"It has been my privilege to work side by side with Dr. Paul Morris for three years. The message he conveys of God's love and human redemption is one that I believe to be ordained for these times." --Charles W. Colson

Paul D. Morris, Ph.D.

Paul Morris is a pastor, teacher, student of theology and a disciple of Jesus Christ. This has been his life for fifty-three years.

For the past fifteen years, his attention has been focused on the life, personality and character of Jesus of Nazareth as represented in the four Gospel narratives. He will be the first to tell you that this intensive concentration has revolutionized, perhaps even radicalized, his life. It has produced his most important work to date: The Carpenter Trilogy, which you may purchase by clicking on the link or on the image below:

Paul David Morris was born in 1936, the son of a Baptist minister in what was then the small community of Ponca City, Oklahoma. He was but 10 months old when his dad died. His mother, two brothers and two sisters, the youngest being nine years his senior, moved back home to Atlanta, Georgia where Paul grew up and developed under the tutelage and mentorship of his uncles, one of whom was the Assistant Chief of the Atlanta Fire Department. From this man and others, he learned the value of 'character.'

After service in the military, he moved to southern California where for the first time in his young life, he truly encountered Jesus Christ. Two weeks later, he felt the call to serve his new Lord for the rest of his life and entered the ministry.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Bob Jones University, (1962), after which he joined the youth ministry of Jack Wyrtzen and Word of Life Fellowship. He quickly rose to the full-time position of Assistant Director of Word of Life Island. After that, he returned to seminary where he received the Master of Divinity degree at Grace Theological Seminary (1969) in Winona Lake, Indiana. While a student in seminary,he became a pastor in Indiana and then served two churches in California. It was during this time when he was ordained by the National Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. While pastoring, he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the California Graduate School of Theology in 1972 and decided to enter the psychotherapeutic field. Dr. Morris built an active southern California practice as a mental health professional where he directed counseling clinics in Garden Grove and Catalina Island, in association with the psychiatric and medical community.

While in Avalon on Catalina Island in 1975, he founded Thesis 96, an educational program designed to assist young people entering college toward the direction of their calling and purpose in life. Only a small percentage of high-school graduates enter college really focused on God's designs for them. Even then, in the early 70's, he was committed to helping people find their "purpose driven life." Advised by the Catalina Island Company that the famed Wrigley mansion which had sat empty for over forty years, was about to be donated as a site where Thesis 96 might flourish, Mr. Wrigley (of chewing gum fame) died in Chicago and the building instead, went into probate. God had other plans.

Byline: Dover, Delaware "Prison is a place most people want to get out of . . ." . . . but Jason P. Harding asked a judge to let him stay so he could attend a seminar. "I'd like to complete the seminar with Dr. Paul Morris," Harding told County judge Merrill C. Trader Thursday morning after Trader offered to release him. Trader went along with the request and Harding went happily back to prison under police escort. -- Deleware State News

"The vision of Dr. Paul Morris was born out of a deep concern for human need, and uncommon experience in teaching and lecturing, and a desire to equip the people of God for ministry." -- The late Dr. Richard C. Halverson, United States Senate Chaplain, Senior Minister, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Morris's program was to take a different route. He left Catalina to join Charles W. Colson in Washington, D.C., to help in what was then a fledgling Prison Fellowship. In his capacity as National Training Director, he taught in excess of 125 week-long seminars in prisons throughout the United States and Canada. He was also responsible for the two-week Washington Seminar program where qualified inmates from prisons in the Federal Bureau of Prisons were brought for training in discipleship. During this time, Prison Fellowship adopted his "Thesis 96" principles in a program entitled, "Get Ready to Soar!" These efforts, along with his administrative duties, contributed substantially to what has now become an international ministry.

Following his ministry with Prison Fellowship, Dr. Morris directed Thesis 96 Christian Counseling Center, which developed into one of the largest Christian mental health programs in the Washington, D.C. metroplex. This was largely due to the daily radio talk show, Linked with Love, which he hosted with his wife, Bonnie. So popular was this program, that in the days before cellphones, listeners would pull their vehicles over, and use a public phone booth to call in to the program.

Dr. Morris has written several books. The first entitled, Love Therapy, was reviewed as "one of the finest books in print on the art of Christian counseling," and used as a reading for many Christian college and seminary classrooms. His second book, Shadow of Sodom (both by Tyndale House Publishers), addressed the issue of a Christian response to homosexuality. As mentioned above, he has now completed another project entitled, The Carpenter Trilogy, a tome of more than 600 pages. It is the compelling story of Jesus as seen through life and experiences of the 'almost' apostle, Joseph bar Sabbas, called Justus (Acts 1:21-26).

"I have found the work of Dr. Paul Morris to have a profound effect. It has had a life-changing impact in the lives of men and women from every spectrum of our society. He is a man of unique capabilities, keen insights, and deep compassion. I'm convinced he is called by God to reach the hearts of thousands in our time."

-- The late Governor and Senator from Iowa, Hon. Harold Hughes

In professional recognition of his work in the field of Christian psychotherapy, he was invited to contribute to an anthology of the therapeutic philosophies of leading practitioners in this field, entitled Helping People Grow, edited by Dr. Gary Collins, Founder and then Executive Director of the American Association of Christian Counselors.

But Paul Morris is substantially more than a gifted communicator and dramatist. He is a gentle and wise counselor, teacher, theologian and thinker. He knows God and he knows how to be a constructive catalyst in the tensions and struggles of men in their often painful attempts to connect with God. His greatest delight is to help people realize that they have immense value and worth to the Father. The measure of that worth may be seen in stark reality of Calvary. That is the standard by which a person's worth is measured by God the Father. But Paul believes that the vitality of productive living comes from authentic connectedness to the risen Christ, our Living Savior and Lord. In powerfully driven presentations on stage, platform, pulpit or the written word, his focus is straightforward and explosive: Jesus of Nazareth is real and relevant to the dynamics of Twenty-First Century living.

Should your church or organization wish to employ the services of Dr. Paul Morris in conferences, retreats, or special presentations of The Carpenter Chronicles, you may contact him by clicking here.

Paul and his wife, Bonnie, have six children between them and ten grandchildren. They live in Marietta, Georgia, and are members of the Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta where they attend regularly and where Bonnie sings in the choir.