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Roots & Wings–Ideas for Recognition of Grandparents Day

Jane Fryar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:52:43 +0000

Wise parents and teachers realize children need both wings and roots. Young people who grow up with only roots never soar to their true potential. But those who grow up with only wings can easily crash and burn.

Grandparents help provide the roots we all need–when we’re young and later on in life, too. Unconditional love. A sense of history and of being part of something bigger than ourselves. A listening ear. A storyteller’s heart. Oatmeal cookies. Lessons in hook-baiting and kite-flying. Grandparents touch our lives in all these ways and more.

If you plan a recognition of Grandparents Day in your church this coming weekend (September 13, 2009), good for you! Thank God for his gift of family and for the legacies each worshiper has received from previous generations.

Check this site if you want to learn more about how Grandparents Day began. Think, too, about offering a simple intergenerational Sunday school event. You might serve home-made cookies and cocoa. Invite each family in attendance to partner with one or two other families. Each family may share 1) ”favorite grandparent stories”; 2) the faith legacy of each family–even if that legacy is beginning with the current generation; and 3) thoughts about 2 Timothy 1:3-7.

As you ponder the Bible text, consider what Timothy’s family must have been like. How must their faith have encouraged the great apostle Paul?! Then ask yourselves, “Who might we as a family encourage?”

One last thought. Be sure to extend a special invitation to widows, widowers, and single seniors to your event. They, too, have a contribution to make, a legacy to leave, as they mentor, teach, and serve as examples in your church.

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Good Christian Citizenship

Lee Davis — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:12:49 +0000

This video features American historian and author Bill Federer. Talking about what it means to be a good Christian citizen, he points out that the country was created with “the people as kings and the politicians as servants.” He believes that citizens need to take responsibility for the country because we are the ones who rule in a democracy. Most Americans have lost sight of the reality that the government is in our hands; “a government of the people, by the people and for the people.” As a God-centered nation, we need to have a Biblical response to politics.

This is the third video in the series of six on the subject of God and Country.

Visit Bill Federer’s website: AmericanMinute.com.

CTA offers an impressive selection of patriotic gifts that help congregations celebrate God and Country.

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Our Christian Presidents

Lee Davis — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:26:10 +0000

Bill Federer has written 16 books primarily dealing with American history. In this video he talks about the Christian character of our great presidents and the impact they had on our nation. He gives George Washington as an example in upholding a democracy free of tyrannical rule. King George III asked a colleague about General Washington’s plans after winning the Revolutionary War. His colleague replied, “They say your highness, he will return to his farm.” The King then said, “If he does that, he truly will be the greatest man in the world.”

This video is the second in Mr. Federer’s series of six on God and Country.

Visit Bill Federer’s website: AmericanMinute.com.

CTA offers an impressive selection of patriotic gifts that help congregations celebrate God and Country.

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A God-Centered Nation

Lee Davis — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:30:25 +0000

Bill Federer is an author and writer, and has written 16 books primarily dealing with American history. In this video, he talks about the importance of understanding “where we came from to give us some direction as to where we’re going as a nation,” specifically emphasizing the impact of God and faith on our nation’s past. Hear Bill talk about the founding of our nation, where it started, how it has changed, and where it may be going. “America is unique in the family of nations with a government based on Biblical ideas of equality… a government where the people were the king and the politicians were the servants.”

This is the first in a series of six videos that will be posted here on the subject God and Country, all featuring Bill Federer.

Visit Bill Federer’s website: AmericanMinute.com.

CTA offers an impressive selection of patriotic gifts that help congregations celebrate God and Country.

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Mother’s Day/Father’s Day–100 Years of Love (part 1 of 3)

Jane Fryar — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:35:28 +0000

Few people seem to have noticed it, but arguably 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day—at least as we know them. Both began as grassroots movements. Both were begun by daughters who wanted to honor their mother in one case, and their father in the other. Both holidays followed a zig-zag path to nation-wide acceptance. But 1909 was a significant year for both holidays.

Mother’s Day began in one, small West Virginia congregation in 1907 at the suggestion of Anna M. Jarvis. But by 1909, it had spread to 46 states. Its popularity that year firmly established it as a national observance. In 1909, Mother’s Day was here to stay.

That same year, 1909, Sonora Dodd first proposed a national “Father’s Day.” Partly because Mother’s Day had become so popular, Father’s Day, too, soon gained national acceptance. It, too, was with us to stay.

(For more information, read these articles on the history of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.)

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