D6 Blog
Parenting With Purpose: How To Disciple Your Kids At Home
One of our principal ministries as parents is discipling those who God has placed in our family. We are aware of this responsibility, and we usually have the “want to.” But the “how to” might seem overwhelming. We must not let our feelings of incompetence lead us to rely solely on the ministry leaders at church, reminding our children to do what they say and leave it at that. Discipleship is so much more. Discipleship in the home is far too essential to be handed off to someone else, even if...
Family Ministry: Breaking Out of the Department Silo
My wife and I don’t have children, and the most I had ever been involved with family ministry at our church was the three-year period that we spent volunteering in the four-year-old class on Sunday morning, where our largest victory was the fact that we only lost one...
Escape the Lie: A Q & A with Walker Moore
We live in a fatherless generation where we have seen deep wounds emerge and lives become crippled. In Escape the Lie, Walker Moore talks about this deep-seated problem known as the Orphan Heart. He inspires readers to overcome these wounds from the past through...
The Special Image Bearer
Last week, my schedule landed me in a hospital exam room, sitting uncomfortably on a plasticky couch, filling out miles of paperwork, and watching as an awkward young doctor ran various assessments on my delayed four-year-old son, Jude. This isn’t anything new; I’ve...
The Fastest Way to Overcome Any Misunderstanding
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." - Romans 12:10 John, our teenager, was looking forward to a weekend event with his buddies at church. But he never got to go. Why? Because each of us thought the other had submitted the...
“Get off the floor, son.”
How many times have you seen it? The helpless, ragged mom in the store looking down at a flailing child on the floor who seems to think that Mom saying no to him is just not going fly. The fit is thrown. Awesome. What about your own kitchen floor? Ever seen one of...
Are Families Still Important to the Church?
I once heard a youth pastor say, “The reason you don’t hear pastors preaching about the importance of family is because we ourselves are not doing family very well.” Let that sink in for a moment. Has this been true of your experience? This post isn’t to bash the...
Will It Matter In College?
When she was about eleven years old, my oldest daughter wanted to dye her hair black. She wanted to dye it black. What? Black? Is she going goth? Is she going emo? Or is it emu? Regardless, I knew black wasn't going to be awesome. However, the whole color-your-hair...
Self-Worth in the Digital Age
If a group of friends hang out, and no one posts about it on social media . . . did it actually happen? Have we placed such a high priority on our online images that our real-life relationships begin to suffer? Sometimes, I wonder. There have been times when I have...
Connecting Church & Home
Tim Kimmel has long been the leading voice in what he has become known for—“Grace-based Parenting.” I will never forget hearing Tim speak for the very first time, we were Skyping him in to a small group of influencers having lunch together. Tim asked this question...
The Mess That Bears His Name
Social media. It shows the best of technology while simultaneously showing the worst of mankind. While flattening the world and connecting us in ways we never could have dreamed 30 years ago, it has also provided people an outlet to say anything and everything without...
Marriage Mentoring
“If you could give just one sentence of marital advice to these 200 students before you leave, what would it be?” It’s the closing question we pose every Monday evening to a guest couple in our Marriage 101 class at Seattle Pacific University. After our evening’s...
Marriage…It’s Worth Fighting For
You have to fight! Those aren’t the typical words of advice written in a card for newlyweds or engraved on His & Her coffee mugs. But I think those words should be in cards, on t-shirts, in frames, and in every conversation we have about marriage. Let me explain:...