Family Ministry

At first, Ken Abraham wrote off his mother’s changes in behavior as quirks that just come with old age. There was memory loss, physical decline, hygiene issues, paranoia, and uncharacteristic attitudes. He soon realized that dementia had changed her life - and his family’s - forever. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 5.4 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s disease. That’s one in eight older Americans. More than likely, that figure includes someone you know and love.

You want your children to become Christ followers, obedient to His commands, and fruitful in their faith, but where do you begin? Though there isn’t a formula or prescription for raising godly kids, what you desire for your family begins with heeding God’s instructions to remember and declare His faithful works to the next generation.

A woman marries a man, not his ministry. But all too often her husband’s calling complicates their life together. What if ministry life isn’t what she bargained for? What happens when her children make mistakes? How does she deal with church gossip, or even slander? As a pastor’s wife of almost 50 years, Jani Ortlund addresses these questions, along with many others, as she offers encouragement and guidance to ministry wives. Jani reminds listeners that God works out his delightfully good purposes in and through their sacrifices.

Popular writer and blogger Kara Lawler shows women how to embrace the sacred in mundane, ordinary life - and in the process, discover themselves. Life doesn't have to be lived on grand mountaintops for it to be meaningful. We can see God at work right where we are: in our ordinary and mundane routines, in the faces of our family and friends, and - especially - in nature. Kara Lawler speaks to the hearts of those who find themselves lost in the midst of their chaotic schedules and weary attempts to be all that is expected of them.

Do you ever feel caught in an endless cycle of working harder and longer to get more while enjoying life less? The Stewart family did - and they decided to make a radical change. Popular Catholic blogger and podcaster Haley Stewart explains how a year-long internship on a sustainable farm changed her family's life for the better, allowing them to live gospel values more intentionally.

Throughout Keep Showing Up, Karen includes ideas to implement in your marriage right now, such as powerful statements to speak to your spouse, date-night-on-a-shoestring suggestions, and discussion starters. Discover how your "incompatibility" can become the strength of your marital team in this real-life guide to both living with and loving your spouse - differences and all.

In Lead Me, Matt identifies the tension many men experience when trying to balance work and home life. With bracing honesty, vulnerable storytelling, and practical application, Matt challenges you to be faithful both to God's vocational call and to His call to lead your family well. Discover the extraordinary joy of actively and intentionally pursuing your wife and children. Matt reminds us that it's messy. It's difficult. And it's the most rewarding thing you can do, beyond following Christ.

How can a good parent like you become an even greater parent? By shifting the focus to what's right with your kids instead of what is wrong with them. Discover how you can replace your frustration with joy by taking the pressure of performance and comparison off your children's shoulders. Based in the belief that every child has God-given greatness within them, Play to Their Strengths shows you how to move with the natural momentum of your kids' talents and make the shift to a collaborative, strengths-based, and motivational approach to parenting.

Wouldn't you like to know how to have a healthy marriage, effective ministry, and godly children? Learn the 13 keys that helped these pastors plant churches and continue leading them for up to 33 years while they grew to over 1,500 people. Now in their 60's, these pastors are still enjoying ministry, happy marriages, and children who are all following the Lord. How did they do it? You're about to find out! This book is based upon a real-world case study that will give you the keys to keep you standing strong - not just in ministry, but personally, and in marriage and family as well.

Parenting isn't rocket science, it's just brain surgery. And Dr. Joshua Straub has good news for you: You can do it! You don't need to do all the "right" things as a parent. Both science and the Bible show us that the most important thing we can provide for our kids is a place of emotional safety. In other words, the posture from which we parent matters infinitely more than the techniques of parenting. Emotional safety - more than any other factor - is scientifically linked to raising kids who live, love, and lead well.

Now you can turn your daily commute into a renewing time with God. Whether you spend several hours a day in traffic or only a few minutes, My Time with God for Daily Drives: Vol. 1 provides relief from life's traffic jams and detours. Each daily devotional is four minutes or less and steers your heart to God with Scripture, devotional thoughts, and inspirational closings to help you apply Scripture to daily living. Beautifully set to music, this devotional is the perfect way to begin or end your daily commute.

Las circunstancias que usted enfrenta hoy probablemente son alimentadas por una de las cuatro fuerzas emocionales que le lleva a actuar de manera indeseable, a veces incluso en contra de su voluntad. Andy Stanley explora cada una de estas fuerzas destructivas y cómo éstas se infiltran en su vida y dañan sus relaciones. Si éstas emociones reinan libremente en usted, tienen el poder de destruir su hogar, su carrera y sus amistades. Enemigos del corazón ofrece una dirección práctica y bíblica que le ayudará a retomar el control para hacerse cargo de esos sentimientos.

For years, Christian women have been told, "If you just prayed more, had more faith, and trusted Jesus, you'd have more peace." But what does it mean when a Christian momma continues to worry? How does she reconcile her feelings of fear with her faith in God? And how does she raise her children in a home full of peace when she feels anything but peaceful?

Most Christians agree that Christmas is all about Jesus, yet most of us spend little time preparing our hearts to celebrate Him. Why is this? Partly because we don’t know how. In Unwrapping the Names of Jesus, Asheritah Ciuciu leads listeners through the four weeks of Advent (Hope, Preparation, Joy, and Love). This devotional can be used by listeners in their own personal worship times or as a tool to engage in family worship during the busy holiday season. Either way, participants will gain a greater sense of awe and wonder at who Jesus is.

Fusion Children's Ministry is a collection of big ideas from expert kid pastors. Book two of the series describes how your ministry can relate to family, science, and strategy in the local church. If you are a children's pastor, or work with kids, you need to check this book out. It is packed full of great ideas and even better questions.

Radio personality and best-selling author Barbara Rainey knows firsthand the challenges newly married couples face. Dismayed by Hollywood depictions of marriage and the seemingly easy solution of divorce, she sees a desperate need for a voice of experience, a mentor who has been there and understands - and can encourage, coach, and care. As her daughters began their married lives, Barbara wanted to share with them, and now you, some of the lessons learned throughout her own marriage as well as those gleaned from years of ministry to couples.

Aching Joy is an honest psalm of hope for those walking between pain and promise: the aching of a broken world and the beauty of a loving God. In this place, rather than trying to dodge the pain, we choose to feel it all - and to see where Jesus is in the midst of struggle. And because we make that choice, we feel all the good that comes with it, too.

Your children will either live forever with Jesus or apart from him. Too many growing up in Christian homes will not follow Christ as adults. Do you have a strategy for parenting in today's hostile culture?

Children today live in an unpredictable, disruptive, and often violent world. Many of them live in two different homes with different sets of expectations. They face bullying at school and online. They hear news of school shootings, and racially or religiously motivated violence. They may have lost a friend or a loved one. As parents, the impulse to protect our children is strong, but that very protection can end up handicapping them for life. Rather than seek to save them from the hard things, parents must teach their kids how to cope with and rise above their problems.

Every Christian parent today wrestles with the challenge of how to raise kids in a God-honoring, morally sound way. In Etched...Upon My Heart, Jill Kelly offers up the unforgettable episodes of her life - some sorrowful, others filled with joy - as a "living epistle" to her daughters. For the many other Christian mothers who also long to pass on their hard-won knowledge of God's steadfast love and healing grace to their children, Kelly's down-to-earth reflections provide an inspiring example.