In today’s rapidly evolving world, the erosion of individual character is increasingly evident. Values-based societies require vigilant character development to sustain ethical behavior across public and private life. Building Character: The Values Journal is intended to provide a tool to assist on the journey toward character development.

Building Character is rooted in the deliberate execution of four core principles: discipline, practice, challenge yourself, and seek wisdom. Parents, as the guides on this journey, are asked to provide a good example and to leverage smart empowerment, responsibility, and preparation to encourage their children to succeed in discovering their true character. While children are challenged to learn by doing, practice, and challenging themselves on their journey to shape themselves into the type of person they want to be.

The method used in the Values Journal is for each individual to explore their own understanding of the thirty-one values included in the journal. As a part of this process, each individual is asked to structure an approach that works with their schedule (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly) to

• review Bible references related to each value,
• write his own definition of each value,
• review the questions and provide relevant answers, and
• use the free expression pages to journal his results in a way that helps to personalize his experiences.