Friday Media

How are you leveraging this time of the year to talk about the things of God? There's so much more out there than just taking 20 minutes to read Luke 2 right before you open gifts. Have you given any thought to the teachable moments that might exist this time of year that don't normally happen.

Here's a link to an audio clip to help you get in the right frame of mind...


What Are Some Ways to Talk About the Meaning of Christmas?

Good luck...and enjoy!

The Apple Doesn't _________________

Can you finish the sentence?

It's an old cliche, but it's probably true...the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. I've been thinking about that a lot recently, since I will be meeting Lauren and I's little "apple" in November. If I'm honest, I'm kind of scared that he'll be just like me.

When someone uses that line, it is usually with a negative connotation. There are definitely times in life, where you're going to look at your kids and say "that's in THEM, because of ME, and I wish that weren't the case." But what about the positive potential that this statement holds? There are also positive traits/characteristics/habits that your kids are in them because you possess them.

Here's where I'm going with this...there's one area of life, where this statement is most definitively true...your relationship with God and your own spiritual growth. Many folks falsely assume that if I bring my kids to church, they'll grow spiritually. It's not that easy.

There are no guarantees that any of our children will grow up loving God and desiring to follow Him with their lives, but I do know this...they have a better chance of understanding what that's all about if they have parents in their life who are modeling that for them and doing their best to live out a genuine and real relationship with God in front of them.

If it's not in YOU...it's probably not going to be in THEM! When it comes to spiritual growth and desire for God, the old adage is true...the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Friday Media...

"I have hidden Your word in my heart...that I might not sin against God."

The author of the Psalms helps us connect the reality that memorizing Scripture is critical to living a life where sin is decreased and following God is increased. That is just as true then as it is now. There is a powerful link between knowing, memorizing, and storing God's Word in our hearts that helps us in the Christian life.

Ever wanted to think about how to get your kids to memorize scripture...well, below is a link to one prominent pastor's thoughts on the matter...

How Can Parents Help Their Kids Memorize Scripture?

There's your Friday media...enjoy!

Kids and "Big Church"

One of the side effects of great children's-specific ministry is the neglect of kids attending the corporate church environment. What I mean by that, is that the segregation of ages in local churches, leaves something to be desired when it comes to training a generation to love and appreciate the corporate worship gathering. I often encourage folks to take opportunities to bring their children into the larger corporate worship gathering for a number of reasons.

In that vein, I saw a recent post and thought it was worth you reading...
Big Church for Small Kids

Thoughts???

A Little More Friday Media...

As you can imagine, I read a lot of stuff about kids/parenting/etc. It's just part of my job...one of those parts that I really enjoy.

There are few people who are writing/speaking in Christian circles that I trust more than Paul Tripp. His approach to parenting, marriage, kids, and family is refreshing. What I particularly appreciate is how he refuses to let parents accept "correct external behavior" as the end goal of parenting. There is so much more to parenting and family issues...Paul continually takes people to the real "HEART" of the issues they're facing.

He recently participated in a video discussion (video below) about his newest resource, "Getting to the Heart of Parenting." I couldn't recommend his work more highly.





If you can't see the embedded video for some reason, you can follow this LINK to find the video.

His "apple nailing" analogy (approx. 32:00) in the middle of the video is something EVERY parent should listen to and consider in their own lives!

Below are some other recommended resources from Paul Tripp, if you like what you hear and want to dig deeper.

Marriage - What Did You Expect
Family - Getting to the Heart of Parenting (I have this one, if you'd like to check it out)
Teenagers - Age of Opportunity

It's Not the Church's Job...Only!

One of the subtle things people believe (even people in the church) is that it is somehow it is the church's job to teach their children the Bible.

In one sense, it is partially true. The church does have anywhere from 30-100 hours on average with a kid each year. But ready for some sobering numbers...they'll spend over 1,000 hours in school each year...and they'll spend approximately 3,000 hours a year under parental supervision/care.

Here's the point...if you're relying solely on the church to provide the entirety of your child's education about the Bible, God, relationship with Christ, etc...it's not going to be enough. In fact, how you read the Bible, talk about the Bible, and try your best to live out what the Bible says in your home/family will have a far greater impact than going to church once a week.

It's Up to Parents to Teach Children God's Word

Get in the game....you can do it. Let me know if you need some help knowing what to do or how to do it...it's one of the great joys of what I get to do each day!

Winter Camp is ON!

Winter Camp is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. It's basically a HUGE weekend of fun, learning, and all-around zaniness.

This year, our theme was "HERO," and we're focusing on the "Power that God Gives." You see, because of what Jesus has done and the promises of God, we can live our everyday lives with some pretty awesome "Super-powers."

If your child is going to Winter Camp, here's what we'll be talking about all weekend...

• Friday PM - God gives me the POWER to be COURAGEOUS! (Joshua)
• Saturday AM - God gives me the POWER of His STRENGTH! (David's battle with Goliath)
• Saturday PM - God's POWER provided the SACRIFICE! (the Gospel)
• Sunday AM - God gives me the POWER to SERVE! (Jesus washes the disciples feet)

We're looking forward to an awesome time. Would you pray for us this weekend?

Throwback Thursday #2

For some who haven't been around here that long, this website is a few years old, and there are wonderful things that I'd like to put in front some of our "newbies" and remind some of the rest of you about. So, we're revisiting some early posts each week on Thursdays!

Original post below:

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

Husbands, Fathers, and Thermostats

As a child, one of the things I knew never to touch in my house was the thermostat. There was only one person or entity who had control over the temperature of the house and the electricity it would cost to achieve that temperature...and that person was my dad. Now, I don't remember being sweated out during the summer to save a few bucks. I don't remember having to run in place to keep warm during the winter. But one thing was for sure...my dad was on the frugal side and us kids didn't touch the thermostat.

I was reminded about that the other day, and just how true this phrase is... "Husbands/Fathers, set the temperature for the home." I think that's probably true for the actual thermostat (most men want control of that thing...just like the remote), but I KNOW it's true when it comes to the emotional and spiritual well-being of your family. Husbands/Fathers, you set the temperature.

They will follow your lead...good or bad...even when we don't want them to follow our lead...so rely on the power of the Spirit...and lead well!

Husbands/Fathers, what's the "temperature" in your home?

Your Marriage is a Sermon...

In other words, your marriage preaches something, and it preaches it constantly to all kinds of people. Most notably of those people are your children. Your marriage constantly, consistently, and silently preaches to your children.

In his book, "Gospel Powered Parenting," William Farley talks about the how your marriage preaches and who your marriage preaches to. It's a helpful reminder for those of us who are married.

“This mystery [marriage] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Here is Paul’s point. From before time began, God had marriage on his mind. He was preparing a bride for his Son, whom he would marry forever. It would take the crucifixion and resurrection of the Groom to bring this marriage to pass. Think of it. God created the most intimate human relationship, marriage, to speak of the intimacy of his relationship with his church.

God created the institution of human marriage to reflect, or mirror forth, this eternal union. In other words, human marriage exists to point men and angels to the eternal marriage of Christ and his church. The gospel made this divine marriage possible. Here is our point: human marriage exists to preach the gospel. It exists to illustrate the fruit that should follow the preaching of the gospel in the church.

To whom does our marriage preach? Of course, the first audience is God and his angels. They watch and rejoice, or if our marriage is a war zone, they grieve.

Who is the second audience? Most of us think first about our non-Christian neighbors. Maybe they will see our attempts to model Christian marriage and want the gospel? They might, and we hope they will, but actually they are the third audience.

The second audience, usually overlooked by most Christians, is our children. What is our marriage telling them about Christ and his bride? They see it all. They hear our fights. They absorb our attitudes. They know who or what really sits on the throne of our lives. They watch how we handle resentment. They hear the way we talk to each other. They know when we hear the Sunday sermon and apply it. They also know when we ignore it.

The message that our marriage preaches either repels or attracts our children. God wants your child to watch your marriage and think, “I want a marriage like that, and I want the God that produced it.” Or, “When I think of the beauty of the gospel, I think of my parents’ marriage. I want to be part of a church that is loved by God the way my dad loves my mother. I want to be part of a church that finds its joy in submitting to Christ as my mother joyfully submits to my father.”

Convicting and edifying at the same time. That's hard to do!

Homework for the Glory of God

If your children are old enough, "homework" is something that inevitably occurs in your family's world. As they get older, homework becomes more and more a part of their life.

I recently read a series of articles that had some ideas about how to leverage the ever-present reality of homework to teach kids about God. Below are the 10 main points. For more explanation, click on the links at the end.

1. Explain to your children that God gave them their mind and it is his desire that they use it.

2. Explain that God created us to be “questioners.”

3. Explain that God chose their schools and their teachers.

4. Show them God’s creativity in their homework.

5. Explain how they can use their homework as a means of mission to reach other kids.

6. Use tests as an example of how God sharpens our faith.

7. Explain that God gives us gifts as a stewardship and it is a students job to develop those gifts and use them.

8. Word pictures are great for describing our relationship with God.

9. Use homework as a chance to teach cognitive thinking.

10. Spend time with your child helping with his or her homework.

Homework, a Devotional Time??? - Part 1

Homework, a Devotional Time??? - Part 2

Homework, a Devotional Time??? - Part 3

Parents...pay attention!

All this month, your children will be learning about "Initiative." It may not seem or sound like a super spiritual of an idea, but there is so much God wants to teach us in this area. Initiative is simply "seeing what needs to be done and doing it."

All month long, on Sundays, we'll be teaching the story of Nehemiah. I ran across a great video that you can watch (7-10 minutes) to understand where we're headed and how you might be able to use what we teach on Sunday mornings and continue the learning through the course of your family life this month.

Monthly Virtue Video

(To the right of the video player at the above link, thee will be an "orange-ish" button that says "October 2010 Virtue Video"- click on it and it should play this month's intro/overview video)

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."

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!

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

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)

Are your kids excited about the Bible?

As a children's pastor, it can sometimes be pretty tough to try and get kids excited about the Bible. For kids who love books, it can be a little easier, but it's still tough. The Bible is God's word, and it should be exciting. Below are some helpful hints about how to get your kids excited about the Scriptues. Who knows, they may even re-ignite your own passion/enthusiasm for God's word.

10 Ways that you can build excitment about God's Word**

1. Let them see your excitement.
2. Hold your Bible
3. Teach them how to use it
4. Explain where it comes from and what it is
5. Give them a place to start
6. Show them how it can be useful for them
7. Encourage them to memorize it
8. Find out what excites them and show it to them in the Bible
9. Use it regularly
10. Pray

** Taken from www.ministrytochildren.com

For more descriptions about how to do each of these steps, follow this LINK

"Money doesn't grow on trees..."

As much as you said you would never say some of the things your parents said, I'm almost postive that 90% of you have used this line before if you've got kids that are at least 7-8 years old.

When my dad said this, it was because he was trying to teach me valuable lessons on the value of money. I learned some of them. Because we didn't have a lot when I was a kid, I understand the value of a dollar and a hard days work. Those are lessons I value deeply.

Although it's true that money doesn't grow on trees, there might be other ways we can teach kids how to value, use, and steward God's resources in the best way. If you'd like, you can continue to use that old line, but after about the fourth time you've said it...it has probably lost it's impact.

A recent article by Randy Alcorn does just that. He outlines 10 different ways that parents can begin to train their children how to manage money well.

Training Children to Manage Money

Good stuff!