10-8-20 This Week in Faith

Children’s Church and Nursery- Beginning THIS SUNDAY [during the 8:30 service]

We will be starting to offer Children’s church and baby nursery during the 8:30 service on October 11. Kids will leave after the children’s sermon.

This is a video of how things will work.

And this is a link to sign up to help.

October Memory for Kids

We have been choosing our memory verses from different CD’s produced by Seeds Family Worship. The music is a great way for kids [and parents] to get Scripture stuck in their heads. Getting God’s Word into the heads and hearts of our kids is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. This year, we are using their CD I Believe. They are also producing an online family devotional for these verses that you can find HERE. If you don’t already do family devotions, this might be a great place to start. 

Scripture Memory- Ephesians 2:4-5

New City Catechism- Question 25 and Question 26

Student Ministry Schedule

Right now we are studying the book of Exodus in small groups.

Middle School- Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30PM at Faith [in the Plaza]

High School- Sundays from 6:00-7:30 at Faith [in the Plaza]

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Raising Children in the Word: 3 Things to Remember, 5 Things to Do

This is a quick read with some simple ideas in it. And yet they are things I think we often forget. There is so much to think about as a parent, we can lose sight of what’s most important. And we can be so busy trying to do our best as parents, that we forget the power of the gospel to change their lives is greater than our ability to change them. All of the things on this list are important, but I’m glad he included the last one. I know there are times where I am so consumed with correcting my kids and challenging them, that I forget to enjoy them and the reality that I get to be the dad to some pretty great kids. For those on winter break this weekend, I hope you take some time to enjoy life with your kids!

Click here to read the article by Carl Laferton.

How Things Have Changed: Reflections of a Millennial Pastor on a Ten Z World

I think this is a helpful look at some of the differences between 2 generations. Now, there’s always a danger in looking at “generations” because they are typically generalizations that don’t fully capture the specific people you know and care about it. But it can be helpful to understand some of the ways they differ in how they see the world and respond to it. He does a good job of not just pointing out the negatives of a generation but helping to understand the good and the bad better. His point at the end about helping this generation understand the strength and courage the gospel gives us to follow Jesus faithfully, and engage in a difficult and broken world, is interesting. He does a good job of showing some of the ways this idea could be taken out of context, and to the extreme in an unhealthy way. I’m still thinking through this article but I think he’s at least partly correct that courage to follow Jesus and boldness to do what’s right, even when it’s hard, is something that can be hard to find. Now, whether that is a generational thing or a human thing is worth a discussion. I’d be interested to know what you think.

Click here to read the article by Chris Colquitt.

Rooted Recommends: Watch The Social Dilemma with Your Family

This is a documentary on Netflix that I have heard a lot about. We had planned to watch it last weekend and didn’t get to it but we are definitely going to take advantage of the long break from school to watch. It is an in depth look at the power of social media. It includes interviews with some of the people who helped design social media as they talk about they way it is made to capture our attention and influence the way we think. There are some suggestions and some warnings in the article about watching it with your kids to help. It’s important that we don’t watch something like this without hope. But it’s also important we understand how something like social media powerfully impacts our kids [and us] so we can help them navigate it well. There is another article on the documentary HERE. If you watch it, I’d be interested to know your thoughts and even what your middle and high school students have to say about it if they watch it with you.

Click here to read the article from Rooted.

10-1-20 This Week in Faith

Children’s Church and Nursery- Beginning October 11 [during the 8:30 service]

We will be starting to offer Children’s church and baby nursery during the 8:30 service on October 11. Kids will leave after the children’s sermon. We will need volunteers to make this possible so please sign up to help one week if you can. Check out Faith Weekly for more info and a link to volunteer!

October Memory for Kids

We have been choosing our memory verses from different CD’s produced by Seeds Family Worship. The music is a great way for kids [and parents] to get Scripture stuck in their heads. Getting God’s Word into the heads and hearts of our kids is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. This year, we are using their CD I Believe. They are also producing an online family devotional for these verses that you can find HERE. If you don’t already do family devotions, this might be a great place to start. 

Scripture Memory- Ephesians 2:4-5

New City Catechism- Question 25 and Question 26

Student Ministry Schedule

Right now we are studying the book of Exodus in small groups.

Middle School- Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30PM at Faith [in the Plaza]

High School- Sundays from 6:00-7:30 at Faith [in the Plaza]

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Helping Our Students Interpret Their Suffering

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve read about it, heard people talk about it, and Kelly and I have been talking through it in regards to our own kids. Our instinct as parents is to protect our kids from suffering at all costs. Yet, the Bible is clear that God often uses suffering to cause us to trust him more and to shape us into the people he longs for us to be. In fact, suffering is regularly pointed to as the thing that most connects us to Jesus. So, what do we do? I don’t think we look for suffering for our kids. Or carelessly put them in harms way. But I do think Scripture teaches that our kids’ suffering provides opportunities to help them understand what Jesus has done for them, and to help them understand that Jesus walks with them in their sufferings. This can be in the most painful experiences of life and in the small, everyday moments of failures, breakups, and setbacks. Our desire to protect our kids from suffering at all costs is actually the opposite of our desire for our kids to know and trust Jesus more deeply. I think this article is a good reminder for us as parents and a hopeful guide for pointing our kids to Jesus in the midst of their sufferings instead of trying to help them avoid those sufferings.

Click here to read the article by Jared Buckholder.

A Theology of {School]Work for Teenagers

“Students often approach school as either a drudgery to be endured or an anxious proving grounds for self-validation.” Whenever I talk to students, and even my own kids, about schoolwork I get a variety of responses, but they are rarely healthy. I often pray for my kids on the way to school that they will work hard to do their best but that their identity will not be in what they accomplish but in who they are as children of God. But that’s easier said than done. This article offers 5 specifics of how what our kids do for school glorifies God. I think it will be helpful for me to have some different ways to talk about important things that they have probably heard me say a lot. I hope it’s helpful for you also.

Click here to read the article by Taylor Sutton.

Why Not Fitting In At Your Church Might Be A Good Thing

This is something I think adults and students struggle with. It can always be hard to feel like you don’t fit in.Or like there is no one else who has the same interests as you. And our tendency, as adults or young people, is to find someplace new, where people are more like “us”. But what if God uses the diversity of people and personalities in the church he has placed us to grow us and shape us in a way that would be impossible among a group of people exactly like us. Whether it’s church, student ministry, a Sunday school class, or wherever else- God brings us together with people from different backgrounds, different amounts of money, different schools, and different interests because of what he can do in us and with us through those relationships. The next time our kids complain about not having any friends in a certain place or not connecting with people, especially at church, this article can help us show them that God has purposely given them this opportunity for their good.

Click here to read the article by Daniel Darling.

Always Ready: Free Online Event for Students

Pastor Nathan has been talking a lot lately about equipping us to share our faith with others. This is a free event that Ligonier Ministries is offering online for students where multiple speakers talk about how to share the gospel with other students. The goal is to give students confidence in their own faith and how to tell other people about it.

Click here to register or find out more about this event by Ligonier ministries.

9-18-20 This Week in Faith

September Memory for Kids

Even though we are not doing Sunday school right now, we want to continue offering monthly memory verses and catechisms for you to work on as a family. We have been choosing our memory verses from different CD’s produced by Seeds Family Worship. The music is a great way for kids [and parents] to get Scripture stuck in their heads. Getting God’s Word into the heads and hearts of our kids is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. This year, we are using their CD I Believe. They are also producing an online family devotional for these verses that you can find HERE. If you don’t already do family devotions, this might be a great place to start. 

Scripture Memory- Matthew 6:31-33

New City Catechism Question 23 and Question 24

Student Ministry Schedule

We are meeting for small groups in the month of August and will reevaluate around Labor Day. The session voted to cancel the church’s retreats for the fall so we will not be going on our annual End of Summer Retreat but we are working on what we might be able to do in town for some extra connection with students.

Middle School- Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30PM at Faith [in the Plaza]

High School- Sundays from 6:00-7:30 at Faith [in the Plaza]

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Finding Love in a Broken World

It is hard to watch our kids struggle at times with friendships and relationships. We want them to have the kind of friends we had growing up, or better friends than we had. We see the pain that breakups and broken relationships cause in our kids, and we often feel helpless to keep them from that hurt. But those moments are also the ones that make the love of God for us even sweeter and more satisfying. This article reminds us that our longing, and our kids’ longing, for love and friendship is a natural characteristic of those made in the image of God, who is love and has loved for all eternity. I think this can be a good reminder for us as parents about where to point our kids when they are longing for love and friendship, and it can help us point our kids to Jesus who loves them fully and who offers the relationship they most need.

Click here to read the article by Robert Cheong.

How Pornography is Preying on the Vulnerable in the Midst of COVID-19

Pornography is so destructive. It is so prevalent that we can sometimes forget how much damage it can cause to those who are gripped by it. It affects their heart, their minds, their relationship with others and even their relationship with God. This article describes the damage it can cause. But it also points out the statistics of how pornography consumption has grown even more during the pandemic. People are more isolated and spending more time online which are often the key factors that lead to pornography taking root. This is a temptation that is almost impossible to battle alone. If you find yourself struggling to stay away from pornography, I hope this will be a catalyst for you to tell someone and ask for help. Talk to a close friend, or an elder, or your community group leader to find strength and accountability to fight this battle by remembering the gospel more. And talk to your kids. Especially those who have been isolated during this time and spend a lot of time on their phones or online. Ask them if they are looking at pornography. Help them to understand how dangerous it is and how it distorts the truth God gives us about sex, relationships and identity. And work together to figure out how you can help them fight this battle by pointing them to the forgiveness Jesus offers, the power to fight sin that he supplies, and the love that he lavishes on us as rescued sinners.

Click here to read the article by Jason Thacker.

The Grace of God and the Love of a Parent

This is an interesting perspective on parenting from a 21 year old college student as she describes getting to a place where she is beginning to better appreciate the love and sacrifice her parents have shown her, and the picture it is of the love and sacrifice of Jesus for her. It reminds me of this Mark Twain quote I think about often, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” This is an encouragement when we feel weary in parenting that our kids often see and hear even the little things we do as parents, it might just take them a long time to value them :) I know I have grown in my appreciation of my parents over the years. But she also weaves Psalm 103 into what she writes to remind us of the character of God our Father, and the love and sacrifice he offers to us. Because the best thing we have to offer to our kids is the overflow of what we are experiencing from our heavenly Father.

Click here to read the article by Eva Parker.

Unfolding Grace: 40 Printable Memory Verse Cards with Illustrations

If you are considering doing Scripture memory with your family, this could be a great place to start. There are 40 verses that walk through the entire story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. It even includes 5 verses from Exodus to memorize as we study it on Sunday mornings [and in student ministry]. Each memory verse has an illustration for the other side of the card that points to the Scripture and helps with memorization.

Click here to download the Scripture memory cards from Crossway.

9-10-20 This Week in Faith

September Memory for Kids

Even though we are not doing Sunday school right now, we want to continue offering monthly memory verses and catechisms for you to work on as a family. We have been choosing our memory verses from different CD’s produced by Seeds Family Worship. The music is a great way for kids [and parents] to get Scripture stuck in their heads. Getting God’s Word into the heads and hearts of our kids is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. This year, we are using their CD I Believe. They are also producing an online family devotional for these verses that you can find HERE. If you don’t already do family devotions, this might be a great place to start. 

Scripture Memory- Matthew 6:31-33

New City Catechism Question 23 and Question 24

Student Ministry Schedule

We are meeting for small groups in the month of August and will reevaluate around Labor Day. The session voted to cancel the church’s retreats for the fall so we will not be going on our annual End of Summer Retreat but we are working on what we might be able to do in town for some extra connection with students.

Middle School- Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30PM at Faith [in the Plaza]

High School- Sundays from 6:00-7:30 at Faith [in the Plaza]

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How to Pray for Unbelieving Family Members

This is a subject that can be hard for me at times, and hard to explain to my kids. I want my family to be regularly praying for family members [and friends] we love that don’t know Jesus. But sometimes, it can feel discouraging to pray the same things over and over again. And it’s important to help our kids to understand how we can “pray and never give up”. This article has some helpful, practical suggestions as well as encouragements for how not growing weary in those prayers draws us closer to God. I think there is some good wisdom here that can help us talk to our kids about why we continue to pray for our lost family members and friends often.

Click here to read the article by William Philip.

The Legacy of a Godly Grandparent

Grandparents have such an opportunity to influence the hearts of their grandkids towards Jesus. I know because my grandma is the one who told me about Jesus when I was a kid and brought me to the church where I became a Christian, when the rest of my family were not yet believers. Whether you live in the same town [or even house] as your grandkids, or you are far from them, what you say and how you live out your faith for them to see can help stir your grandkids’ hearts for Jesus. I hope this is a good reminder of the great calling God has given you, and the grace he supplies to carry it out.

Click here to read the article by Larry McCall.

PODCAST: Dr. Andrew Root and “The End of Youth Ministry?”

This is one of those conversations that I had to listen to with one ear as a student pastor and the other as a parent of 3 middle & high school students [4 this week]. In some ways, this is a conversation between people who work with students about some of the frustrations they experience and the purpose God has for ministry to students in the church. But it also has some great insights into what our teenagers are searching for, and how, as parents, we can often vacillate between being part of the solution and part of the problem. One thing that was helpful for me was some of the things they point out that parents say and do [that I say and do] that feel right in the moment but might actually be pushing them away from what we most want our kids to become as faithful followers of Jesus. In particular, I think the part about the difference between letting our kids discover their identity for themselves verses guiding them to an identity in Jesus is excellent. There are also some good reminders that only God can produce in my kids what I want most for them, so I can rely less on being a perfect parent and more on the grace of Jesus to draw them to himself. I debated whether or not to post this podcast because some of the conversations they have about why parents don’t encourage their kids to be involved in student ministry could come across as self-serving for me to post. But there is so much in here that is good for me to process as a parent, that I thought it would be worth it. I hope you feel that way too.

Click here to listen to the Rooted Podcast Interview.

VIDEO: Discipling Kids in Pandemic Times

This is another conversation that is partially geared towards children’s ministry leaders and volunteers, but includes some really good stuff about what to focus on as parents who want our young children to grow up to know and follow Jesus for a lifetime.

Click here to watch the interview between Rebecca McLaughlin and Raquel Ross.

9-3-20 This Week in Faith

Pray for Me Campaign-LAST WEEK TO SIGN UP! Don’t forget to sign up to pray for a kindergarten through 12 grader this year. This is a great opportunity to pray for kids in our church and build relationships with them. Click here for more info and to sign up!

September Memory for Kids

Even though we are not doing Sunday school right now, we want to continue offering monthly memory verses and catechisms for you to work on as a family. We have been choosing our memory verses from different CD’s produced by Seeds Family Worship. The music is a great way for kids [and parents] to get Scripture stuck in their heads. Getting God’s Word into the heads and hearts of our kids is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. This year, we are using their CD I Believe. They are also producing an online family devotional for these verses that you can find HERE. If you don’t already do family devotions, this might be a great place to start. 

Scripture Memory- Matthew 6:31-33

New City Catechism Question 23 and Question 24

Student Ministry Schedule

We are meeting for small groups in the month of August and will reevaluate around Labor Day. The session voted to cancel the church’s retreats for the fall so we will not be going on our annual End of Summer Retreat but we are working on what we might be able to do in town for some extra connection with students.

Middle School- Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30PM at Faith [in the Plaza]

High School- Sundays from 6:00-7:00 at Faith [in the Plaza]

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A Letter to Young Parents

This is something I needed to read today. It’s a letter written to young parents, and if you are just getting started in parenthood, this is a beautiful picture of what God is calling you to on the road ahead- the blessings and the challenges. But if you’ve been a parent for awhile, it’s a needed reminder of the big picture for those times when we get weighed down by the burdens of parenthood in its daily skirmishes and epic battles. 

"Because there’ll be days when a 17-year-old Liam is going to see you as the enemy, and all of a sudden you’ll realize that the Sermon on the Mount is not about war and foreign policy, nor is it just pie-in-the-sky piety: instead, you’ll hear those words anew and realize that in the command to love your enemies, Jesus is calling you to follow him as a parent, and sometimes even that task will look cruciform.”

But this letter also reminds us of the promises of baptism, the joys God gives us through parenthood, and the grace we find in him to endure.

Click here to read the letter by James K. A. Smith.

An Apologetic for the Christian Mess: 12 Things I Wish I Had Known as a Teen

This is a good list from someone who works with families and kids a lot. It would be interesting to go through the list with our kids and see which of these things they feel most challenged by at this moment in their lives, and which ones they find most challenging to remember and hold onto. It’s also helpful for me to read through this list and remember the difficulty I had holding on to some of these when I was a teenager. It’s definitely not easy to be a parent, but I forget sometimes that it’s hard to be a teenager too.

Click here to read the article by Chap Bettis.

11 Tips for Christian Parents from a Teenager’s Perspective

Similar to the article above, except a reverse perspective. This is a recent high school graduate talking about the things he wants his parents to know were most helpful for him as they worked to raise him and point him to Jesus.

Click here to read tea article by Brandon Houser.

Songs to Help Kids Love God: 14 Artists to Know

One of the things we can do to fill our kids heads and hearts with thoughts about God is to fill our homes with good music. There is so much good kids music to choose from, that points them to Jesus through Scripture, good theology, and humor. Our kids, until they are teenagers, sleep every night to Seeds Family worship. We’ve listened to Slugs and Bugs in the car. And there are even songs in this article that put the catechisms we are memorizing to music. Music is a great tool to form our kids because it gives us the opportunity to make the gospel the soundtrack of our homes.

Click here to read the article by Brett McCracken.

PODCAST: Are My Kids on Track

This is the beginning of a podcast series based on a book this group has written with the same name. It’s great material for considering the emotional, social and spiritual milestones to look for and celebrate in your kids at different ages. There are discussion questions to go along with each episode [or chapter if you wanted to read the book instead] that you could talk through with your spouse or a friend. It’s also something we’ve considered using, if parents were interested, to do a parent discussion at Faith. Let me know if that’s something you’d like to be a part of.

Click here to listen to the podcast from Raising Boys and Girls.