Archive for The Church
Leading Dinner Devo’s with your family
Posted by: | CommentsStep 1. Eat dinner with your entire family regularly.
Step 2. Mom and Dad sit next to one another to lead the family discussion.
Step 3. Open the meal by asking if there is anyone or anything to pray for.
Step 4. Someone opens in prayer and covers any requests. This task should be rotated among family members so that different people take turns learning to pray aloud.
Step 5. Start eating and discuss how everyone’s day went.
Step 6. Have a Bible in front of the parents in a translation that is age-appropriate for the kids’ reading level. Have someone (parent or child) open the Bible, and assign a portion to read aloud while everyone is eating and listening.
Step 7. Parents should note key words and themes in the passage and explain them to the kids on an age-appropriate level.
Step 8. Ask questions about the passage. You may want to begin with having your children summarize what was read—retelling the story or passage outline. Then, ask the following questions: What does this passage teach us about God? What does it say about us or about how God sees us? What does it teach us about our relationships with others?
Step 9. Let the conversation happen naturally, listen carefully to the kids, let them answer the questions, and fill in whatever they miss or lovingly and gently correct whatever they get wrong so as to help them.
Step 10. If the Scriptures convict you of sin, repent as you need to your family, and share appropriately honest parts of your life story so the kids can see Jesus’ work in your life and your need for him too. This demonstrates gospel humility to them.
Step 11. At the end of dinner, ask the kids if they have any questions for you.
Step 12. If you miss a night, or if conversation gets off track, or if your family occasionally just wants to talk about something else, don’t stress—it’s inevitable.
Football….. A Disturbing Thing
Posted by: | CommentsA couple of years ago Churches across the country received an unusual notice from of all people the NFL. The message had nothing to do with spiritual concerns, but financial ones. They announced a new playbook regarding the broadcast of their games most specifically, the SUPER BOWL. In 
order to project the Super Bowl game on churches big screens, the congregations would be required to purchase expensive licenses, otherwise they must settle for a screen size smaller than 55 inches…….. and a cry went out!! The Fall Creek Church was one of the first to receive a notice. Through their spokeswoman Marlene Broome, the church said the letter was “really a disturbing thing.”
Hmmmm… really “a disturbing thing”? There are plenty of “disturbing things in this world, child trafficking, abortion of the unborn, abuse and murder of the innocent, a lost generation of American young people, loss of biblical based morality in the public arena, we could go on and on, and we go and choose a football game to get all agitated about.
The outrage among American Churches was such that it took only 13 months—this is “lightning speed” in the world of copyright deliberations—to render a positive solution. Thanks to bipartisan action in the U.S. Senate last winter, churches will be allowed to legally show Super Bowl 2009 in their facilities. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Arlen Specter (D-PA) brandished enough political ire to elicit a favorable response on Feb. 19, 2008 from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that will now allow churches to legally host this year’s Super Bowl events.
I wonder what the call on the field might be if we were to put this play up for review in THE booth with our heavenly father. Would we be proud to say that in a world where the Church is sliding toward obscurity, we held the line on a football game?
