Yearly Archives: 2010

What Teens Ask About Their Parents

By caryschmidt | September 2, 2010

A couple times a year we host an anonymous question and answer time for teenagers. They respond well. You can read about these in past posts: Getting Teens to Air Their Questions and The Top 15 Questions Christian Teens Ask. We did this Q&A time again recently, and I was surprised how many questions were [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Tagged family, parenting, student ministry, teen life | Leave a comment

Discipline that Develops the Heart

By caryschmidt | August 28, 2010

Ten Biblical Principles for Winning Your Child’s Heart
How do you discipline your children? Here are ten Biblical principles for handling discipline biblically and in a way that truly develops the heart of your child.
Discipline that develops the heart…
1. Is Controlled and Premeditated—It doesn’t fly off the handle or out of control.
Proverbs 16:32, “He that is [...]

Posted in family | Tagged adolescence, biblical living, counseling, family, parenting | Leave a comment

Becoming an Insightful Parent #2

By caryschmidt | August 25, 2010

Part two of an article on discerning Your Child’s Needs and Responding Biblically. You can read part one here.
We’re discussing “reading” your children—understanding and interpreting their behavior and needs in the light of biblical wisdom. In our last article we said it begins with understanding God’s Word and asking God for wisdom. Then praying with [...]

Posted in family | Tagged adolescence, family, parenting, student ministry | 1 Comment

Becoming an Insightful Parent

By caryschmidt | August 23, 2010

Becoming an Insightful Parent
Discerning Your Child’s Needs and Responding Biblically
Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Do you understand your children? Do you know how to interpret their behavior? Do you understand warning signs and know how to respond? Do [...]

Posted in family | Tagged adolescence, counseling, family, parenting, student ministry | Leave a comment

Ministry Idea: 3 Questions

By caryschmidt | August 22, 2010

Are you looking for a good way to get to know your students or those to whom you minister? Here’s a quick and simple way to get a glimpse into the heart and cause someone to think more deeply.
This past week, in our 12th grade Sunday school class and at our Single Life retreat, we [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach | Tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, student ministry, teaching | 4 Comments

Vacation Highlights 2010

By caryschmidt | August 5, 2010

This post is for family and friends just to share a bit of God’s blessings from our vacation. Last night we returned from a couple of weeks of great memories, rest, and unforgettable experiences, and our hearts are full for the time we were able to spend with family and friends. Here are some highlights:

Posted in family | Tagged family | 2 Comments

Who Is Increasing In Your Life?

By caryschmidt | July 30, 2010

The final message of Spiritual Leadership Conference 2010 was brought by Dr. Don Sisk and entitled “He Must Increase, I Must Decrease.” It was awesome! It profoundly impacted me, and I wanted to share a synopsis of it here. Perhaps it will encourage you.
Taken from the statement of John the Baptist in John 3:30, Dr. [...]

Posted in christian life, leadership | Tagged biblical living, devotional thoughts, ministry | 3 Comments

Are Revolutionaries Starting to Recant?

By caryschmidt | July 27, 2010

It’s no secret that in the past few years, George Barna and people like him have given up on the local church (the flawed model they invented) and have documented a revolution of people leaving the organized church to simply go and be the church. While there are a lot of biblical problems with this [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach | Tagged biblical living, church staff, local church, ministry | 1 Comment

Musings on Family Vacations

By caryschmidt | July 19, 2010

I can’t believe how quickly decades pass! As I write, I’m sitting on a red-eye flight, starting our 20th family vacation—our first without Lance. My mind goes back to what seems like a moment ago. I’ve been here before. It was in a hotel room in Palm Desert, California about 13 years ago—our last night [...]

Posted in family | Tagged family, parenting | 3 Comments

Spiritual Leadership Conference 2010

By caryschmidt | July 15, 2010

Spiritual Leadership Conference 2010 wrapped up last night. God gave us a fantastic week. Today, in the midst of decompressing, I couldn’t help but sit down and journal some of the highlights of the week for me. Here’s what God used to impact me the most:
1. The Preaching. Every single message was a grand-slam home [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach, uncategorized | Tagged church staff, leadership, local church, ministry, striving together | 3 Comments

Strengthening Spiritual Decisions

By caryschmidt | July 8, 2010

As promised, here are a few short thoughts about how to respond to your teenager after teen camp, especially in regards to their spiritual decisions.
Begin with the long-term perspective—Our view of spiritual decisions is often just too short. Every good decision of life begins with short-term challenges, but also bears long-term results at a “core-values” [...]

Posted in student ministry | Tagged family, local church, parenting, student ministry, teen life | 3 Comments

Teen Camp 2010 Recap

By caryschmidt | July 2, 2010

Today we completed a wonderful week of teen camp. Here’s a short recap.
First, we were able to return to Pine Summit Camp in Big Bear, California. Operationally, this was the best week of camp we’ve ever had. The good team at Pine Summit served our group well with great food, tremendous facilities, and a wide [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach, student ministry | Tagged local church, student ministry, teen life | 2 Comments

The Road to Adulthood Gets Longer

By caryschmidt | June 16, 2010

New Data on the Growing Distance Between Youth and Adulthood
The New York Times ran a fascinating article yesterday entitled “The Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer” by Patricia Cohen. The article reinforces a growing body of research, much of which I wrote about in Life Quest: Braving Adulthood with Biblical Passion. The point [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach, student ministry, uncategorized | Tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, family, parenting, student ministry | Leave a comment

Preaching that Pleases God

By caryschmidt | June 14, 2010

A New Book by Tom Farrell from Striving Together Publications.
If you are interested in growing teacher or preacher of the Word of God, you must read Preaching that Pleases God by Tom Farrell. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject, and it will challenge you to be a more faithful [...]

Posted in books and resources | Tagged book review, books, communication, striving together | Leave a comment

Communication on a Winning Team

By caryschmidt | June 12, 2010

Communication is about sharing information with those who need it. But often communication is what is lacking the most on ministry teams. When we don’t communicate, we aren’t working together, and that causes things to break down. Here are seven quick principles that the Lord has challenged me to work at. I pray they will [...]