Family-id --- Intentional Direction: Discover Your Family's Unique Purpose and Passion!

by Greg Gunn

"The first time we had lunch together over a decade ago. What I thought would be just another lunch with a great guy from my church turned into a pivotal meeting for my life and family. With overwhelming passion, Greg barely touched his chicken sandwich as he vividly described to me all the plans he had for the Gunn family. 'Our family is our most important ministry. And if we help them know Christ, we can change the world!' Greg blurted out with contagious faith." ---Craig GroeschelThere is a gigantic disconnect that exists in our minds. Really just a mirage-like separation between the spiritual and the secular. Certain basic principles are required to run a successful business - a decent business plan and goals. Try to leave as little as possible to chance and maximize your efficiency by making sure everything you do has a purpose. And furthermore that purpose serves the business. That same successful businessperson goes home, and doesn't have a clue. It's as though he thinks everything that he wants to happen at home is just going to happen by accident. That somehow it's just going to come together. It does not.Our goal is to teach and train more than one million families to “stir it up” and draw out the God-given purpose for their family, to lead them to “write it down”, to equip them to “live it out”, and inspire them to“pass it on” to future generations.

169 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2012

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had a good idea, but warped it with sexism, prejudice, and judgment. It implies that families who do not go through this process of coming up with 100 core family values and writing a “simple” vision statement that you must use a thesaurus for and get exactly right will ultimately fall apart. On top of promoting sexist stereotypical gender roles, this book assumes all families have should have multiple children. Rather than sharing the love of God with others in the world, the book promotes making your family exclusive and not opening up your family’s love to other families. One example is that the author says siblings should be each other’s best friend (without any consideration for different personalities and interests); kids should have a “siblings only day” once a week and if someone from another family (imagine an only child who lives in the neighborhood) comes and asks to play, the kids have to tell them, “I can’t play with you because I have to play with my siblings today.” How would that other child feel? Excluded, unloved, unworthy simply because they’re not a sibling. Almost every example in the book is applicable to families with multiple children.

[Edward Ortiz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Family ID Intentional Direction by Greg Gunn is one of those books that you get excited about because of the topic to be discussed but then you read the book and you ask yourself, what's just happened? The book has 157 pages so it is relatively easy to read it but the are many formatting and editorial problems that keep you from enjoying the reading experience. Someone needed to review the book before going to print (maybe is just my copy). Most of the problems are in chapter 3, such as paragraphs without indentation and misnumbering on the first page of the chapter. Also, must of the quoted bible verses have no acknowledgement of the bible version used. The content of the book was below average. I was expecting a great motivational book that led me to create my family's unique purpose and passion, as stated in the book, but instead it led me to believe that the author just wrote the book to get some money out of it. The intent behind the book was excellent, equipping families to be intentional with respect to their mission and purpose, but in my personal opinion the author did not achieved it fully. You will find a couple of exercises to complete your mission statement and key family phrases but that's it. Books such as "First Things First" by Stephen Covey have more insight into this topic and more valuable. The material of this book is appropriate for a magazine or journal article but not a book. It is not at that level yet. It will succeed as an article because at least it will prompt you to think about the path that you want you family to follow.

[Israel Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to read. I procrastinate on my reading schedule but I finally got to finish reading this book. Personally I think this book has a great content, steps, ideas, advises, stories, and tools to actually make a positive difference in your family that can last for generations. I will also say that for someone to see it like a great book it would have to depend on what their life is been like and how their life is now.

Anyway, that is just my opinion.

I will definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to make a difference in their family. Now that I have finished it I would suggest praying while reading the book. I will, as I reread chapters as I go through it in detail with my family.