The Disciple-Making Parent

What comes to mind when you hear the word "sloth?"The strange animal from the rainforest of South America? Your teenage son? What if I told you that this word might be more applicable to your parenting than you think?Joel Sedam is a young pastor friend that I am privileged to know. We were talking recently and he mentioned a sermon he had done on the subject of sloth and how it had caused a paradigm shift in him. How he saw sloth all around. That led me to say, "Let's talk about this on a podcast."You are going to enjoy this conversation. I think this topic has application as a besetting sin of our media age. It has application for my heart. It has application if you are trying to raise teens for the Lord. It has application for molding young children.

Are you rushing around getting ready for the holiday season? What can you do to remember well this incredible divine event that we celebrate each year?In today’s podcast I’m delighted to present to you a conversation I had with Dan Darling about his new book The Characters of Christmas: The Unlikely People Caught Up in the Story of Jesus.If you want something to freshen up your Christmas, this short book is for you. Dan walks through numerous characters including Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds, and even Herod the Monster of Christmas to give you a fresh perspective on a familiar story.  In addition, each chapter ends with suggested discussion questions, making it perfect for family devotion. You are going to love this conversation, which will deepen your understanding of a familiar story.

Not again! You lost it, you're furious, and you feel like a total failure. You yelled, slammed the door, hit the table, or threw your purse. Then the shame and guilt set in. "These are my precious children! What am I thinking? What can I do?"What are we talking about? Anger. And the fact is, it is far too prevalent in our parenting. And then we feel guilt or shame, so we cover it up.The following podcast is a short sermon I preached on becoming a more patient follower of Christ. How? By attacking our nemesis of anger.

Whining, lying, interrupting, complaining, arguing, gossiping. Our tongues are adeadly poison. Are you having trouble dealing with the words of your children?Scripture says that the tongue is a deadly poison. And that poison comes into thehouse through the sinful hearts of everyone who lives there. For parents, shepherding our children through these issues can be difficult. How do I handle issues like whining, lying, interrupting, complaining, gossiping? In this podcast, we talk with Ginger Hubbard about her book- I Can't Believe You Just Said That: Biblical Wisdom for Taming Your Child's Tongue

Are you weary in the work of training and discipline? Have you lost sight of the reason God has called you to this? I recently have been thinking about parents of young children who are tempted to grow weary in this good and exhausting task because they forget the why.But it is a good and important work. Listen to our newest podcast - Chapter 17 of The Disciple-Making Parent.

In today’s podcast, we talk with my friend Dr. Tom Hines about choosing and trusting a pediatrician over the long haul. As our country grows increasingly hostile to the gospel, Christian parents can overreact or under-react​. I think this will help you think through this issue. This podcast reminds me what a treasure and gift excellent, supportive, Christian pediatricians are. I believe that this is vital information that will help young parents in the days ahead.

As a Christian, do you look around at the messiness of those who call themselves Christians. Does their bizarre behavior make you doubt your own faith? In today’s podcast we try to answer the question – Can Jesus explain the mess that Christianity seems to be in? Does this mess discredit Jesus? I think it is vital that our young people understand these issues. Otherwise, they can be tempted to say, I don’t want to be part of this craziness. Let’s tune in and start thinking about how we can explain the Christian mess.

n this podcast I talk with Eric Bancroft. Eric is the pastor of Grace Church in Miami, he has been married for 22 years and has three teenage sons. During this episode, we talk about helping our kids think through the area of sex and how we disciple them through this.

The Kauflin name is probably very familiar to you. Although you may know him for his contribution to worship, you may not know that Bob Kauflin has thought a lot about parenting. I first heard Bob teach on parenting at a conference probably about 10 years ago and I thought, "This is excellent teaching from a godly man." He and Julie graciously agreed to talk with me recently. Bob is the Director of Sovereign Grace Music and the author of numerous popular worship songs. He is also the author of two books – Worship Matters and True Worshipers. In addition, He is a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville KY. He and Julie have been married for 43 years, have six children and (at this point) 19 grandchildren. You are going to enjoy the gospel-infused wisdom and insight from this gracious couple. They were disciple-making parents before there even was such a thing! This will be a podcast you want to listen to several times, taking notes as you go.