Notes: The Christian Family Conference 2010 (Part 4)

My wife, oldest daughter and I attended the Christian Family Conference in Denver this past week. It was an amazing time of encouragement with other Christian parents – most of whom are devoted to homeschooling and home-training their children to be godly men and women, prepared to take on the world with a multi-generational vision. I’m posting some of the notes I took from the conference sessions. Some are sure to fly in the face of the traditions and cultures which most people would consider normal in today’s culture. But these men who spoke to us used the Scriptures, and their lives and the lives of their children are a testament to their integrity and boldness on these topics. Their words motivate me to continue to raise my children in a radical, counter-culture, God-fearing way.

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Kevin was the Executive Director at Christian Home Educators of Colorado for about ten years, and is now working in an international ministry. He also has a daily radio program called Generations Radio. He is an engaging speaker, and challenges my thinking every time I hear him. In this lesson, he focuses on the importance of having a few, exceptional Christian relationships and how that shapes the family.

“Rediscovering Relational Living In Family And Church” by Kevin Swanson

· The Barna group conducted a study and found that only 1 in 3 born-again Christians consider the salvation of their children to be an important parental emphasis. But 2 out of 3 consider their child’s education to be important. (Does the first statistic mean that the majority of Christian parents consider the job of teaching salvation to their children is someone else’s job?)

· Jean-Jacques Rousseau – the father of modern education in America – need to research this man

· “You can change the world…by changing the life of one little boy”

· Churches are going through cultural phases – the “old fogey” church, the nose-ring church, the recovering prostitute church. Consider what would happen if you started a homeschooler’s-only church…and all of the kids graduated? What we need is a cross-generational church – this is a biblical model.

· God is serious about his instructions – if you have doubts, read Deuteronomy 27 and 28 and see all of the curses God promised to people who did not obey

· If you practice hospitality with others, remember – it’s not a church program, it’s what Jesus did! He came all the way across the universe to have dinner with a tax-collector and a prostitute. Relational living is not a “ministry” – it’s what we as Christians should naturally practice.

· Do we think we minimize our efforts if we spend time on only a few deep relationships, as opposed to spending time with hundreds or thousands? Jesus discipled 12 men over a three-year period – and then sent them out into the world. He himself did not try to reach the world directly. What is our calling in this area?

· Consider the concept of family-integrated churches – they don’t contain age-group stratifications – families sit together in church services, from grandfathers down to newborns, because that fosters a cross-generational focus. Kevin has mentioned before that he has been interviewed about why the youth of his church are so strong – it’s remarkable considering that they don’t have a youth ministry or any specific youth programs. I don’t believe they even split off their youth into separate Sunday school classes. Instead, everything is focused on the family – and creating strong fathers and mothers to lead their children in the home and at church. I wonder – isn’t this the Biblical model?

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Back to Notes: The Christian Family Conference 2010 (Part 1)
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Discovering An Addiction

I’ve just returned from eight glorious days at sea with my lovely wife of twenty years. After much deliberation, we finally decided to spend this landmark anniversary on a cruise of the Caribbean. It was inspiring!

As we were packing and planning the week before the trip, my wife asked about the possibility of leaving our laptops at home and trying to spend the entire trip sans computer. Much to her surprise, I readily agreed. It might have been a bit of a surprise to me to consider such a thing.

Armed only with my Blackberry (so we could stay in daily touch with the kids), we headed out the door. It’s really amazing how light you can travel without the burden of the laptop bag, and it makes the security check at the airport just a little easier.

In our society, we are surrounded every day by addiction temptations. Internet addiction may not seem as grievous as some temptations, but I now have a much deeper understanding of how much time it steals. Had I brought my computer along on the trip and made a simple promise to only check it twice a day (something I considered), I would have likely been unable to resist and would have spent a great deal of time “checking the news” or “watching the stock market”. Instead, I made a conscious effort simply to talk with my wife over a meal, or find fun things in which to share our time together and make this week truly memorable. Eight days in a row of being Internet-free has a sobering effect.

Let me tell you what brought it all even more to light for me. We had a balcony room on the ship and we tried to use it often. But it was hard to do so, because our next-door neighbors insisted on smoking on their balcony at least twenty times a day. We rarely sat on our balcony for more than a few minutes without having to endure the noxious fumes. I felt sadness for them instead of anger, though, because this couple spent the majority of their time together inhaling cigarette smoke, without a word between them. As I write these words (with paper and pencil, mind you), they came out on the balcony yet again. And the analogy came to me.

How much time do I spend apart from my wife, my kids, my church, my friends, and people in need just because I want to keep up with the latest happenings in the world? The answer is – too much. Like my neighbors on the boat, who missed every shore excursion and every fun-filled meal in the boat’s excellent dining room (where we laughed and developed a friendship with Don and Ann, Gary and Tara, Derek and Nadine), I can miss what’s really important in this life. All too soon, these opportunities will be gone. I will have missed out on the chance to deepen my relationship with people, in exchange for knowing more about a world I neither admire nor wish to imitate. Stated that way, is there any doubt what change I should make when I get home? Honestly, is there a drawback to becoming addicted to people instead of news, sports and money?