Being Intentional

There are so many thing we need to be intentional on, our relationship with God, being a good friend, keeping marriage lively, raising non-mediocre kids, and the list goes on...

One area that has been on my heart a lot recently is being intentional to have a Christ- Centered Family. We can not just say we have a Christian home because we go to church, and Ross and I happen to be pastors. I went to the Focus on the Family Parenting Conference a few months ago, where I realized we need to be more intentional in changing the culture in our homes for Christ, not just outside our homes, hoping that rubs off on the kids.

We as parents have to take responsibility to change in the home and spiritually develop our kids, not just hope that they get it from an average of under 30 hrs a year in Sunday school or going to youth group. Mom's and Dad's are 2-3x's more influential than church programs. (which on a ministry side note, makes me realize we need to be spending more time, energy and resources in equipping parents to be able to have faith in the home) Deut. 6:1-20 really addresses our role as parents.

To being changing the culture in your home we need to know, you can't pass something on to your kids, that you don't have yourself. 61% of Churched teens don't got to church after 20- the #1 reason: Hypocracy. Do you live what you say you believe behind closed doors?

We are trying to start a new tradition as a family, we call it: Sunday Night Lights (well, I call it that, Ross just laughs) :) We try, at least 1x a month to do a small group bible study as a family. Originally the goal was to do it every week, but that was near impossible to be consistent because of schedules and random things popping up, so we have resolved to 1x a month. Glad to say we're on month 3, and it seems to be going good & the boys get excited about it! This isn't the only way we are trying to do to place Christ at the center of our home, but one of many. Another thing we do every night is read a bible story with the kids. FYI: So far my 2 fav. kids bibles are This One and This One. :)

Here are some things we've done so far:
Ross and I rotate leading each time. The elements we try to have each time are Worship, Bible Story, Illustration, Scripture Memory, Prayer. We keep it simple.

The 1st Sunday Night Lights we Read and Reenacted the story about David and Goliath. It was hilarious how into it the boys got with their swords, pretend sling shots and knocking daddy-Goliath down! They learned: God always wins his battles!

2nd we read about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. We actually went outside and had 2 clay flower pots, put paper in them, got one wet and left one dry. We showed how God lit Elijah's sacrifice on fire, but the prophets couldn't get their god to do it. They LOVED the fire, lol. They learned: God is most powerful!

3rd we read Jonah, I put a big blanket on me, and when Jonah was thrown out of the boat during the reading, I "swam" up to the boys and swallowed them in the blanket, they had to say "sorry for running away" to get out. Needless to say, it was a hit. :) They learned: Never run away from God, and Obey God.

I, as a parent, need as much help as I can get, and want to share what I'm trying out. I would love to hear your ideas too!