Family Helps

My wife and I had been married about two years when her pastor who had married us asked me to come and preach an eight-day revival meeting. After the last service he pulled me aside and said some nice things about my preaching. His countenance became very serious however and I will never forget his challenge to me.

Fulfilling. Consuming. Exciting. Challenging. Parenting is all of this, and more. And it is one of the greatest privileges of my life.

All of us who are passionate about ministry recognize that we can have competing interests when it comes to balancing our ministry and family responsibilities. If we’re not careful, we can yield to the addiction of busyness in ministry to the neglect of our own family.

One of the keys to maintaining a positive and influential relationship with your teenager (or any other person for that matter) is to be aware of and address a wounded spirit. The Bible tells us that a wounded spirit is hard to bear, that strife can separate friends, and that offenses bring with them a hardness of heart. If an offense in our home occurs, just imagine all the damage that can be done.

Two of the greatest things parents can do for their children are to instill in their hearts eternal priorities—specifically the priority to reach the world with the gospel—and help them understand the world-wide focus of our mission as Christians. We are to witness to our neighbors and reach the world.

As parents, we have an awesome responsibility to raise our children for the Lord. Parenting is so much bigger than providing basic necessities of life; it requires nurturing young hearts in the ways of the Lord.

All children have moments or seasons when they struggle with obedience—just like their parents. But some young people, particularly in their teenage years, become defiant and overtly disrespectful. Why?

Many skills can be developed during the summer. Keep children on a schedule of learning even when they are on vacation from school so they are ready for the fall. Suggestions are given below, but ideas to do are endless!

The life I enjoy today started when I was young. I was reared in a Christian home and chose to marry a preacher when I was seventeen years of age. On many occasions I have had the privilege to teach teen girls. I always tell them, “You make the biggest decisions of your life when you are too young to make them.”

As the leader of a couple’s class, new Christians will often ask me: “What are the main ingredients to having a happy marriage?”

Parenting is not for the faint of heart. And I’m not just referring to the hazards of stepping on legos in the middle of the night. (Although legos do qualify as a parenting hazard.) But primarily I’m referring to the responsibility parents have to shepherd their children’s hearts toward God.

On one of the most memorable road trips of our early marriage, Terrie and I were making the six-hour drive from our home in San Dimas, California, to her parents’ home in San Jose for a birthday party.

This is the time of year when we realize how fast time flies! We have so many good intentions that are never accomplished because we don’t “make” them happen. Making memories has to be intentional and purposeful. Life is about moments. Don’t wait for them, create them!

On August 9, 1975, I stood on the platform of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Fairfax, Virginia, and waited for my bride-to-be to walk down the aisle.

We’ve all had ideas of what the ideal romance is. When you were younger, it may have been images of a knight in shining armor, bravely rescuing the princess.

Everyone knows that if you want to go on a great vacation, it’s not enough to simply choose your destination. You have to also plan the journey—how you will get there, where you will stay, what you will do…or your dream vacation may fall flat.

I had not been in the pastorate very long when a man in our church approached me and stated that he wanted his daughter to become a doctor. I asked, “Why a doctor?”

As a dad, there is simply no greater joy to me than that my children would love and follow the Lord. I’m grateful for God’s call on their life for the ministry, and I’m thrilled to see how He is using and blessing each of our four children and their spouses.

Terrie will never let me forget our first couples retreat at Lancaster Baptist Church. Trying to save on cost, I rented a large house by a lake, rather than reserving hotel rooms. And I was such a rookie pastor that I literally had the men sleep on the first floor and the ladies on the second floor.