It is my absolute joy to serve as an Associate Pastor to the families at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church. One of my jobs as a pastor is to be a source of resources for the families there. Over the years I have compiled a lot of helpful links and tools that are useful for family ministry.
Each month I plan to provide a list of 5-7 resources that may be helpful in the process of discipleship in your home. It will simply be entitled “The Family Toolbox.” I will provide a link and a brief summary in hopes of providing quality tools for your personal family toolbox. The topics will span from issues of child rearing and marriage strengthening , to cultural trends that families need to be aware of. I take my job of “equipping the saints for the work of ministry” very seriously within my local church, but it is also my prayer that these tools will be a blessing to you and your home. I hope these will be useful.
In just a few words, pastor David Prince unpacks the question, “How would you explain to children in grade school what a sermon is and what they should be doing during the sermon?” This is a great blog with quick tips for your young sermon listeners to get all that they can out of the Lord’s Day service. You can also print out some notes for your young sermon listeners here as well:
Sermon Notes for Older Kids 2
Sermon Notes for Younger Kids
There are many internet safety devices out there, and some are better than others. Here is a quick review on one of the more popular ones. Disney circle is “a small, white box that pairs with your existing Wi-Fi router. The Disney Circle Home allows you to control and monitor all of the devices on your home’s Wi-Fi network.”
Do you have a pre-teen that needs to hear about sex, purity, and “dating?” Passport to Purity is a toolkit that is set up for a weekend get away with mom and daughter or father and son. “The getaway kit equips you to cover what can seem like awkward topics in a fun and engaging way.” It is one of the best resources for families on the subject. It looks at these issues from a purely biblical perspective, but in a sensitive way. I cannot encourage each parent of a preteen enough to check this out.
Have you ever wanted to be able to have more godly conversations with your children and teens? In this article, Julie Melilli provides a few simple ways to make that a reality in your home. (I don’t support everything that The Gospel Coalition publishes, but this is a very helpful article on the subject.)
This past weekend my church hosted its first annual “Mother and Daughter Banquet.” Our guest speaker spoke on the subject of living out a feminine faith in a feminist world. Here is a quick book review of a book by the same title that Mrs. Christic Henery used as the basis of her talk. You can also check the book out and purchase a copy of it as well if you are interested in digging a little deeper.
Not everyone has the time, nor desire, to sit down and read the biographies of godly men and women of the past. Now you have the opportunity to learn about them and have your faith strengthened simply by listening. For the past 25 years Pastor John Piper has been doing biographical sketches/sermons on some of the heroes of the faith in church history. Each sermon is about an hour long. It would be perfect to listen to on your drive back and forth from work, while working around the house, or mowing the lawn. It is one of the most beneficial sermon series that I have ever listened to.
Suicide is a very big deal and the rates of them have increased in recent years. You may or may not be aware, but there is a new app that your teen and preteen can download that is being deemed as a “suicide” app. Please be aware of what your children are doing on their phones, and warn them about apps such as this one.
If you find a helpful article that you think would be useful for the church body to read, feel free to shoot me an e-mail (adam@praysmill.com) with the link and I may add it to the monthly list.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you,” readers.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Adam B. Burrell
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