Formation That Transforms

Ken Boa’s Conformed to His Image lays out twelve distinct pathways toward holistic discipleship rooted in God’s character.

Derwin L. Gray

Have you ever walked along the beach and spotted something glimmering beneath the sand? Driven by curiosity, you reach down, brush away the grains, and realize you’ve uncovered a hidden treasure.

Conformed to His Image, Revised Edition: Biblical, Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation

Kenneth D. Boa (Author)

HarperCollins Children's Books

608 pages

$29.86

That’s how I felt when I discovered Conformed to His Image: Biblical, Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation by Dr. Ken Boa, who, over decades, has faithfully served the church by equipping pastors and ministry leaders to shepherd God’s people well. He is a seasoned scholar and practitioner, but what sets his writing apart is its warmth and clarity. He writes like someone who smells like God’s sheep—like someone who spends time in God’s presence.

Because Boa is both a theologian and a philosopher, every word carries weight. He is thoughtful, precise, and gospel-centric. His insights don’t just inform, they transform.

This book enlarged my vision of what it means to follow Jesus. Conformed to His Image presents a rich, balanced, and practical guide rooted in twelve streams of Christian spirituality. It helped me see that spiritual formation—rooted in our identity in Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit—is meant to saturate every part of life and leadership.

It reshaped my approach to discipleship and ministry.
I believe it will do the same for you.

Derwin L. Gray is the lead pastor at Transformation Church and author of Lit Up with Love: Becoming Good News-People to a Gospel-Starved World.

This article appeared in the Power + Authority issue of Leadership Journal as "The Book that Freed My Discipleship Framework from Checklists to Christlikeness".

Posted September 1, 2025

Also in this issue

One of the great crises in the church today isn’t just the fallout of leadership failures—it’s the growing disbelief that pastors can still embody Jesus’ good and cruciform authority. Most pastors aren’t building empires. They’re proclaiming the Word, seeking the kingdom, and quietly laboring for lives to change and the gospel to advance. In this issue, Michael Keller encourages and equips those who pastor and preach to the institutional skeptic. Matthew Z. Capps makes a case for a healthy vision of church membership wherein shepherds can actually shepherd their people. Pastors Hannah Miller King (ACNA), Jonathan Leeman (9Marks), Gabriel Saguero (Assemblies of God) and Hershael W. York (SBC) talk about what makes their church governance models work. Walter R. Strickland II writes on the current state of Black evangelicalism and the institutional tensions of discipleship. Tailored mental and emotional health insights—for the pastor and the congregation—come from Dan Allender, Carey Nieuwhof, James Sells, and Curt Thompson. The theme of this issue is anchored with an essay from Taylor Combs on why we venerate and vilify leaders, written through the lens of Acts 14, along with a conversation between Rich Villodas and Richard Foster on the role of the pastor’s own discipleship in the health of a ministry. A pastor shares his account of how, by God’s grace, something beautiful was replanted out of the ashes of Mars Hill Church. Last, there is a robust books section, complete with a practical excerpt and a roundup of pastors sharing the must-haves in their personal libraries. This issue of Leadership Journal will strengthen weary hands, offer timely wisdom, and cast a vision for ministry that is both grounded and hopeful—one that reaches the disillusioned and points to the ultimate authority worth trusting: the crucified and risen Christ.