I really had good intentions to write a blog post last week, but my week was cut short because I attended The Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission’s National Conference in Grapevine, TX. I look forward to sharing some of the speaker’s videos on my Facebook page soon. There were so many great points on parenting, family ministry and marriage that were discussed.

There were two quotes in particular that really stayed with me from the weekend. The first came from Todd Wagner, pastor at Watermark Church in Dallas, TX. He said, “It is impossible to be committed to God’s view of marriage and parenting and not be committed to discipleship.” It’s the idea that the home is the center of discipleship–both in marriage and parenting, a topic I am extremely passionate about. Todd also said “the home is the child’s first church, the parents are the child’s first pastors and the child’s first subject is the Bible”. If we desire our children to be strong, godly adults, that mission MUST begin in the home.

The second quote also had to do with a gospel-centered home and that came from author and speaker Jamie Ivey. Jamie talked about the dangers of a kid-centric home and shared that, “We cannot teach our kids to give their lives away for the Gospel when all they see is us giving away our lives for them.” If our job is to model for our children and all they see is us catering to their every whim and making their lives the center of our lives, then how will they ever see Jesus as the center.

I saw faults in my own parenting as I attended this conference and the conviction to be even more intentional about the discipleship we do at home, both as a family and for our girls. I want to make sure to carve that time out each week and living out and discussing the Gospel as much as possible. Along those lines, I picked up a book I’ve been wanting from the conference book store, called “Nothing Less” by Jana Magruder. This book was based on a study by LifeWay Research to find the ten greatest influencers of spiritual health for kids. I recently did an online training hosted by Jana and the snippets I heard from her book were so good! I look forward to reading this and sharing with you my thoughts on how we can encourage parents and families to make these influencers a priority in their own homes.

I know this isn’t the most practical or hands-on blog post I’ve shared, but I wanted to give you a glimpse into what I heard this week. It’s my hope that the Lord will stir your heart and help you see how important the home is for daily and intentional discipleship.

Thanks for letting me share,