“Without two parents, working together as a team, the child has more difficulty learning the combination of empathy, reciprocity, fairness and self-command that people ordinarily take for granted. If the child does not learn this at home, society will have to manage his behavior
in some other way. He may have to be rehabilitated, incarcerated, or otherwise restrained. In this case, prisons will substitute for parents.”
Children with Fathers who are involved are 40% less likely to repeat a grade in school.
63% of teen suicides come from fatherless homes. That’s 5 times the national average.
SOURCE: U.S. Dept of Health
90% of all runaways and homeless children are from fatherless homes. That’s 32 times the national average.
80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes. 14 times the national average.
SOURCE: Justice and Behavior
85% of children with behavioral problems come from fatherless homes. 20 times the national average.
SOURCE: Center for Disease Control
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. 9 times the national average.
SOURCE: National Principals Association Report
75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes. 10 times the national average.
SOURCE: Rainbow’s for all God’s Children
85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes. 20 times the national average.
SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Justice
Daughters of single parents without a Father involved are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 711% more likely to have children as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a pre-marital birth and 92% more likely to get divorced themselves.
91% of 701 fathers surveyed by the University of Texas at Austin agreed that there is a “father-absence crisis in America.” What were the 4 major obstacles for fathers to overcome? 1) Work demands 2) The media 3) Pop Culture 4) Finances
Researchers of Columbia University found that children living in two-parent households with a poor relationship with their father are 68% more likely to smoke, drink or use drugs compared to all teens in two-parent households. Moreover, teens in single-mother households fared much worse. They had a 30% higher risk than those in all two-parent
households.
“Without two parents, working together as a team, the child has more difficulty learning the combination of empathy, reciprocity, fairness and self-command that people ordinarily take for granted. If the child does not learn this at home, society will have to manage his behavior
in some other way. He may have to be rehabilitated, incarcerated, or otherwise restrained. In this case, prisons will substitute for parents.”
SOURCE: Morse, Jennifer Roback. “Parents or Prisons.” Policy Review, 2003
Children with Fathers who are involved are 40% less likely to repeat a grade in school.
SOURCE: National Household Education Survey
Children with Fathers who are involved are 70% less likely to drop out of school.
Children with Fathers who are involved are more likely to get A’s in school.
Children with Fathers who are involved are more likely to enjoy school and engage in extracurricular activities.
Even in high crime neighborhoods, 90% of children from stable 2 parent homes where the Father is involved do not become delinquents.
SOURCE: Development and Psychopathology 1993
Adolescent girls raised in a 2 parent home with involved Fathers are significantly less likely to be sexually active than girls raised without involved Fathers.
The following is a confidential report on several candidates being considered for a pastorate.
Adam: Good man but problems with his wife.
Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years with not even one convert. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
Abraham: Though the references reported wife-swapping, the facts seem to show he never slept with another man’s wife, but did offer to share his own wife with another man.
Joseph: A big thinker, but a braggart, believes in dream-interpreting, and has a prison record.
Moses: A modest and meek man, but poor communicator, even stuttering at times. Sometimes blows his stack and acts rashly. Some say he left an earlier church over a murder charge.
David: The most promising leader of all until we discovered the affair he had with his neighbor’s wife.
Solomon: Great preacher but our parsonage would never hold all those wives.
Elijah: Prone to depression. Collapses under pressure.
Elisha: Reported to have lived with a single widow while at his former church.
Hosea: A tender and loving pastor but our people could never handle his wife’s occupation.
Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river.
Isaiah: On the fringe? Claims to have seen angels in church. Has trouble with his language.
Jonah: Refused God’s call into ministry until he was forced to obey by getting swallowed up by a great fish. He told us the fish later spit him out on the shore near here. We hung up.
Amos: Too backward and unpolished. With some seminary training he might have promise, but has a hang-up against wealthy people–might fit in better in a poor congregation.
Melchizedek: Great credentials at current work place, but where does this guy come from? No information on his resume about former work records. Every line about parents was left blank and he refused to supply a birth date. (This aside from Les: Ancient Jewish tradition has it that Melchizedek is really Shem. If you check out the lifespan of Shem in the Bible, it seems to be true!)
John: Says he is a Baptist, but definitely doesn’t dress like one. Has slept in the outdoors for months on end, has a weird diet, and provokes denominational leaders.
Peter: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper-even has been known to curse. Had a big run-in with Paul in Antioch. Aggressive, but a loose cannon.
Paul: Powerful CEO type leader and fascinating preacher. However, short on tact, unforgiving with younger ministers, harsh and has been known to preach all night.
James & John: Package deal preacher & associate seemed good at first, but found out they have an ego problem regarding other fellow workers and seating positions. Threatened an entire town after an insult. Also known to try to discourage workers who didn’t follow along with them.
Timothy: Too young!
Methuselah: Too old . . . WAY too old!
Jesus: Has had popular times, but once his church grew to 5000 he managed to offend them all, and then this church dwindled down to twelve people. Seldom stays in one place very long. And, of course, he’s single.
Judas: His references are solid. A steady plodder. Conservative. Good connections. Knows how to handle money. We’re inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.
Nehemiah 12:27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.
Nehemiah and his people have done a great work. They are now going to have a dedication service. Notice two very important factors; one they brought the Levites to Jerusalem, not just any Levites but the ones who were the musicians, two they wanted their to be thanksgiving and singing with instruments.
If God has given you with a musical talent you should understand that you have a gift that is a very important part of His worship. I love how we see that they were Levites first. That is they were men of God. They were raised and trained and prepared to serve God. Your character, your “be” level is very important if you are going to take part in the music of the worship service.
Did you also notice that there are lots of musical instruments, cymbals, and lots of stringed instruments?
Did you notice that the music was a happy music? They brought them so that they could keep the dedication with gladness.
Did you notice that the spiritual people with musical abilities were sought out? They looked for them. They brought them to the service so that it could be a happy time. They must have sung happy music.
The music had something to do with the excitement in the service. I hope that if you have musical ability, can sing or play that you will dedicate it to the Lord.
Did you notice that thanksgiving was a major part of the dedication?
Can I say it seems planned that they would sing and thank God publicly and with gladness? Will you come to church with that attitude the next service? Will you sing, praise and thank God with all that is within you?
It seems that in this dedication service that gladness and worship were very connected!
Well I am not sure just how many fish were caught that were keepers but not enough so off someone went to catch some fish at Publix. We had a bunch of men and boys and it was a wonderful afternoon.
David Lundy gets the prize for the biggest fish as far as I know and it was better than 2.5 pounds.
John Pearson and David Lundy did a great deal of work cleaning and cooking everything and then a lot of the guys helped with the clean up. Of course Mark Coffey as always did a great job organizing and preparing everything.
What a privilege to work with such a great group of men. I know that God has great things ahead for our church.
I can’t wait to see all of you tomorrow and to see all that God has prepared for us.
Let not your authority over them be exercised with rigour and severity, but with kindness and gentleness, lest you raise their passions and discourage them in their duty, and by holding the reins too tight make them fly out with greater fierceness.” The bad temper and example of imprudent parents often prove a great hindrance to their children and a stumbling-block in their way. And it is by the tenderness of parents, and dutifulness of children, that God ordinarily furnishes his church with a seed to serve him, and propagates religion from age to age.
One of the greatest privileges that I have ever had is to be a dad.
I have loved the Lord Jesus Christ since I was a child. I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior when I was only 7 years old. I felt that He had called me to His service when I was 11 years old. I began really being disciplined in the reading of my Bible when I was 15 or 16. Getting married was the next greatest event that happened in my life. Betty has been my best friend, my wife, my companion, and as they say in Spanish “mi vida” or my life. Marriage was wonderful but I can never explain what it was like when God gave us children.
When we found out we were going to have a baby I was scared to death! How was I going to pay the bills?! How were we going to raise a child?! But I can never explain the explosion that took place in my heart. We were a family! We thought that Chris wouldn’t change our lives but boy did he ever.
Then I thought that I could never love another child like I loved Chris. I told Betty when Stephanie was coming that I was afraid that I would never love the new baby like I had the first but boy was I wrong. Another explosion happened in my heart and I was in love at first sight with my little girl–I had not really wanted a girl–I thought that I only wanted boys so that they could be pastors or missionaries but was I ever wrong. Having a daughter is one of the most special things in the world.
God has given us 4 special children. Instead of having to spread my love around God just kept giving us more love. I thank God for Chris, Stephanie, Joy, and David. God has given us 4 wonderful children and 4 wonderful spouses for them. Now we have 10 grandchildren. They are all serving God. We didn’t do it but God was gracious to us and we did not deserve it. I could never tell you how to raise children except from what God’s Word says.
Tomorrow I am excited about what we are going to see from the Word of God. I will not be telling you about my wonderful successes rather I will tell you what the Bible says. As I have studied I have felt my own failures. I should have been so much more patient and encouraging. I should have been more understanding. I should have worried less about what others thought of my children and my child raising and more about spending time with my children.
Today I wish that I had known then what I know now. Children come to us and we are so unprepared for it. We discipline in anger or not at all. We get so busy that we forget our children and wife. We get frustrated because our children are children and not all grown up. We fail to enjoy the days that we have children and instead we get so busy making a life that we wake up one day and they are gone.
I wish that I had been a better dad. I want to help you learn things that I didn’t know or if I did I often failed to apply. I am excited about what is going to happen tomorrow. I look forward to seeing God do a work in our lives.
Invite someone to be with you. No man has a greater responsibility than that of being a father. No man has a greater privilege than that of having God trust him with the lives of little people. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Mark your calendar now for the Father Son Fish Fry to take place on June 16, 2007 at 4:30. Location to be announced later. We plan on fishing at a private lake and cooking there so the final plans are still being made. If you do not have a son still plan on coming and you can even adopt one of the young men of our church and bring him with you. This will be a great time of fellowship with the other men of the church as well as your sons.
I am looking forward to seeing all of you this Saturday morning at 7 AM at the church for our fellowship meeting. We will have a chicken biscuit and then discuss the book, The Man in the Mirror. You should have read up to chapter 7 if you can.
Be sure and invite other men and you are of course welcome to bring your sons.
The following things need to be on your calendar if you are one of the men that attend the Vision Baptist Church. We have several really great things planned for you:
June 16 from 4:30 to 7:00 we will have a Father Son Fish Fry. Please get that on your schedule and plan to be with us!
June 17 will be our Father’s Day service and I hope you will be with us and bring your own dad and your children.
October 4-6 we are planning on a Deep Sea Fishing Trip with all of our men!
December 27-29 we will be having our Winter Retreat in Gatlinburg. This is a family event and so we want you to take your entire family and have a wonderful time with all of us.
Make sure and mark your calendar now so that you will not have any conflicts later. You can get more details in the church office or by calling 770-456-5881.
