The Disciple-Making Parent

What if you could listen to a wise pediatrician coach you through the first year of your baby’s life? What if he had information that could help you and your baby sleep through the night sooner. Would you be interested? Dr. Tom Hines has been a pediatrician for over 30 years and seen lots of babies. In addition, he and his wife, Mary Jo had four children of their own. He came to talk with me about his best advice that he would give for baby’s first year. If you are about to have a child listen closely for some great wisdom. If you know someone that is about to have a child, forward the link to them. Believe me, they will thank you when the parents are sleeping through the night again.

Do you want to have a peaceful home? Doesn’t everyone?What exactly are the principles that should guide us in that?For that matter, what exactly is a peaceful family?You are going to love the countercultural but biblical insight Dr. Randy Stinson brings into having a peaceful family. This conversation came about because of his presentation entitled The Peaceful Home at the ERLC conference this past October. Dr. Stinson is a regular conference speaker on the subjects of adoption, parenting, marriage, and men’s leadership.In this conversation we talk about: What exactly is a peaceful home? How to conquer sibling rivalry. And the importance of dad being the CFO – Chief Fun Officer.I promise this conversation will be worth your time!

How do we raise children to respect those who are different from us? What biblical message and doctrines can help us encourage a young person to love all sorts of people?On this podcast, I have the privilege to introduce you to a friend of mine, Dan Darling. He has recently released a book that is helpful for pastors and parents. It’s entitled The Dignity Revolution. In it, Dan lays out the case for understanding and then applying this idea of human dignity to many different areas.I was excited to have this conversation with Dan. He is the Vice President of Communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. His writing has appeared in major news outlets like USA Today and CNN. He’s a contributing editor for Christianity today and he hosts a podcast “The Way Home”. Most importantly he is married to Angela and has four children 13 to 7 years old. So, he is right in the middle of his parenting years.We spend the first half of our time getting our minds around this doctrine. And then for the second half, we start applying it to ourselves and our children.

Are you in the middle of a conflict in your family? In your church? Or at your work? If you are, Do you understand what God’s word has to say about handling conflict? Unfortunately, conflict is a part of every relationship - including our families. If you are the parent of young children you certainly know that! But most Christians are not equipped to handle the conflict in our relationships with others. And yet God in his grace has given us many principles to help us walk through disagreements. And to teach our children. The following episode contains a short teaching I did on very high-level principles that come to us from God’s word. Specifically, I am walking us through some principles laid out by Ken Sande in the Peacemaker. This is the classic resource on handling conflict. Certainly,​ there is a lot more that can be said on this topic. But I think it will get you started in handling the conflict that the Lord brings into your life.

How happy is your family? How happy are you? Is a happy family even possible? In the middle of all this brokenness should a Christian even aim to be happy? This episode is absolutely vital for disciple-making parents. Happy homes are the place where the gospel passes the most easily. In fact, joy is a preeminent fruit of holiness and yet often we see Christina homes where the mark of being godly is a serious and sour disposition. Listen in to this message by Dr. David Murray as he explains the surprising duty of joy that should characterize the Christian.

Do Christians get depressed? And if they do, is it because of sin or because of physical issues, or some combination of the two? And more importantly, what do we do to help those who are depressed. Take a few minutes to listen to Dr. David Murray as he speaks on depression. These thoughts are from his excellent introductory book Christians Get Depressed Too.

Your understanding of emotions will affect your life.Your understanding of emotions will affect your family.Your understanding of emotions will affect your parenting. As a parent, your have a theology of emotions. Is it in line with the Bible? Dr. David Murray has written several books for Christians. Christians Get Depressed Too and The Happy Christian help us think biblically about this vital part of our lives.Invest a few minutes to listen to Dr. David Murray as he speaks on emotion. And as an extra bonus, you will love his Scottish brogue.

Is worrying synonymous with being a parent? After all there are so many dangers in the world.Should we say, "A good parent will worry?" After all what's wrong with worrying?We might say nothing except that Jesus tell us not to worry. Worry and fear drive many conflict at home and in the church. And these sins destroy the peace of many. We must start thinking clearly about this subject!In this episode we will listen in on an introductory counseling equipping module from the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors on this subject. The lecturer also applies these principles to his own life as a parent of a prodigal.This lecture is used with the kind permission of ACBC.

Parenting is hard work. Often we can get banged up as we walk through some of the difficulties of life. We don't know how to connect what we know to be true about God with the troubles we are facing. Marty Machowski, author of Long Story Short, Old Story New, and numerous other books sat down and talked with me about his new book - Parenting First-Aid.In this interview, you will hear why he wrote the book, what God has taught him over the years, and two incredible encouraging stories.Order the book at New Growth Press or on Amazon.

As we head back to school with the summer routine behind us, we can have a number of opportunities to share our faith. And yet when it comes to telling others about the most important thing we know - Jesus - we can start to stutter and stammer. Yet a home that is telling people about Jesus is a home that is attractive to 2nd generation Christians. In this episode, we turn the microphones around and Adam Miller interviews me about the contents of the book I wrote several years ago - Evangelism for the Tongue-Tied. In it you will learn how to pray effectively and how to bring up the gospel in an unoffensive way.