kingdomeducationministries

 

Shortly after the second edition of Kingdom Education™ was released, I was asked to speak at a large Christian school administrator & board member conference. This was the first time I was able to present the 8 biblical principles of Kingdom Education™ that I had included in the new edition of the book.

I explained to the delegates that Christian school leaders needed to know, understand and be committed to a biblical philosophy of education. If this were not the case, the school would eventually drift from its God-given mission. The response was extremely encouraging as several came up and shared how good it was to be challenged to stay grounded in these 8 biblical principles.

The coordinator of the event shared with me that the presentation was definitely challenging. However, he went on to say that an author of a book that the organization was promoting would disagree with me on a couple of issues.  When I asked for more specifics, one issue that was mentioned caught me off guard.

The issue raised had to do with the third principle of Kingdom Education™.  This principle reads,

The education of children and youth must have as its primary goals the salvation of and discipleship of the next generation.

I asked why anyone would have a problem with this principle? It was explained to me that this particular author would say that evangelism and discipleship are responsibilities for the church not Christian schools. I was taken back but quickly responded that it was obvious that this person did not understand what biblical discipleship was all about.

That interaction took place almost 20 years ago.  However, I wonder if there are parents, pastors and Christian school educators today who may hold the same belief that this author did.  I believe that over the years, discipleship has become a process of going through a series of Bible studies within small groups in a church setting. If this is the thinking of many Christians today, it is no wonder why the church has failed to make disciples that can impact culture.

There is really only one mission for every Christian and that mission is to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). This mission is for every parent, pastor, church member and/or Christian educators. No matter what mission statement a church or a Christian school develops, it should be tied to the Great Commission.

It is time for Christian school leaders to connect their school’s specific mission to Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations. This will cause some other questions to be discussed and answered.

1. What is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
2. Can a Christian who is not a disciple make disciples of other people?
3. How does the school’s mission support the Great Commission?
4. How is this principle of Kingdom Education™ implemented throughout the school’s educational program?

When we see the condition of the world today, it is absolutely critical that the home, church and school form a united front to do everything in their power to make disciples of the next generation.  This will require the gospel to be central in all we do so that every student understands his/her need to be born again.

After salvation, the disciple making process must begin immediately and be intentionally implemented throughout the young person’s education at home, church and school. When this happens, we will see young men and women equipped to go out and impact the culture for Jesus Christ.

In the 1800s something took place that Francis Curran, a professor of the history of American education, referred to as a revolutionary development in the history of education and in the history of Christianity.  What was this revolutionary development?  According to Curran, it was the surrender by American Protestantism…of the control of popular elementary education to the state.

He went on to predict that once one area of education went under state control, it would simply be a matter of time when all levels of schooling follow suit.  The results of this monumental shift in who educates our young has been catastrophic to say the least.  I have written about the devastating results of secular education for years.  It has been sad to see the predictions of men such as Robert Lewis Dabney come true.

I am thankful that many Christians have tried to right the ship through the modern Christian day school movement.  It was exciting and encouraging to have been part of this movement when Christian schools literally were exploding on the scene in the 1970s and 1980s.  However, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what has been accomplished and what hasn’t taken place over the years.

Almost two years ago, our entire lives were turned upside down by the Covid virus.  One result of this pandemic was that just about all schools went virtual.  This meant that children and youth were, once again, at home receiving their education.  Because of this, parents started realizing what their children were being taught in the state school system.

Many parents were shocked to learn that schooling was not just about the 3 Rs.  There was something else going on.  G.K. Chesterton understood what education is really about when he wrote the following.

Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma, then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere.

It has been amazing to hear how Christian school enrollments are increasing all across the country.  I continually read reports of how homeschooling is also exploding at an unprecedented rate.  However, these occurrences have also caused me to give a great deal of thought to where the movement is headed.  As I have been contemplating the current state of our country and Christian education, I find myself asking more questions than I have answers for.

Recently, a pastor asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks and I am still trying to find an answer to it.  We had been talking about the reality that the home, church and Christian school have not done a good job on making disciples of Jesus Christ.  It is true that there has been a strong emphasis on evangelism but we seem to have come up short on actually making disciples who are impacting the culture.

His question was, “what would a Christian school look like if it were totally built on a biblical discipleship model?”  At times, I have wondered if, at the beginning of the modern Christian day school movement, we had done it all wrong?  Did we take a secular model of what a school is and bring it under the auspices of a local church or Christian school board and simply attempt to Christianize it?

I have found myself asking a lot of other questions like these.

1. Are we trying to just have a more “excellent” program than the neighboring public or private school?
2. Has the effort to be “college prep” Christian schools caused us to adopt the typical course offerings that all other forms of schooling have thinking that God’s will for 98% or more of our graduates must be to go to college?
3. Is there a better way of bringing the home, church and school together in a unified effort to make disciples of the next generation?

As I have wrestled with these questions, I have wondered if it is even possible to change how we do schooling to better fulfill the Great Commission?  How do we get parents to take the time and rethink how God wants them to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?  Are church leaders willing to do whatever is necessary to assist parents in fulfilling their God-given responsibility of educating their children biblically?

As you can tell by the title of this blog, I have been doing a lot of thinking.  I am not saying that a lot of good things are not happening in Christian schools all across the country.  I also realize that many homeschooling parents are doing some wonderful things as they educate their children at home.  As one of my former pastors once said, I simply have a “holy discontent” to want to do more.

I don’t have the answers to these questions but I share them with you to see if there are any other parents, pastors, administrators and teachers who may be thinking similar thoughts.  If so, I would love to know your thoughts and, hopefully, some answers you have found to these all-important questions.  Please leave a comment below and let’s pray that God will give all of us wisdom and direction as we strive to provide Kingdom Education™ to future generations.

 

For the past few weeks, my pastor has been addressing some very challenging topics in his messages.  These topics, such as wokeness, social justice and critical theory, etc., have challenged all of us.  Whenever one simply mentions one of these terms, it sparks some very strong reactions from those in attendance.  Most reactions are very emotionally charged due to personal experiences or what people have been taught or by various narratives that have bombarded people through the media.

Today, I was asked to preach a message to help people look at a bigger picture of what may be going on behind the scenes as it relates to these important issues.  In order to understand these issues that are causing division in our homes, churches and communities, we need to set aside our emotions and view these through the lens of Scripture.

As I was praying and preparing the message, I was reading in Ephesians and came across a very familiar verse.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)

I had read this verse hundreds of times in the past.  However, this time some of the words seemed to jump off of the page and I began asking myself some questions.  Who or what are these principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual hosts of wickedness?  What does it mean that this battle is in heavenly places?

 

The Bible tells us how Satan was once a part of God’s angelic host.  In Ezekiel 28, this angel is referred to as the anointed cherub.  This cherub rebelled against God in an effort to become god.  He fell from Heaven and took 1/3 of the angelic host with him.  The war we are engaged in started in Heaven and was between God and Satan.

When God created the heavens and the earth, He created man in His image.  We read in Genesis 1 that He created man as both male and female and the two joined together in marriage and became one flesh.  Here we see that God defined marriage to be between a man and a woman.  This union was the creation of God’s first institution that He ordained — the family or the home.

Of course, we know that Satan immediately attacked God’s creation and tempted Eve with two lies.

• God’s Word can’t be trusted.
• You can be your own god.

Yielding to this temptation brought sin, disease and death into God’s creation.  Satan’s attack on man in the garden wasn’t just an attack on the man and the woman.  It was also an attack on God’s institution of the family.  Ever since that day, Satan has tried to destroy the family.

Because of sin, God established His second institution to provide order to His creation.  This institution is known as the state.  In Romans 13, Paul explains that the role of the state was to punish evil and reward good.  When the state protects both individuals and families according to its God-given responsibility, we will have just societies.

Once again, Satan set his sights on this new institution designed by God — the state.  He doesn’t aim at destroying the state like he wants to do with the family.  Instead, he simply wants to control it.  Throughout history Satan attacks the state by changing its role from being the protector of people and families to becoming the provider of the people’s needs.  Then, the state can become god with Satan in charge.

When God redeemed sinful man through the finished work of Christ on the cross, He established His third institution — the Church.  Satan immediately unleashed the powers of darkness to attack the Church.  I believe that Satan knows he can’t destroy the church.  This is because the Church is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.  So, Satan simply wants to weaken the Church and make it unable to shape the culture.

Satan’s ongoing attacks on God’s three established institutions, the family, state and Church, are Satan’s attempts to become god.  It is a war that started in Heaven and continues to be waged in heavenly places.  But the individual battles are fought here on earth and we are Satan’s targets in these battles.

The principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual hosts of wickedness are Satan’s band of demons who fell from Heaven with him in his rebellion against God.  God’s Word provides us with a glimpse of how the battle we are waging today is against these spiritual foes in heavenly places.  Consider a startling conversation that is recorded in the Old Testament book of Job.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answers the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”  So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side?…But now, stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”  Job 1:7-12 (NKJV)

This is a powerful picture of the battle Job faced against rulers of darkness in heavenly places.  It was a battle that Job had to fight in here on earth.  However, it was part of the war that was being waged in heavenly places.

We are engaged in the same war as Job faced.  Even the suffering that righteous people face on a daily basis must be seen in light of the cosmic struggle between God and Satan.

Satan wants to be god and he is trying to do this in his attacks on the:

1. family or home
2. state
3. Church

If we are going to understand what is going on in our country today, we must view it through the lens of Scripture and the ongoing cosmic struggle between God and Satan.  We must never forget that Satan wants to destroy every family. He also wants to control the state and weaken the Church.

Before Satan can destroy any of these institutions, he must first bring division.  Once people are divided, he moves in all the forces of evil to destroy and devour them.  I want to challenge you to look at the ideas/beliefs that are dividing everyone, even Christians, today and try to see these dangerous ideologies as Satan’s attempt to be god.  We must realize this battle is not against flesh and blood.  It is a war in the heavenly places.

I can remember as a teenager being glued to the TV each week to watch an episode of Mission Impossible.  Each week actor, Peter Graves, led a  team that was given an extremely dangerous mission to accomplish.  How would the mission be accomplished when the team was up against overwhelming odds?  In order to accomplish the mission, every person on the team had to fulfill its role at precisely the right time and in the right way.  In the end, they always accomplished the mission.

God has given His children a mission to accomplish here on earth.  It, too, is a very dangerous mission and it requires every team member give careful attention to what needs to be done.  This mission is the same for the individual, the home, church and school.  The mission is referred to as the Great Commission and was given to us by Jesus before He ascended into heaven.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.  Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

Most churches, Christian schools, and other Christian organizations have developed a mission and/or vision statement that expresses their purpose and guides them in all they do.  Whatever the individual institution’s written statement is, it must aim at accomplishing the Great Commission found in Matthew’s gospel.  Every Christian is to be striving to make disciples of all nations! 

Unfortunately, this is not happening throughout Western Christianity.  In a recent Barna Group report, it was found that only 17% of today’s churchgoers had heard about the Great Commission and thought that they knew what it meant.  The Disciple Nations Alliance provides evidence that most Christians have redefined the Great Commission to mean only saving souls for Heaven and planting churches.

When we see what is happening across our country and around the world, we must admit that we are failing at making disciples who know and live out all that Jesus commanded.  It is evident that you cannot make disciples without saving souls.  But it is also true that you can save souls without making disciples.  This has to change.  The Great Commission must be the driving force behind the lives of individual Christians, the home, church and Christian school.

However, there is a problem that must be addressed in order to complete this mission.  For someone to make a disciple of Jesus Christ, he or she must first be His disciple.  What does it take for us to be disciples of Jesus Christ?  When answering this question, many Christians will refer to Luke 14:27.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Here Jesus tells His followers that there is a cost to being His disciple.  Being His disciple requires each person to die to self and live for Jesus Christ.  In today’s world, dominated by “self”, few Christians seem willing to pay this price that is required to be a disciple of Christ.

However, God’s Word gives us some other insights into what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus.  In John 8, Jesus is talking to some Jews who had just become believers.  He challenges them to go beyond being a mere believer to becoming one of His disciples.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32 (NKJV)

To be a disciple of Jesus, one must “abide in My Word.”  Another translation reads that a disciple must “continue in My Word.”  A disciple of Jesus Christ must take up daily residence in the Bible!  God’s Word can’t be something we just visit once in a while at church.  It must be our dwelling place.  Paul makes this clear when he writes,

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)

Dr. George Barna is the director of the Christian Culture Center at Arizona Christian University.  The Center has done extensive studies on the worldview of today’s Christian.  The findings are troublesome — especially when it comes to Christians having the ability to make disciples of all nations.

 

• 75% of evangelicals and 76% of charismatics reject the Bible’s teaching that people are not basically good; we are sinners.
• 58% of evangelicals and 49% of charismatics reject the Bible’s teaching that people cannot earn a place in Heaven by being good or by doing good works.
• 42% of evangelicals and 38% of charismatics reject that the Bible is the primary source of moral guidance.

The reality is that today’s Christians are not “abiding in God’s Word” and, therefore, are not disciples of Jesus Christ.  This means that we are not capable of making disciples because we are not disciples ourselves.  Darrow Miller makes a statement that is not only frightening but is also being proven to be true.

If the church is not discipling the nation, the nation is discipling the church.

As a new school year begins, we must ask ourselves some important questions.

1. Do we understand God’s mission for our lives?
2. Have we truncated the Great Commission to only mean saving souls for Heaven?
3. Are we willing to die to self and live for Christ?
4. Have we taken up residence in God’s Word or are we merely visitors?
5. Have Christian schools selected board members and hired teachers who are disciples or just believers?
6. What are we doing to become Christ’s disciples so we can disciple the next generations?

If we are not disciples of Jesus Christ, the Great Commission is truly a Mission Impossible!

Below are two verses that most of us have read and quoted many times.  This is especially true when it comes to being involved in Christian school education.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;  Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  Proverbs 9:10

As is too often the case in one’s walk with the Lord, we quote verses like these but never dig deep into their meanings.  In Proverbs 1, the word beginning  means the chief, first or foremost.  It carries with it the meaning of the start of something.  The writer is stating that the fear of the Lord is the essence of true knowledge.

The term translated beginning in Proverbs 9 is a different Hebrew word.  Here, it means the prerequisite.  Before you can get wisdom, you must first fear the Lord.  The verse goes on to tie wisdom to the knowledge of God and understanding.  Warren Wiersbe says when you attend to getting wisdom, you get a deeper knowledge of God.

If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom, what does it mean to fear God?  As I studied this, I was challenged by several things that others have written.  Wiersbe wrote,

The fear of the Lord comes when we acknowledge from our hearts that He is the Creator, we are the creatures; He’s the Father, we’re His children; He’s the Master, we’re His servants.

Charles Bridges defines the fear of the Lord as the affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law.  Poole’s commentary on Proverbs 1:7 states that the fear of the Lord is the foundation without which all other knowledge is vain and useless.

Recently, I was viewing a Q&A session at the 2021 Fellowship Conference when a participant asked the panel what does the fear of the Lord look like to the everyday Christian.  This man explained that when he first became a Christian, he had a real awareness of the fear of God but he seemed to have lost it over the years.

Michael Durham of Real Truth Matters first defined the fear of the Lord this way.

A biblically balanced view of who God is that leaves you absolutely awed by Him. You do not fear God until you see Him as He is faithfully revealed in Scripture.

He went on to explain that the problem with Christians not fearing God arises from a skewed view of who He is.  If you emphasize God’s love over His other attributes, you end up with no honor or respect of God.  This is because you see Him as this syrupy, kind, gentle, meek God.  However, if you only define God by His attribute of justice, you will never draw near to Him because you will be morbidly afraid of Him.  We will only fear God when we know God as He is faithfully revealed in Scripture.

Today, we are seeing many Christian “celebrities” leaving the faith.  They, for some reason or another, no longer claim to be Christians.  In fact, some of them are offering counsel and courses on how to deconstruct your faith. Dennis Hanbarger posted an interesting statement on social media related to all of these deconstruction stories.

I’m noticing that so many deconstruction stories, when distilled down, essentially amount to: “God isn’t who I wanted Him to be.”

So, how does one mature and grow in the fear of the Lord?  I want to go back to the panel discussion I referred to earlier.  Paul Washer responded to this man’s question about what should the fear of the Lord look like in our everyday life.

To continue in and grow in the fear of the Lord, you have to get in Scripture and discover who He is. As you discern more and more who He is, the fear of the Lord will not diminish but will increase.

Washer explained that there are two necessities to understanding the fear of the Lord.

1. The study of God’s Word — The more you know Him, the more you will reverence Him.
2. Community of believers — Be around men and women who are examples of people who fear the Lord

As students come back to school, they need to see that their teachers understand who God is and walk under the umbrella of honor, respect and awe of God throughout each day.  In order for this to be a reality, every Christian parent, church leader and educator must be in God’s Word daily and know who God is as He is faithfully revealed in Scripture.

When this happens, the next generation will come to know the fear that leads to knowledge and wisdom.

I am strongly opposed to any child being given a secular education.  This is because there is an obvious danger to this type of education.  However, I am more concerned with an insidious danger that comes with all secular education.  In order to understand my concern and opposition to secular education, it is important to define terms accurately.

The term secular is often thought of as simply being neutral when it comes to spiritual matters.  When looking up the definition of secular in a dictionary, one will find definitions such as these:

denoting attitudes, activities or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis

not subject to or bound by religious rule

Thinking that secular education can be spiritually neutral has led many Christians to believe that this type of education is not dangerous.  After all, it is not “anti-Christian” or “anti-God”. It simply focuses on facts and knowledge without trying to attach some religious meaning to everything. Thus, the majority of Christian parents naively send their children to secular schools for their education.

It is because of this very fact that I believe secular education is insidiously dangerous.  Again, defining terms in today’s culture is extremely important.  The term “insidious” comes from the Latin words “insidiea” and “insidere”.  These words mean to ambush, trick, or lie in wait for.

A dictionary definition of insidious is:

something that proceeds in a gradual, subtle way with harmful effects; treacherous; crafty

So, what is the insidious danger of any and all secular education?  It is not what is explicitly taught to students.  There is no doubt that there is a lot of false teachings that takes place in secular institutions.  One will find these falsehoods in what teachers present in their classrooms and what authors write in secular textbooks and other instructional resources.

However, the real danger is in what is omitted in secular education.  It is what teachers and textbooks in secular education don’t say that makes this danger so insidious. Dr. Paul Vitz’ book, Censorship: Evidence of Bias in Our Children’s Textbooks, was published in 1986. In this book, Vitz reported the results of a government-funded survey on the way religion and traditional values were represented in 90 widely used reading and social studies textbooks in United States schools.

Dr. Vitz summarized his findings with these chilling words.

This will be my last post for a few weeks.  I will be taking some time to get alone with the Lord and listen to what He has to say to me about the future.  I have often found that taking time to be refreshed leads to being recharged and reignited about serving the Lord.

One activity that I believe is essential to effective ministry is that of reading good books.  Of course, the most important book to read is God’s Word, the Bible, and it must be the filter through which all other books pass through.

I can remember on several occasions that Dr. Falwell would have Charles Tremendous Jones come to the church and schools to speak.  He would always say the same thing at the start of every message.

You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.

Of course, I read all the time, not just during the summer.  Over the past 2-3 months, several books have really impacted by thinking and, therefore, my life and ministry.  I want to share these books with you and hope that you may find them to be both challenging and encouraging.

I have always enjoyed reading books written by Dr. Erwin Lutzer, former pastor of Moody Church.  His book, When a Nation Forgets God, challenged me several years ago.  Over the past couple of years, he has written two books that I believe every Christian needs to read.  They are: (Click HERE to order)

• The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be a Light in the Darkness
• We Will Not Be Silenced: Responding Courageously to Our Culture’s Assault on Christianity

There are two books that were just released that are strong biblical treatises on the importance of education.  The first one is by Darrow Miller entitled, Don’t Let Schooling Stand in the Way of Education.  Miller is joined by several other writers in laying out the case for the importance of children receiving a biblical education.  Click Here for more information.

Another book that presents a powerful challenge to parents and church leaders concerning the education that they are giving to their children is by my good friend, Dr. Alan Pue.  Rethinking Discipleship: Why Christian Schooling Matters spells out how Christians must recapture the biblical command to make disciples of all nations.  Again, this is one of the must reads for all Christians who are concerned with how the world is taking the majority of our children captive to its ways and purposes.  To order click Here.

Two final recommendations that will help Christians navigate through the dangerous times we find ourselves in are:

• Fautlines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe by Voddie T. Baucham Jr. (Click Here to order)
• Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice: An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis by Scott David Allen (Click Here to order)

If you would like some further reading enjoyment, I would also encourage you to consider:

• Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue by Andreas J. Kostenberger
• The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven J. Lawson

I mention these specific titles because the authors are very deliberate to write from a solid biblical foundation.  As I mentioned earlier in this article, the more books written by man, even Christians, that one reads, the more time one must spend in God’s Word.  I pray that these resources will be a blessing to you as you take time to be refreshed, recharged and renewed in the days ahead.

Please pray for me as I will be presenting at the VIP Worldview Conference presented by BJ Press and Precept Marketing next week.  It will be held at the WWII Museum in New Orleans.  Immediately following this conference, I will be conducting the very first Kingdom Education™ Summit July 7-9 in Shreveport.  I believe that the Summit will be the most important event that I have ever been involved in over my 50+ years in education.  For more information you can Click Here or email [email protected].

I pray you will have a wonderful and blessed summer.  See you in the Fall!

My father was a very principled man. His life was marked by discipline and hard work. He lived such a life, even though he suffered from severe arthritis and psoriasis for most of his adult life. I cannot remember him being able to walk any long distance or do any type of physical exercise without experiencing great pain. However, I never heard him complain and, through all of these struggles, he exhibited an unbelievable work ethic.

Having lost his father when he was only 12 years old probably played a large role in the development of his demanding work ethic and his strong sense of personal responsibility and accountability. Dad had to learn to work hard to help support his mother and two sisters. I am convinced that he was able to accomplish all he did under difficult circumstances because he took his faith very seriously.

Three character qualities always stood out to everyone who knew Dad. The first was his punctuality. My father loathed people who were always late for appointments and/or completing tasks assigned to them. In fact, I have always characterized my father as one who considered himself to be “late” if he was less than 30 minutes early to anything.

A second quality found in Dad was his unwavering sense of loyalty. He was loyal to his family, friends, church, community, and workplace. He missed very few of my brother’s and my basketball games in high school, and I learned he used most of his vacation time at work to travel to see me play college ball.

Dad worked for only two companies his entire life after completing junior college. After 16 years at Loblaws (a now-defunct grocery chain in Buffalo), he went to work for the National Grinding Wheel Company. He remained there for the next 41 years before retiring. As I think back on those years, I cannot recall a single day that my father ever missed work because of sickness.

Another area of his life where Dad demonstrated loyalty related to his church. He was always in attendance for services on Sundays and Wednesday nights. I still remember “his pew” where our family faithfully sat for every service (of course, it was always available because we were always early). He always supported the man who was called to pastor the church. He not only supported but also defended our various pastors with the tenacity a mama bear has for her cubs.

I personally witnessed him slipping a $50 or $100 bill into one of his pastor’s hands when he shook hands with him after a service. I once asked him why he did that. He simply said that he knew the pastor’s family was struggling to make ends meet on the meager salary the church provided. He wanted to encourage him. This made a huge impression on me because we were not a wealthy family by any means.

The third character trait that stood out in my father’s life was his strong conviction about being personally accountable for one’s actions. He grew up in a day when right was right and wrong was wrong. Right and wrong were based on absolute moral values that most people believed in. When someone did something wrong, Dad expected and demanded that they take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences that came with the offense. I don’t need to tell you that this conviction was demonstrated often as he disciplined his three children.

It was these three character traits – punctuality, loyalty, and accountability – that played themselves out in a very real way in my father’s life. This was never more evident than when Dad decided to serve the small town of Pendleton, New York, and was elected the town’s justice of the peace. Dad served two terms as justice, and I had the distinct privilege to watch him in action, as most of his proceedings took place at our dining room table.

My father did not have any legal training, so he was constantly reading the books that contained the legal codes for the town, state, and country. When a case was brought before him, there was one thing that everyone involved soon understood. Dad always “went by The Book”! I cannot remember how many times he would warn me that if I ever came before him as Justice, he would go by the book. It was The Book that guided my dad’s decisions as Justice of the Peace.

He would never go beyond his scope of authority as outlined by the law. However, he would do whatever the law allowed to see a life corrected and not merely punished. There was one case that stands out in my mind. A man had gotten angry and smashed his car with a sledgehammer one night. After breaking out the car’s headlights, windows, etc., he drove it around in the dark and was arrested.

He and his wife had to appear before Dad. It turned out that the man already had a suspended license. Dad’s sentence for the crime was unique but absolutely necessary. He revoked the man’s license for a year and then sentenced him to six months in church! Yes, you read it right. Dad knew the man had a spiritual problem, so he required him to attend a church (didn’t matter which one) every Sunday for six months. He had to submit an affidavit signed by the pastor of the church that this person had attended his church each Sunday. As you can see, Dad went by The Book!

I wanted to start this book out by telling you about my father because of how Dad lived his life by The Book! Education plays a huge role in the lives of our children and youth. The education a child receives will not only affect his/her own life, but it will also affect the culture of society. If the home, church, and school are going to raise a generation of young people who can impact their world for the Lord, everyone must educate their children by The Book!

Dad went by the books that contained the laws of the land when he served as justice of the peace. However, I am not talking about merely going by the books that contain the laws of one’s country or community. Christian parents, church leaders, and educators must go by The Book. This book is the Bible, God’s Word. God’s Word is the only source where people can find and receive direction on how God wants them to educate a child. I have long been convinced that the only way we are going to reverse the terrible condition we find ourselves in today is for Christians to go by The Book!

However, Christians can never go by The Book if they don’t know The Book. One will not know The Book if they seldom spend time in The Book.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones challenged the church of his day to choose what its members were going to do with respect to the Bible’s authority in their lives. The questions he posed to Christians in the early to mid-20th century need to be heeded by today’s parents, church leaders, and educators.

We all, therefore, have to face this ultimate and final question: Do we accept the Bible as the Word of God, as the sole authority in all matters of faith and practice, or do we not? Is the whole of my thinking governed by Scripture, or do I come with my reason and pick and choose out of Scripture and sit in judgment upon it, putting myself and modern knowledge forward as the ultimate standard and authority? The issue is crystal clear. Do I accept Scripture as a revelation from God, or do I trust human understanding and human reasons? Or, putting it still more simply, do I pin my faith to, and subject all my thinking to, what I read in the Bible? Or do I defer to modern knowledge, to modern learning, to what people think today, to what we know at this present time that was not known in the past? It is inevitable that we occupy one or the other of those two positions.

Thanks Dad for teaching me the importance of going by The Book!