Genesis Church: Blog » Family Life

Marriage, Divorce, & Remarriage – Position Paper from the Elders

Mike Hubbard — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:43:52 +0000

This past Sunday the sermon from Mark 10 dealt with the topic of Marriage and Divorce. We know that this topic will raise a lot of questions, and there is not enough time in a sermon to deal with all of these. So the Elders have composed a position paper and published it here to explain our understanding of Scripture on the topic and to give an explanation on the guiding principles that will lead us as we help people wrestle with difficulties.

Marriage and Divorce

Happy Father’s Day-Free online resource for dads

Mike Hubbard — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 12:12:24 +0000

It’s a good day to be a dad! Since Sunday is a little crazy, last night my wife made some ribs, we had dinner with all my kids. They gave me a great Cardinal hat and some other stuff along with a very funny card. Great night.

We do want to honor dads. We believe God has called husbands and dads to lead their families, to be the primary pastor of their kids and to set the spiritual tone in the home. They do this as they love their wives as Christ loves the church, and they train and discipline their kids (Ephesians 5:25-6:4).

Our friends at the Resurgence have made a terrific resource available online for free. Mark Driscoll has written a short and easy-to-read book called Pastor Dad. A great little resource and reminder of what it looks like for fathers to honor God in their roles at home on the day that our kids honor dads.

ESV Seek and Find Bible – Good 1st Bible for Kids

Mike Hubbard — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:44:10 +0000

It was time for Josiah to step up from The Jesus Storybook Bible to a real Bible of his own. While in Chicago at the Gospel Coalition Conference I found the ESV: Seek and Find Bible. Designed for kids ages 5-9, this Bible contains the entire text of the English Standard Version, the Bible we use at Genesis during our Sunday service. But the Bible also has lots of stuff for kids. There are over 120 full color illustrations showing scenes from stories in the Bible, as well as retellings of many of the stories in a short and easy to read format. At the end of each story there is a memory verse, some questions, and some other thoughts for kids to consider. Josiah and I have had a lot of fun reading the stories as part of his devotion in the morning before school. So I wanted to pass on a recommendation to parents with younger kids who are ready to step up to their first “real” Bible. Here is the description from the Amazon website.

Published in partnership with Concordia Publishing House, this new full-color children’s Bible combines the complete ESV Bible text with more than 120 new, vibrant illustrations of major Bible stories. Accompanying each full-page illustration is the Bible story itself, clearly and accurately retold for young readers—and for the parents, grandparents, and teachers who read to them. Each story includes a Key Bible Verse to memorize, Additional Readings for discovering more of the story throughout the Bible, and simple Reflection Questions to help children begin to understand and apply God’s Word. Colorful icons make it easy for young readers to see where each story is found in the Bible text and to locate the illustration that goes with it.

In addition, dozens of Bible characters are profiled throughout the pages, and color call-out sections provide illustrated facts about important Bible objects, structures, and places. Each Bible book begins with a child-friendly introduction, highlighting the important characters and themes found in it.

The ESV Seek and Find Bible is the ideal first “real” Bible for pre-readers and young readers, ages 5 to 9, to grow up with. It is also a wonderful resource for parents to use in family Bible reading and for teachers who teach the Bible to young children.

More than 120 full-page, full-color illustrations
Simple Bible story retellings for each illustration
Age-appropriate introductions to each Bible book
Key Verses to memorize
Illustrated profiles of more than 50 major Bible characters
Illustrated facts about Bible objects, structures, and places
Reflections Questions for children, parents and teachers

Vacation and Camping Worship Experiences for Families

Mike Hubbard — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:01:14 +0000

Last Summer Weston Ely and I wrote three worship experiences for families to do on their vacations. This came after much thought and soul searching about the subject of summer vacations, camping trips, and other activities that take families away from church. On one hand, we as a church know the value these trips can have for families. But they can also represent a dangerous form of idolatry as families relegate their relationship with God and the community of faith to a secondary position, way behind the regular weekend at the lake or campground. As we thought about this we thought that one way we could encourage families to keep Christ at the center of life while taking these trips was to encourage you to keep worship of Jesus central. The first option would be for families to make sure they attend a church each weekend they are gone. Another option was to provide a few worship experiences that families can do together around a campground or in a hotel room.

So I wanted to post these on the blog to make them available to you for any trips, including your Memorial Day getaways. The music is from the CD I Could Sing of Your Love Forever: Kids. We have a few copies at Genesis Kids, or you could use other music as you sing together. The important thing with all of it is that when you travel and miss being with your community of faith, don’t vacation from your worship of Jesus and relationship with God.

VACATION WORSHIP EXPERIENCES INTRODUCTION

1 Reengaging God

2 Reconnect with Family

3 Reflecting on life

Protecting your daugther from the Barbie Image

Mike Hubbard — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:50:07 +0000

Liked what this blog from the Resurgence had to say about the image projected by Barbie and ways to nurture girls toward a healthy view of self. This blog has some great things to say about parenting girls, and also links to several other articles on the same topic.

5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church

Mike Hubbard — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:10:28 +0000

Found this blog from the Resurgence website thought provoking and challenging. We all want the best for our kids, but sometimes we secretly teach the very opposite of what we hope. I would encourage all parents to read.

Family Bible Readings in Mark – Part 1

Mike Hubbard — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:59:27 +0000

Started working on this project back at the beginning of our study in Mark, but got bogged down and didn’t get it done. But then I heard this weekend about our new Genesis Kids Curriculum and how it encouraged Bible reading, and how our Genesis Kids leaders were encouraging families to begin reading the Gospel of Mark together, and I knew I had to get this done. For the past couple months I have been reading through the Gospel of Mark with my six-year old, Josiah. We read three or four times a week at breakfast after mom and the twins have left for school. These Bible readings come from this time with him. This is the first installment and includes twenty-eight readings on Mark chapters 1-5. So enjoy, read Mark together as a family, and see God bless both you and your kids!

Family Bible readings on Mark-part 1

Christmas Family Worship Experience

Mike Hubbard — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 23:00:24 +0000

During our Christmas Eve service we gave families this worship experience to be done together on Christmas day. But I also wanted to post it here on the blog for those who were unable to attend. Print this off, give copies to your family, and worship Jesus on Christmas.

Family Worship for Christmas

The Onion on the Depravity of Children

Brandon Allen — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 18:25:03 +0000

A while back (and by a while, I mean nearly a year), I guy I follow on Twitter, Joshua Blankenship, posted this:

“Leave it to The Onion to write a theologically astute article on the human condition” – 6:53 PM Dec 8th, 2009

If you’re unfamiliar with The Onion, it’s a satirical news site, and in select cities there’s a print edition. I’m including a link to the mobile version of the article, because not all portions of the site are family friendly. Enjoy.

New Study Reveals Most Children Unrepentant Sociopaths

Puritan Family Lessons

Mike Hubbard — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:06:23 +0000

The Resurgence posted this blog today on the Puritan’s convictions about family worship and the need for families to see themselves as a little church. Loved the thoughts here, and saw application to Genesis families. As a church, our philosophy is that the primary location for training kids is the home, and we are here to supplement that rather than doing it for the parents.