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Statistics say that the three biggest factors in building a faith that lasts in the life of a child are the spiritual investment of a parent, the outside voices of other adults, and the opportunity for that child to find a personal mission. That’s why having a family rhythm of faith and having outside voices speaking into your family are so important. That’s why a partnership with a church is so i...

Somewhere along the line, we picked up the idea that kids are supposed to be the focus of our lives. The problem with that line of thinking is that it causes problems for everyone, including kids. Could child-centered parenting produce self-centered children?

No matter what phase your family is in, you’ve discovered one thing—though the days can feel long, the years really are short. From sleepless nights to managing screen time to an empty nest, figuring out family life isn’t easy and the truth is that every phase seems to be different. How do you thrive in the phase you are in today and be sure that you are headed in the right direction in the long-t...

Every one of us has had that feeling that we have everything in our lives “under control.” We all have a tendency to be independent and decide we don’t need any help handling life decisions or the choices we make—until it’s “out of control”. Only then are we willing to reach for help, but then it’s usually too late to avoid the consequences of our own isolation. Thankfully, God designed us with th...

The suicide rate in America is causing the average life expectancy rate to drop for the first time in 60 years. And the US Military finished 2018 with a troubling statistic: it experienced the highest number of suicides among active-duty personnel in at least 6 years. The church has to talk about this! So tomorrow, we’re answering the question, “Where does one spend eternity after suicide,” and ta...

Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs. It’s a low-grade fear. An edginess, a dread. A cold wind that won’t stop howling. It’s not so much a storm as the certainty that one is coming. Always… coming. Sunny days are just an interlude. You can’t relax. Can’t let your guard down. All peace is temporary, short-term. There’s trouble out there! So you don’t sleep well. You don’t laugh often. You don’t e...

Who can I talk to about depression? I’ve asked this. Maybe you’re asking this. Let’s talk about depression. Sound okay? No? No one starts a conversation like that, but maybe we should. Maybe the stigma only remains because we choose to keep it hush-hush. And unfortunately for too long, the church has remained silent—or even worse—thrown stones with those struggling with depression, anxiety, or tho...

Christianity has an image problem. If you’ve lived in America for very long, I doubt this surprises you. Over the past few decades, Christians have lost their influence in culture because they’ve handled it so poorly. They had power. They had dollars. But instead of using power and the dollars to reach out and love people well...

If we’re honest, for some of us the ultimate fight is just making it through the month without another disaster. For others, the ultimate fight is making it through the day without slapping someone in the face! What do we do when it seems like all of our energy is wasted because life is beating us down?

It is easy to fall in love—all you need is a pulse! But wow do you stay in love? Because it has never been easier to fall in love and get married, but it has never been harder to stay in love and stay married. The key is keeping your marriage relationship the number one priority over every other relationship—except your relationship with God.

History is full of stories about major battles that have been lost because of the tiniest mistakes, of huge business failures that were the result of the seemingly smallest miscalculation, of tragedies that were caused by a single error, of people who died because of one small misstep, of accidents that happened because of one small lapse in judgment. As it turns out, sometimes the stuff we overlo...

There are few things worse than failing to read the fine print! Why are we studying this little book? Because when we said, “Yes” to Jesus, many of us didn’t realize that within the “fine print” of faith is the reality of spiritual battles. The good news is that we are in this together.

There are few things worse than picking a fight...and losing! Why are we studying this little book? Because we all fight battles. And to be honest, sometimes we are like a smelly teenager spraying body spray on something that will never smell fresh without a brand new start. We fight the wrong battles.

For most of us, life is more like a fight than a race. Why are we studying this little book? Because we fight battles too. And to be honest, sometimes we can’t tell if these battles are from within or from without. And that makes a big difference in how you fight them! Perspective matters. We sometimes face things that appear over our heads and we wonder, what are we to do?

The average person lies four times a day. There’s one study done by the University of Massachusetts that says that 60% of people who meets a new person can’t have a 10-minute conversation without telling at least one lie. But hey, it’s just one little white lie, right? Wrong. Lying quickly erodes that trust, hurting both parties in the process. Whether it is keeping secrets or telling a little whi...

Our big mouths can be destructive, but they also have the power to build others up. What we say can impact the quality, and even the direction, of the lives of the people around us. How can we use this power for good?

Like a small spark that has the potential to scorch an entire green forest, our tongues are untamable, with the power to control our whole bodies. We have a tool that can be used to build up those around us or tear them down in just a few words. What do we do with that kind of power? We can’t lock it away. But we can, by God’s grace, learn to control it.

We all know what it’s like to be hurt by someone who just couldn’t listen long enough to understand us. Maybe in their attempt to be right, they damaged a relationship that could have been saved with a little patience and curiosity. You’ve probably been on the other side of that coin too. Taking the verbal offense may have won the argument, but you lost relationally. What if we didn’t settle for b...

It’s so easy to worry, and if you’re honest, it probably seems a little annoying when Jesus tells you to simply stop worrying (which he does). The real question is how? We’ll look at what Jesus says the chief causes of worry are, and what to do about them.

In a world of outrage, it’s easy to be angry. Whether your anger shows up in private, public or whether it’s just something you feel but rarely show, what’s underneath that? We’ll look at where your anger comes from, how to deal with it, and how to replace it with profound gratitude.

Remember when you were a kid and trusted at a level that seemed, well, childlike? But our trust gets broken. Over time, we become suspicious of people, organizations and even God. What happens to us when suspicion becomes our dominant view? Everything changes when you stop assuming the worst and start believing the best.

We live in a culture where we’ve never had more options to choose from, but in many ways, we also feel chained down by those same choices. We can feel the pressure that comes from being tied to our job, to a broken relationship, to our past, to our financial situation, to inner battles, etc. No matter how hard we try, why is it so hard to feel free in our daily lives? We long to be better, but can...

Every week you spend time with people who don’t know Jesus, and opportunities to have a conversation come up. How exactly do you have a good conversation with someone about your faith? How do you start and what do you even say? Jesus gives us a few examples of conversations he had with people on the journey to faith. Let’s look at his example of how to have a truth and grace-filled conversation ab...

In a culture where people are spiritually curious, they are looking for people who are willing to have open and honest conversations. At the same time, it can be difficult to understand someone’s journey to Jesus. When does God show up in someone’s life? How do we play a role in that? How do we trust God to show up? How do they trust us as a safe person to help them on their journey?

78% of people who don’t attend church are open to a conversation with a Christian about what they believe. At the same time, on average, Christians share what they believe with less than one person a year. Christians can feel an awkwardness or reluctance to sharing their faith. Often we can rationalize our reasons, but perhaps it comes down to a heart issue, not a head issue. What compelled early...