If you leave your family, you rebel… You rebel against and shame the name of your great God. You rebel against God’s Word and clear commands. You rebel against God’s design for marriage and family. You rebel against “who God has called you to be in Christ.”
What can you do when your grown children begin to stray spiritually? I’ve seen a lot of parents hurt, mystified, and shaken by sudden and radical spiritual changes in the lives of their adult children. I realize, one day I may be one of them—and so could you. In these moments, some parents grasp for control—trying [...]
Wow! The “Saddest Letter” post provoked a lot of interesting discussion! Since I received it a week ago, I too have been pondering my response, and in many ways, those who commented touched on many of the things that have been on my heart. For reasons of length and direction, I think my response will [...]
Parents and Pastors—Please Read!! I received this letter from a young lady last week—a Bible college student who grew up in a Christian home and Christian school. I believe it’s the saddest letter I’ve ever read and right on the mark for so detailing the experiences of so many young Christians. I asked her permission [...]
Here’s a quick list of things I wish I could say to every young adult! 1. You are of eternal value and significance because God doesn’t make junk. Regardless of who mistreated you, what lies you’ve been told, or how bad your past has been—you have a future and God has good plans for you. [...]
I’ve had five conversations that went almost exactly the same this week. A battle-worn college student says, “I’m not even sure what I’m doing here. I feel like I’m doing nothing and headed nowhere. I’m not where I want to be, and I’m really thinking about what I should do…” The conversations were so similar, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Isn’t it amazing how often people venture into major life-changing decisions without getting any outside, biblical advice. Why do we do this to ourselves? Sometimes we fear that a counselor will have a private agenda and won’t counsel us honestly. At other times, we presume to know what our counselors will say, and rationalize it [...]
Recently, I posted about our Q&A times with students at teen camps and retreats. Over the past five years, hundreds of questions consistently revolve around the same themes. If you are a parent or youth worker, this list might help you get into their heads. It is a general consolidations of hundreds of questions. Here are [...]
Helping Others by Asking the Right Questions Not long ago I was on our church campus on an off day. As I left the building, headed home, there was an unfamiliar man taking photos of our buildings. Trying to be hospitable and also cautious, I approached him and kindly asked where he was from. He [...]
How an Honest Q&A Time Can Help Your Students This week we’ve been at teen camp with 275 of our teens from LBC. It’s been a great week! One of my favorite aspects of camp is something we instituted a few years ago called “Answers to Tough Questions.” It’s a one hour Q&A time before [...]
A Four Part Series for Discerning Parents In this final segment, I want to touch on an area that I would call “passive behavioral dangers.” Perhaps these things are more warning signs of deeper dangers than dangers themselves, but either way, these things deserve our parental awareness and attention. These dangers or warning signs are [...]
A Four Part Series of Articles for Discerning Parents Through our last two articles we have been seeking to see what others do not or choose not to see. We’re asking the Lord to give us spiritual discernment and to enlighten the eyes of our understanding with regards to the hidden dangers our teenagers face. [...]
A Four Part Series of Articles for Discerning Parents In last months article we began a four-part series on the hidden dangers that Satan uses to drive a wedge between a teenager’s heart and spiritual things. These are the things that sometimes appear innocent or faddish on the surface, but in reality they are “back-doors” [...]
