Articles

Intentional Parenting

By: Written by Todd E. Brady

I did not grow up in a Christian home. I am now a pastor, as well as a Christian husband and father of three. Never having experienced the kind of life I presently live, the current landscape of my life is all new ground for me.

An Intentional Faith
Everything is different. I want my boys to have a different kind of childhood experience than I did. As I parent, I want to be intentional with my Christian faith.

Friends and former students consistently tell me that they wish their parents had been more intentional with their faith. These friends have said, “Oh sure, there were the regular prayers of blessing at meal times,” and my parents “habitually hauled us to church services, but as far as teaching and intentionally modeling the Christian life, dinnertime prayers and weekly church attendance were about all there was.”

Godly Instruction
As a pastor, I now talk to so many young parents who want to be deliberate with their parenting. These parents want to do right and be faithful to God. They want to raise their children in godly homes. And they try to get their hands on just about any resource that might help them.

God commands parents to make the home the primary place of faith development, and I am finding that parents want to take seriously the words of Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.”

May God bless you as you seek to be the parent God intends. Here are a couple of tips to get your year started.
• Start with yourself. Establish a regular habit of devotional Bible reading and prayer.
• Talk with your wife about how you can begin a regular family devotional time.

Todd E. Brady serves as pastor of First Baptist Church, Paducah, Kentucky. In addition to their love for the people of First Baptist, Todd and his wife, Amy, find their greatest earthly joy to be the God-given responsibility of raising their three sons — Jack, William, and Isaac.