Public Blog

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 jayci.trexler@wogacademy.org.

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.

Dad’s Bible

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!

I have been asked this question a lot recently.  In fact, I have asked myself this question quite often.  Maybe you, too, have asked the question, Why?  Consider the following forms of this question.

• Why is there so much division in our country, our churches and our homes?
• Why is there so much confusion over one’s gender?
• Why are there so many people being attacked because of things they have no control over such as color of skin, gender, religious affiliation, etc?
• Why is there so much fear about COVID-19?
• Why is there a growing demand by people, especially the younger generations, for the government to provide everything to them for free?
• Why is the nuclear family under such fierce attack like it is today?

You can probably add many other questions to this list.  When I have been asked “why” questions such as these, my response has been pretty simple.  I believe there is only one reason why our w0rld is in such a mess.  It is the same reason why today’s church has lost much of its influence in society.  Here is my answer.

We don’t know God!

I want you to notice that I didn’t say that people don’t know God.  I said we, including me,  don’t know God.  I cannot think of one problem that I face that couldn’t be solved if I really knew God.  I am convinced that families would be stronger if its members knew God better.  I believe the church would have greater influence on the culture if its leaders and members knew God.  I believe Christian schools would see more students become devoted followers of God if their staffs got serious and strived to know God better.

I was reminded of the importance of knowing God when live streaming a conference over the weekend.  Pastor Rodney Brown made a statement that caught my attention.  He said,

In almost every case the problem with every worldly philosophy is an unbiblical view of man or an anemic view of God.

As I contemplated Brown’s statement, I realized that an unbiblical view of man is the result of an anemic view of God.  Not knowing God correctly is the problem.  Dr. Thomas Sowell once said,

Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.

Solzhenitsyn was correct when he said,

Men have forgotten God; that is why all this has happened.

Paul understood how important it was for him and everyone he came in contact with to know God.  That was his message to the Athenians on Mars Hill.  One of the gods that they had built a monument to was the “Unknown God.”  He told them that they could know who was and is the only true God (see Acts 17:22-31).

Paul, himself, was willing to lose everything in order to know God better.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.  Philippians 3:7-8 (NKJV)

I believe that there is a reason Christians don’t know God.  It is because most of today’s Christians don’t know the Bible.  Knowing God doesn’t result from some mystical vision or experience.  God is known by knowing His Word.

I can remember when everyone who was heading to church always had his/her Bible in his/her hand.  It may have been the only time in the week that they opened their Bibles but, at least, they took it to church on Sunday’s because the preacher would ask them to open their Bibles as he preached from it.  Today, we don’t even take our Bibles to church.

If we want to see God do a work in our lives, homes, churches, schools and communities, we need to count everything in life as rubbish in order to grow in the knowledge of God.

As I close this week’s article, I want to ask all of you who are reading this to pray for several very important events that will be taking place over the next few weeks.  This week, ACSI will be conducting its first Flourishing School Institute.  During the last week of June, I will be speaking at a worldview conference hosted by Precept Marketing and BJ Press at the WWII Museum in New Orleans.  Immediately following that conference, I will be conducting the first Kingdom Education™ Summit.

Hundreds of Christian school educators, pastors and church leaders will be attending one or more of these events.  Please pray that there will be a desire for each of those in attendance to strive to know God as He meets with them to show them how He wants them to educate future generations.

One of the saddest verses in the Bible is found in the book of Judges.  God had just brought Israel into the Promised Land.  He had done marvelous things so that they could possess their inheritance. Then we find these words.

When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work He had done for Israel.  Judges 2:10 (NKJV)

The theme we have chosen for the upcoming Summit is Teaching the Next Generation to Know God.  We believe that is our only hope for the future.  I am excited that we will be giving each participant at the Summit copies of my new books, Understanding Kingdom Education™ and Applying Kingdom Education™.  Both books are at the printers as I write this article.

It is not too late to register for the Summit.  I would love to have you join Christian school leaders and pastors at this very important event.  You can find out more about the Summit by clicking HERE!

For the past couple of weeks, I have been engaged in some interesting reading.  Many ideas that I have come across through these readings have caused me to ask myself quite a few questions about life, in general, and specifically about education.  Here is just a sample of what I have been studying during the last couple of weeks of May and the first few days of June.

• Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue by Andreas Kostenberger
• Faultlines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe  by Voddie Baucham Jr.
• The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven Lawson
• Why Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice by Scott Allen
• Don’t Let Schooling Stand in the Way of Education by Darrow Miller
• The Confessions of Saint Augustine by Augustine (just started through his writings)

During my daily quiet time, I have been deep into reading and studying the Old Testament prophets from Daniel to Malachi.  Reading through these books have been sobering to say the least as they predicted how God was going to bring judgement on Israel because of their idolatry.

On top of all of this, I started taking an online class on classical liberal arts education.  Much of this reading, studying, and meditation has been done as I prepare for the upcoming Kingdom Education™ Summit that will be taking place in a few short weeks.

Through all of this, I have come to realize that there are several questions that every parent, pastor, and educator has faced at one time or another.  It is also true that we all answer these questions on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, many times, if not all the time, we do so unconsciously.

One of the professors that was presenting a lecture on K-12 education said that all education is a response to two fundamental questions.

1. What do children need to learn?
2. How will they learn it?

As I thought on these questions, it came to my mind that there is a third question that must be asked and answered when it comes to the education of the next generation.  This question is really a part of our reply to the first question and it is,

Why do they need to learn these things?

Every adult involved in the education of children and youth is continuously asking and answering these questions.  As I stated earlier, we answer them without giving them a great deal of conscious thought.  Most times, how we answer them is found not in our words, but in our actions.  I encourage you to pause from reading this post and answer these questions.

How we answer these questions is based on a hierarchy of importance that each person establishes for himself.  Establishing this hierarchy is especially important to the first question, What do our children need to learn?  This point was driven home for me in another lecture in the class that I am working my way through.  The lecturer asked this question.

“Would you rather your child be rich or good?”

He went on to say that you can’t say that you want them both.  If you had to choose only one, would you want your child to be a prosperous thief or be a poor honest person?  You are probably doing exactly what I did.  I immediately answered that I want my child to be good and honest.

Then some other questions came to my mind.  All of them are also based on an assumed hierarchy of importance.  Some of these questions included:

1. Do I want my children/students to obtain a college degree or know God?
2. Do I desire for my children/students to graduate at the top of their classes or know God’s will for their lives?
3. Do I want my children/students to land that well-paying job/career or be a committed follower of Jesus Christ?

How we answer these questions is based on what we believe to be most important between the choices before us.  We all have desires we want for our lives and for the lives of those we teach in our homes, churches and/or schools.  The desires we see as more important than others are ones that we will take greater risks and make greater effort in order to fulfill them.

So, how you and I actually answer all these questions is found in how much risk or effort we put into the education we actually give our children.  These risks and efforts are not just about the schooling our children receive but what takes place in our homes and churches as well.

So, the real question that I must ask myself and you need to ask yourself is,

Based on my actions [efforts & risks], what are the things that I believe are most important for my children, grandchildren, and/or students to know?

The next question we must then answer is Why do I want them to know these things?  But that is for another blog.  Please be praying for the Kingdom Education™ Summit as final details are being put in place.  I am asking God to guide those in attendance to not only know how He wants us to answer questions like these, but also what has to take place in our homes, churches and schools for these answers to become a reality.

In my recent posts, I have been asking some important questions related to the education of future generations.  As another school year comes to an end, we need to think about the important role that one’s philosophy of education plays in the education we give our children and grandchildren.

There seems to be less emphasis placed on the philosophy behind all educational efforts over the past several decades than what I experienced when I first entered Christian education.  This trend toward focusing on the process rather than the foundational philosophy of education has paralleled a similar trend in today’s church.

Experiential worship has replaced biblical doctrine in many churches today. This has led to a shallow understanding of who God is and what the Christian life is really all about.  Many years ago, A. W. Tozer predicted what would happen if experience replaced doctrine as the driving force in the church.

He believed that it would lead to what he referred to as a “gold-calf Christianity.”  This shallow form of Christianity would be defended by focusing on numbers of people in our churches rather than on what changes are actually taking place in their everyday lives.

Any objection to the carryings on of our present gold-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, “But we are winning them!”  And winning them to what?  To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a disposing of the world’s treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total committal to Christ? Of course the answer to all these questions is no.

The same can be true of Christian education when a strong biblical philosophy of education is not foundational to all that takes place in the educational process.  We can believe that we are successful because our numbers are strong, our teachers are highly qualified, our accreditation is in place, our programs are expanding, and our graduates are being accepted at prestigious college and universities.

Like Tozer said, We are winning them!  But we must ask the question, what are we winning them to?  Are they strong in their commitment to absolute truth?  Do they think biblically about all of life?  Have they come to know God’s call on their lives?  Have they abandoned their desires for their lives to fully obey God’s will for them?  Do they know God or just know a lot about Him?

If the education that they have received at home, church and school has not been presented from a strong biblical worldview and a biblical philosophy of education, the answer to all these questions may well be a no.  We must once again get back to knowing, understanding and committing ourselves to a biblical philosophy of education — to Kingdom Education™.

This will become a reality when parents, church leaders and Christian educators fully embrace the absolute truths found in God’s Word about how He wants us to educate future generations.  Sixteenth century theologian, John Owen, said it best.

Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice, right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers.

This is why God directed me to conduct a Kingdom Education™ Summit for parents, church leaders and Christian educators.  At the Summit, we will be dissecting every aspect of education in an attempt to know the absolutes [about education] revealed from without by God Himself.

The one thing about education that we must fully embrace is what does God think and say about it.  Again, I am challenged by the words of Tozer.

A Christian’s one question in any set of circumstances [education] is What does God think of this?  What the current popular attitude may be is of no importance.  He will approve or disapprove altogether as the written Word and the indwelling Spirit indicate.

I pray you will consider joining more than 100 church and school leaders by registering for the Kingdom Education™ Summit today.  Together we will dig deep into God’s Word to find what God thinks about education. Then, we will develop strategies for the home, church and school so that these institutions can unite together and educate our children and grandchildren from a solid biblical philosophy of education.

We must never forget that the philosophy of education we hold is the foundation on which our children’s lives will be built.  G. K. Chesterton was right when he wrote,

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

Let’s make sure we teach our children and youth a Kingdom Education™ philosophy.  Together we can make sure that the answers to the questions asked above are a resounding YES!!!

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THE KINGDOM EDUCATION™ SUMMIT!

There is no doubt about it.  One’s worldview impacts a child’s education.  As Christians, we should strive to make sure that a biblical worldview informs the education we give our children and youth.  Everything we teach our children and youth, whether it is at home, church or school, must be done in the context of a biblical worldview.

Over the past several months I have attempted to identify some essential truths of a biblical worldview.  Through my study of Scripture, I have found Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview.  These Essential Truths fall into the three components of a biblical worldview: Creation, the Fall, and Redemption.  These truths are as follows:

Understanding Creation:

• Essential Truth #1 — God is eternal both in His person and nature
• Essential Truth #2 — God’s creation is an expression of who He is and exists for His glory
• Essential Truth #3 — Man was created in God’s image to know God, multiply His image and perform a work for His glory

Understanding the Fall:

• Essential Truth #4 — Sin entered the world and man no longer would know God and give Him glory by studying what He had made. Man lost his purpose!

Understanding Redemption:

• Essential Truth #5 — Eternal life restores man’s purpose to know God and give Him glory
• Essential Truth #6 — To glorify God, one must live in such a way that His character is displayed and His praise is increased.

All subjects should be taught within the context of these Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview.  But what does this actually look like in everyday teaching?  Allow me to share with you something I have been working on recently.  When this blog posts, I will have begun teaching four classes in history to middle school students.  Last year, I had the privilege of teaching high school biology, chemistry and physics at our local Christian school.  Now I have the opportunity to fill in for a teacher vacancy at this school in these middle school subjects.

I have had to ask myself a simple question.  How should these Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview inform the history classes that I will teaching until the end of the school year?  The first question I had to answer was this.   Where should all history begin in light of a biblical worldview?  The answer is found in Essential Truths #1-3.

To fully understand history, one must start at the beginning.  Understanding history must begin with students learning that an eternal, self-existing God spoke the world into existence in six days.  Students must also understand the “why” behind creation which will, in turn, lead students to learn that God started time (history) for His glory.

Students must also realize that the history of the human race began with God forming Adam out of the dust of the ground.  Then man became a living soul when God breathed His breath into man.  Thus, history began with creation and it is only understood when one understands these three Essential Truths.

If students studied history only through the lens of creation, they would be puzzled as to why there is so much evil taking place throughout all of human history.  That is why Essential Truth #4 must also be grasped in order for students to fully understand and learn about history.

The Fall was the result of a cosmic battle between good and evil, God and Satan.  Therefore, all of human history must be viewed within the context of this cosmic battle that is always taking place behind the scenes.

Ever since the terrible day in the Garden when sin entered the world, history is rife with evil and hurt.  This is because history is the recording of man’s actions based on one’s beliefs or worldview.  Since every one of us is born in sin, we all do bad things.  We sometimes ignore certain realities in history that show the sinfulness of all people, even with those who were strong Christians.

When God gives us a history lesson in His Word, He doesn’t spare the reality of sin.  Reading about the lives of Abraham, Jacob, David, Peter, Paul and others, God presents the good, the bad and the ugly sides of these godly saints.  True history is a reminder that the entire creation groans under the curse of sin.

Finally, history must include the truths about redemption.  Yes, we live in a fallen world and we are all sinners by nature.  However, God has not forsaken His creation, including mankind.  God does not want any one to die in their sins and enter into eternal damnation.  Therefore, God sent His Son to shed His blood for our sins.

This is why any history we teach our children must be grounded in Essential Truths #5-6.  Eternal life restores our God-given purpose of knowing and glorifying Him in all of life.  These Essential Truths should shape any and all history that we teach to our children and youth.

However, these Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview must be applied to all education.  As you contemplate the depth of these truths, how will they shape your thinking and your teaching?  Kingdom Education™ requires that a biblical worldview undergirds and informs the entire educational process.