Each day in America, more than 3,571 families end in divorce,
even as more than 50 percent of the children in Americas public schools
are living in single-parent homes.
Each day in America, more than 3,571 families end in divorce,
even as more than 50 percent of the children in Americas public schools
are living in single-parent homes.
To make matters worse, of the children who live apart from
their biological fathers, 50 percent have never set foot in their fathers
home.
In such a time when the family is disintegrating, Southern
Baptists have launched an effort to bring hope and healing.
In a Kingdom Family Rally just prior to the 2003 Southern Baptist
Convention last week, leaders enunciated “Seven Pillars of a Kingdom Family”
by which families can embrace a Scripture-based path for the home.
James Dobson from Focus on the Family visited via video and
commended Southern Baptists for their initiative.
“We simply cant let the institution of family be
destroyed by the postmodernism that swirls around us,” Dobson said.
“I am personally excited about this new kingdom family
initiative,” added Dennis Rainey, president of Family Life Today. “What
youre about here this evening, in the launch of this initiative, is the
most important battle Southern Baptists have waged since you struggled over
the inerrancy of Scripture. You won the battle for the Bible.
“If we lose the family, we will lose the church.”
Tom Elliff unveiled a strategy designed to prevent that from
happening. The strategy has been three years in development, said Elliff, a
pastor and chair of the Southern Baptist Convention Council on Family Life.
A parade of convention leaders then spoke briefly as each of
the “seven pillars” rose symbolically from the stage floor. Guests
gave testimonies related to each pillars emphasis.
Outlined “pillars” include:
Gods authority
America needs to hear from Southern Baptists and see them living
as God-honoring families, SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman insisted.
“We once again must show the world that God is our authority,”
Chapman said. “And he will honor our worshiping him as the one true and
living God.”
Chapman introduced Captain Jeff Struecker, a chaplain and a
U.S. Army Ranger whose heroic efforts to rescue soldiers endangered in the Somalian
conflict are recounted in the book “Blackhawk Down.”
Appearing via videotape from Afghanistan, Struecker used his
uniform to illustrate authority, saying the emblems denote he is a soldier with
authority and also under authority.
But the most important emblem on his uniform is the cross of
Jesus Christ, Struecker said. “It sits over my heart. My body belongs to
the U.S. Army, but my heart belongs to God.”
Respect for human life
“Respecting all human life from conception until natural
death and everywhere in between is a central pillar of the Christian faith,”
said Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
“It should be a central pillar of our families that sanctification
of human life begins in the home. God never created a nobody. Everybody is a
somebody to God.”
Land introduced Trey and Brenda Palmer, who cited numerous
examples of relatives – from a paraplegic uncle to a 91-year-old grandmother
– who had received personal, compassionate care from the family and not
been
institutionalized.
“God wants and expects you to honor him by giving of yourself
to your family and friends by showing them the care and interest they deserve,”
Trey Palmer said. “People need to love each other by what they mean to
God and not how they compare to you. God wants and expects us to be a sold out
and determined, Spirit-filled protector of human life.”
Moral purity
“We are living in a day of moral confusion that is leading
to moral anarchy,” warned Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. “The very idea of moral purity is derided in many elements of
our culture. The academic elite dismiss it; the media often ridicule it; but,
brothers and sisters in Christ, the church is called to be a holy nation.”
Mohler introduced Peter and Debbie Livingstone, who came to
the podium trailed by seven multi-ethnic children – two who were born to
the couple and five who are adopted.
Debbie Livingstone described their marriage of 26 years as
“10 years our way and 16 years God’s way.”
Peter Livingstone told how he ignored his familys needs
while climbing the corporate ladder, while his wife acknowledged she was not
going to allow any man to tell her what to do. Peter Livingstones love
for career and his wifes affair with another man almost destroyed their
marriage, they said.
Instead, God rescued them from their sin and subsequently rescued
their marriage as well, they added.
“God healed our marriage,” Debbie Livingstone said.
Service
Pastors must lead churches to become avenues of spiritual growth,
insisted James Draper Jr., president of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern
Baptist Convention.
Draper introduced Christian author/speaker Gary Chapman, who
urged spouses to uncover joy in the home. “Why is it so easy to build an
orphanage in Cambodia and so hard to paint a bedroom for your wife?” Chapman
asked. “It took a long time to learn the joy of service in my marriage.”
Chapman listed three important questions to ask in order to
improve a marriage –
What can I do for you?
How can I make your life easier?
How can I be a better husband to you?
“When I was willing to ask those questions, my wife was
willing to answer them,” Chapman said. “There arent many women
who will run away from a man who is serving her. Not a single wife in the history
of this nation has ever murdered her husband while he was doing dishes.”
Use of time
“In life, you cant keep time or put time in a bottle,”
SBC President Jack Graham noted. “The moments Ive given for my family,
my wife, my children, Ive never regretted a single moment. Time is a treasure,
we should use it wisely.”
Graham introduced Zig Ziglar, who has been married to his wife
for more than 56 years. Ziglar commented on the differences between men and
women and the importance of understanding those differences.
“I didnt have a clue of what it was to love somebody
until I was saved,” he emphasized. “I learned to love her through
him (Christ). Thats when the romance really started.”
Biblical stewardship
Stewardship is important, SBC Annuity Board President O.S.
Hawkins said in introducing fishing legend Jimmy Houston to convention participants.
Houston emphasized the need for Christians to tithe.
“What happens when you dont tithe is that you start
lying to God and to yourself,” he said via video. “Youre cheating
yourself, and youre causing yourself to miss out on so many blessings
God has for you for your life. If you dont tithe, youre missing
out on a lot of those blessings.”
Evangelism and missions
It is important for families to be involved in missions together,
SBC North American Mission Board President Robert Reccord and SBC International
Mission Board President Jerry Rankin said. Both cited the impact missions can
have on families and the difference families can make when they minister together
in missions and evangelism.
At the end of the presentation during the closing session of
the 2003 Southern Baptist Pastors Conference, persons were challenged
to commit to being kingdom families by signing cards to incorporate the seven
pillars into their own families and the families in their churches. Less than
12 hours later, more than 2,000 families had turned in commitment cards.
However, the emphasis is not complete.
LifeWay Christian Resources now is partnering with the convention
to supply resources for the kingdom family movement, along with kingdom family
conferences that will be held nationwide in the coming months.
“We cant go back and unlive our past,” Elliff
noted. “But by the grace of God, from this moment on, we can be what God
wants us to be – as a family.”
(Article includes information from Associated Baptist Press
and Baptist Press releases)