What Makes A Great Family - Part 1

What makes a great family? 

Part 1: Pray Together 

There are many things that make a great family, but we have three main focal points by which we build our family life and culture around. It all stems from our family mission: 

Our family mission is “the daily pursuit of the deepest walk with God, the strongest family bonds, the highest level of educational achievement for the glory of God.” 

The first way we make our family great is we: Pray Together. We place our relationship with Jesus at the center of everything we do. Jesse and I like to do our personal Bible study and prayer times in the morning on our own. The girls know that is a vital part of our morning routine. Since they’ve seen us make that a priority, the older girls choose to do the same with their mornings. I often come away from my desk and prayer time, to find them reading the Bible and writing out scripture.  

We also have Bible reading and memory as a part of their homeschool education. It is our desire to memorize scripture, so that when it is needed the Words of God will come back to remembrance in their hearts. Then in the evenings we gather back together for a family devotional time. The girls have a chance to look up specific scripture to read aloud. We end the evening with prayer. It is a time to develop communication in vocal prayer.

We live according to Deuteronomy 6:7 and teach the word diligently to our children so that God’s Words are on their minds when they rise, when they go about their day, and as they lay down at night. Conversation about the Lord is natural and comfortable like breathing. Talking to God and about God is a part of our DNA. 

Since we are pastors, our girls often serve willingly in ministry capacities. We could not efficiently prepare for Sunday service without the help of our girls. They eagerly turn on lights, heat or air conditioning, gather the cables and music stands to ready the platform for worship. They help take equipment down at the end of service too. Sometimes they sing with us as we lead praise and worship. We enjoy serving the Lord, so they in turn enjoy it too. 

Everything revolves around training our children in the Word and acknowledging Jesus as Lord in all things. It is a joy to read the Bible, it is a joy to sing praise and worship, it is a joy to live a life as a service unto the Lord. All of that begins with how Jesse and I live our lives as examples to our girls. They watch everything. They see all details of the good and bad. It is only by the grace of God that we are able to reflect the image of Christ to them on a daily basis.