Mom – My Giving Tree

Three Approaches to Parenting Contrasted

In preparation for my message from Ephesians 6.1-4, I came up with this visual aid:

 

The Problem with Education in America

I believe in education.*  I truly desire for all children to have the opportunity and privilege of a good education. But let’s face it, the United States of America is not exactly knocking the ball out of the park when it comes to educating the masses.

What’s the problem? Is it curriculum? Is it funding? Is it standards? Is it lack of testing? No, none of these are the main problem.

St. Johns, Florida

Although we live in one of the best public school districts in the nation (it’s true, year in and year out, Newseek, Forbes, and others say so), we choose to homeschool. We do this for a very strategic reason: we believe that no one cares more about our children’s development than us, their parents.

This is the problem with education in America: parents.

Book Review: Family-Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham, Jr.

I don’t recall when I first heard of Voddie Baucham but we did have the privilege of seeing him live at the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis back in 2006. During that same timeframe I called him and talked with him about twenty-five minutes. He was gracious and I recall our conversation went very well. What I cannot recall is why I called him in the first place!

I started reading his first book, The Ever-Loving Truth, but did not finish it, which is nothing new in my world. This book, Family-Driven Faith, which I purchased through the Amazon Kindle Store and read over three devices (my iPad, my iPhone, and my wife’s Kindle Fire), was more engaging to me because of my interest in the subject matter. Two areas of interest drove me to read this book: (1) how to do a better job as the spiritual leader of my home and (2) how to more effectively lead our church to equip parents in discipling their children. Family-Driven Faith is the only book I have ever read that that I can recall addresses these two issues, and Baucham does so boldly and directly.

Pushing Your Kids Away from the Church and God

Sure, it’s self-serving to post this, but it’s definitely a pattern I’ve seen through the years:

. . . I once overheard a visitor to one of our services tell this story to a young father. He said, “This morning you brought your child to be given over to the Lord. I did that once too. But let me urge you from the bottom of my heart, don’t do to your child what I did to mine. As he grew up, he listened to me criticize the pastor year after year. As a consequence, I turned off my boy to the church and to ministers, and today he is far from God.”

– C. John Miller, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, p. 34

(HT: Chris Brauns)

Ben Phillips on Modesty

One of my good longtime friends, Ben Phillips, is my guest for this post. He recently penned this excellent piece on modesty. Ben is currently serving as the Family Ministry Team Leader at the Arkansas Baptist Convention. 

Modest Choices by Ben Phillips

Gaze at the TV, view a hit music video, examine a magazine, saunter through the mall, (dare I say enter a sanctuary?) and it’s easy to observe that modesty is not the fashion trend in today’s American culture.  A 2007 report by the American Psychological Association on the sexualization of girls reveals the negative consequences of this pervasive societal drift.

As a father of a teenage daughter and two sons, I’ve wrestled with this issue from a biblical perspective.  One writer quotes, “modesty is more about the heart than the hemline.”  In order to apprehend modesty correctly, one must inform the heart with Scripture.

5 Best Toys

Do you ever read something and say, “I wish I had come up with that?” This is really good, and SO true.

Parenting Wisdom From An Older Saint

One of the things that I am afraid our culture has almost totally abandoned is the value of tapping into the wisdom of those who have been walking longer on this earth. My wife and I recently listened to this wonderful recording of the recently retired Pastor Albert Martin. For parents, there is GOLD in this testimony. Listen and take heed.

Mohler on Apple’s Steve Jobs, Parenting, and P0RN

Political scientists and sociologists long ago came to the realization that one of the most significant indicators of political behavior is parenthood. Those who bear responsibility to raise children look at the world differently from those who do not. In fact, parenthood may be the most easily identifiable predictor of an individual’s position on an entire range of issues.Now, along comes Steve Jobs to prove the point. Jobs, the Maestro of Cool at Apple, recently engaged in a most interesting email exchange with Ryan Tate, who writes the “Valleywag” blog for the gossip Web site, Gawker.

On his initial email to Steve Jobs, Tate complained about what he described as a lack of freedom in Apple’s approach to the approval of products for its “App Store” for iPods, the iPhone, and the iPad. “If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company?,” Tate asked. “Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with ‘revolution?’ Revolutions are about freedom.”

Apparently, Tate was upset about some of the restrictions put in place by Apple. Among those restrictions is a ban on pornography.

Steve Jobs threw Ryan Tate’s definition of freedom right back at him. Is Apple about freedom? “Yep,” said Jobs, “freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’.”

Read the rest of Dr. Mohler’s post HERE.

“This Was Grace”

Phenomenal 90 second testimony: