Perrine, Myra

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Perrine, Myra

PERSONAL:

Married; husband's name Dan; children: one son. Education: Earned D.Min.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Redding, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Spiritual life coach. Church Resource Ministries, Anaheim, CA, staff member. Azusa Pacific University, adjunct professor.

WRITINGS:

What's Your God Language? Connecting with God through Your Unique Spiritual Temperament, foreword by Gary Thomas, SaltRiver (Carol Stream, IL), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Myra Perrine is a spiritual life coach. Perrine earned a doctor of ministry degree and used her passion for sharing her religious message with others to become a transformational life coach. Perrine works with the Staff Development and Care section of the Church Resource Ministries in Anaheim, California. In this position, she assists missionaries in more than twenty-five countries on a number of levels, including spiritual guidance and pastoral care, and helps develop future leaders for the churches and missions around the world. Perrine also works as an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific University. She and her husband reside in northern California and have an adult son.

Perrine published her first book, What's Your God Language? Connecting with God through Your Unique Spiritual Temperament, in 2007. Opened with a foreword by Gary Thomas, the book proposes that individual people have their own unique ways of interacting with God and therefore should promote this uniqueness. Perrine allows that this will help individuals to highlight their own strengths and work around any weaknesses they may have. She gives nine fundamental types of relationships, including the activist, the ascetic, the caregiver, the contemplative, the enthusiast, the intellectual, the naturalist, the sensate and the traditionalist, and offers an inventory so readers will be able to identify which type they are in order to better help them emphasize the strengths of their spiritual temperament. Each type, what the author calls their God language, is explained in detail, and Perrine gives readers specific spiritual practices for each type to help them to better communicate with God.

Perrine explained her reasons for writing this book based on the results she saw from applying these methods in an article in Pastorport. She stated: "While doing my doctoral research, I found that it is indeed helpful for people to know how they are spiritually wired. By using the language of ‘spiritual temperaments,’ I witnessed the ways in which individuals and churches were aided as they began to see themselves and others through this much-needed lens. Some felt they received permission for the first time to enjoy Jesus in an authentic way—one that differed from others around them."

A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted that "the idea for this book is not new." Nevertheless, the same contributor stated that What's Your God Language? is "a worthwhile read, especially for pastors, youth workers and other church leaders." A contributor to Today's Christian Woman noted that the study is "detailed." The same contributor concluded that What's Your God Language? can help teach readers "how to love God in your own special way."