Churched...

I recently picked up a book off the bargain rack at Mardel. The title intrigued me, I spent the $3, and took a chance. I was so glad that I did. "Churched" is the story of a young boy (now adult) who grew up in a fundamentalist, Baptist Church.

As I read this book, I wasn't sure if it was a comedy or a tragedy. There were times when I was laughing so hard, my side hurt. And yet, there were other times when my heart sank (mostly because I resonated with something he said) because I "grew up" in church, too.

It got me thinking about the danger of "growing up" in church. Whether you realize it or not, there is a real danger for kids who grow up in the church. It's a completely different kind of danger...but danger nonetheless. Reading this book, got me to start thinking about what some of those dangers are.

What do you think the "dangers" are for kids that grow up surrounded by "church"?

Another article on the same topic for your benefit - Too Much Church

As You Go...

For many of you, life just got much busier. With school starting, homework, sports schedules, and all the chaos that comes with it, your stress levels may have hit the ceiling this week.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, "These commandments that I give you today are to e upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

Now, I don't think this verse is asking you to start taking walks with your family...it's still WAY to hot for that. The principle found here is that one component of passing along our faith to the next generation is talking about the things of God AS WE GO!

So, always be on the lookout for ways that you can talk about and mention the things of God "As you go!"

In light of school starting today...

...Ithought I would share this interesting link. There has been much discussion and research in the last decade or so about children and how they learn (i.e. their learning style). I recommend finding out for each of your children, because there is nothing more difficult than putting a square peg in a round hole.

Test Your Child's Learning Style

These kinds of information can be extremely helpful to parents. As the old G.I. Joe refrain used to go, "Now you know, and knowing is half the battle."

When you look back...

Reggie Joiner is one of my major ministry influences. The best way to say it is that the way he thinks and talks just makes "sense" to me. He wrote a post the other day geared toward parents, and I just had to share it.

In it, he talks about going to the same vacation spot for many years, and how, as he reflected, he talks about wishing wishes he knew things about parenting that he only learned after his kids were grown. Hopefully, you can learn a bit from him! [link below]

Looking Back

Enjoy!

Generation to generation...

Psalm 145:4 says, "One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts."

One of the things that I never picked up on in this verse was the word "praise." The psalmist doesn't use "teach" (even thought "teach" is used in other parts of the Bible). The psalmist doesn't use "instruct" (even though "instruct" is used in other parts of the Bible). He simply says that one generation shall PRAISE your works to another.

I am most indebted to John Piper for helping me see this distinction in one of his sermons a few years back. My favorite idea of the whole sermon was when he said, "there's a way to talk about the truths of God that can contradict the very value of those truths about God." A sobering thought indeed...not just for a children's pastor, but mostly for parents.

I couldn't recommend listening to this more highly...

One Generation Shall Praise Your Works to Another

Enjoy!

It's that time of year...

School is about to start. That also means that "Promotion Sunday" is happening soon. This Sunday (August 22nd) all of our kids will "move up" to their next grade level. That's always an exciting time, but you want to make sure you're informed.

Parents, be watching your inboxes for all the details.

Motivation or Morality...what are you teaching!

There is a difference between the two. You can concern yourself with whether or not your children obey, or you can do your best to help them learn the proper motivation for why obedience is important. I ran across this tidbit today...and it has me thinking!

"As a rule the decay of religion works out in the second generation as moral
rigidity, and in the third generation as the breakdown of all morality." -Emil
Brunner

Brunner makes a simple observation about families where parents try to teach children moral values without teaching them the proper motive behind those values (a love of God).

If Christian parents do not get to the hearts of their children and teach them why they should behave certain ways, they still might appear to succeed in morally training their children. It's true that their kids might appear to do and say godly things. But without those decisions being motivated by a genuine heart-love for Christ, all that's really happening is "moral rigidity." Kids are behaving in what appear to be Christlike manners and might even become legalistic about them, but Christ-honoring motivation is absent.

Fast-forward to when they have children.

That child-now-turned-parent has always behaved in relatively "moral" or "godly" ways, but their motivation was only to please mom or dad. Or maybe it was to impress others. Or maybe it was to try to earn some good standing with God....And they start to try to teach their own children to behave in similar ways morally. But their children see empty and groundless morality lived out in front of them week to week. They see mom and dad try to be "good," but why? And more importantly, why should they? Mom and dad never provide a reason other than "It's the right thing to do" or "It's what's best for you" or "Because I said so!" So this new generation--a generation that is not pointed to Christ or to love of God as the motivation for moral behavior--actually is where we see a "breakdown of all morality." They cast off the empty shell of morality they saw in their parents. ***

Sobering thoughts...be careful what you're teaching!

***Source LINK

Devotions on the Go!

Life with kids is a busy time, but that doesn't mean you can't teach some positive lessons along the way. There's always a chance to invest in your children, and some of the devotions can happen on the run. You can turn a trip to the zoo, a trip to the beach, or a trip to your backyard into a lesson for children. Want to find out how...click away!

5 On-the-Go Family Devotions for Summertime

Have fun!

Food and God

You can leverage almost anything to teach kids about their Heavenly Father. I read an article the other day that had three different food "projects" that you could do with your children that had an easy spiritual lesson tied to them.

Next time, you're cooking...maybe there's a way to have a family devotion.

Family Devotions: Cooking

It's been a fantastic week!

I just wanted to take a moment and thank all of you who participated somehow in our outreach to a local apartment community. The amount of kids that continued to show up each night was amazing. It may have had something to do with the free popsicles, but they stayed for the games, bible story, and crafts.

It was a helpful reminder to me as well. Ministering to people is often so simple. Despite our efforts to "complicate" it with strategies and the like, investing in the lives of people really isn't all that difficult. I was blessed to be a part of this week, and you can bet we'll be doing it again next year.

Have a great weekend, and we'll see you on Sunday!

Video Games and Impatience...

I was part of the first generation that really knew and experienced (on a large scale at least) the proliferation of video games. I remember getting my first Nintendo when I was 7 years old, and I loved to play Mario Bros.

As my video game system aged I never got a new one. When SEGA came out...didn't get one. When Super Nintendo came out...I had to go over to a friends house to play. When Nintendo 64 hit the market...I sure didn't get one. All I had was my Nintendo. By this time it was old and outdated. I still liked to play some of the games, but often it woudl take a long time for me to get it to work. I would have to blow into the cartridge (you know you all did it to). It would often take multiple tries, and I would often get impatient.

Today's child is met with a differnt world of video games, but the link between video games and impatience in children may still be there. I ran across an interesting set of articles the other day which talked about how video games and impatiece amoung children.

Learning From Video Games: Impatience

I Want It Now: The Fierce Urgency of Videogaming

Please don't hear me saying your child should never play video games, but if you do have them in your home, it might be wise to know what you're up against.

That's Not Fair...

I don't know how many times I said this when I was a child. And I know for a fact that if I had a nickel for every time I heard "that's not fair" from children in my almost 10 years of ministry, I would be a very wealthy man. My dad would always respond to my "that's not fair" with "well, life's not fair." I never really understood what he was talking about until I really began to understand who God was and how life works.

So, what's the big deal with fairness? Do we really want "fair"? We often try to trumpet the cause of fairness (that is until something until we do something unfair to someone else...and then we want mercy/grace). Funny how that works!

I don't know about you, but when it comes to God, I don't want to be treated "fairly." If God treats me according to what I deserve, I'm dead (Rom. 3:23).

I read the article below, and, for me, it confirmed many of the thoughts I've had about how we can talk about fairness vs. grace with our children. I highly recommend going a little deeper with your kids about this "fairness" issue. Don't just leave it as "well, life isn't fair." Begin to talk to them about how deep down inside, we really don't want fairness.

Life is Not Fair (And Neither is God)