Okay, you've seen the notes for this talk, but still haven't heard it! Now's your chance! This is the first of three parts, in which I introduce the topic and give the two foundations for helping our children become self motivated.
You can return to the notes post to view and download the notes or view the prezi.
Many local churches across our nation are "looking for a new pastor." From my experience, it seems that the majority of pastors simply do not stay very long at a local church.
For those of you in a church that is looking to hire someone outside your church as your pastor (which is the norm), then I need to let you know where I am coming from:
I believe that the normal view of church leadership in terms of one, professional, salaried man brought in from outside the local church is not the most biblical understanding and has harmful affects on the health of the church.
For much more on a biblical study on pastoral leadership, you can download the free eBook: The Authority of Church Elders in the NT. (I consider "elders" and "pastors" to be synonymous.)
For example, Paul explains the qualifications of elders in 2 Tim 3: 1-7. Do you think a search committee or a church who has read a resume, conducted an interview, heard several sermons, and completed a background check could truly affirm that a man meets these qualification?
I don't think so. Please go back and read them carefully if you think so.
So, lets say some of you out there are trying to do it differently. You would like to appoint a team of qualified elders from within your church. What would that look like?
I would like to share with you what our church did. This is not a formula or set of rules, just some ideas. First, you might want to check out what our church wrote as a biblical explanation of this understanding of elder appointment.
You can view or download the entire document, "Ministry Appointment and Ministry Commission."
Here is the outline for my second workshop at the NCHE Conference. You can download it as a PDF and you can view the prezi I used for the presentation. You can also download the full article on the last section about Biblical Conflict Resolution.
How to Stop the Fighting in Your Home
Session 11 Saturday 1:50-2:50 p.m
Why do we want to stop the fighting in our home?
Three ways to stop the fighting in your home:
1. Set a peaceful example.
2. Set basic rules of engagement.
3. Teach your children to speak truth to one another (Eph 4:15; Matt 18:15-17).
Teach them the Matt 18 process:
4. Teach your children biblical conflict resolution.
Here is the outline for my first workshop at the NCHE Conference. You can download it as a PDF and you can view the prezi I used for the presentation.
Session 4 Friday 11:00 a.m.-12:00
(Room B-D)
Foundations
How to Help Your Children Become Self-Motivated
We leave Thursday for the annual North Carolinian's for Home Education Conference. This is one of my favorite conferences. A few years ago I wrote out about the top ten highlights of the conference.
Another highlight for me that has developed over the last few years is the opportunity to teach a couple of the workshops. Here are the workshops I'm presenting this year:
Session 4 Friday 11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
How to Help Your Children Become Self-Motivated—Are you tired of working so hard to get your child to do their work or make the right choices? When will they be self-motivated? How can you help them develop this? Discipline is when parents provide external motivation for right choices (which is a necessary part of the process). Discipleship is when parents help children develop their own motivation for making the right choices because of their love for Christ. In this session, we will discuss how to make the difficult transition from discipline to discipleship. You will receive practical tips on helping your child develop godly self-motivation.
Session 11 Saturday 1:50-2:50 p.m.
How to Stop the Fighting in Your Home—Are you fed up with the ugly talk and fighting in your home? Amazingly, it is easier to be polite and patient with those outside the family than with those we love the most! A major part of preparing our children for life is teaching them how to interact with others. In this session, we will apply biblical conflict resolution principles to the relationships in your home. You will receive practical tools for how to teach your children to handle conflict (and how to practice it yourself!).
If you are a home educator (or want to be) in North Carolina (or near enough to come) and you have not yet planned to come, you might want to consider it. I don't think you will regret it.
There are some very offensive verses in the Bible . . . to our culture. Some of the most offensive are about women. How about this one?
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."
(Titus 2:3-5 ESV)
Podcast episode 9 is a continuation of episode 8, "Defeat Satan - Be a Mother." These are recordings from a teaching on Mother's Day 2013.
Most of you probably did not get up this morning thinking, "I really need to find some good material on leadership in the church!" That is the topic of this free e-book, so let me tell you two things before you tune out.
1) It is important for believers who are not paid or educated for ministry to provide leadership in their church.
Often the overall direction of the church is not determined by pastors, but by the people who appoint pastors and establish policy. Unfortunately, many are sitting back and allowing the pastors to make all the decisions.
You, or someone you know, may be in a position to provide important leadership in your church, even if you are not a pastor or elder. This free e-book can be a useful tool in trying to understand what the Bible says about pastors or elders.
2) You might know someone who is interested in the topic of leadership in the church, so please pass this on to them.
There is a significant movement of people leaving the church, but it is not because they are losing their faith; they are disenchanted with the church. Some are asking questions about how we should "do" church. I don't think anyone should leave regular fellowship with a local church (even though it has problems). But we should be asking what the Bible says about church.
There are also many pastors and leaders who are frustrated and are looking for answers. One of many issues about church is leadership. "How should pastors lead?" "Who should be in charge?" "How many pastors (or elders) should there be?" "What are pastors (or elders) responsible for?"
This free e-book attempts to find answers from the Bible for each of these questions and more!
ONE LAST ENCOURAGEMENT: You do not have to read this whole book to find out what you need to know. This is a pdf version of my Ph.D. dissertation and is therefore quite detailed.
You might want to start with the conclusion and dig in where it seems interesting.
Here is an excerpt from the conclusion:
"That elders in sin are to be confronted demonstrates that the church is not to submit to their leaders blindly. Instead, they are to follow as those who are persuaded (Heb 13:17). Elders and leaders who teach twisted things are not to be tolerated (Acts 20:29–31; Titus 1:9–16). The ultimate basis of the authority of an elder, therefore, is not his office or his authorization to lead and teach. The basis for his authority is the alignment of his life and teaching with the truth of God’s word. While elders have authority de jure of position and responsibility, the primary authority that elders exercise in the community is authority de facto of influence based on sound teaching, wise leadership, and godly character."
