Family Shield

Family Shield equips individuals and their families to implement the six traits that build strong, healthy families. Those traits include a commitment to each other's welfare and happiness, appreciation and affection, positive communication, spending time together, spiritual well-being, and the ability to cope with stress and crisis. Taking family vacations can accomplish most of these traits. Traveling with our children is today's Family Shield topic today. Traveling with children can be fun, educational, and sometimes challenging. As you travel with your children how do you keep them engaged? What games do you play? Why is it important for parents to be flexible, and how can we share our faith with our children as we travel? My guest is Jamie Clausing. She is a mom that have traveled with her family and is on the phone line with me.

When you hear the phrase spiritual warfare, you might think of angels, demons, and demonic encounters. But spiritual warfare also includes the battles you face everyday--battles of temptation, doubt, stress, and anxiety. The book, Equipped:The Armor of God for Everyday Struggles, helps Christians like you and me recognize the spiritual roots of hardships and how to fight against Satan’s schemes in the only way that works - with the spiritual weapons and armor God gives us in Christ. Each chapter focuses on a piece of armor God gives Christians from Ephesians 6, and how we are equipped in Christ to resist the evil one in our daily life, and find healing, forgiveness, understanding, and peace. Rev. Christopher Kennedy is our guest today. He’s the author of Equipped, and the Senior Pastor at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas.

What are Satan’s lies? One lie is that Satan doesn’t exist. Another lie is that some people are beyond God’s grace. They’re just too evil to be saved. Join us today as I interview Michael Newman, the author of the book, Satan’s Lies. During the program we will discuss how Christians can overcome the Devil's Attempts to Stunt Your Spiritual Growth.

What do you do when you're diagnosed with cancer? How can you help a friend who is diagnosed with cancer; and how can churches help those in their congregation that have cancer? Join us today as I interview Karen Tripp, president of Cancer Companions. Karen is also the author of God is Bigger than Your Cancer, and a marriage and family therapist.

As Christians we’re called to lovingly enter into conversations about our Savior with neighbors and those we meet in our daily life. It might be the person behind us at a coffee shop, someone we meet on a flight across the country, or a family member or friend. The call to shine the light of Christ allows us to share His love with those who desperately need to hear the news that the sweet life transforming gospel is given from God to them. We do this because God loved us first. Rev. Dr. Alfonso Espinosa's new book Faith that Engages the Culture will help us learn how to speak with the people God puts in our lives and share the life-saving Word of God with them. Join us today as I visit with Rev. Espinosa. He’s the pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Irvine, California, serves as the vice chair on the board for National Mission of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and his bio says his most cherished service is being husband to his wife, Tracy, and a father and a grandfather.

Prayer is powerful because God wants us to pray, and answers our prayers. He tells us we can move mountains when we believe and pray. In Matthew 17, we read “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there, and it will move.’” Pretty amazing, isn’t it? So let’s pray. We pray individually, and we pray in small groups of two or three. One small group is our family. Jesus says “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.” He is with us when we pray. This spring, Family Shield has been sharing resources, and encouraging you to pray with your family as you take a family prayer walk together. This is our second radio program on our series about family prayer walking. Today I’ll present Family Prayer Walking Leadership Training.

There you are, at the edge of the diving board - will you take that plunge, or will you stand there, paralyzed by fear? How do you handle fear? What about worries and insecurity, pride, bitterness, and anger? How do you step out from those feelings and emotions into life of grace, reconciliation, and peace? It’s a fact - we can’t handle those feelings and emotions on our own. When we try to step out alone, we fail. But because Jesus steps in, we can step out. Today I’m interviewing Deb Burma. She’s the author of Stepping Out to a Life on the Edge.

If you’re a parent, you never expect to have your children die before you do; it's just unnatural. Yet parents do lose children. Join us today as I interview Reverend Jerry Hayes. He and his wife have lost two sons--one in a tragic helicopter accident, and the other to SIDS. How have you, Rev. Hays, learned to deal with the death of your sons? What have you learned about grieving through this process? And how has God used you to serve others? What are some of the stages of grief, and how can we still have hope? These are some of the questions we’ll talk about today.

This is Family Shield Ministries, and I’m your host, Coreen Jander. For those of you that frequently listen to the show and know Kay Meyer, that lovely lady is my mom. She’s back in Missouri today and I'm coming to you from Minnesota, and today we’re talking with Kate Meadow, author of Faith to Follow: The Journey of Becoming a Pastor's Wife. Kate is a published writer, editor, teacher, and speaker, and her work has appeared in Writer's Digest, Chicken Soup for the Soul, USAA Financial Magazine, and many other publications and media outlets. Kate and I have this shared experience of walking alongside our husbands in their journey to become pastors. In fact, we became friends during our time at the seminary, and we quickly realized that we were not the only two women longing for a road map that clearly outlined who we are in this process, and where do we fit. Today we're going to begin a much-needed dialogue based on Kate's book about the commonalities in the stories of these women and how the church can lift them up throughout their journey and how they can have faith to follow the Lord's lead into ministry.

How do you share your faith in the home? Would short Bible studies help if appropriate for families? Then join us today as I interview the author of "5-minute Bible Studies for Families." The book uses relevant Bible passages to address questions, and challenges faced by today's families. It includes three brief studies each week for one whole year. Whether you are driving to soccer practice or waiting with your child to see the dentist, the brief Bible readings, practice questions and prayer prompts will allow your family to spend quality time with the Lord, strengthening your faith and spanning their desires to serve Him. This book is for all families whose calendars are overflowing with events and obligations. Reverend Jay Bickelhaupt is a parish pastor in Billings,Montana. He's married to Melissa and they have three children.