Bold Purpose
by Dan Allender
When Calling Meets Courage
Dr. Dan Allender’s Bold Purpose continues his trademark invitation into deep, self-aware discipleship. This book is not about career or comfort; it’s about discovering the sacred pattern of your design and stepping into it with courage. For leaders, counselors, and survivors alike, Allender reframes calling as an act of spiritual defiance—a way of pushing back the chaos and shame that try to silence us.
For readers in the Help[H]er community, Bold Purpose is more than a reflection on vocation. It’s a conversation about identity, agency, and God’s intention for each person who has been wounded by abuse or spiritual distortion. Allender calls us to reclaim the purpose God placed within us before pain or people tried to redefine it.
The Divine Design of Calling
Allender grounds Bold Purpose in the conviction that God creates each person with a distinct story to tell and a role to play in His redemptive narrative. Using his well-known blend of biblical exegesis and psychological insight, he shows how our design is not erased by trauma—it is revealed through it.
Drawing from passages like Ephesians 2:10, he explores how we are God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Yet those good works often lie buried under fear, shame, and confusion. Through practical exercises and storytelling, Allender helps readers trace the contours of their own God-given calling, encouraging them to see the very wounds of their story as invitations to purpose.
For the leader or counselor guiding others through healing, this theology of design provides a framework for discernment. It resists the reduction of “calling” to productivity and instead elevates it as participation in God’s ongoing work of restoration.
Guidance for Leaders and Counselors
Bold Purpose gives ministry leaders and people-helpers a robust language for helping others discern what faithfulness looks like after trauma. Allender dismantles the myth that calling is about achievement, showing instead that it is about response—an answer to the God who names us beloved and sends us out to create good in His world.
He challenges caregivers to consider how their own fear of failure or need for control can hinder the flourishing of others. His discussion of “holy curiosity” invites leaders to become discoverers, not directors—companions who listen for the purpose already stirring in another person’s life.
In contexts where abuse or misuse of authority has left individuals doubting their worth, this posture is revolutionary. It models God’s gentle authority, helping others to hear His call again without coercion or confusion.
Healing for Survivors
For victims and survivors, Bold Purpose speaks with quiet strength. Allender insists that calling is not reserved for the unbroken; it’s birthed from the very places that once felt disqualified. He writes with deep empathy, acknowledging how shame can distort our sense of design, yet reminding readers that God’s voice speaks more truly than any abuser or betrayer ever could.
Each page feels like an act of reclamation. Survivors are invited to reimagine themselves not as damaged, but as designed. Their pain becomes the soil from which purpose grows—a testimony to God’s redemptive creativity.
Within the Help[H]er framework, this book offers counselors and survivors alike language for resilience that is both theological and psychological. It reminds readers that vocation is not erased by trauma but reshaped through redemption.
Living with Intentional Courage
In the end, Bold Purpose offers a map for living faithfully in a fractured world. Allender urges believers to act with holy boldness, stepping into the purpose God designed—not out of striving, but out of freedom. The courage to live with purpose, he suggests, is the truest expression of worship.
Whether you are leading others, rebuilding your life, or rediscovering hope after loss, Bold Purpose invites you to live as one who is seen, known, and sent.
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