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Is This the New Family Dinner?

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I recently went to dinner with some friends. It was your typical “night on the town” that started by waiting to be seated, finally getting a table, greeting our waiter and ordering our meal. Nothing out of the ordinary.

As we were waiting for our food, I noticed the table beside me. It was occupied by what seemed to be a father and his two teenage sons. My first thought was how awesome it was to see a father investing time with his sons. Then, I noticed what the three of them were doing. The two teens were heavily engrossed in reading while the father sat and played with his cell phone. Not a word passed between them the entire meal.

I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the new family dinner time. Is this what we have traded for an hour around the table, sharing stories of the day, connecting with each other? Have we ceased to be a family unit and become nothing more than a group of people doing their own thing that just happen to live in the same house? If that’s the case, no wonder our nation is in the state we currently find it.

Pope John Paul II once said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” The enemy knows that if he can destroy families, he can destroy the world. Why do you think abuse, neglect and divorce are so rampant? All are weapons meant to target one thing and one thing only – the family.

Don’t you think it’s time we take our families back? Maybe we could start by having dinner together again.



Written by on July 19, 2011 and categorized under Impact

When I Don’t Care for Christian Camps

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Everything has a purpose. When something is utilized for its purpose, it can be a powerful, life-changing and positive thing.

Obviously, there is nothing inherently evil about sending kids and teens to a Christian camp. It can be a place where:

  • incredible relationships are formed
  • intimacy with God is deepened
  • faith is strengthened
  • students can find encouragement to “stay the course”
The problem comes in when we use these camps for the wrong purpose. A Christian camp should never be a “safe” alternative to regular, “secular” camp. It should never be meant to shield and protect our kids from the non-Christian culture…a spiritual bubble that’s all nice and clean and acceptable to all your church friends.
I see at least three things that happen when we “protect” our kids by only sending them to Christian camps:
  1. It lends to the stereotype that Christians are nothing but separatists who want nothing to do with the real world and would just as soon judge you as talk to you.
  2. It ill-equips our kids to live out their faith in an environment that isn’t so neat, tidy and clean (aka – the real world)
  3. It takes all of the Christ-following kids out of the one place that needs them most…a camp filled with kids who do not know Jesus.
As a dad, I am all about protecting my kids…but not to the point of crippling them or causing them to miss out on their purpose. Jesus’ command that we go and make disciples doesn’t just apply when your 18+. It’s not like voting.
Our kids who are passionately in love with God are the greatest instruments of heaven for reaching their unsaved peers. Don’t take the opportunity away from them by only remembering the “not of this world” part of Scripture while forgetting that we’re still meant to be “in this world” making a difference.


Written by on July 12, 2011 and categorized under Impact

4 Ways to Lead Like Jesus

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Great leaders know the necessity and benefit of learning from other great leaders. I can think of no greater leader than Jesus. So how do we learn to lead like Him?

  1. LEARN LIKE JESUS – Even as a child, Jesus would sit at the feet of the religious teachers, asking questions, hungry for knowledge…willing and ready to learn
  2. LIVE LIKE JESUS – Jesus lived His life in an intentional rhythm…a pendulum that would swing from serving God and being still before God. He understood the significance and power of both.
  3. LISTEN LIKE JESUS – Everything that Jesus did began by hearing from God. It all started with a Word from the Father.
  4. LOVE LIKE JESUS – First and foremost, Jesus knew how to love…unconditionally…without expectation and despite public opinion. Those he lead KNEW they were loved.

What would you add to this list?



Written by on June 27, 2011 and categorized under Impact

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