Lately, my life has been characterized by failure. Not epic moral failure, nothing that would shock the neighbors and cause my hometown to gossip, just average failure. I am not depressed or taking a fatalistic view of life, but realistically several things I planned have fallen apart lately. These were not little things. These were things my children saw. Things they were involved in and looked forward to. It caused me to think, "How could I talk honestly with my children about my imperfections?"

This is a terrifying thing as a parent. The idea they will see my faults, view my imperfections, and think less of me. There is not an ounce of trusting the gospel in my thinking. Do I trust God will guide my children as I try to live honestly in front of them? I will admit it is hard for me. I want approval. I want my children to think highly of me. The problem is when I only think of this, I leave no room for God as they view me. If I only allow them to see the things I do right, what  KEEP READING

At KidStuff, we often say that "what happens at home is far more important than what happens at church." That statement is a very Biblically based, simple to understand statement. But we have heard many of you ask, "What does that actually mean?" In other words, "I'm with you. I want to pastor and lead my own family. But no one has ever shown me how."

We have been hesitant to answer that question, because God has made each family unique. How I will pastor my family is different from the way you pastor yours - and rightfully so! However, we do see the value in giving some examples of what it might look like. That's why we created the Room for the Whole Family Primer Study Guide, which you can pick up on Sundays in our resource center.

The Resurgence also recently posted a great example of how one man, Justin Hyde, pastors his family. It's an excellent example of a man who has sought guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit to see how he should pastor his family. You can find the post KEEP READING

"O God. we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us,
what deeds your performed in their days, 
in the days of old."

Psalm 44:1

I love this Psalm! If you read it in its entirety, you will see the utmost importance of teaching the next generation about our God and how He works. The psalmist starts by remembering all that their fathers told them about the things the Lord has done (v.1-3). He then moves on to praise the Lord, the King, for His power and might. Declaring that God alone can save (v.4-8). But then, his tone changes. In verses 9-16, the situation has changed. The psalmist says that it feels as though God has rejected them. He has not gone out to battle with them. He has allowed them to be disgraced and laughed at. He has let the enemy have victory over them. This does not sound like the same God that helped their fathers. So, the psalmist then begins to examine what they might have done to bring on all of this hardship (v.17-22) and he cannot seem to find it. I can  KEEP READING

Guest post by Kimberly Stewart.

On May 4th, there was a fire in our neighborhood and it was b/c of that fire that we met Alessia and her two daughters, Adreanna and Angelina. They came in our home that night and lived with us for a week and a half as they got things back in order....or should i say, God provided things in order above and beyond any of our expectations.

There are many details, but what happened in short is that God had been pursuing Alessia since she was born in Germany 23 years ago. As she shared her life with us, i noticed this. As we shared our life with her, God began to fit the pieces together for all of us. Alessia believed their was a God...but had no idea about the good news the Bible spoke of. We and many others shared this good news with her and on Mother's day, May 10th, God called her to Himself and she was saved b/c of the great work of Jesus! a Glorious day for so many of us...and the next Tuesday we baptized her in our yard! see post below. Alessia  KEEP READING