From the Heart to Parents and Pastors

Public School’s Impact on Christianity in America

Read about the declining Christian population in the US today…

“In other words, a steadily shrinking share of young adults who were raised Christian (in childhood) have retained their religious identity in adulthood over the past 30 years.” 

Lear more about public (government run) schools’ contribution to this reality…

“More than 60 percent of twenty-somethings who were churched as teens are now disengaged from the church.”

Mounting evidence reveals that Church, Sunday School, and Youth Group need a paideia-building partner in the Education arena! Truly discipling God’s kids can no longer be done effectively by working around, ignoring, or attempting to undo public education’s influence.

The solution for both parents and pastors…

1. Develop a vision statement for your children, youth. What kind of disciple should they be, how should they reason, what worldview will they rely on when they depart high school, enter university or professional life?

2. Examine the major influencers that are shaping their young hearts and minds to determine what is helping or hindering the manifestation of this vision in their lives. Church, Sunday school, youth group, friends, media, and SCHOOL.

3. Make changes. Research options in your area. Move your children into those cultures that will assist instead of resist you and your mission.

Parents may need financial assistance to adopt this strategy. Pastors can assist by raising and distributing funds to needy families in their own congregations. This requires pastors and church leadership to see that investment in this chronological, generational mission field is indispensable and inseparable from the great commission. Pastors in some of the most liberal areas of the US are finding that encouraging and providing assistance to Christian families that are serious about discipling their children and want to move them from the increasingly anti-Christian environment of government run schools into Christ honoring, Biblical worldview building, and disciple-making Christian schools and home school environments, are attracting more and more young families. They are experiencing an infusion of new life in their churches.

Let’s talk more soon,
Bob
Pastor and Schoolmaster

This just in: 57% of teen girls report feeling persistently sad or hopeless

Liberty is the Gift of God

Washington is so filled with references to God and scriptural quotations that the city is virtually a Bible engraved in stone. The Washington Moment is crowned with an aluminum tip bearing the Latin phrase Laus Deo—“Praise be to God.” At its base is a 24,500-pound cornerstone with space hollowed out for a zinc case containing a copy of the Holy Bible. Up and down the giant obelisk, a host of Bible verses and prayers are etched into its walls.

Lincoln’s second inaugural address, inscribed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial contains fourteen references to God and four Bible verses. At the National Archives, there is a bronze emblem of the Ten Commandments in the floor and the display of the original Declaration of Independence with its its four references to God:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature’s God entitle them.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world.

with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Moses and the Ten Commandments are all over the Supreme Court Building, where every session opens with the words: “God save the United States and this honorable court.” Across the street, the US Capitol Rotunda contains eight massive oil paintings. Two portray prayer meetings and a third shows a baptism. One of the paintings has a large open Bible at the center of it where you can read the words “God with us.” Two of the paintings feature the cross being held aloft. 

At the US House of Representatives, above the speaker’s rostrum are the words: “In God We Trust.” At the US Senate you’ll see “In God We Trust” over the south entrance, and over the east entrance the phrase Annuit Coeptis—“God has favored our undertakings.” In Statuary Hall, there's a bronze statue of missionary Marcus Whitman holding a Bible; another of missionary Junipero Serra, holding a cross. Plans are underway to add evangelist Billy Graham to the Hall. 

Along the ornate Cox Corridor of the Capitol are the words “America! God shed His grace on thee.” In the private congressional chapel, a stained-glass window depicts George Washington kneeling in prayer. Over him are the words “THIS NATION UNDER GOD,” and around him in beautiful golden letters is Psalm 16:1: “Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.” 

In the Library of Congress there is the Giant Bible of Mainz and the Gutenberg Bible. On the ceilings and walls of the Great Hall are inscribed Bible verses like John 1:5 and Proverbs 4:7. A bronze statue of Moses stands in the Main Reading Room, and nearby are more verses—Micah 6:8, Leviticus 19:18, and Psalm 19:1. The apostle Paul gazes down from the balustrade.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial displays a quotation from the book of Amos. At the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, you’ll find Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion.” The US Holocaust Memorial Museum highlights these words: “You are my witnesses—Isaiah 43:10.” 

Etched into the wall of the Jefferson Memorial is a prophetic summary and warning for all generations of America... 

GOD WHO GAVE US LIFE GAVE US LIBERTY. CAN THE LIBERTIES OF A NATION BE SECURE WHEN WE HAVE REMOVED A CONVICTION THAT THESE LIBERTIES ARE THE GIFT OF GOD?

His Kids Deserve His Truth

The teacher asks... "Can a man get pregnant?"

The world's answer here

God's answer here...

“Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child?

Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor?

Why has every face turned pale?” - Jeremiah 30:6

Consider an education that teaches truth for your children or grandchildren.

It’s not more difficult, in fact the answers are actually much simpler…

Classical Christian Education

Our Talkative God

Have you ever reflected on the existence of the Bible? The presence of God's Word in our world says much about the nature of God. It says God is talkative. He loves to speak. Since what we call the beginning God has been speaking... "And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Every time God speaks, something good is introduced into the life of the listener... "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day" (Genesis 1:31). 

The existence of the Bible also declares that God is also very social. The presence of God's Word in our world reveals God's desire to connect with us. Every time God speaks He is forfeiting His personal privacy in order to let us approach Him, to invite us to get a glimpse of Him, to compel us to hear from Him. The clearest demonstration of God's social nature is the incarnation, where His Word, His Voice took on a nature we could approach, touch, and follow... "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14). But long before and ever since the incarnation, we have the Bible, the Word, the Voice of God calling out to us to connect with Him... "All Scripture is breathed out by God" (2 Timothy 3:16). 

The existence of the Bible confirms God's earnest desire to be heard. The presence of God's Word in our world is an undeniable shout-out to us from our amazing Creator and caring Father. It's no surprise that God-in-the-flesh, Jesus Christ repeats an urgent command to listen to His Word as He speaks to us about His beloved Church about it's trials and tribulations here in this temporal world... "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:7). 

The existence of God's Word in our fallen world is evidence that He longs to speak, touch, and be heard by His children. The ability to pick up and read His Word is confirmation that God has given us an ear to hear His Word. The only question that remains is, will we listen to our wonderful, talkative God?

One of the defining characteristics of classical Christian education is the intentional integration of subjects. God has created and rules over a very complex and connected world and we believe that grasping the beauty of the interdependence of subjects like Bible, history, literature, art, music, and composition should be a priority for future-shaping and disciple-making Christian education. Unlike many other schools, good classical Christian schools use Omnibus, a tested and proven humanities curriculum that helps students discover, appreciate, and apply the divinely created relationships that are the foundation of a Biblical worldview.

It appears colleges and universities are taking note of the kind of quality students that Omnibus curriculum is producing. Learn more in this recent Veritas Press article...

The Top 3 Reasons Colleges Value Omnibus Trained Students

The Great Books and Standardized Testing

Learn more about how reading the great books, an integral part of a classical Christian education prepares students for success on standardized tests... CCE and Standardized Testing

Preaching and Practice

"In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach" 

(Acts 1:1)

The early church developed and circulated two collections of New Testament writings: the four Gospels and the letters of the Apostle Paul. However, with the appearance of early Christological heresies in the second century, the value of this second letter from Luke to his beloved friend Theophilus became obvious. This sequel to Luke’s Gospel reveals the content and purpose of the Apostles’ preaching and the amazing results of the gospel. This widely circulated letter originally had no title (like Luke's Gospel), but the Greek words praxeis, praxis, used in titles assigned to early copies of the letter mean acts, ways, behavior, deeds, and/or practice, and reflect an ancient Mediterranean literary genre which describes the lives and actions of famous or influential people.

So, what we have here in what we call the Acts of the Apostles is a Holy Spirit inspired record of the message and action of the Apostles. Luke introduces the letter by highlighting an important principle… “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,” (Acts 1:1). We note that Luke’s emphasis on the indispensable bond between preaching and practice reflects the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us to love our enemies and then demonstrated this lesson on the cross, when he prayed for those who were crucifying him… “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The message and actions of the Apostles recorded for us here in the Book of Acts challenge us to share our faith in both words and deeds and inspire us to grow up into Christ by imitating them as they imitated Christ.

As a fellow disciple of Jesus Christ, I am blessed to share this journey of growth in Christ with you. As a pastor, I pray that the truth God has revealed here through His Word will help you to be built up and equipped as part of His body, the Church. And as a schoolmaster, I pray that the truth shared here will help you come to know and become more like Jesus Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).