The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: Preparing Your Teen for College
May 26, 2024
Dear LEFC Parents,
Here are some items to set the table for disciple-making in your family in the week ahead:
Help Your Kids Understand the Meaning of Memorial Day
This short article at Minno provides a few simple ideas of how to aid our kids to grasp what tomorrow’s holiday means and also use it as a time to also point our kids towards Christ. The authors say, “Sacrificial love, in all its forms, points us back to Jesus. As we let Him pour this love deep into our hearts, we are in turn able to pour this love out to others.”
Challenge “Thrift Store” Now Open!
The Challenge Crew’s free “Thrift Store” is officially open for “business!” Stop by the rooms on the northeast wing of the church building to see what you might want to take home with you (and leave a donation to get our teens to Challenge 2024!).
Baccalaureate Service
Pastor Matt will be speaking at the West Branch Baccalaureate service on Tuesday May 28th at 6:00pm at the West Branch Auditorium. Please pray for Pastor Matt as he prepares to share a message about Jesus with the graduating seniors and their families. This event is open to the public.
The Gospel Project at Home
Today’s Bible Study is “Jesus Can Forgive Anyone” (Volume 11: Unit 33: Session 3). Ask your kids what they learned in Kids Bible Class this morning and/or do the family devotional you can find at this link.
Snack and Yack!
When the auditorium empties after worship, girls and boys (grades 3ish-7ish) who listened to the sermon (remember to fill out a handout!) are invited to Pastor Matt’s office for a tasty treat and a brief discussion with an LEFC elder couple about the message.
And for dessert…
Our recommendation for family discipleship this week is a book about getting your teen ready for college and, more importantly, for adult life as a follower of Christ.
Every year on Graduation Sunday, we give away a copy of a study Bible along with a few other books which are tailored to the aspirations of each graduating senior. Chief among our giveaways is Thriving at College by Dr. Alex Chediak. Pastor Matt thinks it’s the best book of its kind.
But how do we, as parents, get our teens ready to head off to college in the first place and be set up to thrive during their college experience? The process starts long before Grad Sunday.
That’s why Alex Chediak also wrote a “prequel” book for parents, Preparing Your Teens for College: Faith, Friends, Finances, and Much More. When it first came out, Pastor Matt reviewed the book saying, “I thoroughly enjoyed reading Preparing Your Teens for College. My oldest child is 13 years old, and she’s got brothers that are 12, 10, and 9. So we’re just on the cusp of this teenage adventure, and I believe that reading this book has just oriented my next 8 years! Preparing Your Teens for College is a discipleship manual for young people in our current cultural situation. It’s not a book about college so much as about following Christ into young adulthood. Simply excellent.”
A decade later with grown kids, Pastor Matt still recommends it highly (along with the companion volume Beating the College Debt Trap: Getting a Degree Without Going Broke, completing the college prep trilogy by Alex Chediak).
More:
– Read an interview between Pastor Matt and the author about Preparing Your Teens for College
– Watch a 2 minute trailer for Preparing Your Teens for College.
– Learn more at the author’s website.
– Preparing Your Teens for College is available in the LEFC Library for check out.
We hope your family eats it right up.
Matt Mitchell, Pastor
Holly Crumrine, Family Table Editor
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EXPLAINER: THE GOSPEL PROJECT AT HOME
For the last several years, our Children’s Church ministry has utilized The Gospel Project as our Bible study curriculum. The Gospel Project is really excellent–it takes our Little Learners and Bible Explorers chronologically through the whole Bible over the course of three years while always focusing on Jesus as the center of the big story. If your student was in Little Learners or Bible Explorers this morning, they received a coloring page and take-home sheet that corresponds to this lesson. You have also been given a full-color Big Picture Card that you can use to reinforce the lesson with your child, as well.
To reinforce what your kids are learning each week in Children’s Church, you can now access The Gospel Project At Home online. Each week in this email, there will be a link to follow to get this free resource which includes:
1. A guide to using the Gospel Project at Home.
2. Scripture to read and discuss with a recap video of the Bible Story (Preschool and/or Elementary).
3. Scripture memory verses and a song to sing together.
4. Prayer prompts and family activities that correspond to the lesson.
Please consider setting aside at least 10-15 minutes once a week for a family devotional time using this resource as a guide. We are hoping The Gospel Project At Home will help keep all of our LEFC kids “on the same page,” and feed their faith in Jesus.
This might be especially helpful if for some reason your child has to miss a week of Children’s Church. You can show them the Bible story video to keep them up to speed on what the other children are learning.
**Note: The first time you access the link, you will need to register a free account with Lifeway’s Ministry Grid. This will also provide you ongoing access through the “training” tab to many other discipleship resources including the Gospel Project at Home for previous weeks. Many hours of excellent things to absorb for free!