Archive for Parents
What Students Want vs. What they Need
Recently Rick Lawrence of Group Magazine published the results of a survey of 20,000 plus teens answering the following questions: What would you like to do More of in your church’s youth ministry? (these results were published in the latest print version of Group) What is your biggest challenge in growing deeper in your relationship [...]
Homosexuality, The Bible, and Soulforce
Not to long ago I had a long Facebook discussion about the issue of homosexuality. That particular discussion was more political in nature and did not address (at least not in depth) what the Bible has to say on the issue. An organization called Soulforce has, as one of its resources, an online article that [...]
Immunizing Your Kids from the Homosexual Agenda
Drugs have become such a prevalent part of our society that we talk with our kids about them at a young age. There are books all over the place about how to deal with dating and sex with children and teens, but what about homosexuality? Elephants grow. I know, it is obvious but sometimes I [...]
What Parents Shouldn’t Listen To
The story I’m about to tell is actually many stories. Though I will tell it is one story, there have been many like this over the years. It started out with some parents coming to me to ask for help. Their student (15) had become disrespectful and defiant. The parents had done everything they knew [...]
Marriage and Teens
We must teach kids and teens about marriage. No, I’m not from some back hills county where it is okay to marry 14 year olds (or younger). That said, there is this casual approach to relationships as if they are not a big deal. Not that long ago I had a conversation with a 4th [...]
The Worst Compliment
I understand what parents are thinking when they give me this compliment. Parents want their kids to like going to youth group so there isn’t a fight to get them to go. Parents want their kids to like religion, to like God, and to like church. I want teenagers to like all those things too, [...]
Abortion and Teens
It’s the topic no one really wants to talk about. Many parents talk to their teens about doing drugs, drinking, and other destructive behavior. I’m not so sure many of them talk to their kids about abortion. It is emotional to say the least, but it is also extremely important. The state of Colorado where [...]
To Halloween or not to Halloween
I get a lot heckling when most of the big holidays roll around because I tend not to be a fan of the big ones like…well like Halloween, Christmas (in a certain sense), and though I love Independence day it isn’t about the fireworks. I love Easter and I love Christmas (Incarnation Day), but unlike [...]
BIG CHURCH is for Little People Too
It was a great day today. We had to wake our kids up early because my wife was singing in the choir today. We really aren’t a “choir” kind of church, but some times we have specials that are really good; today (Palm Sunday) was one of them. The kids were crabby, and I wasn’t [...]
How Would You Describe a Disciple at Age 18?
I am putting together a tool that I hope will be beneficial for many parents including my wife and I. Part of that tool will be a list of characteristics, skills, and truths. This list is what we hope will be an accurate description of our own kids when they reach age 18 (or are [...]
