November 18, 2025
What Should We Make of All the Revival Talk Among the Youth?
Many indicators suggest that there is an encouraging surge of curiosity in the supernatural, spiritual hunger, commitment to Jesus, and church attendance.
Articles for tag: Family Discipleship
November 5, 2025
Ten Ways Parents Can Increase the Probability They Pass Down the Faith … According to the Data
The top ten ways parents can increase the probability they pass down their faith … according to the data!
February 27, 2025
Q&A With Brad Rhoads: Transforming Marriages Through Grace
Brian Bolton, senior pastor of Center Point Christian Church in Lexington, KY, interviews Brad Rhoads, cofounder of Grace Marraige.
July 1, 2021
Thursday Is Hero Day
Thursdays are a special time in our house. That’s the day we’ve set aside for grandchildren. . . .
November 2, 2019
The Profound Impact of Parents Who Seek God
By Michael C. Mack I woke up one chilly, December morning, the excitement of Christmas, still several days away, already percolating in my 8-year-old brain like the coffee brewing in the kitchen. It was still dark outside, but the kitchen light was on. In my footy pajamas, I wandered inconspicuously toward it. As I peered around the corner, first I saw the wall clock; it was only 4:30 a.m. Then I saw my mom, sitting at the kitchen table, head down, a small journal sitting in front of her. She was silently praying. That memory is still etched on my
November 2, 2019
Family Ministry: Re-engaging Parents to Be the Primary Influencers of their Children
By Becky Drish For hundreds of years, parents recognized their role as the faith leaders in their families. That gradually changed over the past 100 to 200 years. Now, many regular churchgoers look to the church to fulfill that leadership role. As churches and children’s ministry leaders, we need to re-empower parents. Fortunately, that has begun to happen through a modern family ministry approach that has been making a steady, solid entrance into the children’s and youth ministry field over the last decade. If you frequent children’s or youth ministry conferences, you surely have seen sessions dedicated to this approach.
April 25, 2019
Young People in Ministry: Invest, Invest, Invest
By Emily Drayne As a child, when I heard the word missionary, I envisioned an elderly lady sitting around a fire talking about Jesus to unreached peoples. Now, eight years into my job working with missionaries, I know that’s not (always) the case. Kendi’s Cows of Grace is a great example. Kendall Grace Kemerly visualized her mission when she was 8 years old. I’m not sure what you were doing at that age, but I was playing with Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls. Purchasing livestock wasn’t on my radar. It’s key to note that no one pooh-poohed Kendi’s idea simply
January 24, 2016
Protecting Your PK
By Angela Sanders I am a minister”s wife. I have the scars to prove it, but my children don”t. Not because they didn”t see. Not because they didn”t hear. Not because we lied to them. We didn”t. Hunter and Hope came through an enemy attack on their family by church members with their optimism, faith, and desire to serve the body intact. This was possible only because a few who had successfully waded through the murky waters of vocational ministry ahead of us were selfless enough to take us by the hand and teach us to survive and thrive””and maintain
August 4, 2015
Let”s Build Families
By Mark A. Taylor Any college teacher, particularly one who is a Christian, will tell you this: Many, maybe a majority, of college students today come from troubled families. Chris DeWelt, an Ozark Christian College professor, described the students he knows: “Most . . . bring with them much more than just computers, clothes, and small fridges. They often bring baggage that is not so easily identified or addressed.” It”s true on secular campuses too. In his interview this month, longtime campus minister Gary Hawes says, “The largest percentage of students we are involved with today come from either dysfunctional
July 10, 2014
Experiences, Relationships
By Greg Nettle (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I’ve Ever Received.”) Best advice: Wess Stafford, then president of Compassion International, was mentoring me on how to disciple my own children. He advised, “Give your children experiences, not things.” Worst advice: One of my Bible college professors advised, “Never be close friends with people in the church you lead.” Greg Nettle serves as president with Stadia, Irvine, California.
March 1, 2014
Tips for Teaching the Bible at Home
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on 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” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). By Dan Burton When you sit at home. Our family sits together for dinner at least five times a week. This doesn”t just happen . .
August 6, 2013
Ministry and Family””They Go Together!
By Mark A. Taylor One of the questions late in our June BlogTalkRadio* program was, “How can a Christian leader get started with a missional approach to ministry?” All three of those interviewed””Jon Ferguson, Greg Nettle, and Jon Weece””agreed with the same principle: “Start by being a model of missional ministry with your own class and your own family.” Weece, especially, took up the family theme. “We”ve reoriented our whole life around serving other people,” he said. “It”s very normal, for example, for our kids to understand this is what we”re going to do on Tuesday nights; we”re going to
September 12, 2011
Lesson for Sept. 18, 2011: Teaching Values (Proverbs 10:1″“15:33)
This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for September 18) is written by Bruce Stoker, education minister with Memorial Church of Christ in Livonia, Michigan. ____________ Teaching Values (Proverbs 10:1–15:33) By Bruce Stoker As a Boy Scout, I learned orienteering skills for traveling through the wilderness safely and efficiently using a map and compass. We practiced our skills during many meetings and throughout our hometown, and eventually we decided we could handle a cross-country backpacking trip. So we plotted our destination, grabbed a topographical map and our compasses, and headed out for a weekend of hiking without trails.
3 WOMEN IN MINISTRY: ‘I Couldn’t Be More Thrilled’
By Linda Ahlgrim Some may have thought I was crazy (and at times I wondered myself), but it was a critical need I couldn”t ignore. With fear and trembling, 16 years ago I agreed to become the “interim” director of children”s ministry for our church. We desperately needed someone to lead that vital ministry. We had been looking a long time, with no success. What no one knew, not even my husband who was the senior pastor, was that I had a growing conviction that God could use me in that role. Questions I wondered what the elders would think
