Fire Carriers

All right. As parents we have one job to lead our kids to Christ and disciple them pending thinking thinking you have sort of look for that evening. Even as a pastor and I think we get lost in this when we peeled all back and say what are we would really try to do it's it's the great commission. You go back to Matthew 28 Jesus said, go and make disciples and we can lose that we do services. We do ministries and say we were at the other day, we are actually trying to raise up a man woman who is a resilient follower of Jesus Christ. Welcome to family life today where we want to help you pursue the relationship that matter most and will send it on Dave Wilson and you can find us@familylifetoday.com or on our family life. This is family life today.

As parents we have one job to lead our kids to Christ and disciple them. That's the goal that the targets were shooting for.

How do we get there, and so we have three people in the in the studio that wrote a book that basically tells us how to get there and it didn't take one person took three to write this. All three of you work with the Wanda this amazing ministry to spin around first 70 years, the years 70 years and it's really disciple, can I say millions so it over the years, children and churches in different areas but Valerie Bell is the CEO of a Wanda now and leads his ministry and met Martin's and my Candler here as well who bring communication and strategy are all parents prolific with award-winning author Valerie and I'm sure this book will do just as well and you've written a book called resilient child discipleship and the fearless future of the church where excited to have you guys actually test today that I know you do a lot of things besides write a book talk about some of us coming up in September.

That's going to help parents and ministers raise up resilient disciples or launching a community called the child discipleship form which is to be hosted in Nashville and online September 16 and 17th, 20, 21 so, but were not standing alone or send with the community of church leaders. So were to be joined by about 16 different communicators. Valerie is one of them pastor Darren Whitehead, David Kinnaman of the Barna group, Ed Stetzer, Cynthia Dixon of dock Tony Evans church we just keep going to go and it's a different conversation today, right yet.

That's one reason you have to get together and say okay little different.

We talked about this earlier.

The cultures shifted.

The family shifted their seismic shifts going on around us, and so discipleship in the family in the home and in the church looks different so church leaders are asking are we adequately preparing today's kids to lead the future of church so as a part of that were also launching an assessment with the Barna group everybody knows the Barna group they'll do research to measure the effectiveness of churches and parenting, discipling and so were partnering together with them to produce this assessment that were released in 2022. So if your church is asking questions that in this space like how are we doing with discipling our kids. This assessment is going to release in your church will be able to evaluate that. So you can know here some areas we can improve on to do better ON the questions we all have and use the term in the book. I guess it's another word for disciple fire carriers and when I first turn data and then again I never read it anywhere else I see here Michael is a dad is a mom I really like that term I want to raise fire carriers first define it. All fire carriers comps our Western culture where out on the prairies that the Cowboys would have to make these fires and there was always one person that was designated to carry the fire to make sure that the fire didn't go out so that they could be protected from wild animals so that they could have worn thin so that they could cook their food with this person (an honored position that I thought about that. I thought you know all through the church's history. We had had prior carious you know we've had fire carriers from the beginning, early church carried the fire of the gospel, even tearing up persecution and great pressure from the government realm to full continued to carry the fire the gospel. If you look at all through history, no matter what terrible thing was happening.

There was always this group who refused to let the fire go out and they carried the gospel passionately to the next generation and they make sure that those who came behind them had the protection of this spiritual fire that they carried, and so you know, we ask ourselves how we fire carriers are we carrying fire to the next generation and will it give them protection strength and warmth spiritually when work on yet is interesting you know it to begin the book we having talked about this, I knew a little bit about this man, instead of the flag. Yes, you know, and when you just talked about fire. Cara thought this is pretty interesting.

He would be a high school kid right tell that story is pretty powerful to think of it as a parent. Listen to this. This is what I'm hoping someday my son or daughter would be yes there is a national event that goes on every year called see you at the pool. Hayden was this young man who like any highschooler who is standing for faith was thinking he was taking a courageous move and being public with his faith and he went to this event called see what at the pool at his local high scores students gather around her flagpoles to pray and she was the only one there.

At first he thought, okay, I'll just wait this out. My friends are, and I know you know that my house at the hammers were chronically late so maybe he was waiting for us. I don't know but like he was just waiting. He thought his his friends will show evidence show and time went on and as you guys know when you're taking a public stand. No matter if you're preaching or teaching. Whatever it is that time can stop all yeah it feels like it, and eons just pass and he felt like it was going on forever and ever and nobody showed and nobody showed an nobody showed and Valerie what was Jesus afraid to do something with my standing alone help people to wonder when they drive by here and so he surrendered to that, and stayed there to the whole time that is resilient and and pains. Mom uploaded the picture and went viral throughout social media.

There are number of people who brought it up. Who commented, and Hayden became that symbol if you will, of resilience, especially in a public high school campus drops that this pain told me that as he sat alone in freighted the cry of his heart had been God's people drive by let them wonder let their hearts be pricked. Eventually, when he realized that no one else was coming. The cry of his heart changed. Yes I God would do something with his standing alone. The little boy had rocked the sleeve in blue airplane pajamas.

I'm sure he was thrilled. That is not without the toddler who loved Elmo and can go to sleep without holding his veggie tales characters in his hand that captured the attention of our community by standing alone doing everything we've ever taught him everything we ever hope you would do. I was completely undone yet since she's doing it when I read that's story and I remember hearing about it but you know here in the perspective of the mom.

That's all of us as parents, you know that's were trying to raise a fire carrier of a resilient young man who will become a man or a woman who carries the Gospels in the next generation that the big question, and that again is help us understand how do we do that. What are some of the steps we can take as I'm sure listeners are like okay I'm with you all in.if you give me some help reassure parents to that. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we have our part. The church has our part but I'm always reassured that the Holy Spirit walking alongside us in our kids when I was in high school.

I never grew up in church and is 16 years old. I surrendered my life to Jesus and it was the first time I had ever heard the gospel seeking his knowing like I now know how to get ahead with the good news to me everywhere. I'm going and you guys.

I was the most annoying person I want my home at night and sent were all going to hell as we know that would go to school and my friends were believers and I would take my big Bible and I would read it in class and in study hall. I would push it every day over to my frantic first meeting people and I was so annoying it came to the point where she took my Bible. She looked at me right in the eyes stick a big handful of pages, and ripped them out of my sight words you know and I felt like such a failure and it's so interesting to because as I'm praying, I'm asking the Lord. I cried and I fear you to write you down in 19 something knowing and I just thought just talk to me Lord to your word and I came to the Beatitudes. Blessed are you are persecuted for my namesake and then I was like when I look at these high schoolers and I think there's so much power through God's spirit living when you can't tell whatever Carolyn run that ran the Bible I think. Years later, we are out of college I we were married and she came to my home when we were at home just in town for a weekend and she knocked on the door and I was so thrilled to see her because I loved her. Our paths kinda had split and she said you number when I tore out all those pages of your Bible and I said to you I nine I apologize. I said I was probably so annoying. I'm so sorry, but I was so excited about what Jesus was doing in my life and she said could you tell me all of that now. Gave her life to Christ right there. I thought it was a failure and yet again God's spirit was moving and but here's the thing you mean you think about what inexperienced and Hayden and resilient fire carrier disciples you studied this. This is what you do help young people become followers of Christ, and resilient disciples.

What if you learn how can we as parents.

How can the church accomplish our mission. We talked about hard and so I let slip for the practice right now so heart that's leading with love and compassion and spine is being rooted in an unmovable truth so heartless, build a bridge right now to parents out there listening say to parents. You have a lot of your plate.

There's yours you're juggling a lot of balls there just so many responsibilities you have weekly and daily hourly by the minutes and I would say the same for the local church pastors you have a lot of ministries and programs.

Responsible for to fulfill the mission of the church. When asked the question was moved to spine. What if there were certain areas where these investments were more fruitful than others.

Would we put more energy into fewer areas so this is the pursuit these types of questions. What lead is what Lackawanna to continue to do a lot of research so from 2014 to 2019, we conducted at least four research projects and pull together other organizations research, we studied the Gospels we want to know how did Jesus make disciples in a Valerie as CEO. She gets hundreds and even thousands of letters over the course of a long time. And we we comb through those types of real life testimonies that all of our research.

It came down to three factors, so parents local church leaders. These are the three factors that most shape a child's long-term identity as a disciple that's belong believe become my going to find those toilet added in the P and three B's. Dave loves this pastor his own free trade here will solicit funding will impact that yeah so belong is the short version of it is highly relational. It's creating an environment of relationship. The gospel doesn't happen in isolation very often were not made for that were made for community illustration with your girlfriend yeah you are already discipling through your relationship with her. Then there is that highly relational thing that was going on between the two high school girls so you were laying down the tracks for discipleship, even that yeah you don't miss this so because you're also saying so if I have a child or I am a child and I want to become a disciple. It's gonna be through relationship it is but it isn't just like him. Think of the parents to say that I want to save my child I have relation with him. It isn't just a bunch of Bible know I'm getting the church.

There's gotta be a cultivating especially as they become teenagers that we have a relationship First Be As Hot As Belonging Highly Relational.

The Second B Is Believe Is Deeply Scriptural Ministry Rooted in the Truth of God's Word.

You Can't Come to Know and Abide with Jesus without Getting to Know Him through His Word, and so the Ability to Not Just Know a Child or Be Known As a Child, but to Be Known and Walks through the Word of God That Reveals to Us Jesus.

John Writes, I Write to You These Things That You Would Believe.

So We Know That the Bible Is Given to Us As God's Word That We Would Believe in Jesus As the Christ As the King Let's Just Pause There for Minute Talk about How You Guys Have Done That Year, Parents All of Your Parents How If You Done First, What We've Always Explained to Our Kids Eat from As Early As They Were Able to Comprehend.

We Explain the Gospel As a Big Picture Story Creation Fall Redemption Restoration Because Their Hearing outside of Our Home That Life Happens by Happenstance and You Know We Came about by Natural Processes. So There's a Better Story Than That. It's That There's a Creator We Chose Our Own Rebellion to Pull Away from God and to Put Ourselves above Him. Jesus Is Our Redeemer and He's Going to Restore Us over Time. That's a Better Story. So Helping Our Kids See That, but Then Engaging Them in Community Reading of the Bible at Church at the Home, Helping Them to Read the Bible on Their Own.

You're Trying to Eventually Get Them to Where It's Not Just a Checklist That I'm Reading the Bible for Knowledge, It's an Intimate Relationship with Jesus Because They See like Your Friend, He's My Savior. He Is the Truth. What's like When Matt or Valerie Text Me. I'm Interested in Their Lives Follow Both of These Two. So When They Text Me. I'm Going to Read Their Text like I'm Excited to Their Text and to Engage in That Same Thing about the Bible Right I Mean We Should Be Excited about Who Jesus Is, so That When We Encounter the Word. It's Not Just Checklist and We All Have Seasons Where Some Things Can Seem a Little Bit Harder. I Think We All Need to Acknowledge That to Say We Were before I Sent to Even Communicate That to Our Kids. I Probably Have Said It a Million Times Try Kids like His Word Is so Good, so Practical It's so Applicable. We Said God Is Who He Says He Is in the Bible, Not Who You Think He Has If Somebody Else Thinks He Is and He Is for Us. That Is the Message All the Way through the Scripture, God Is Florida and so He Is Personal. He Is Involved in Your Life and He's Active in Your Life, and He Wants to Be a Part of Everything That You Do so.

We Emphasize like You Guys the Personal Aspect of God As Shown to Us through Scripture. It Is Interesting. I'm Guessing You Put These Three B's in Order, They Are Semi-Sequential, but You Know the Holy Spirit Can Working with. However, What I'm Thinking Though Because We Missed It. I'm Saying We As the Church in the 90s As I Let a Church We Put Believe for Yeah We Are like Me. We Want Our Church Once They Become Believers We Can Get Them Connected to Belong and We Miss What God Is like Know He Created Relational BF Many People Want to Belong to Even Consider. And so You're Sam and That's Key to Discipleship the Life of Jesus Studying How Jesus Made Disciples Is What Helped Us to Put Them in That Look at the Woman at the Well, Look at How Jesus Was Walking along the Road before Some of the Sequence Does Qualify Because I Mean Is, Was Hanging around People and They Were Catching from Jesus Something before He Even Taught Them to Them.

Here's What I Wrote up on. Also, I Get up and Get My Dad Had on Sure in a Family Life to a Programs Marriage and Family.

I'm Thinking so Dad or Mom If You're Really Trying to Help Your Son or Daughter Become a Disciple. Don't Miss This. Yeah, It Isn't Just Getting to Church. Given the Sunday School and Drive Home. Yeah, Especially As a Become Teenagers Is Their Relationship. Are You Spending Time You Hang with Them or You Just Love in Them and Be in Their Dad Is in the Belief Is Good to Come Out Of That Relation Is Key and Help Them Walk through Life Circumstances through the Matrix of Scripture. Well, Okay, Because They're Together for Thinkers Exactly Exactly How like to Connect That Comment so You Might Be a Dad Think You Will We Do Family Devotions. We Do All These Things to Your Point, David. You Know What Are We Doing outside about My Connecting with Them Relationally and Am I Interested in Who They Are As a Person Towards about the Three Critical Factors in Developing Resilient Disciples. We Talked about Belonging Belief and the Third Wants What Become Which Is What Traditionally People Have Just Only That When Have We Qualified As Disciples, but We Believe That Become Is Truly Experiential Ministry Designed to Move Kids from a Simulation to Real-World Application of Their Face That Happens around Dinner Tables That Happens Post Soccer Games Were We Lose That Happens Everywhere That Were with Our Kids. It's Not Just Segmented or Sanction for One Space or One Place. It's All of Life That Happens When Your Child Says I'm Feeling Left out or How Do I Navigate the Situation We Stepped Right beside Them through Dialogue, through Conversation, We Help Them to Have Eyes to See Our Face or Valerie Talk about Helping Kids Have Why I See Hayden Illustration Here You Have Someone Who Has Become a Disciple.

They Are Willing to Have Primary Allegiance and Let the Other Groups in Their Life Can It Take Second Row Seats They Are Willing to Be Different. They Are Willing to Be Extraordinary in Some Ways They Are Disciples so It's Not Just the Head Knowledge, or the Church Affiliation What I Call Ownership. Suddenly, You Know, There's This Ownership in IM Following in the Christ Way and Following the Jesus Pathway Is Loving, Caring Adults. As Parents We Can Tell Our Faith Stories to Our Kids in a Way That Helps Them to See This Is Real, and My Parents Are Helping Me See like God Is Active in My Life That Becoming a We Having Told You the Best News yet. The Best News Is Not Just These Three Components It's All Three Factors Combine Together What's Happening There.

That's Shaping Their Identity As a Resilient Disciple.

So Not Only Did This Come through Our Research, but Christian Smith the Author of Souls in Transition Says That There Were Three Factors Present. Combine That Influence Long-Term Faith in Children and Students in Its Scripture Experiences and Relationships. What Are Those Belong Relationships Believe Scripture Engagement in Experiences like to Say Something Else to Because Even Though We Are Talking about Child Discipleship Are Really Not Talking Discipleship When Talking about Lifelong Discipleship. So How Do We Create Environment for Our Children That They Will Want to Be Disciples throughout Their Lifetime. That's Really What Were Talking, Let Me Ask You This Is We Sorta Wrap up a Long Discussion. How Is This Work in Your Own Home As You Think about Your Kids Maybe Think Highs and Lows Learnings What We Did Write What We Did Wrong. Have You Seen God at Work Work in Your Children.

This Is Real.

This Is Real in Our Organization the Churches That We Serve and Work with People or Stepping Forward and Saying This Resonates with Me Because This Is What I Actually See Happening This Is What's Fruitful. I Think My Own Children Right.

They Come to Me Because They Thought They Could Because We Had a Relationship. We Talk about That We Listen We Go Back to the Scripture. What Does God's Word Say We Commission Them Back out to Do What to Go Back and Can Get That Life's Experience. We See These Patterns Happening Our Lives. We See Them and in the Way Jesus Bill Disciples and We See in Our Own Families. Yet I Think It's Also in Our House. I Think about Dead Tax in the Morning I Take Kids to School and I Love It Because Even during Those Small Moments like Were Able to Process Some Pretty Big Things. There's a Prayer We Pray Every Day That a Portion of Our Prayer That I Pray with My Kids As We Go to School Is Simply like Allow Us to Be Kind to Others Even When They're Not Kind Us Know That's Not All, of Life Per Se like This Is One Example.

One Little Snapshot. But Even in Those Kind of Simple Words. I Want My Kids to Understand That the Gospel Doesn't Just Happen When It's Convenient or When Things Are Easy or When Life Is Light That Happens during Heaviness That Happens during Difficult Times and It Also Hopefully in Dialogue and Discussion Relationship with My Kids Were Able to Process Together Look. Life Isn't Going to Always Be Neat and Orderly and Tidy. You Will Get Treated Unfairly Unkind and Were Still in the Words of Christ Supposed to Love Our Enemies Right and That's Just Again a Small Little Snapshot in Her Own Home about How This Type of Thing Applies Itself to Our Everyday Life. I Mean a Simple Prayer on the Way to School Every Day of Our Euro Grandmother like We Are Grandpa Will You Say to the Parent. I'm Guessing There's A Lot Of Listening That Are Going My Son or Daughter Walked Away There Still Prodigal. How Do I Process That Woodway Think Is Apparent in That Home. I Believe That God Writes the Last Chapter Good. And God Puts the Period on the Story and It Is Never over till the Test so I Have a Girlfriend Whose Husband Died When She Had Teenagers and Had to Raise Teenagers for Teenagers by Herself.

You Can Imagine, but They Put Their Thrill and One of Her Boys Got Involved in to See Had a Child Out Of Wedlock. He Spent Some Time in Prison Is That Upstanding Christian Home That This Was Happening to Her That He Did Come Back to Christ.

I Thought It Was so Interesting. His Summary of That Time in His Life.

He Said I Was Doing All the Things the Other Guys Were Doing but Not Enjoying It. There Is a Holy Spirit in His Life and so I Do Believe That God Hears Our Prayers and Keep Building That Bridge Don't Ever Break the Bridge off Make It Easy for Them to Come Back to Keep Sending the Birthday Cards Even If They Come Back to You.

You Know, Send the Christmas Gifts. Keep Inviting Even If They Say No.

Just Wear Them down and I've Also Seen That God Brings Other People into This Scenario Denials Many Times Where a Parent Can't Get through Anymore. But God Brings Other People so I Want You to Hear My Heart. I Understand How Very Painful at This and I Feel That We All Feel That for You. Don't Give up Hope Because There Is a God, That's Your Child More Than You Do and I Think for Parents to Feel like I'm Too Late.

I Have Teenagers and They're Not Listening to Me It's Never Too Late for You to Sit down and Say Tell Me Your Thoughts. I Want to Know Who You Are and to Speak Life into Them Loving. I See That You're a Leader. He That Strong Passion That You Have Our Kids Will Always Be Trying to Our Words of Life and Never Give up Your Hope and Dream of a Resilient Disciple of Your Children, It's Still God's Hope and Get on Your Knees. We Do It Every Day and Surrender Yourself and Surrender Again Surrender Your Kids Back to Him Say They're Yours and I'm Either Yours We Do Everything Right and Then Were Going to Every Wrong God We Surrender This Vision to You Valerie When You Close Us with Praying for the Parents.

The Father We Don't Know the Names of the People Who Are Listening That You Do and There Is a Reason That They Were Listening. We Ask You to Bless Their Lives. We Ask You to Show Your Presents to Them That You Would Come Alongside Them As They Diligently Work Towards Being Christian Families and Christian Parents, We Pray That You Give Them a Dream That They Won't Be Afraid to Dream for Their Children.

That Will Include the Future Where Their Children, Resilient Disciple, Resilient Leaders Who Will Infuse the Church at 2050 with Leadership and Vision and Love and so Father We Pray This Blessing over Each of Them in the Be Accomplished in Your Power and in Your Name and Surveying the Testing I Is Valerie. Bill Was Praying I Was Praying As Well. Praying for My Kids for My Grandchildren Praying for the Future of the Church in America and around the World in the Next 30 Years. That Ought to Be on the Heart of Every Person Listing We Ought to Be Not Only Wanting God to Be at Work in the Lives of Our Children and Our Families in the Years to Come, but Wanting God's Kingdom, to Advance through Our Kids and Our Grandkids in the Years to Come. That's What's at the Heart of the Book That Valerie Built Map Markings on My Candler Have Written a Book Called Resilient and It's a Book or Making Available This Week.

The Family like Today Listers You Can Go Online and Family Life to.com to Request Your Copy for You Can Call One 800 FL Today Again the Website Is Family Life to the.com Title of the Book Is Resilient Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church. You Can Also Request a Copy by Calling One 803 586-329-1800 F As in Family L As in Life, and Then the Word Today. No I Know for A Lot of You. This Is a Condo Season of Shifting Gears As We in the Summer As the Fall Is Beginning Back-To-School Time Happening Your Family Life Were Shifting Gears As Well. David Robbins Was the Person Family Life Is Here with Us and and David, We've Got A Lot of Exciting Plans Ahead for the Fall of 2021 Soraya Bobby September Really Does Begin a Full Throttle Mode, for It Was Really Exciting to Be Able to Say in the Context of This past Year of a Pandemic, but Were Pointing Many Things for This Fall. One Is That Our We Can Remember Getaways. We Will Have All 30 of Them and You Know We've Gone from a Pandemic Year Where We Had Seven Events at about 30% Capacity and We Are so Encouraged and Grateful That We Get to Moving This Fall and Have a Full Slate of We Can Remember Getaways and That's Why We Need Your Help. This Is One of Our Initiatives and Be Able to Come into This Fall and Really Go Full Steam Ahead and Taking the Gospel in the Biblical Principles of Marriages and Family to His Many People As Possible and We Need Your Help to Be Able to Do It Well and Here's How You Can Help Us This Week and Next Week. We've Set a Goal Where Praying That God Would Raise up to Families in Every City Were Family Life to His Herd Who Would Step Forward and Become New Monthly Legacy Partners. Supporters of This Ministry on a Monthly Basis, You're Actually Making Family Life to the Possible Not Just for You but for People in Your Community in Your City and Would like to Say Thank You If You Can Join Us As a Legacy Partner by Sending You a Copy of David and Wilson's New Book, No Perfect Parents, along with an All Access Pass to More Than a Dozen Messages from Dave and AM, Some Have Been Featured on Family Life to the Sum Have Not Been Heard yet.

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How do we help train our kids to be the kind of future leaders of the church that we been talking about this week Kevin Vaughn was a pastors, join us to talk about what he's doing in his home, and I hope you can tune in for that on behalf of our host Steven M Wilson on Bob Lapine. We will see you back tomorrow for another edition of family life, family life accrue ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most