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Family Life

Why Youth Need to See Your Marriage

As I peered through my veil, my husband-to-be was beaming from ear to ear. I know it’s a cliché but it really seems like yesterday we stood before God, friends and family on our wedding day. From this point forward, we would be one. Standing at the altar I thought I could never love anyone more than I did at that moment. I was so wrong. No one told me that your love grows deeper, stronger, and richer from that point on. At the same time, no one told me just how hard marriage truly is. The old adage that declares, “This is not a sprint; it’s a marathon,” is more than true.

More and more, our youth know about the harshness of marriage instead of the joys. According to the American Psychological Association between 40% and 50% of youth will witness a divorce in their lifetime. Another 50% of that statistic will witness a second one. 1 Did you know that almost 41 percent of children have parents who have never been married?2

It’s no wonder that our students are struggling to know what a marriage should look like.

Family Life

Your Spouse Comes Second

By JonGreenhill

“I feel like you love your job more than you love me.” These are the words that my wife of two years said to me frustratingly. It was in the middle of an on and off argument that would last for weeks. It was the lowest point in my marriage and it was a time that I had to step back and rethink my calling as a youth pastor.

Family Life

Who gets the most out of a teaching?

By AlanMelton

Perhaps the most exciting thing that happens when we begin to follow the example of Jesus in teaching our children is personal growth. As we begin to teach on a regular basis, our teaching “muscle” grows and becomes stronger.

Fear of the Lord: The Fundamental for the Family

By AlanMelton

If someone were to ask me: “what do you think is the most important ingredient to a healthy family,” what would I say in response? I would suppose that my response would be for the family, especially the parent(s) to display a reverent and healthy dose of respect and fear of the almighty God. A child or wife may not remember what was preached last week from the local pastor, but if they see and know that you as a father, or you as a mother truly have a reverent fear of the Lord they’ll take that to heart.

Why Moms Are So Important to the Church

By AlanMelton

I don’t think that Christians really grasp the immense value of moms to the church and to society at large. More than anyone else in our lifetime, during the first few weeks of our life, moms do for us what Jesus did for His disciples. Our lives are profoundly impacted by this Christ-like care that we receive. For most of us, these weeks or months or years were a special time in our lives when we experienced something very akin to the way Jesus made disciples. God designed disciple-making into every mother’s DNA.

Busyness: The Thief of Family Memories

By AlanMelton

“Seventeen summers” said the busy father, wistfully describing the memory of his oldest child growing up. He continued, “We get seventeen summer vacations, and then our children are gone.” His statement stung me as I thought about my own family experience. Is that all there is with parenting; seventeen family vacations? If scripture teaches that children are a blessing, why am I not enjoying that blessing?

Ten Practical Tips for Dads in Discipling Your Children for Christ

By AlanMelton

We who are dads have some unique challenges with making disciples. Moms have a built in “disciple-maker gene” that is given by God, but we dads tend to be more focused on providing income than on nurturing children.

Transition in Ministry is Personal

By Xposed2Jesus

After searching, browsing and searching some more I’ve discovered there are many articles and blog posts written about transition in ministry but yet very little, if any at all, discuss the personal side of the transition. As a matter of fact I wrote an article about transition in ministry about four years ago and no where did I discuss the personal side.

Marriage Advice to my son (ohmygosh) and his bride!

By Tricia Goyer

My son Cory is getting married. It's hard to believe. My husband and I adore our soon to be daughter-in-law, Katie. Cory picked a winner! With my joy there is also an underlying anxiousness. Marriage is HARD. Being marriage to John has been more wonderful than I ever dreamed and harder than I ever thought.

So, for Cory and Katie, here is some advice:

Send each other off with a 20-second kiss every morning...

Life Unplugged

By Shannon Primicerio

Last week I went on vacation. That’s right. The blog posts you read were scheduled via auto post and my silence on Twitter and Facebook was due to the fact that I was traipsing through New York City and the surrounding areas with my husband.