Grace Abounding

Curious about adoption? Wondering how to get started? Want to know practical ways to serve families who have adopted a fatherless child into their home?

A one day orphan care and adoption workshop called “If You Were Mine” will be held in the D.C. area on Saturday, March 17. It is a great way to start answering your questions about loving orphans like God loves them.

“If You Were Mine” Adoption Workshop
Date: March 17, 2012
Location: Cherrydale Baptist Church, 3910 Lorcom Lane, Arlington, Virginia 22207
Agenda:

• God’s Heart for the Orphan
• The Christian and the Orphan
• Testimonies From Adoptive Families
• Making Basic Decisions
• Evaluating Agencies
• Investigating Funding Options and Paperwork
• Completing Your Home Study
• Discovering Your Child
• Welcoming Your Child Home
• Finalizing Your Adoption
• Q&A With Adoptive Families

Time: 8:30 am – 5:30 pm
Childcare: limited free childcare slots available (up to age 6)
Lunch provided: no childcare provided during the lunch break
Cost: Early Registration (by February 26) is $15/person; $25/couple
Regular and On-Site Registration (After Feb. 26) is $20/person; $30/couple
Conference Brochure: download it here
Register: Register here.

Christy and I got started on our adoption journey by attending an adoption conference in 2010 hosted at a church. Perhaps God will use this event to stir your heart and show you how he would have you “visit the fatherless in their affliction” (James 1:27).

Our church is part of the Christian Alliance For Orphans, and we heard about this event through the Alliance. If your’re a pastor or orphan care advocate, I suggest your church consider joining the Alliance (it’s free) to get your congregation connected locally and nationally with other orphan care minded churches.

Here’s the audio from the 6 hour seminar that Grace Church of Alexandria hosted this past Saturday covering the basics of and special issues in parenting.

My good friend Rodney Pearce, Associate Pastor of Families at Calvary Bible Church in York, PA, laid out a biblical framework for shepherding the heart of your child. He also delved into issues such as temperament, childhood conversion, when to start disciplining, communicating sexuality to children, and getting help in parenting from your church family.

Whether you’re a new parent like me, a dad or mom wrestling through a difficult season with a child, or you’d like a renewed perspective on parenting, this seminar will be a faithful guide and a help to you.

Parenting With Faith and Wisdom
Click a link to listen online or right click to download the audio. 

Session 1: Developing a Biblical Parenting Paradigm
Session 2: Thinking Theologically About Your Children
Session 3: Talking About Spiritual Regeneration–New Birth
Session 4: The Principles and Practice of Gospel Centered Discipline
Session 5: A Smorgasbord For Further Reflection

I want to give a huge shout to Rodney and Erin Pearce, Mark and Sandra Rochbaugh, and Troy Spisak and his daughters for offering to put on this seminar and provide childcare so all our parents could attend! Thank you dear friends of Calvary Bible Church for serving us. In every way you commend the generous gospel of our God! Also, thanks to Franconia Baptist Church for letting us hold the seminar in their building. Thanks also to Peter Beninate, sound engineer, for the audio, and Michael Collins for the photos.

Grace Church of Alexandria is hosting a seminar on Parenting With Faith and Wisdom on Saturday, February 4 from 9:30 am–3:30 pm, which you can register for here. The speaker is Rodney Pearce, father of four and Pastor of Families at Calvary Bible Church in York, PA. Everyone who attends Grace Church is welcome to come, and anyone from the community too. Please invite friends from the community to attend with you!

Parenting With Faith & Wisdom
When: February 4, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm
(if you can’t make the whole seminar, sign up and note what part you can attend.)
Where: at Franconia Baptist Church, 5912 Franconia Road, Alexandria 22310
Who: For parents, aspiring parents, GraceKids workers, and anyone wanting to learn about helping children treasure God
Kids: Childcare provided by screened childcare workers
Book Table: GraceBooks will have a selection of parenting books and kids books available at the seminar by donation.
Free Gift! Every couple/individual will receive a free book from the GraceBooks Table
Lunch: Catered by Panera Bread (parents, please bring lunch for your child)
Cost: $9 per adult / $18 per couple

REGISTER HERE Please register by Sunday, January 29th.

Pastor Rodney Pearce and his family

 Topics for discussion include:

• The Source of Parenting Wisdom and the Goal of Parenting
• Getting to The Heart of Behavior
• Temperament and Development
• Salvation, Faith and Repentance, and Discipline
• Roles in Parenting
• A Smorgasbord for Further Reflection

“It is a truth universally acknowledged…” that adults don’t really like music that’s produced for kids. That’s why we have all these albums of mainstream pop music recorded with kid’s singing instead of will.i.am or Taio Cruz. Let’s be honest, when I’m in the shower and a song pops into my head, I’d like it to be “No Line on the Horizon” or “Penny Lane,” rather than “Oh, Where Has My Puppydog Gone?” or “I’m Bringing Home a Baby BumbleBee.” But as they say, Trix are for kids, and so is kids music. It really is ok if I find it mildly annoying as long as the kids are enjoying it, right? My bigger concern is when kids music that’s supposed to be “Christian” turns out to be full of moralistic therpeutic deism or just plain silliness (I can only take so much “Where is My Hairbrush?”).

Nothing wrong with kids being silly, obviously, but the bigger problem is finding music that doesn’t just teach kids “obey because I said so,” “don’t pout,” and “clean your plate.” We need music that will saturate our kids with God’s Word and help them apply it to their lives. Here are a few resources that my family has found helpful (and I even don’t mind these songs popping into my head during shower time).

Sovereign Grace Music
Sovereign Grace Music is a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a family of churches whose offices are located just around the corner from us in Gaithersberg, MD. For the past 20 years, alongside their efforts to plant gospel-preaching churches around the world, they have been striving to produce music for the Church that is both theologically rich and musically compelling. In recent years they have produced two children’s albums which I highlight here.

To Be Like Jesus is SGM’s first kid’s album, and it is phenomenal. If you’re familiar at all with SGM’s other musical offerings, you will know to expect great music, and this album does not disappoint. But even more importantly, this album is full of biblical truth, specifically aimed at kids. Each song focuses on a different fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:16-26. But the fruit of the Spirit is not denigrated into helpful suggestions for a happy life. As the title track indicates, these are all about the desire “To Be Like Jesus.” Two immediate benefits from this album:

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