Public or Private Relationship with Christ

Dallas Willard says the following about spiritual transformation:

Spiritual transformation into Christlikeness requires a conscious, clearheaded and public commitment to living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. That is, a decision to give our lives to him as his constant students, learning from him how to live all aspects of our lives as he would live them. Evangelism should be understood as a call to receive the gift of such a life.

I like that phrase "conscious, clearheaded and public." I think we desperately need to keep that in mind. We can't wander into Christ. We can't guess our way into Christ. And we can't just be privately committed to Him. If a commitment to Jesus is real, it encompasses all of us.

Can you ever really meet Jesus, interact with Him and His Gospel, and never be the same?

Can we ever really receive His gift of salvation, make Him our Leader/Lord and not do that in a way that is "conscious, clearheaded and public?"

If this is true, what does a personal relationship with God through Christ look like and can we have only an exclusively private relationship with Him?