Home Archive by category "Spiritual Growth"

Category: Spiritual Growth

Truth to Youth is Different Today

One of the most powerful workshops I ever attended was taught by my good friend Dick Crider several years ago. It was about the changing of the very words we use. When we talk to young people today, we THINK we are saying one thing, but the very words we use have been redefined to have completely different definitions. This is intentional, and it is devastating to the Church and to Truth. These are the pictures I took of some of this slides as he taught. Let them sink in and realize that when you talk or teach today, you have to be extremely intentional in how you communicate. We have to make extra effort to be clear about the Truth. Definitions may change but the Truth remains constant. How each person responds to the Truth hasn’t changed either. (Hebrews 9:27)“Tolerance” doesn’t mean the same thing to us, as Christians, as it means to the secular World. We are the most tolerate of all people… they would disagree. We also are very accepting. But the World has a different definition for accepting. You must not just accept the person, but endorse and even praise their actions. We separate the person…

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A Prisoner to Ministry?

As the year comes to a close, are you starting to make plans for next year? We all want next year to be better than this year, right? I know I do! In the midst of celebrating Christmas and enjoying friends and family and hopefully a little bit of downtime, this is the perfect time to start to think ahead to make some plans for the new year! Do you ever feel like a prisoner to ministry? Let me introduce you to a video training that I did many years ago that is as relevant today as a day I filmed it. It was the final installment in a five-part Leadership Lab training series. As we head into a new year, it would be a great investment to pick up this fifth segment, Define, Refine and Shine, and if you are feeling the early stages of burn out – pick up part one too, First Things First I have been to that place where you feel trapped and overwhelmed – feeling like you secretly hate what you love because it’s just too much. You can’t blame your boss, your church, your spouse, or anyone or anything external. Control starts within.…

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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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The Secret to Discipling Kids!

In a media saturated world, where kids are juggling content as much as adults, and where kids often don’t live in the same place for their entire childhood, how do you make sure YOUR kids know the basics of the Christian Faith? The “secret” isn’t really a secret, it is just not done intentionally often enough – The secret is simply discipleship. Jesus discipled. And when He left, he commanded us to disciple other, teaching them “everything He commanded” in addition to sharing the Gospel and baptizing. What is Discipleship? It is an intentional process of guiding another person through the basics of the Christian Faith. Introducing MY AWESOME ADVENTURE! My Awesome Adventure is a dynamic follow-up resource for new Christians or an introduction to the Christian faith for kids who are not yet familiar with Christ. Children, parents, and teachers will love this introduction to the basics of following Jesus. Teach children, ages 9-12, the essentials of being fully committed followers of Jesus Christ. My Awesome Adventure can be used for self-study, with a mentor, or in a classroom. Introduce your children to Pastor Karl, the Kidologist, who will take them on an exciting hike through the natural wonders…

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Sending Kids on a MISSION!

Kids come to church, listen, learn and then go home. But how do we impact how they live? It is so important to give children practical things they can do to live out what they are learning at church. Your curriculum likely calls that the “Application.” But just telling kids an application, doesn’t mean they’ll remember to do it! So how do you break into the routine and busyness of their week? Just like your lesson, you need to make the application fun. As we teach kids to share, give and be generous, we need to also provide them a way to DO it. How? Send them on a Mission! Our church is currently collecting school supplies for teaches and students at an inner city elementary school our church has partnered with. That is their mission. My mission is to make collecting these supplies fun. So last week, my son and I went to Walmart to demonstrate the Mission we want to send our kids on. Here is the video we made to get our kids excited about collecting these supplies. Making your own promo video is easy. I needed only an iPhone, a little bit of planning, and less…

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