Home Archive by category "Parenting" (Page 2)

Category: Parenting

An Awesome Adventure with Parents

How do you make sure your kids know the BASICS of the Christian Faith? At our church, we offer a course for kids to take with a parent. It’s called the Awesome Adventure Small Group and it’s for 4-6th graders but they must attend with a parent. It’s a twelve week class because there are 12 lessons in the Awesome Adventure Guide that my wife and I wrote. It covers topics from Salvation through how to read your Bible and Pray through how to discover your Spiritual Gifts. Kids memorize Scripture each week and quiz each other (tested by a non-family member!) and earn points for attendance, bringing their Bible, knowing the verse and get BONUS POINTS when mom and/or dad know the verse too! But it’s not all hard work – they play some games too because forming and growing relationships is also a part of discipleship. Like this game where they were dropping gold fish crackers into their parents mouths! In our busy world, we need to help families carve out time to discuss spiritual things. That why I create Family Table Talkers every month to help families be more strategic at their meal times. I also try…

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100 Ways to Show Your Kids LOVE!

Here are 100 EASY (and FUN) ways to show your kids you LOVE them!   1. Say “I love you” often. 2. Say “I like you” as well. (Like is optional!) 3. Pay attention to them when they are talking to you. 4. Sit with them and read stories together. 5. Ask what the best part of their day has been. 6. Sing worship songs with them. 7. Play along with them, whether it is blocks, coloring or video games. 8. Read a Bible Story together. 9. Tell them that you love them no matter what. 10. If you are wrong, say you are sorry. 11. Play in the rain and splash in the puddles together. 12. Never compare them to other children. Assure them that they are the best “them” there is and ever will be. 13. Make paper airplanes together. Have fun measuring distance and time flight duration! 14. Wrestle and roll on the floor with them. 15. Laugh and giggle about silly things with them. 16. Each time you greet your child, touch them. It communicates warmth and love. 17. Tell your child each day that you are so thankful to have them. 18. Go into detail…

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Would You Toss Your Kid to Sharks?

PARENTS? Would you toss your kid to sharks? You say, “Of course not! Silly question!” Then, let me ask you some some other questions, as a dad who is try to save my own son from some very real sharks. Do you let you kids have Shapchat? Do you not have a filtering on their Internet? Do you monitor their texts, chats and web browsing? The sharks are out to get your kid. If you don’t believe it, you are living in intentional ignorance. Scripture says, BE ALERT AND SOBER-MINDED. YOUR ENEMY, THE DEVIL PROWLS AROUND LIKE A ROARING LION, (aka Sharks!) SEEKING SOMEONE TO DEVOUR. 1 PETER 5:8 Are you leaving your children unprotected? As a pastor, I’m disheartened by parents who give up – “It’s just too hard.” As a father I get angry because it makes it harder for me to lead my own son when I hear, “but my friends parents let them,” and these are Christian parents. Is is hard? Yes. Is it worth it? YES. Parents, especially those I know –  I can’t do this alone. We need to be a team. We need to FIGHT THE ENEMY, not our kids. Our kids need…

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What Matters Most?

Time for a trip down memory lane… here is a video I filmed with Luke on New Year’s Even nine years ago. He’s now 14, but it’s as true as ever. The video was my contribution to the Online Video Conference to answer the question: “What Matters Now?” My “One Word” was Relationships. I filmed the video on the Eve of Dec. 31st, 2010 and brought in the New Year with my young son while filming. I could think of no better way to answer that very critical question. I hope this will challenge you to think had about the relationships in your life that Matter Most. I hope you enjoy it, and as we head in to a new year, I hope it reminds you to prioritize your relationships – not just with your children – but with whoever is most important to you. Happy New Year!

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NEW! Pastor Karl’s Bedtime Stories Podcast

Introducing Pastor Karl’s Bedtime Stories – A NEW podcast for kids from Pastor Karl Bastian! Kids can’t come to church? No worries! Now Pastor Karl brings his stories to them in his new podcast created just for kids! Pastor Karl loves to tell stories. Sometimes they are a story from the Bible. Sometimes they are a parable that teaches something from the Bible. Often he shares a true story from his own life or tells a story he heard and wants to pass along. He might even invite some of his silly friends on to the show to tell one of their stories. You never know what kind of story it will be, but you can know it will be wholesome, fun, and educational. Pastor Karl’s Bedtime Stories are available on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, or just ask Alexa to play it for you!

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