Church Governance Is Failing The recent news of abuses perpetrated by pastors and priests against children and women, and subsequent cover-ups and lack of accountable oversight, are a crushing blow to the church governance. With church attendance in rapid decline and skepticism in religious institutions increasing, recent revelations about the behavior of church leadership at Willow Creek and Catholic Churches in Pennsylvania are a gut-punch to the Bride of Christ. Scripture tells us, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 … Continue reading →
To the pastors and ministry leaders reading this blog post, a percentage of your staff and people are regularly looking at pornography. And, all of your people are stuck in a world that has a lot of loud opinions about pornography and distorted messages about sex. How are you addressing their questions? Are you speaking openly and honestly about this sensitive and sometimes controversial area? We’ve identified seven key questions that Christians might need you to answer related to pornography. And for ministry leaders who want to further address the issue, we provide additional steps you can take in our … Continue reading →
Shame Has No Age Limit Shame affects kids, teens, and adults. I’ll never forget receiving a phone call from a distraught mother who found my website, and called to share the story of her 9-year-old son who had been sexually abused at a sleepover. He was now 11 and a complete emotional and relational mess. Mom finally got him to admit the source of his hurt–the abuse, but he felt so dirty and at fault that he kept this secret for two years. Mom and I talked about counseling solutions, we prayed, and I hung up, crushed at the idea … Continue reading →
I’m the oldest of seven children, which means that I don’t have a childhood memory that doesn’t include a van. I wasn’t even three years old and we were already a family of five, which meant that going anywhere was a feat in managing chaos and not losing any humans. But, starting when I was in third grade, and almost every year until well into high school, my parents planned some kind of family trip over spring break. In hindsight, we probably couldn’t afford it, but they saved and made sure we had an amazing time. Decades later, I have significant … Continue reading →
Is There a Right Amount of Screen Time for Kids? Determining the right number of hours for a child to use a digital screen is tough. Parents often ask me, “What’s the right amount of screen time for my child?” I admit that it would be so much easier to parent in the digital age if there was an age and hours chart that I could just point to and say, “This is what the experts say! There’s no arguing!” But, we all know that it’s not that easy. In fact, it’s quite complicated. In my own home, we have … Continue reading →