Author Archives: Cary Schmidt

Five Values of Successful Homeschooling

By Cary Schmidt | March 22, 2010

Educating Your Children with a Winning Philosophy
Recently I had the privilege of meeting with a wonderful group of families in our church that homeschool their children. I fully believe in the value of traditional, Christian education and schooling, but I also have respect for Christian parents who, out of necessity or by preference, choose [...]

Posted in family | Tagged education, family, local church, parenting, teaching | 3 Comments

8 Reasons to Follow a Great Leader

By Cary Schmidt | February 1, 2010

Everybody, in some respect is a leader, and everybody is a follower. Few are called to be the key leader. Many more are called to follow and support a key leader. For instance, a family may have many members but should have one father. A team can have many players (and leaders) but only one [...]

Posted in leadership | Tagged church staff, leadership, ministry, productivity, team | 2 Comments

SL Podcast: Opening the Front Door

By Cary Schmidt | October 23, 2009

The audio file above is the newest Spiritual Leadership podcast from Pastor Paul Chappell.
This lesson is entitled “Opening the Front Door.” In this session, Pastor Chappell shares some biblical and practical insights on how to welcome more visitors into your church. The Spiritual Leadership podcast is a free resource from Striving Together Publications (a ministry [...]

Posted in leadership | Tagged leadership, local church, podcast, soulwinning | Leave a comment

Pitfalls of Passive Parents (Part 2)

By Cary Schmidt | October 22, 2009

This is part two of Pitfalls of Passive Parenting. Click here to read part one.
Passive Parents Focus on Behavior Modification Rather Than Heart Transformation—They are more concerned with minimizing embarrassment than with truly molding the heart. Eli wasn’t alarmed by the wickedness of his sons’ hearts. He was just embarrassed by their behavior and the [...]

Posted in family | Tagged adolescence, family, parenting, teen life | 1 Comment

10 Ways to Renew Your Spirit

By Cary Schmidt | October 8, 2009

Ever get depleted?
Ever reach the bottom of the barrel when it comes to spiritual energy or passion?
Don’t overreact! It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing all the wrong things with your life. You’re faith is probably still alive and well. There’s no need to go AWOL. Don’t start doubting every good decision or direction [...]

Posted in christian life, featured, productivity | 3 Comments

How to Help a Wounded Person

By Cary Schmidt | October 6, 2009

One of the most difficult circumstances of life and ministry is to try to help someone who has been deeply hurt. These are hard moments. More than anything, you want to take away the hurt, undo the pain, and fix the problem. But it’s just not that easy. Woundedness—regardless of how it occurred—requires time and [...]

Posted in counseling, featured | Tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, student ministry, teaching | 1 Comment

One Brave Little Girl!

By Cary Schmidt | October 1, 2009

For those of you who prayed for the Kehres family, a friend just emailed me this photo of Lynzie, the daughter that was the most seriously injured. As you can see, she’s doing well and God is answering prayer in a marvelous way!
Today is Lynzie’s 11th birthday! Just two days ago, she was in the [...]

Posted in family | Tagged family, local church | 7 Comments

Daily in the Word Now on 450 Stations!

By Cary Schmidt | September 30, 2009

Beginning October 1st (tomorrow), the daily radio ministry of Dr. Paul Chappell will begin airing on the CSN radio network. This means that Daily in the Word is now heard on over 450 radio stations across America and in some foreign countries. Daily in the Word is a 26 minute daily radio program featuring solid [...]

Posted in books and resources | Tagged communication, ministry, technology | 2 Comments

The Pitfalls of Passive Parenting (Part 1)

By Cary Schmidt | September 28, 2009

Uncovering the assumptions and behaviors of disengaged parenting

“It’s just a phase—he will grow out of it.” “That’s just what teenagers do—she’ll mature.” “All kids are this way—there’s not really anything we can do to change that.” “They have to be able to make decisions for themselves.”
These and others are the statements we make to give [...]

Posted in family, featured | Tagged adolescence, family, parenting, teen life | 5 Comments

Do Social Networks Change Behavior?

By Cary Schmidt | September 24, 2009

USAToday published an interesting article today about the impact of the internet and social networking. Here are a few of the statistics they shared:
How social-networking services affect the everyday behavior of millions of Americans:

An Ohio State University study links Facebook to lower grades. According to a survey of 219 students, published in April, those who [...]

Posted in media & tech | Tagged blog, communication, media & tech, social networking, technology, twitter | Leave a comment

Youth Ministry Idea: Developing Leaders

By Cary Schmidt | September 21, 2009

Quick post for youth leaders (with the spirit of idea sharing) related to developing servant leaders in student ministry.
J. Oswald Sanders’ classic book Spiritual Leadership is one of the great reads on the subject. It’s worthy of revisiting on a regular basis.
The first time I read this book, I was in 8th grade, and my [...]

Posted in student ministry | Tagged book review, leadership, ministry, student ministry | 9 Comments

How to Write Readable Emails

By Cary Schmidt | September 18, 2009

Have you ever received an email that, at first sight, completely sent your brain into a revolt? Funny. Regardless of the message or your affection for the sender, your brain just wants to immediately hit “delete”! Why?
Perhaps some basic things made the email appear to be a huge mental hurdle—long lines, huge paragraphs, and a [...]

Posted in productivity | Tagged church staff, communication, organization, productivity, technology, time management | 8 Comments

Why Leaders Need More Communication

By Cary Schmidt | September 14, 2009

WARNING: Failure to communicate frequently and effectively will bring distrust, tension, and grief in any valuable relationship.
A large percentage of our problems in work, family, and ministry could be attributed to communication failures—either miscommunication or a lack of communication. Everybody has people in their lives with whom they should work at communicating more effectively and [...]

Posted in featured, leadership, productivity | Tagged church staff, communication, leadership, local church, ministry, team | Leave a comment

The Top Questions of Young Christian Singles

By Cary Schmidt | September 10, 2009

Throughout the year, our ministry to College and Career and Singles brings us into counseling, retreats, and venues where young Christian singles are airing really good questions. I have previously shared the details behind our Q&A times (both for teens as well as singles) and also the top 15 questions that teens ask.
Here’s the most [...]

Posted in counseling, student ministry | Tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, sunday school, teaching | 2 Comments

Defeating the Media Monster-Part 2

By Cary Schmidt | September 8, 2009

Media will eat your family alive unless you tell it not to!

In part one we uncovered five challenges that modern media brings into our lives and homes. To beat the challenges, tame this monster, and prepare your children to have discernment and wisdom, may I make the following suggestions:
1. Build healthy relationships committed to purity [...]