This year 2014 was a great year. I became more aware of God’s grace in my life and yet at the same time more aware of my need for grace. Thankful for each of you and all that you have added to my life this year. I am humbled that more people than just my mom read this blog. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
All is Grace,
Sam
Here are the 10 blog posts you enjoyed most this year.
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Apps that limit my child’s time on the iPad.
So how do you limit the length of a user’s session on an iPad?
One easy way that this can be achieved is with the Clock app. It is
an Apple app that should be already on your iDevice. Follow these simple
steps below to use the Clock app to set the duration of a user’s
session:- Launch the Clock app and select Timer.
- Set the timer to the amount of time that you would like your child
to have access to the device for (in hours and minutes). Also check that
in Sounds (iPad) that Stop Playing is selected. If it is not select that option.
Read full blog post….
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How We Stop Short In The Debate On Christians And Alcohol.
The problem with the debate of alcohol is every person I have heard
preach against it has stopped short of the real problem alcohol
represents. In stopping short they make alcohol out to be evil when
there is nothing in scripture or in 2000 years of church writing that
would show alcohol as evil. Alcohol is not evil the abuse of it is. The
inordinate reliance on it is.
Read full blog post….
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My Reading List From 2013
They say
leaders are readers so I set a goal this year to read 52 books and I
fell short of that goal, but here are the books I did read this year.
Some I will add to my read yearly list, all of them impacted me in
various ways.1 Lone Survivor – Marcus Luttrell
#2 Lead Small – Reggie Joiner3 Non Profit Narrative – Dan Portnoy
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Why You Should Read Old Books.
I love to read. Even with my passionate desire to grow I sometimes find reading a challenge. What is even more difficult than reading books? Reading old books. I have been more intentional about reading books and reading lots of them in the past two years. One of the things I have been most intentional about
lately is reading old books. I started by accident and by necessity
reading old books but most recently I have done it on purpose. This is
largely due to a C.S. Lewis quote I stumbled upon a few months back
Read full blog post…. -
Top Family Ministry Blogs 2014
Family ministry has been a priority for churches since the 80’s but in
the past 15 years there has been a new push for youth and kids
ministries to be working together in sync with each other in a way that
produces a cohesive strategy to equip and empower families like never
before. When I started blogging 7 years ago there were only a handful of
children’s pastors blogging. There were also a few youth pastor blogs
as well. The desire I had for my blog at the beginning was to be to
someone else what I wish I had when I started.Read full blog post….
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Self-esteem Is Ruining Your Kids.
As a child of the 70’s I grew up
80’s where baby boomers were loving life, loving love and loving
themselves. This translated to every area of life including their
parenting. The seeds of self-esteem were laid by my parents generation
and have taken full root in my generation. It’s this idea that kids need
to have a positive outlook in life, they need to love themselves. While
in limited ways this can be true the pervasiveness of this idea is
killing the collective conscience of our country and is ruining our
kids.
Read Full Blog Post… -
Answer Your Kid’s Direct Questions With Direct Answers.
If we tell our kids half-truths they will find out once they discover
our half-truths we have used to deflect or delay from tough
conversations our kids will begin to wonder which half of everything we
say is untrue. When you answer a question with age appropriate
directness you remove the power of curiosity. Kids have always been
curious the only things that has changed is the internet allows our kids
to not only satisfy any curiosity but it feeds their curiosity.
Read Full Blog Post…. -
Free Easter Curriculum: God To The Rescue.
I’ve shared here and here about the how and why
leading up to the creation of a free resource for the kidmin community
by the kidmin community. We are really excited to be able to offer it
for free on our blogs.What we did was create a 5 week curriculum that unveils God’s rescue
plan unveiled in the Old Testament and seen in action in the days
leading up to Good Friday and Easter. I love how the clear emphasis is
on Christ and what he did and what we can do in response. -
What We Can Learn From Mark Driscoll and Acts 29
There has
been a lot of buzz around the internet about the removing of Mars Hill
and its founding pastor Mark Driscoll from the church network he helped
to create Acts 29. There are ideas, theories flying and everyone it
seems is picking a side and digging in for virtual battle.I won’t go into the details of the situation because that is covered
in detail by other posts. Basically the Acts 29 Board felt sufficient
cause for concern for Mark Driscoll, his church and the Acts29 that they
have chosen to remove Mark and his church from any affiliation with the
Acts 29 network.
Read Full Blog Post….
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What The Gospel Demand Of Parents
What does the gospel require of parents?
– say your sorry – – Kids have a sense of justice at
an early age. They know when you have wronged them. They know when you
have overstepped and overreached.Phillipians 2:5-8 – Christ modeled for us humility. He was God but did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage, but humbled Himself. If God can do that for us we can lead our families in humility.
“The Key to the family functioning as a
redemptive community, where the Gospel is the glue that holds the family
together, is parents who so trust in Christ that they are ready and
willing to confess their faults to their children.” Paul David TrippIf you want your kids to understand the gospel model humility.
Read Full Blog Post….
