I will have to say I am speechless, proud, hopeful, grieving, and to a certain extent living in denial. You see, our baby girl leaves the house on Monday, August 26 for her last first day of this leg of her education. It is startling how quickly these days have arrived. Many of you have… This is the illustration used in Sunday’s Faith at Home Kickoff sermon. I found it a few weeks ago while looking for family ministry resources. It is by a man named Timothy Paul Jones. http://d6family.com/articles/in-praise-of-inefficiency I saw something beautiful the other day while walking down Breckenridge Lane. In a front yard not far from my home,… This is from a weekly newsletter I receive from Eric Tooley with “Ultimate Escape.” Eric is a youth speaker who speaks about purity. We are hopefully having him at Crossroads in February 2014. It seems like every parent program I have ever done I have taught that it is not good to allow a television… With Easter at the end of this month, why not celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with a commitment to start a weekly Faith Talk with your family? Faith Talks are one of the building blocks to a family’s spiritual growth. A Faith Talk is a time intentionally set aside (and protected) for you and your kids to…
Parental Peace
In Praise of Inefficiency
Media in Your Teenagers Bedroom
Family Faith Talks
Web Links for Parents of Children
- Plugged-In – A Focus on the Family publication designed to help equip parents, youth leaders, ministers and teens with the essential tools that will enable them to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which they live. Includes reviews on current movies, music, and tv shows. * Very Strongly Recommended.
- ParentLife Online – In addition the magazine, ParentLife has an active online presence. The ParentLife blog includes giveaways, fun photos, product reviews, and additional information on topics covered in the magazine. ParentLife Twitter feed and Facebook page also provide ways for parents and kids ministry leaders to connect.
- Raising Godly Children
- HomeFront is a FREE monthly resource that gives parents ideas on how to create fun, spiritually forming times in their home – even in the midst of their busy lives. This digital magazine can be sent right to your inbox each month, making it easy for parents & grandparents to shape a vibrant faith in the lives of their children.
Help Students Invest Their Time Wisely
Adolescence offers many kids their first opportunity to manage their own schedules. Unfortunately, with all the obligations they must juggle, “free time” can become a foreign concept. Teenagers’ waking hours are packed with school, homework, sports, clubs, work, and church activities. So much for the myth that the teen years are a time to just…
In Praise of Inefficiency
This is the illustration used in Sunday’s Faith at Home Kickoff sermon. I found it a few weeks ago while looking for family ministry resources. It is by a man named Timothy Paul Jones. http://d6family.com/articles/in-praise-of-inefficiency I saw something beautiful the other day while walking down Breckenridge Lane. In a front yard not far from my home,…
Media in Your Teenagers Bedroom
This is from a weekly newsletter I receive from Eric Tooley with “Ultimate Escape.” Eric is a youth speaker who speaks about purity. We are hopefully having him at Crossroads in February 2014. It seems like every parent program I have ever done I have taught that it is not good to allow a television…
The Thumb War – Texting Teens
Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, offers these tips for avoiding a “thumb war” with texting teens: Teach teenagers proper stewardship of their cell phones. Owning a phone is a privilege, not a promise. But parents can do a lot to ensure that kids use phones appropriately. Model responsible use on the…
Web Links for Parents of Teenagers
Most of us have figured out by now that to be effective at ministering to teenagers, we have to think about how to also reach out to their parents. Some of us are parents of teenagers ourselves and want to be informed. Regardless of where you fit, here are some sites that focus on parents and parent ministry: keeping them informed on teen culture, equipping them for spiritual influence, and helping to make them an ally of student ministry.
- Plugged-In – A Focus on the Family publication designed to help equip parents, youth leaders, ministers and teens with the essential tools that will enable them to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which they live. Includes reviews on current movies, music, and tv shows. * Very Strongly Recommended.
- Center for Parent / Youth Understanding– CPYU was developed in 1990 by Walt Mueller. They have the tagline “understanding culture to impact culture” and offer several resources to that end, including the Youth Culture e-Update, 3(D) Reviews of popular media, and pages of articles and pop culture commentary. Lots of help for the parent that wants to stay in the know.
- The Source for Parents – This is a relatively new site from Jonathan McKee, the mind behind The Source for Youth Ministry. Jonathan’s Source site has always done a good job of keeping youth workers informed about trends in student culture and now this site aims to do the same for parents. Subscribe to weekly parent helps, Jonathon’s blog, and a youth culture blog.
- Homeword– Jim Burns founded Homeword in 1985. He is known as the guy who was Doug Field’s youth pastor and is passionate about equipping families for success. Homeword does this through daily radio programs, an extensive web site – with one of the best monthly parent newsletters you can find anywhere, and lots of quality print material.
- Real World Parents– Founded by Youth Specialties’ own Mark Matlock, this site offers conversation starters, family activities, and my favorite – daily Scripture prayers that are emailed to parents to remind them to pray for their kids.
- Focus on the Family has some incredible marriage resources. We wil be slowly adding more resources, but this site includes advice and articles ranging from dating to how to regain your footing in a rocky marriage.
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