Two weeks ago, we began our new book, Deadly Viper Character Assassins, by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite. Despite the tongue-in-cheek subtitle “a kung fu survival guide for integrity,” this study is anything but shallow.

Each chapter addresses a different integrity issue, what they call a “character assassin.” The first chapter dealt with “character creep,” the sneaky way that seemingly small integrity missteps can grow to become life-shattering, world-altering sins. Using the metaphor of the faulty rivets that broke and caused the sinking of the Titanic, Foster and Wilhite explain that success is often defined by the little things.

Nobody wakes up and decides to tank their lives and careers because of integrity issues. We don’t make an entry in our diary one day: “Dear Diary, today I plan to commit fraud which will eventuall lead to the demis of my career, a nervous breakdown, and ultimately jail.” Character creep happens subtly and slowly. It is a methodical process where small compromises and rationalizations lead to areas we never thought we would go. We drew lines in the sand and then subtly erased them.

Author Mike Foster is one of the co-founders of XXXChurch.com, a Christian website that aims to bring attention to our nation’s pornography problem as well as reach out to people who are struggling with porn addiction and those who call porn a career. If anyone knows what it is to fight for integrity, it is this guy.

Come to Project:Fracture on Thursdays to jump into the discussion.
(No prior reading is required; we read a chapter aloud at the beginning of each meeting.)