Family Ministry

Gary Chapman has helped millions prepare for marriage. Now let him prepare you for kids. Inside, Gary shares what he wishes he and his wife had known before having kids. For example: Children affect your time, your money, and your marriage - and that's just the beginning. With his trademark warmth, he offers practical advice on everything from potty training, to the importance of apologizing to your child, to keeping your marriage strong, all the while celebrating the great joy that children bring.

In this helpful and encouraging book, Elizabeth Liebert introduces the practice of discernment and guides listeners through the process of faithful decision making. Following the way of discernment means becoming increasingly able to notice where God is at work in the world and in one's own life - and becoming increasingly generous with one's own life in response.

Are My Kids on Track? helps you identify and measure twelve key emotional, social, and spiritual milestones in your children's lives. Moreover, you will discover practical ways to guide your kids through any stumbling blocks they might encounter and help them reach the appropriate landmarks. Along the way the authors pinpoint the different ways boys and girls develop, so you can help your child flourish in his or her own way.

For fashion journalist Lauren (“LoLo”) Scruggs, a short flight to look at Christmas lights turned into a nightmare when she was struck by the plane’s spinning propeller blades. As Lauren was rushed to the hospital, fighting for her life, the world watched in shock and horror. Several major surgeries and thousands of prayers later, Lauren was still alive. But she had suffered brain trauma and lost her left hand and left eye. Some thought that this would be the end of everything for her, a beautiful young woman working in an industry focused completely on appearance. They were wrong.

Remaining pure in body, mind, eyes, and heart could be the most difficult thing your kids will face in their preteens and teens—and into adulthood. Jim Burns, author of the Pure Foundations series, goes beyond the printed word with this unique audio resource, designed to open a dialog between parents and their kids about healthy sexuality.

As your children grow, will their faith grow too? As both stories and statistics attest, the number of evangelical children who abandon Christianity in adulthood is staggering. To see effective change, parents cannot leave their child’s faith to chance. Rather, families must start nurturing faith early - you cannot start once your child is grown, you must start at home. Strengthening family and home life is the best way to encourage your children to maintain a lifelong faith. It Starts at Home upholds marriage and family as the proving ground for lasting success.

Normal for Me tells the story about the author hitting rock bottom when she received the diagnosis that her second oldest son was on the autism spectrum. One evening she fell to her knees asking God, “Why can’t we be a ‘normal’ family?” God whispered, “This IS normal for you.” This epiphany began her journey from anguish and grief to acceptance, peace, hope, and joy. This audiobook is ideal for not only families struggling with autism but anyone who has had to face a life detour or help someone along the way.

On the scale of stranger to bromance, where do your friendships land? As guys, we tend to get a bum rap when it comes to our ability to relate to other men. We talk work, sports, and buffalo wings, but struggle to move into meaningful conversation with our friends. Justin Erickson has identified seven kinds of friendships every man needs to thrive and grow as a Christian. Based on the biblical role models of men like David, Paul, and Timothy, these are the relationships that ultimately make you the man that God has called you to be.

These are the faces that call me "mom", the three children who made me a mother. When I started my journey into parenthood I never thought it would look like this. I never planned on having three adopted children, and I certainly never imagined that two of them would have Down syndrome. But like most of the things God does, once we stepped into the craziness and confusion of the unknown and unplanned, we quickly realized that we were indeed among the lucky few.

The crash and burn of a helicopter mom! Soap writer Dena Higley was all things to all people. A wife, mother of four, and head writer for Days of Our Lives, Dena ably hovered over the numerous people and responsibilities in her life, eager to right every wrong and fulfill every need. But when her very “normal” family began to spiral out of control, Dena soon became the central character in her own real-life drama, and a night spent in the ER made her realize that her pursuit of perfection was backfiring big time.

Filled with real-life stories and practical advice, Called to Care starts by helping you honestly assess your motivation to help - sometimes the wrong motivation sets the stage for an unsuccessful experience. From there, the book shows what adoption and foster care really look like in a variety of situations, from domestic and international adoptions to short-term foster care and foster-to-adopt arrangements. Also included is how churches and individuals can minister to refugees.

How you parent directly impacts who your children are and who they will become. No one is naturally born a good parent. It takes hard work, determination, and passionate intention to raise our kids right. In the end, we can either parent on purpose...or idly sit back and allow everything else in the world to shape our children into the men and women they will become.

As a mom in the throes of parenting, Courtney DeFeo believes that instilling virtues in children starts with laughter, not lecture. That perspective propelled her to create this idea-packed audiobook, in which she offers motivating reflections, real-life stories, and a sandbox full of inventive ways to help you turn your kids' hearts toward God.

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.

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 Is Hard and Then You Die provides a biblical and comprehensive strategy for raising healthy kids in a world that is morally bankrupt, spiritually desolate, and increasingly dangerous. That strategy is clear and specific, rooted in the Bible, proved successful, and communicated in a fun, entertaining way.

There are literally thousands of books available on how to live various aspects of the Christian life. Of these, at least a couple of dozen pertaining to family life and child training are well worth reading. This is not one of those books. This book is designed to help you take those other books, as well as all the sermons, teachings, and exhortations you have received on child training and leadership in the home, and make sense of it all. Pastor Tad Thompson has assembled a biblical approach to effective family discipleship.

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.

Your daughter needs you to be her hero. In a time when young girls may be drifting toward unhealthy decisions and relationships, you can take action to transform your daughter’s life, choices, and future. Dr. Michelle Watson, founder of The Abba Project, packs your parenting toolbox with ideas, encouragements, timely information, dialogue help, and biblical wisdom to show you how to be a good dad.

Your household is not just a shelter from a war zone; it is the command center from where you launch your attacks. It's this vision of the world with the Christian family at the heart that modern parents desperately need to recover.