Raising Christian Kids

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” -Matthew 25:40. Good friends are valuable for many reasons, one being that they help to prevent isolation and loneliness while increasing our sense of belonging and purpose. Jesus is the perfect example of what a friend should look like; in fact, he is the perfect example of a best frie...

“Parenting is broken people raising more broken people. I’m not perfect; so, I must go to something that is perfect, and that’s God and God’s word.” -Dan Seaborn. Dan Seaborn is the founder and president of Winning At Home, a non-profit ministry that encourages families of all ages and stages to lead Christ-centered homes. His book, Winning at Home: Tackling the Topics that Confuse Kids and Scare...

Does your child know what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit means? Blasphemy is a fundamental biblical directive we should understand well to be able to teach our children when the time comes. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a willful, wicked rejection of God and, throughout the Bible, was subject to punishment by death. Blasphemy was to call into question the integrity and holiness of God himself. Ido...

If your kids want to listen to rap music, why not encourage them to listen to rap music about God? Timothy Brindle and Jonathan Gibson, together, are passionate about teaching kids about God and the Bible through their fun and engaging book series, Acrostic Theology, which uses the alphabet and rhyme to do just that! Timothy Brindle has a Master of Theology degree and a Master of Divinity degree a...

“Sweat more in the training so you will bleed less on the battlefield.” -Greg Koukl As human beings, we are designed to be resilient. There are ways to teach children how to stand firm and have courage when faced with adversity or failure. Resilience is defined as the ability of a substance to return to its usual shape after being bent, stretched, or pressed; it is also defined as the ability to b...

“Children have to make their faith their own. They have to get to that point where they can defend the Bible and defend their own faith, not their parent’s faith.”-Jesse Florea. Jesse Florea has worked at Focus on the Family for nearly 30 years. For 25 of those years, he’s been the editor of Clubhouse Magazine and Clubhouse Jr. Magazine. He has over forty book credits, including the CBS Defend You...

As I'm sure you know, we, as human beings, don't always respond correctly when our patience is being tested. Even if we try and be gentle parents, we sometimes lose control and yell at our children when we are disciplining. Emotional reactivity and knee-jerk responses can sometimes turn us into the Incredible Hulk, the big angry superhero who only knows how to express his emotions with rage and an...

"We have at this point way over 300 near-death experiences that describe an awareness or a detailed encounter with God." -Jeffrey Long Jeffrey Long, M.D., is a radiation oncology physician who, over 20 years ago, founded the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation and has investigated over 4000 near-death experiences. The results of his previous research were published in his New York Times best...

If we approach prayer intentionally with excitement and reverence, our children can learn to do the same! Teaching our children to pray often can help to prepare them for what they will face in life, and it can empower and equip them to stand firm in their faith when faced with adversity in today’s changing society. But we must teach them to pray often and more intentionally! During this second pa...

US News stated that fewer than half of American adults pray daily. And research says that only 69% of Christians pray weekly… Our top priority should be that our children learn how to speak to God all the time, every day, and as often as possible. And sometimes, it’s hard to remember to pray before something as we all have busy lives, and seeking God can become an afterthought. However, children c...

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  -Matthew 11:28. Rest – precisely what we need, especially after the crazy busy Holiday season. Physical rest is the rest we need to help us maintain good health, but spiritual rest, which is harder to get, is equally important! Did you know that the Bible mentions "rest" over 500 times? Because Jesus was human, he also so...

“How we live today determines how we will live tomorrow. What has to last, has to come first.” -Hal Runkel. Happy New Year, RCK community! Going into this new year, we should strive to prioritize our health and well-being! If we don't take care of ourselves, then we can’t expect to be able to care for others, specifically our children. So we must practice self-care and confide in God and his livin...

A huge step in being successful in business is to envision. So, why not use this tool in parenting? When you envision what can and will be, it helps you create an action plan for success. Envision you and your children’s future 25 from now. Start by making a detailed list of questions you can discuss with your child. Here are some example questions you can use to help build your list: Are they mar...

“God is close to the broken-hearted; he is a suffering savior who has been through the worst of it, and he understands what you are going through and is with you!” -Tina Yeager. Award-winning author, speaker, licensed mental health counselor, and life coach Tina Yeager encourages audiences to fulfill their potential and guides them on a new journey toward the life of their dreams. She is the autho...

“If you can get the support and if you can get the resources, homeschooling is actually the best choice for struggling learners because it can be uniquely catered to them.” -Peggy Ployhar. After working as a special needs consultant, Peggy Ployhar founded SPED Homeschool, an organization that empowers families across the globe to home-educate children with specialized educational needs. SPED (abbr...

Everyone gets a spiritual formation, but to ensure our children get a Christian spiritual formation, they must form a relationship with God the father, God the son, and the Holy Spirit. Lacy Finn Borgo holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree and is the spiritual director at Haven House. Her ministry for adults, Good Dirt Ministries, provides spiritual direction for children at Haven House. Lacy is the a...

Teaching children the true meaning of Christmas and Hanukkah can be challenging. Children sometimes think the only reason for the season is to give and receive gifts. During this episode, Lee Ann shares two resources that can help you guide your children to understand the true meaning of Christmas. Her Christmas book, God’s Gift, can teach children that it’s not about who gets more gifts on Christ...

“Instead of teaching children to follow their hearts, parents should teach them to guard their hearts and follow the truth.” -Dr. Frank Turek Dr. Frank Turek is passionate about helping the world know that Jesus is the one true superhero, and He can be seen in a lot of superhero movies today! He is a dynamic speaker and award-winning author and coauthor of many books, including Hollywood Heroes Ho...

“I really want to show people the beauty of the multicultural family that God crafted for Jesus.” -Dorena Williamson Dorena Williamson is the bestselling author of multiple children’s books, including ColorFull, Thoughtfull, Gracefull, The Celebration Place, Crowned with Glory, and Brown Baby Jesus. A veteran of cross-cultural ministry, Dorena is passionate about shaping perspectives with biblical...

“I want children to be trained from a very young age that their gender is a gift from God, and it can NEVER change.” -Marty Machowski. Marty Machowski is a Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church and leads Promise Kingdom, a gospel-centered children’s ministry. He is passionate about helping children understand their gender and help restore hope in weary parents. He is the author of sever...

"Don't give into the stigma of being a self-publishing author and if that's the route God wants you to take, take it because it's better to have the gospel message out there and into the world and hit a few lives than have it sitting on a desktop because you only want this one particular deal with this one particular publisher." - Michelle Lazurek Crystal Bowman is an award-winning, bestselling au...

"82% of children whose parents talk about and practice their faith in the home go on to follow Jesus as adults." -Sarah Cowan Johnson. Sarah Cowan Johnson is a ministry trainer, consultant, coach, and author of Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-Step Guide for Family Discipleship. She leads seminars for parents on family discipleship to help their children walk in the way of Jesus, and she is the...

It is important that we teach our children about the historical, geographical, and cultural context of the Bible! Eric and Meredith Schrotenboer are both storytellers at heart, hoping that their books can teach children the true context of the stories and events throughout the Bible! Eric is an award-winning filmmaker and music composer, and Meredith is an award-winning journalist and news anchor....

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” -John 1:1 Jesus is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but he is a central figure throughout. He is first seen in the Old Testament as the person who appeared as “the Angel of the Lord” (Gen 16:7). He came temporally in the form of a human, much before his final incarnation as a baby in Bethlehem. Yet this sa...

Irene Sun was born in Malaysia to parents who gave their lives to the Lord. For the sake of the gospel, they moved across cultures and continents many times. She studied literature at Yale University, where she holds a master’s degree in religion, and she also studied the Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where she holds a master’s degree in theology. She is a Bible teacher and...