Morris stands six feet, two. The man standing angrily glowering down at him stood six five; muscular, hands on hips, determined, black, dressed in prison fatigues. “Ain’t no use you comin’ in here white boy. You ain’t gonna ‘mount ‘t ‘nuthin. I run this place. Evry’ body knows that. You better git used to it, too.” With that he turned and walked away.

A week crammed with 31 lectures and small group sessions goes by. Final gathering. Graduation. The tall, mean-looking black man makes his way to the podium and takes the mike. “You all know who I am. You better know. I run this place.” Then his voice broke and his cheeks wet as the following words stumbled out, “I just want this man (Morris) and you all to know . . . from now on, Jesus runs me.” Crowd explodes with yells and applause.

Paul Morris grew up in a neighborhood near East Lake Country Club, in Atlanta, Georgia; attended Murphy High School, then served his country in the U.S. Army for a two-year enlistment. At age 20, Paul was led to Christ in the home of his employer in Long Beach, California. Two weeks later, he knew he could do nothing else with his life, but serve his new found Lord. After graduating as a ministerial student from Bob Jones University, Morris obtained his ministry degree (M.Div. – Master of Divinity) from Grace Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D., in counseling and administration from California Graduate School of Theology. He is ordained by the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches and the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest; served three churches as senior pastor, worked with Jack Wyrtzen’s Word of Life Fellowship as Assistant Director of Word of Life Island, joined Chuck Colson as the National Training Director for Prison Fellowship, served as chief clinician at the Thesis 96 Christian Counseling Center for 23 years, and Clinical Program Director for two mental health hospitals. Paul and his wife Bonnie hosted the popular call-in radio program, Linked with Love for four years in the Washington, D.C. market. He has served the Lord all his adult life and sees no reason to stop now.

Author: Morris has written poems, short stories, stories for children and numerous scholarly papers. He published The Journal of Redemptive Therapy, now out of print. He has written two non-fiction books, Love Therapy, explaining his approach to psychotherapy, and Shadow of Sodom, a work addressing the social issue of homosexuality and an appropriate Christian response to it. In recognition of his work, he was invited to contribute a chapter on "Love Therapy," to Gary Collin's (Chairman of the Board, American Association of Christian Counselors) work, Helping People Grow.

His most recent, and to date, his most important work is The Carpenter Trilogy, the story of Jesus as seen through the eyes of Joseph bar Sabbas, called Justus. Justus was the disciple NOT selected to replace the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. The book's first volume, entitled "The Apprentice," is now in print and available from Amazon.com and its own website.

Educator: In addition to conducting over 125 week-long seminars throughout the United States and Canada, Dr. Morris has functioned as a classroom guest lecturer, professor of Redemptive Therapy, Executive Vice-President and Academic Dean in a small Christian college. His command of the original biblical languages and many years of formal and personal study has produced a unique and rare blend of psychologist and theologian. Challenging conventional theological postures, his ideas express a singularly functional philosophy of Christianity.

Communicator: Sunlight streamed through stained-glass windows bathing presbyterian congregants in gold, red and blue. The minister had finished his sermon and offered a closing prayer. The organ, its pipes encased in dark walnut, played a quiet postlude while people shuffled out of the pews and disassembled.

"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, Chairman of the Board, Prison Fellowship, Inc., former special counsel to the President of the United States.

The young man seemed dazed. The sanctuary was quiet, seemingly stunned by what they had heard. This young man had been sitting a few rows back from the front on the left side of the sanctuary. Now, as the minister stepped down from the dais, this young man stepped forward shaking his head. He took the minister by the hand and shook it vigorously. There were tears in his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said, “I don’t know you or where you have come from, but you must never stop what you are doing. You must never stop doing what you did here today.” Again, shaking his head, he retreated, overcome with his feelings.

"The vision of Dr. Paul Morris was borne 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 mininstry." -- The late Dr. Richard C. Halverson, United States Senate Chaplain, former pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.

The minister said, “I don’t usually do this. Today, in this place, at this time, I am. Word has come back to me that some of you have received Christ during our time together this week. I want to give you the chance to make that public. I want to give you the chance to let everyone know that you have encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, and that your life is changed forever.

“We are not going to sing 52 verses of ‘Just as I Am.’ I don’t want heads bowed, eyes closed and Christians praying. I want all eyes open and looking around. I want everyone to see you. This thing is not to be a secret. We are not hiding from anyone. If you do what I am going to ask you to do, everyone in this room will see you. All your friends, all your cellmates, all the guys who hate your guts will know what you have done. You will give them reason to hate you more, to insult you and humiliate you. If you do this, it is going to cost you. You know, far more than I know, just how much it will cost you.

“Beginning now, you have 30 seconds to come and stand with me in front of this crowd, and in doing so, you declare publicly that you are a Christian, a child of God, and from this day forward, you belong to Jesus Christ.”

30 seconds. No music. No ritualistic, religious manipulation. Just 30 seconds. At the end of 30 seconds, only four men remained in their seats.

Folsom Prison, California. Maximum security. A prison inside a prison. After the lecture, a black man approaches him. Biceps like telephone poles, chest massive, head stood on his shoulders like a fireplug. A strange combination of linebacker and offensive lineman. He grabs Morris around his body, pinning his arms to his side. He lifts the minister off his feet, all 250 lbs. of him and crushes him to his chest. "I loves you, man!" he exclaims.

"Yes. Well, I love you,too," Morris squeaks almost unable to breathe.

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Paul is available for speaking at your church, college or organization. Contact him through this LINK, or phone: 800.218.8189.

"For what it is worth, you should know that I do not treat Jesus as the effete,stained-glass icon handed down to us by formal church history. He is not halo’ed and is not characterized as the “Man of Sorrows,” or even the preeminent “character” in the Bible. Jesus is alive, dynamic and real. He lives in life, not just the pages of the Bible.

I have discovered that Jesus was “blue collar,” with carpenter’s callouses, probably laughed a lot and preferred to hang out with water-front toughs, rather than the aberrant, jellyfish religious leaders of his day. I affirm masculinity in men; indeed, I perceive Jesus as the model of that masculinity." -- PDM

Dr. Paul Morris and his wife, Bonnie, live in Atlanta, Georgia. They have six children between them, and ten grandchildren.