Tag Archives: family

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 | Also tagged 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 | Also tagged adolescence, biblical living, counseling, 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 | Also tagged adolescence, 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 | Also tagged adolescence, counseling, parenting, student ministry | Leave a comment

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

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 | Also tagged parenting | 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 | Also tagged local church, parenting, student ministry, teen life | 3 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 | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, parenting, student ministry | Leave a comment

Get a Bike…

By caryschmidt | June 5, 2010

If you and your family haven’t gotten into taking bike rides yet, be sure to get it done before your kids get too big! I confess—I waited too long.
A few years ago I bought myself a bike and had a grand vision of getting all five of us cruising around Lancaster’s “beautiful” east side on [...]

Posted in christian life, family | Also tagged devotional thoughts | 1 Comment

Three Lost Boys and a Local Church

By caryschmidt | May 10, 2010

A Story of the Power of Local Church Ministry
Opening scene—a young family of five is running late to church on a Sunday morning. Three lost, long-haired, little boys (all younger than seven years) sit quietly in the back seat of the car, while a frustrated mom and dad debate over “why” they are late. The [...]

Posted in family, ministry & outreach | Also tagged biblical living, devotional thoughts, local church | 3 Comments

The Precious Pauses of Parenthood…

By caryschmidt | May 6, 2010

Learning to seize the teaching moments that may never return…
On a breakfast date this past week, Haylee asked me, “Why did you choose to like Mommy instead of another girl?”
Wow! What a cool question! And what a wide open door. That’s like someone asking a Christian “Why did you choose Christianity over all the other [...]

Posted in family | Also tagged parenting, teaching | Leave a comment

Why Young People Stay Faithful

By caryschmidt | April 19, 2010

Have you ever wondered what contributes to young people staying faithful to the things of God, while others wander away? What contributes t0 two kids in the same local church, hearing the same preaching, ultimately going dramatically different directions? Ultimately, it’s free will—everybody makes their own decisions. But what influences those decisions?
One of our youth [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, biblical living, local church, parenting, student ministry, teaching, teen life | 1 Comment

To TV or Not To TV?

By caryschmidt | March 29, 2010

To TV or not to TV? Many Christians wrestle with this question. Many choose to not have a TV at all. Others choose to have limited TV and tight controls. Yet others open the floodgates completely. Regardless of where you are on the TV decision, this experience was too powerful not to share.
For several years we’ve [...]

Posted in family, media & tech | Also tagged biblical living, danger, media & tech, technology | 6 Comments

The Forgotten Side of Submission

By caryschmidt | March 23, 2010

Not long ago, my wife and I were faced with a really difficult decision. We were faced with two very important schedule conflicts and there was no way we could fulfill both. For several days we worked the situation over in our minds and in talking together. No matter what we chose, something very important [...]

Posted in christian life | Also tagged leadership, local church, marriage, parenting, teaching | 3 Comments

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 [...]