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The afternoon session began with several speakers sharing briefly on a practical topic. Mark Holmen Deuteronomy 6:1-12 Our choices not only affect us but it will also affect multiple generations. If you follow God's way, it will go well for us. The only way to true wellness is the one true God. Are we in love with God or are we just doing church? First thing that will impress others is our love. I believe our problems in Christianity is not what is happening at church, but instead what is not happening at home. What is your intentional strategy to making the home the primary place where faith is developed? Mike Trimble My goal was not to have a talk. My goal was to begin a lifelong discussion. Luke 2:52-Jesus grew in wisdom and stature & in favor with God & men. I wanted to raise godly kids not good kids.  I also wanted to talk about troubles of the teen years. Five broad issues we discussed on bike ride: physical, emotional, mental, s...

Here is an article that I contributed to published in the June/July issue of the Christian Leader.  This article was birthed as a result of a workshop I presented with Jenny Wall, Ken Ediger, & Steve Fast in Oklahoma last summer.  We will be presenting a similar workshop in Omaha this summer.  Hope you enjoy! http://www.usmb.org/parents-hold-key-to-providing-faith-home

I finished Mark Holmen's new book, Impress Faith on Your Kids on Thursday.  In the book, Holmen walks through Deuteronomy 6 and its implications for parents.  This is a good book to put into the hands of new parents as they seek how to pass on faith to their children.  Holmen does a great job of looking to specific verses from Deuteronomy 6 and making them practical in our day to day lives.  At the end of each chapter, Holmen writes a letter to a friend summarizing the content of the chapter.  At first, I thought this was redundant, but then I understood Holmen's heart for the friend to whom these letters were written. He explains how these letters were specifically written to someone who probably would never pick up his book. Holmen also includes questions for small group discussion at the end of each chapter. The specific chapters focus on different aspects of parenting.  He starts with the goal of parenting which by the way is not good kids, smart kids...

Today has been a busy day!  I started my normal Thursday routine by heading to the Perk for coffee and reading.  I was blessed by the encouragement of a couple who stopped by for coffee on their way to a meeting.  You know who you are!  I  finished Holmen's book, Impress Faith On Your Kids and will write a review later this week.  I also started an e-book I received from Gospel Centered Discipleship.  You can visit the site here . I will share a few thought provoking quotes from this e-book later too.  I also was able to spend some time today serving pulled pork at Kropf Lumber's Customer Appreciation Day.  It was a fun change of routine and kept me busy.  I enjoyed conversation with Jena as we served hundreds of sandwiches.  It was good to see many unfamiliar faces as I don't spend a lot of time at Kropf, not because it is not a nice store, but because I am handy-man challenged.  If something breaks at my house, I am not mu...

One of the sessions at D6 this year was a Student Ministry Panel from student ministers from a variety of churches.  You can view some of the dialog here .  While I agreed with much of the content, there was something missing.  As a former youth pastor myself, I struggled with how to engage parents in ministry with students.  Several volunteered to help out with activities, but I was not sure how involved they were in passing on faith at home.  I tried seminars such Understanding Your Teenager and other parenting classes, but the only ones that showed up were parents that seemed to being doing well at home.  I knew there must be a better way. I hoped that this panel would give me new ideas to share, but I heard a lot of the same "excuses" youth pastors have been using for years.  I realize that teenagers are separating from their parents, but does that mean the parent does not have influence any longer.  I know our teenagers need other voices ...

Mark Holmen will be coming to Countryside Christian Church in Wichita, KS as part of the D6 Tour on Oct. 1-2.  Hesston MB Church will be attending this seminar.  Here are some questions that I asked Mark Holmen via email. What was key thing/event that led you to Faith @ Home? Ultimately it was a change God made in my life through a survey that showed that parents, and what happens in the home when it comes to faith formation, is 2-3 times more influential than any church program.  When that sank in, I realized I needed to be a more faith@home focused leader where I spent as much of my time energy and resources focusing on helping people live out their faith@home as I was doing on getting them to church events and programs.  Holmen has written a resource called Take It Home.  I asked Mark, how did you pick specific skills? We were looking for skills/behaviors that enhance your relationship with God.  For example, I believe you grow deeper i...

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=608dcb6835" >Mark Holmen at D6</a>

Here is another post from Mark Holmen from D6 conference last year. For more information about D6 2011, check out www.d6conference.com or visit my blog Sept. 21-23 for live updates. You can even chat with me live and ask questions. I am getting excited as the conference begins in one week. The next speaker was Mark Holmen who is a missionary for Faith at Home. Previously he was a youth pastor and pastor who implements faith at home practices. He started by sharing the stats about 18 year olds leaving the church after high school. He asked the question, Why? His opinion is that it is hypocrisy in the home. Faith was seen as church centered rather than a lifestyle. He talked about the two approaches of family ministry. Silos-separate ministries for children, youth, adults, family & Integrated where faith at home is a thread within all ministries. He described his Take It Home Events (which I am working on for Hesston MB). At the Take It Home Event, he did 4 things: mot...

The D6 Conference is pleased to announce we will be streaming the following sessions from this year’s conference for free at d6conference.com/live . (All times are approximate.) Be sure to follow @theD6conference for unique conference-related tweets! September 21—Wednesday · Brian Haynes (8:45 AM CST) · Sean McDowell (12:00 PM CST) September 22—Thursday · David Platt (9:55 AM CST)—During Session 1 · John McGee (2:35 PM CST)—During Session 3 September 23—Friday · Student Ministry Panel—Josh Griffin, Allyson Evans, Allen Pointer, Wayne Rice (9:30 AM CST)—During Session 6 · Mark Holmen (11:05 AM CST)—During Session 7 Official Conference Hashtags #D62011—for general conference tweets #D6Help—to get your questions answered #D6Wish—for the dreams of conference attendees to come true

So, I hope you had a chance to read the Scriptures that I posted previously as to what God's Word says in regards to the family passing on their faith. These are the foundation on this discussion of connecting the church and home. Today, I would like to share a few quotes that hopefully get you thinking about how we need to change the way we do ministry in the church. "As the family goes, so goes the future of the Church. Religious life in the home is more influential than the Church." (Peter Benson, Search Institute) "Perhaps the most important question we can ask is this: How much time, energy, and resources are we investing to make the home the primary place where faith is nurtured?" (Mark Holmen , Building Faith At Home pg. 12) "I believe it is time for the Church to rescue families." (Mark Holmen , Building Faith pg. 12) "We've outsourced the cleaning of our clothes, the washing of our windows, the mowing of our yards--and, unfortun...