Home Archive by category "Parenting" (Page 13)

Category: Parenting

When Family Trumps Family Ministry

I am sad to report that my 94 year old grammy passed away just weeks before her 95th birthday after going into the hospital on what would have been my grandpa’s 101st birthday. She passed quietly and peacefully while listening to Psalm 23 and the Lord’s Prayer. I was supposed to be traveling to speak at a family ministry conference, but when she got ill, family suddenly was more important than a “family ministry conference” – so I called and asked if I could back out last minute. They were very gracious and understanding. So instead of speaking at this national conference I had been looking forward to for two years, I was at my Grammy’s funeral. In love with Downtown Chicago, last year I had the honor of taking her on a “date” downtown with my wife and four year old for what we knew would probably be her last excursion downtown, as it was getting harder and harder for her to venture out. This was an annual dinner cruise my wife and I did to celebrate our first date as Moody Bible students, and since we were moving to Colorado last October, we knew this 20th occasion would…

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Dealing with Parent Conflict

Here is a Sneak Peek into Part 6 of the Kids Church Cookbook – just to give you a glimpse the material it deals with. Someone was telling me the other day how the Cookbook gets a lot deeper than just how to use Puppets and Balloons and I need to share that more – so here is a “taste” of one of the “meatier” topics covered in the section of staffing your children’s church. (This was posted prior to the final editing.) Dealing with Parent Conflict Ben Franklin said that in life, two things were certain: death and taxes. When it comes to children’s ministry and parents, there are two things that are certain: kids and conflict. The kids are the easy part! The conflict… not so easy. Invariably, you are doing to do something that a parent is not going to like. Occasionally, you are going to do something wrong. A parent is going to call you on it. When that happens. Be humble, don’t make any excuses, don’t explain it away, don’t give the circumstances – just admit it and apologize. They know you are human and their respect for you will go up. And even if…

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Partnering with Parents That WORKS

If you were asked, “Do you partner with parents?” it’s been my experience that you are most likely to answer, “I try.” And if I were to ask you, “How do you partner with parents?” you are likely to list types of events you’ve done, resources you’ve sent home, or things that you’ve tried once, but didn’t seem to quite you pull off. My guess is that when it comes to the concept of partnering with parents, you feel defeated, or in a quandary as to how to do it. You are not alone! What if you could say with confidence, “YES! We partner with families in my church.” I believe you can. I think it is safe to assume that you are very concerned about the spiritual welfare of the children in your church. If you are a parent, you have your own children in mind as you think about the challenges that they are currently facing and the battles that lie ahead. Perhaps the title “Partnering with Parents” resonates with you as something that is desperately needed in your church. However, it may be a phrase that conjures up feelings of doubt, discouragement or frustration because as much…

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Adoption

On this Father’s Day, I’d like to give you 12 reasons you should consider adoption: The only thing greater than being a Dad is knowing you are giving a home to a child who otherwise wouldn’t being enjoying the life you are providing. Enjoy this video highlight from my Father’s Day, we had a great day just enjoying each other. Truly every day is Father’s Day for me, after waiting 15 years to be a dad, I am soaking in each moment with my son. But in this case, the soaking, was quite literal, as you shall see! Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there, and a special greeting to my dad, who I did a blog tribute to a few years ago that is as true as ever!

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Super Dad? Maybe Not.

Recently while in a store they had Superman Returns playing on a giant TV to encourage visitors to relax and try out their furniture. While I wasn’t too nuts about the film, my good friend Brent Peak had recent argued with me that the opening airplane sequence was one of the best cinematic scenes ever filmed, so after making sure no one was looking, I re-winded the DVD to that scene and Luke and I kicked back and watched it while mom shopped. Brent was right. Luke loved it and asked to watch it over and over! Then yesterday, I was wearing a Superman shirt and Luke pointed at me and said, “Look, Dad, you’re a hero!” Bursting with pride, I put my fists on my sides like the Man of Steel and puffed out my chest, standing as tall and dignified as I could and proclaimed, “Yes, I am Super Dad, flying around saving airplanes in distress!” in reference to the movie clip we’d watched since that’s all he really knows of Superman. My four year old took one look at me and said, “Well, maybe toy airplanes Dad,” and went back to playing. I wasn’t too crushed. It…

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