God Made Boys and Girls, a review

“Mommy, let’s get this book!” My three-year-old daughter exclaimed as she pulled a sparkly pink book about drag queens off the library shelf. Visit the library these days, and you’ll quickly find that the children’s section is unashamedly promoting the youngest readers to accept an unbiblical worldview concerning gender and sexuality. Marty Machowski’s book, God…

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Discipline: What If Scripture Isn’t Politically Correct?

There lurks within every human heart an intractable rebel, bent on refusing the rightful lordship of Jesus Christ. There is, of course, no answer to this defect other than the grace of God. The gospel changes the terms of the battle; the Spirit strengthens us; Scripture directs us in the fight. But even for believers…

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Training Children to Worship

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). The goal: Train up a child in the way God designed him. God designed mankind to be dependent upon Him and to worship Him (Isaiah 43:7, 21; Revelation 4:11). Everyone worships someone…

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How Valuable Is Children’s Ministry?

Here’s a statement that will probably make most pastors and church members pause: Children’s ministry may be the most important ministry of your church. D.L. Moody once said, “If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God!” Statistics show that 80-85% of those who believe in Christ…

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Dealing with the Wiggleworm: Tips on Keeping Children Engaged

Children must be discipled with care and devotion. A child is no less a citizen of God’s kingdom than their parents; they are not second-tier after thoughts to God like so many of our ministries seem to reflect. On the contrary, children seem to be some of the most esteemed members of God’s family. Christ…

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Beating First World Syndrome

Do your kids ever manifest symptoms of First World Syndrome? Recent generations of young people have been groomed to have a certain sense of entitlement about them. That something is owed them. That they deserve more. An expectation of accolades, convenience, and ease. It is grievous and unkind to cultivate this. Suspect there are some…

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The Power of Heartfelt Values

Thomas Overmiller A Pagan Messaging Frenzy The noteworthy “media” statistic for parents used to be the average number of hours teenagers spent in front of a television screen. This is no longer the case, because portable electronics and the omnipresent internet have changed the way that young people (or anybody for that matter) consumes media…

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A Child Can Walk with God

Thomas Overmiller Perhaps we underestimate the potential for a child’s walk with God. A child can be born again (Matt. 18:3). (I was born again at 2 years old.) A child can choose to be baptized. And any such child can walk with God. He can develop a meaningful, genuine, vibrant relationship with God. He…

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Children in the Worship Service

Thomas Overmiller Sometimes people ask me why we include children in our Sunday morning worship service, rather than send them to a separate program. The reason is a biblical one. It appears that children participated in the corporate worship of the churches from the beginning. On three occasions (maybe more), Scripture indicates that children were…

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Graduating Your Children to Christian Service

Don Johnson My title sounds a bit formal, but I mean for this article to be more of a personal testimonial to my own dear mother, in her ninety second year, still irrepressible, but slowing down physically these days. The title owes some inspiration to a visit to Greenville for my daughter’s graduation from University…

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