This Week in Faith 4-9-20

With Holy Week, Spring Break and lots going on, this is a shorter version of the blog this week. I hope you’ll plan to watch the Good Friday service tomorrow with your family and the Easter service on Sunday [along with the kid’s sermon from Pastor Nathan- it’s a great one!].

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Help For Parents Quarantined with Teens

Happy Spring Break! For those of you on Spring Break this week, I hope you are enjoying it. I’ve heard some fun things people are doing at home. Here are some basic ideas and good suggestions to help pass the time and make the most of the time.

Click here for the article by Katie Polski.

Why Onward is Worth the Stream

Our family watched this movie last week and enjoyed it. This article is a helpful guide for things to think about as you watch and discussion questions to talk about afterwards.

Click here to read the article by Mac Harris.

VIDEOS: Two Holy Week Videos to Watch

This was done by Passion and it’s a powerful 5 minute video for Good Friday to watch with your family, especially your teenagers and college students.

Click here to watch Good Friday.

This is a video based on the book by Kevin DeYoung that tells the story of the Bible through great content and animation. The 25 minute video is being offered for free to stream and would be great for younger kids and older kids.

Click here to watch The Biggest Story Animated Short Film.

This Week in Faith 4-3-20

Words of Faith From Our Authors in Response to COVID-19

Here is some much needed good news of encouragement rooted in the words of our great God.

Click here to read the article from New Growth Press.

How the Exodus Narrative Can Help Us Disciple Kids through COVID-19

I appreciated this article for a number of reasons. First of all, it really connects what we’re going through right now to Exodus, which we are studying on Sunday mornings [and also references a passage from Luke we read this week in our read through the Bible plan!]. There are a number of encouraging things in here so I hope you’ll read it. One of the things I’ll highlight is his emphasis on continuing to participate and stay connected to your church family. I know its awkward to sit in your living room and sing together, and it can feel like it’s more work than it’s worth to get on Zoom with your community group or get your teenagers set up for their video small group. But we are made for community with each other and these lifelines are vital, not just for surviving this season of life, but for the ability to even thrive in it.

Click here to read The article by Jared Kennedy.

The Art of Neighboring Toolkit

This is a good list of ideas for how to connect with your neighbors during this time. We have an incredible opportunity to build relationships with our neighbors and share the hope we have in Jesus with them through conversations, inviting them to watch the Easter service online, and loving them however we can. There are some great starter ideas here if you don’t already know your neighbors. I heard from someone in our church this week about how their family has organized a neighborhood walk at the same time every day for neighbors to connect and catch up. What a great idea! This list is based on the book The Art of Neighboring.

Click here to read the article from Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon.

Resources for Holy Week @Home

This Sunday is Palm Sunday which means the beginning of Holy Week and our preparation for an Easter Sunday celebration. We will obviously be in our homes this week but, if you are looking for some activities and crafts to do with your preschool and elementary kids, there are lots of ideas here and most of them don’t require anything more than what you already have in your house. Since it’s also Spring Break and you may have a little bit more time, these could be some great ways to reinforce what you hear as you worship together this Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday Activities For Kids and Families

Good Friday Activities For Kids and Families

Easter Games, Crafts, Activities

Series on Christian Professors at Secular Universities

Rebecca McLaughlin is an author and speaker I’ve mentioned on here before that I like a lot. She has started a series featuring a weekly interview with a different Christian professor from secular universities like Harvard, Oxford, and Yale. One of the main objections that this next generation has to Christianity is the impression that’s been created that you have to choose between faith and science, Christianity or being an intellectual. This series is a reminder of the reality that some of the brightest minds alive today are Christians, active across all fields including science. We get a glimpse of that here through the faithful professors we have, even in our own church. But this series could be an eye opening look for students you have that may be wrestling with this apparent conflict, or who are sharing their faith with friends who have these objections. If you sign up, the series comes as an email on Fridays.

Click here to sign up for the weekly email of the series.

BOOK: The Moon is Always Round

This book is not what I expected. It was about the moon so I got it thinking it was a bedtime story for Randy. But as I read it the first time, it caught me off guard. I’m thankful for it. This is a book helping kids to believe in God’s goodness, even in the midst of grief and tragedy. The book is a dad helping his young child [and himself] trust God through his wife’s miscarriage, which is something we struggled to do with our kids when we went through the same situation a few years ago. But the metaphor he uses, and the truth he offers, would be helpful for walking kids through any kind of suffering and tragedy, even to explain what is happening around us now. I would highly recommend it.

Click here to see more about The Moon is Always Round.

VIDEO: Some Good News with John Krasinski

This is a nice break from the steady stream of bad news we have been getting lately. John Krasinski, best known as Jim on The Office, gives us something a little different in this homemade news show, from his living room, of feel good stories that he has collected. Also included is an interview with Steve Carell where they reminisce about The Office on the 15th anniversary of its airing. Just something fun I thought I’d share that you can watch with the family.

Click here to watch the video.

This Week in Fatih 3-27-20

I hope everyone is doing well as we continue to learn to navigate these unusual times with our families. As I continue to send out this blog, I hope it is helpful and encouraging. I typically try to include a good mix of encouragement for the difficult task of parenting, wisdom from others about parenting, and helpful resources you can use. I realize there are some in this time that are looking for things to do with their families and to help in this crisis but they don’t know where to start. So for you, hopefully some these articles can help point you in the right direction. But I also realize that there are some that are feeling overwhelmed by the new schedules and all that we have to accomplish and help our kids do. If that’s you, then don’t let the articles about things to do add to the stress you are feeling- just skip those articles and listen to the song at the last link :) Please let us know how we can pray for and encourage you and your family during this time.

Because the session decided this week that the church will continue to be closed through the end of April, we are going to try and do a few more things for kids and students to keep them connected during this time.

• This Sunday, in addition to the worship service, we will send out a short kids’ sermon with some music from our typical Sunday school singing time.

• Our student ministry small group leaders are working to create online groups to read through Scripture, pray for each other, serve and have fun together. If you have a student who has not yet connected with a group, and they would like to, please let me know.

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9 Ways to Love Your Neighbor in this Pandemic

I liked this article because it is a list of mostly simple things we can do to love God and love our neighbor during this time. Like Pastor Nathan has said multiple times, this moment is an opportunity for followers of Jesus and his church. But it can also feel overwhelming to look at the million great ideas on social media and suggestions from friends when it feels like it can hard to get through the day between helping kids with school, trying to get work done, and finding peace in the midst of the chaos of the world and the crowdedness of our own homes. But these are some simple things we can think about to use this time as an opportunity to trust God, grow in our faith, and be a blessing to our neighbors in some really practical ways.

Click here to read the article by Justin Whitmel Earley.

How to Talk to Children About the Coronavirus

Cameron Cole is a student pastor from Alabama that I like a lot. This is an outline of a conversation he had with a 1st grader about the virus and our response to it as Christians, around three basic questions. I think you could adapt this to a child almost any age which makes it really helpful as we continue to talk to our kids about what’s going on and how to face it with wisdom, confidence and hope.

Click here to read the article by Cameron Cole.

All the Free and Discounted Stuff for these Difficult Times

Here is a great list of free and discounted books, shows and movies for you and your kids. If you are looking for something to do together, or some things for everyone to do on their own, this list has a lot of different kinds of offerings. We have been doing a family movie night most nights at our house and we watched the first item on this list, an animated Pilgrim’s Progress movie, the other night and it was great [thanks Mustard family for the suggestion!].

Click here to read the article by Tim Challies.

How to Fight Cabin Fever

There are some good things in this article but I thought the best part was the section “Keep Things in Perspective”.

Click here to read the article by John Majors.

VIDEO: How Do I Talk to My Kids about Porn?

During this time, most kids are using technology more than ever as they do digital learning all day long. They are more isolated than ever and maybe even more isolated with their technology. Boredom, isolation, and opportunity make this a prime opportunity for the enemy to tempt our kids towards pornography. This video provides four helpful concepts to consider as you begin to talk to your kids about pornography and as you continue to talk to them about it regularly.

Click here to watch the video from Harvest, USA.

VIDEO: CityAlight- Jesus, Strong and Kind

This song is another one of my favorites from CityAlight that is a continual encouragement to me [Thanks Kenny McBride!]. Hope it is for you too!

Click here to watch the video from CityAlight.

This Week in Faith 3-19-20

My mom works for Perimeter Church in John’s Creek and they are working from home for these 2 weeks. Along with instructions on practical things, their pastors sent out a great list of things to keep fun mind as we spend extended time at home during this season. It’s been helpful for our family so I thought I’d share it with you:

“This is unplanned family time. It has been forced upon you.

You are home; but not alone. The world, flesh and devil will want to come home with all of that and create relational strife as well as inner turmoil.

What to do? We don’t have all the answers, but these may help spur your thinking.

1. Plan the day the night before. What time will you get up? Start with prayer. Maybe a short reading in the Word. Ask to not be led to temptation but to have joy and bless people.

2. Start the day with an encouraging word to one another.

3. Take time fixing meals together if you are a family. Keep the alcohol to a minimum.

4. Try not to OD on TV/Cable Internet. Limit it to a few hours a day. Maybe go to a good podcast or a sermon online. Play worship music! Stay away from unhealthy “web wandering” when you get bored.

5. Play a game. You can plan things inside and outside. Exercise is good.

6. Take time to read.

7. Overlook an offense. There will be many.

8. Know that someone will escalate. Be prepared to deal with it in a calm way. Let some steam get out. Give it some silence. Listen. Then be reminded of the gospel and the love of Christ for people. Start over.

This “time out” is from God for you. Don’t let the world, flesh and devil ruin it. We are here to help.”

30 Edifying Things to Watch When Stuck at Home

This is a great list of things that includes watching for fun, to spark conversation, and to consider spiritual things. I haven’t seen everything on the list and you’ll have to use your discretion to know what’s best for your family. I would highly recommend A Hidden Life from the first list. I saw it in the theater this year and it is a beautiful picture of faith and conviction in challenging moments. It’s a long movie, and probably not as much dialogue as your kids are used to, but I agree with the article that it’s one of the best movies about faith I have seen. From the second list, our family loved The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. We watched every episode and had a lot of fun talking about the incredible design ideas in these houses and picking our favorite ones.

Click here to read the article by Brent McCracken.

Helping Students Redeem the Time During Quarantine

It has been an interesting week in our house learning how to spend the day with all 6 of us in the same house, trying to accomplish different things. It hasn’t been easy but what a great opportunity we have to spend the time with our family we are always saying we wish we could if we weren’t so busy. It’s a gift from God and I don’t want to waste it. We’ve been trying to get school done, have fun together, and grow in our faith. This article has some great ideas for helping our kids grow spiritually during this time- and how we can even do it together.

Click here to read the article by Chelsea Kingston Erickson.

The Life of St. Patrick: An Inspiration for Missions

With St. Patrick’s Day this past week, it’s always a great opportunity to help our kids learn the real history behind a now distorted holiday. Patrick’s story is na incredible story of hardship, uncommon compassion, loving your enemies, and a passion for the good news of Jesus. It should continue to inspire us to bring the gospel to our neighbors today.

Click here to read the article by Michael Haykin.

Guides For Kids and Middle Schoolers to Take Notes During the Sermon

Here are some sheets that you can give to your kids to follow along with the services on Sunday. Sitting in our living rooms and watching church on TV can be different, and maybe even more challenging, for paying attention. These might be a way to help your kids focus and can also give you a place to start talking about the sermon when it’s done.

Click here to download the sheets from Justin Taylor’s blog.

VIDEO: Song- Christ Is Mine Forevermore

Over the last month or so, this has become my favorite song. It has been a good reminder to me of the hope and peace we have in Jesus as I have listened to it again and again through challenging days. I hope it can be an encouragement to you as well.

Click here to watch the video by CityAlight.

In light of not worshipping together tomorrow...

It is disappointing to not get to be together tomorrow morning for corporate worship. It’s important to help our kids understand that we are trying to do our best to love God and love our neighbor in this unique moment. Our desire is to promote the welfare of our city, put our neighbors needs ahead of our own, protect the vulnerable among us, and honor our government officials. This is our best attempt to do this. But, in the absence of meeting together, it is also a chance to remember how much we love worshipping together and what a gift of God the church is to us. I hope you have a chance to talk with your families about all of this over the next few days. And remember to pray together for those who are suffering or vulnerable in our church, our community, and around the world. [For some ideas of how to talk about what’s going on from a mental health perspective, see Thursday’s blog post for more]

Since we will be worshipping at home with our families tomorrow, I wanted to give you a couple of things that might help you worship and talk about the sermon together. Don’t forget, the link to watch the service at 11:00AM is HERE.

For Younger Kids:

• Attached are the children’s bulletins for this week’s sermon.

• You can read the story of Moses in the Jesus Storybook Bible.

• Give your kids paper and crayons or colored pencils and ask them to draw the 3 signs God gives Moses.

• Have your kids find props and act out Exodus 4 together.

For Older Students:

• Have everyone write down one question during the sermon that they want to ask afterwards.

• Watch the Bible Project video on the first half of Exodus HERE. It will recap what we’ve already studied, and look ahead to what is coming next, but with the extra time together, this is a great way to study Exodus more in depth.