Allow me to introduce myself. First and foremost, I’m a sinner saved by grace. I’m a husband and a father. I’ve been a youth leader, Sunday school teacher, deacon and elder. I served in the Air Force for thirty years. I was a three-sport letterman in high school, played college football,...

My name is Donna, and I’d like to tell you about my son. Bryan is my second child, coming four years after his big brother, Jayson, and on his dad’s 31st birthday. He didn’t have a swollen and scrunched up face like some newborns, but was beautiful from the very beginning. His paternal...

It’s Friday, 11:20 a.m. and I am so frustrated with my little charge, Giuliana. I just picked her up from school and we are driving back to the house when she asks me what we’re going to do when we get home. I tell her that she can play while I finish up a few chores. “Can I watch...

There has seeped into the church culture a “new normal” with regard to children “growing up Christian.” I say “new normal” because I can only imagine it has not been this way in past generations of believers. Nothing in Scripture seems to support the idea that children growing up...

In a recent staff meeting, the children’s ministries director told us that a family was “leaving our church for another place where their children could connect.” The presenting complaint was that the pre-teen and teenaged children could not understand the Sunday sermons. Therefore, they...

It’s time to make a significant difference in our homes; specifically with regard to the spiritual formation of our children. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, my wife and I are becoming expert empty-nesters. I believe we have a way to go before hitting the “veteran” level. But...

I don’t actually have a problem with Santa Claus.  In fact, I enjoy the general holiday cheer, even if it isn’t specifically Christian.  I’m fine with songs like ‘Santa Claus is Coming To Town,’ ‘Frosty the Snow Man,’ ‘Silver Bells,’...

Harkening back to last week’s discussion about the film Divided, let’s continue our discussion on the issue of Christian pedagogy. Is it true that  a) separation from parents in church worship and discipleship, and b) that the practice of age-stratified ministries are really the root...