Dear friends and family,

After four years, I am returning to Nicaragua for a ten-day training trip!

As many of you know, I run a program at my church called Family Rhythm. It is an equipping ministry for building strong family habits that points children to Christ daily. Through classes and coaching conversations, parents learn to make stronger connections with their kids for 

• training wisdom
• growing character
• instilling foundational Christian thinking.

This material is also packaged in the form of a conference for the church in Nicaragua. Bluewater Baptist Church has a strong partnership with Threefold Ministries. Locally, the Skylark Retreat Centre, which is Threefold’s foremost project, provides churches with “a multi-use facility to congregate and raise up its leadership.” I will travel there from October 16-26 to teach the Family Rhythm (Ritmo Familiar) conference for church leaders and parents. 

I will be travelling with Rev. Wayne Hancock, the managing director for Threefold, and Deane Proctor, lead pastor of Queensway Baptist Church. Deane will be simultaneously leading a conference for pastors on leadership and hermeneutics.

Nicaragua is located in central america. It has recently gone through a period of significant political turmoil. For many months, travel to the country was restricted. “Approximately 67% of those living in the Los Medranos area subsist on less than $9 per day. There are no local health care centres in the immediate area and transportation options to larger centres are limited. 93% do not have permanent access to clean water. Children make up 1/3 of the population” (Annual Report, 2018).

I am so thrilled to be a part of this ministry! I am thankful to my Bluewater church family for sending me. I am thankful for my wife who will hold down the fort while I am away. Please pray for the families of Nicaragua as we also continue to pray for the families of Sarnia and Canada. Through Christ, our stronger families can carry out His mission in the world. And we press on toward that goal.

Prayer requests:

• Families moving closer to Jesus, closer to each other
• Staff making preparations at Skylark to host 
• Obstacles removed for people to come
• Inner peace in the midst of political turmoil

Living life with Jesus and you,

Pastor Steve

September, 2019

Habits are human nature. As the saying goes, “We are creatures of habit.” But habits, particularly family habits, direct the course of our lives. They take us places. Sometimes places we want to go, other times…not so much. Families that take the time to intentionally think through and plan their patterns and habits will be able to navigate better and influence the next generation well for the long journey. 

So let’s get disciplined and train our families with well thought-out habits. Here are four steps to make it happen.

…we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-5

1. Identify Pain: There is suffering and there are trials in life. Good habits are an antidote to the chaos that sin brings into God’s world. Consider pain points in your family. Perhaps you are disconnected. Maybe your children are behind in their education. Consider patterns of misbehaviour and what that reveals such as lying or whining.  
2. Implement Training: When you have clearly identified a pain point in your home, use that starting place to blitz ideas or research possible good habits that will counter it. For example, the pain of loneliness might stir up desires to find ways to get more regularly connected at church. Or, too much screen time might generate an urge to block out some quiet time or schedule a board games night. Pick one and schedule it (daily, weekly, monthly, annually). Schedule time and place. Learn how to coach well. Plan to persevere.
3. Influence Growth: Once a habit is going, keeping it going is a struggle. But this is where character is formed. Be all in on what you decide. Review to make sure your framework in place will make the habit sustainable. Get buy-in from everyone in the family at a family meeting. Be aware of natural resistance to change. Build trust through positive reinforcement and meaningful attention and connection. Consider your use of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, motivators and incentives.
4. Inspire Destiny: Hope is like a deep breath of fresh air. It fills us so we can keep going. One day, God will restore a New Heavens and New Earth. Until that time, good godly habits are how we partner with God in His restoration plan. Our families can provide fertile soil for planting and reaping good habit fruit. With every habit you learn, strongly answer the question of why you’re implementing it. Consider the impact on your peace and joy at home. Consider the character it will form. Consider long-term health benefits, financial benefits, educational benefits, spiritual benefits. Young children will have difficulty seeing the long-term, so that will mostly be for you. But as children grow, you can add more terminology and reasoning that will help them get over the hump of resistance. 

Identifying and coming to grips with pain and suffering is a driver for learning a new habit. Implementing a new training plan with a simple and actionable goal gets the habit off the ground. Steady, ongoing coaching and practice will sustain the habit and influence its growth. A sustained habit will shape who you become so continually inspire a hopeful destination.

Your kids need you. Lead them well by showing them how to form strong habits for life…no matter how often failure creeps in and how crooked the path may be.

Have you ever tried talking to children about Jesus being equal with God the Father and just ended up stumbling over your words? Then try saying that there’s a Holy Spirit too and he’s God, but there’s still just one God. Perhaps we can use words like these when explaining Trinity to children: “Thanks to Jesus Christ, we can have closeness with God the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Let your clarifications flow from this.

Photo credit: http://www.home-online.com

Understanding God as triune is a non-negotiable dimension of the gospel.

-Stanley Grenz

…for through [Jesus Christ we] have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

-Ephesians 2:17-18

Epic Quest

Understanding the Trinity is a perplexing mystery and yet, it is a fascinating hope worth gazing on.

Consider the galaxy. It’s vastness overcomes our sense of wonder. But at the same time it continually draws us into a longing to discover every aspect of it.

The unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three distinct persons is like this. Our little human minds fail to properly understand this God, but at the same time, we are fascinated with the pursuit of knowing God personally. The Trinity pictures for us unity, diversity, loving relationship, unique roles, one source of life and various expressions of life.

With children, however, the complexities of these thoughts can quickly be lost. As I recommend in another post, let’s keep it simple. But keeping it simple does not mean boring or dry. We can stir up children’s imaginations and propel them to want more.

Let’s send kids on an epic quest of endless discovery of their Creator, Lord and Best Friend.

Let’s break down my kid-friendly description of the Trinity: “Thanks to Jesus Christ, we can have closeness with God the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Thanks to Jesus Christ

Without Jesus (being God/deity, becoming human/humanity, bringing together/atonement, etc.) we can’t come to God. He makes forever friendship with God possible. He defeats death, which is the opposite of God who brings life to all things. He shows us what God is like. So we teach kids to thank Jesus for what he’s done for us.

Closeness with God the Father

God is Father to Creation, all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere-present. We honour God to remember this. Furthermore, God is all-loving and endlessly kind. A simple way to start this conversation with children is to say, “God is great and God is good.” While God is super strong, he also wants to be crazy close.

Holy Spirit Power

The Holy Spirit gives us power to come alive. He connects us to the Father. He fills us with all godly things. He helps us live as God designed us to. He is not the force. He has much better power than that. So we teach children to want the power of God in them.

The Father creates life, Jesus brings back life and the Holy Spirit empowers life. God is all about life (one God). Each member of the Trinity shows off that life in different ways. Trinity: One God united and three diverse persons. This is over simplistic, but I find it helpful to say big truths in small ways and in many ways. Don’t lose sight of the Quest!

What are your own ways to speak of these big truths with your children?

Lord, I want to understand how you are one great God, and three distinct persons!