CrossLife Evangelical Free Church, Libertyville, Illinois and author of RISEN: Fifty Reasons Why the Resurrection Changed Everything

If you feel like your walk with Christ has stagnated, consider reading 8 Habits for Growth. In it, Darryl Dash explains how simple habits can help us become like Christ. The book lays out a simple course for busy people. It may be just what you need.
Wyatt Graham, executive director of The Gospel Coalition Canada

8 Habits of Growth will help you. This book does not simply urge you to be more disciplined coupled with a command to “get after it.” 8 Habits of Growth is holistic, full of truth and grace, a book that meets you in the trenches. Dash’s counsel is not only “read your Bible and pray.” But, how? Why? What else? He recognizes the challenges that we all face and the margin that we all need. Dash is concerned about soul and body, work and play, church and home. Why? For God’s glory, our good, and the good of others. How refreshing to read of the spirituality of a hot bath, a healthy diet, as well as Bible reading and prayer. 8 Habits of Growth challenges us onward, offers biblical grace for our failures, and helps us to get on track.
Ray Rhodes, Jr. is author of Yours, till Heaven, the Untold Love Story of Charles and Susie Spurgeon and Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon

Reading about what Christians sometimes say and do out in the world makes me cringe. Or weep. Through my lens as a pastor in a local church, reading of people using the name of Jesus to further political ends, of moral compromise, and dizzying hypocrisy makes me more than sad, for these are failures of discipleship. They’re the tragic evidence of pews filled with paper thin and immature Christians. There is nothing the church needs more —nothing the world needs more — than maturing Christians who are committed to growing to become more like Jesus. Of course the question is: how? Is deep Christian maturity a pipe-dream for the everyday believer? Something possible even for those of us who cannot commit to a monastery in the wilderness, or several years in seminary? Those of us with real jobs, small kids, and full calendars? The answer is an emphatic YES. In 8 Habits for Growth, Darryl Dash offers us simple (but not simplistic) and clear, time-tested yet freshly applied steps that can lead any Christian—indeed every Christian—towards growth. The tools aren’t complex: think of these as the spiritual equivalents of a screwdriver, hammer, and duct tape. Whether you’re on the first day of DIY class, or a master carpenter; the tools are the same, and beautiful things are built with them. We need I’m grateful for Darryl Dash’s gift to the church: a spiritual tool kit each of us. Let’s get building.
Bronwyn Lea, Pastor of Discipleship and Author of Beyond Awkward Side Hugs

I’ve benefited from Darryl’s winsome and profound writing on the Christian life for years. This book is for anyone looking to live deeper Spiritually, physically, and mentally. It will help you cultivate self-awareness, and guide you to channel a surplus of motivation into specific action framed by the lifestyle of Jesus.
Jared Stacy, PhD Candidate in Practical & Moral Theology, University of Aberdeen

Table of Contents

Foreword by Jen Pollock Michel
Introduction

HABIT #1: Make Time
HABIT #2: Rest and Refresh
HABIT #3: Engage the Bible
HABIT #4: Speak with God
HABIT #5: Worship and Belong
HABIT #6: Care for Your Body
HABIT #7: Simplify and Prioritize
HABIT #8: Go the Distance

APPENDIX: Sample Practices
Recommended Resources / About Gospel for Life
Acknowledgements
Notes

See more at GospelforLife.com