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Waxahachie, TX

September 21, 2018 | Mikayla Heldt

Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) Professor Dr. Clancy Hayes released a book this year for his Authentic Christianity class titled “ Taking Steps Towards God ”.

“This book is an extension of how individuals can mature in Christ,” he says.

Hayes’ book is comprised of 28 chapters and broken into four units.

“The first unit is the foundation for spiritual formation, the second is how to develop a closer relationship with God, the third unit is how to use the spiritual disciplines to have a deeper relationship with other people, and the last part is how do you put that in practice in areas as we’ve talked about in class: power, sex, and money.”

His twelve years of teaching at SAGU provided a foundation for each chapter.

“I took all of the notes that I had been using for the last 12 years, and tried to see what I could glean from that. Then I started filling in the blanks, putting stories and narratives in,” he says.

Back in the fall of 2017, Hayes realized that some of his students were some missing information in their textbooks due to the publisher’s decision to omit half the content. So, Hayes decided to write four or five chapters of his own to “supplement” the missing content. After that, he decided to dive in and write the whole book.

“What inspired it basically was a need, a desire on the part of the university to have a textbook that had the flavor of SAGU…the SAGU DNA to it, and something we could use for a few years,” he says.

Hayes has been an educator, pastor, and publisher of over 300 articles and curriculum pieces. His life has revolved around Christian education, and those past experiences contributed to the inspiration behind his book.

“My heart and my life is spiritual formation,” Hayes says.

Not only does Hayes anticipate this book becoming a discussion starter in the classroom, but he also hopes that it helps encourage students in their personal relationship with Christ.

“I hope that they will see that it is possible for them to live in freedom and…live a joyous Christian life, an abundant Christian life,” he says.

Although this book was made for the classroom, Hayes says that its content is applicable for all people, and can even be used in a small group or youth group setting.

“I think we’re all in the process, we’re all learning on a daily basis, we’re all learning to respond to the voice of the Spirit in our lives.”

To purchase a copy, .

Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu