“Integrity Academy” in San Diego

E-Vangel Newsletter

January 14, 2013

Pastorgraphs: “Integrity Academy”

I am pleased to announce that the first Integrity Academy has been scheduled at Christ United Methodist Ministry Center, starting Sunday, February 3, 9:00-9:50 AM. The Academy is scheduled so that you may attend in “Sunday School” fashion, and still make it to your morning worship services.

The Academy includes four one-hour sessions; one each Sunday in February. I will be the course leader, and your participation will help me refine this curriculum for use by individuals and organizations in the future.

Integrity Academy is an intensive program focusing on how aligning Actions, Beliefs, and Character (ABC) is the pathway to integrity.

With blatant examples of greed, corruption and vice filling the daily newscasts, it would be easy to think integrity is dead. It is my contention that integrity is just asleep and urgently needs to be revived.

The consequences of lack of integrity are profound for individuals, organizations, and society in general. There has been a steady litany of scandals from the Enron, WorldCom, Bernie Madoff, 2008 financial crisis, BP Gulf oil disaster, Penn State, and the recent CIA/General Petraeus stories where the lack of integrity has had far-reaching consequences.

But it is no less devastating when an individual fails at integrity. A person’s good name and reputation are lost, families are torn apart, and a whole company or institution may be destroyed by the dishonesty and vices of just one person.

I have given this condition a name: Integrity Deficit Disorder (IDD).

In 2008 as the housing and financial markets began to crumble, I set about to understand what integrity is, and is not. Immediately I realized there is no standard definition. When I asked ten friends and respected professional colleagues to define integrity, I received ten different answers! (The most common definitions were honesty, character, ethics and trust. Those are important components of integrity; but integrity is greater than any of those parts.)

It soon became apparent that if we cannot define integrity, the chances of attaining it are very small. So I began to organize all the components of integrity into a simple framework that may be easily understood and applied to daily life. After five years of research, trial and error, I formulated “The ABC Model”, which is the focus of the Integrity Academy.

Most importantly, Integrity Academy participants will receive the “Integrity Toolkit” which includes practical resources for attaining and maintaining personal and professional integrity.

There is no charge for this initial Integrity Academy, but participants may want to purchase the book, Three Steps to Integrity: The ABC Model, which is the textbook for this course of study, and includes the toolkit. Seating will be limited, so please contact me personally, by email or phone if you wish to attend.

Topics Include
• Why “Ethics Training” always fails
• The Four Parts of Ethics
• The Ten Core Virtues
• How to Build Character

• The Four Virtuous Norms

• The Seven Rewards of a Life of Integrity

• Your Personal Integrity LifeMap

… and much more.

For those outside San Diego who cannot attend but would like to learn more about integrity, Three Steps to Integrity: The ABC Model is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and as eBooks for Kindle and Nook. Our plans are to offer the course as a webinar in the near future, so stay tuned.

Blessings to us all for peace, joy and well-being,

Pastor Bill

From the Quote Garden:

“Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.

Try to be better than yourself.”

~ William Faulkner ~

Christ United Methodist Ministry Center

“Christ in the Heart of San Diego”

3295 Meade Avenue - San Diego, CA 92116 - (619) 284-9205

www.ChristSD.com