The new christians class is our next Milestone event. Children who have completed the first grade are welcome to attend the class. Volunteer teachers in the class serve as allies to parents in helping families discern their child’s decision to follow Christ. At the end of the class, the teachers have a discussion with parents on the readiness of their child to be baptized. The class also includes a tour of the baptistry area to help children feel familiar with the process. The class meets several times throughout the year.
Former Milestone events posts:
Family Dedication
Toddler Time
Sitting the Bench!
I rode the pine.
Basketball wasn’t my greatest gift in middle school. I was taller than other guys but crucial elements like coordination, speed, and shooting weren’t my biggest strengths. Not every parent has LeBron James for a son. David Prince explains in this article how parents can help their children serve them their team and emulate Christ was still riding the pine.
Milestones – Toddler Time
When we first sat down to think about the major milestones in a child’s life, several people on our staff had recently experienced their children making the big step into toddlerhood. It’s one thing to have a newborn. It’s a whole different story when they start talking back, using the potty, and heading off to school. Parents are asking all kinds of questions in this season of life and the church should come alongside them and help.
Our first Toddler Time event is coming up soon. We’ll give away books (Sheperding a Child’s Heart by T. Tripp, Age of Opportunity by P. Tripp, and Stand Up by Dumas/Stinson), teach a 45 minute lesson, and have a panel of parents to do Q&A. The topics we will cover during the teaching time are: discipline, choosing a school option, family devotions, and the role of parents as the primary faith leaders in a child’s life. We are also giving parents this resource which outlines helpful points to parents for navigating the toddler years.
We also plan to show the importance of faith at home by using a simple illustration. We’ll have a display of 168 balloons on the stage with each representing an hour in a week (7 days * 24 = 168). 164 of the balloons will be orange while 4 will be blue. The blue balloons represent the number of hours, at most, that church leaders have with children. The other 164 orange balloons represent the number of hours that parents have with their children. It is critical that parents take the lead role in discipling their children.
Milestones – Family Dedication
Family dedication is our way of affirming the church’s role in encouraging and equipping parents to lead their children to love Jesus. Parents sign up by filling out the forms below. Our plan for family dedication will change in 2012. Here is our plan:
We hold a breakfast the morning of family dedication where we have teaching on the following:
- What it means to be the primary faith leader in a child’s life
- Creating teachable moments
- The importance of family faith talks
- The importance of fathers as the spiritual leader of the home
Milestones
Brian Haynes’ book Shift has been a big help as we have developed our family ministry strategy. From conversations with trusted friends and reading Haynes’ book, we developed our own Milestones strategy to equip parents to make the most of the transitional points in the lives of young people. Parents are often on their heels when it comes to the major changes in their child’s life. Choosing a school, puberty, dating, technology, and graduation can either be major stresses or opportunities for growth. I’ll share a series of posts that show how we developed our Milestones and how they might be a help to parents and student pastors.
Our Milestones are centered around a Milestone Training Event. These Milestone Events are time when we as a church highlight the transitional points in a young persons’ life.
Every Milestone Event will have three key components:
• A symbol that represents that point of life change
• A key Bible verse
• A simple booklet available at our Parent Connect Center
Here is a rundown of how we organize our Milestone Training Events:
Family Dedication
Symbol: Shepherd Staff
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 1:28
Target Age: Children new to the family
Time of Year: Various times throughout the year
Toddler Time
Symbol: Orange Balloon
Key Verses: Hebrews 11:24-25
Target Age: 2-4 year-olds
Time of Year: Once a year in January
New Christians Class
Symbol: Bible
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 3:16
Target Age: After 1st grade
Time of Year: Various times throughout the year
Teenage Years
Symbol: Marble
Key Verse: Psalm 90:12
Target Age: Around 6th grade
Time of Year: Once a year in January
Cars, Jobs, and Girlfriends
Symbol: Key
Key Verse: James 1:5
Target Age: Transition from 10th to 11th grade
Time of Year: Once a year in January
The Launch
Symbol: Airplane
Key Verses: Matthew 28:18-20
Target Age: High school graduation
Time of Year: Third weekend in May each year
equipthefamily.com
It’s tough to be a dad. It’s tough to be a mom. It’s tough to be a student pastor.
The blog will focus on helping moms, dads, and students pastors equip the family to live gospel-centered lives. You’ll probably also find hilarious videos and thoughts on current events.
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Letter from the great folks who run the food bank
We are so proud of our students! They did an incredible job serving Jesus on the 2010 Thirst trip. Here is an email we received about their accomplishment:
This e mail is from Deborah Foley. I am the wife of Tim who met you at the Food Bank. All I can say is WOW what a blessing….we are all just blown away by the effort you and your group put together for us. God is blessing our new effort to provide assistance to the food pantries in Hamilton County and your donations will help a lot of families.
Tim was so impressed by the attitude of all your kids. You are to be commended for the work you are doing.
Thank you again and know that God has used you and your young helpers to influence a lot of lives in Hamilton County, Indiana (the first lives being ours!)
For His Sake,
Deborah Foley
Resource to help those who are grieving
A trusted and admired friend of mine has endured, through the grace of Christ, the grief of losing a child. Many people in our church family are now grieving with those at Highview who have lost a close loved one. We have faith that God is good, death is a result of the curse of sin, and that Jesus is the great overcomer of sin, sickness, and death. In Him, we have eternal hope.
My friend sent me a few points that will help us help those who are grieving the passing of a loved one:
1. Everyone grieves differently and needs to be given liberty to do so.
2. People think that their friends do not want to talk about their lost loved one. Many times they actually do.
3. Give them space, offer your help but give them space.
4. Send them notes.
5. One of our great fears is that people will forget our lost loved ones so try to find ways to let them know they are not forgotten.
6. Realize that everything will not be measured by the day they died. You relate all time to that time.
7. They will go through what I call the tyranny of the first. For example:
The first Sunday since they died, the first day of a new month, the first time they go to a grocery store, the first time they go to a place the child had been, the first birthday, the first holiday…etc. It will last for at least a year normally but could be longer.
8. Write them around the time of the child’s birthday, death day, and holidays.
East Students: Let’s hear your comments…
On our first East Students 2010 Wednesday night, we talked about an intriguing passage of Scripture.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. -Matthew 16:25
Here’s the deal: Based on what we talked about last night, what you know about how to read the Bible, and what you have experienced in your life – what do we think about this verse? There is one meaning to the passage but many implications and applications. Let’s hear what you have to say.
Videos from Men’s Breakfast
We had an incredible time this morning at our Highview Men’s Breakfast. We heard the wisdom of Kevin Ezell, Randy Record, and W.A. Criswell. Below are the videos we showed to help reinforce the points:
