Focus Events Archives

Listen to “The Best of 2014” Broadcasts

It’s “best of” time on the Focus on the Family daily broadcast! During the months of December through February, we’re going to be re-airing our best, most popular broadcasts of the year – the ones we heard back from our listeners the most on.

Here’s a rundown of the best of 2014 Focus broadcasts:

Dec 1-2 – Moving From Loneliness to Intimacy in Your Marriage I-II – Dr. David Clarke
Dec 3 – Serving God in Our Culture – Lecrae
Dec 4-5 – Overcoming the Obstacles of Cerebral Palsy I-II – Lisa Sexton and Dr.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast December 5, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What Marriage and Volcanoes Have in Common

Mount Erebus in Antarctica is one of the most active volcanoes on earth.

The region averages fifty-eight degrees below zero in the winter and on an especially balmy summer day the temperature can nudge toward four below. Combine those frigid temperatures with hot gases escaping from ground vents around the volcano, and massive ice structures form, towering forty to fifty feet high.

They’re an oddly beautiful sight in such an unforgiving landscape.

And they exist because of opposite forces coming together.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, marriage December 1, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (I Chronicles 16:34)

It’s a wonderful thing to live in a nation that, once a year, sets aside an official day of thanksgiving. We certainly are a blessed people, and there is much to give thanks for. I hope you and your family are enjoying the day.

If you are looking for something to do with your family that will emphasize the themes of thanksgiving, forgiveness and friendship, may I suggest listening to today’s broadcast, “Squanto: A Thanksgiving Drama”?

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast November 27, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

WATCH: How This Church’s Gift Saves Lives

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for a small country church and its big-hearted members.

We first learned of Silver Lake Church of the Bible (Silver Lake, Oregon) from a simple letter. The story Pastor Leon Baker shared in that letter started in 2006.

After listening to a Focus broadcast, “The Lord laid it upon my heart to begin collecting for the purchase of an ultrasonic machine,” he wrote.

And for eight years, that’s what Pastor Baker and his congregation did.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: church, faith, pro-life November 26, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Teaching Kids to Be Grateful

Isn’t it strange that in a nation nicknamed the “land of opportunity” that so many struggle to find happiness?

I think, in part, that’s because we haven’t learned the discipline of gratitude. I’m not talking about the brief moments here and there where we acknowledge God’s blessings. I’m talking about living a life of gratitude.

Maybe gratitude is difficult because cynicism is too easy.

By nature, I’m an optimist. But it’s easy to turn pessimistic from time to time.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, faith, parenting November 24, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Backward Logic of Perfectionism

Many of us strive for excellence. But for other folks, excellence isn’t good enough. They want perfection. As noble as that goal sounds, it’s actually a very unhealthy way to live.

Oh, sure, perfectionists look great on the outside. Just ask today’s broadcast guests Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory. Self-acknowledged perfectionists, they’ll tell you they tend to work harder than everyone around them, excel at most things they try, and appear confident. But underneath that polished exterior is a fragile self-image.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, faith November 17, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Interview Exclusive with Jill (Duggar) Dillard and Husband Derick on Being Expectant Parents

When a couple is expecting their first baby, it doesn’t matter that pregnancy and childbirth have happened billions of times before to other people – what matters is that it’s their first time. Just ask Jill (Duggar) Dillard and her husband, Derick.

They’re expecting their first baby, a boy, in March.

Fans of the popular show have watched Jill, 23, grow up for the past ten years on her family’s reality show “19 Kids & Counting.” Jill and Derick’s wedding episode was the series’ most-watched at 4.4 million viewers, and the night’s No.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, parenting, pop culture November 14, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor

Glenn Stanton’s new book, “Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor: Being Friends in Grace and Truth,” is an important read. I was honored to write the foreword to the book, which I want to share with you today. -JD

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Not long ago, Glenn Stanton invited Jonathan Rauch, a noted author, journalist and gay rights advocate, to address members of our team at Focus on the Family. Glenn and Jonathan have been friends for some time despite representing opposite ends of the spectrum in the national debate over homosexuality.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: faith, homosexuality, relationships November 13, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Focus’ Latest Movie: Saving Babies in a Broken World

Imagine you’re out walking one night. The cold wind penetrates your coat and you can see your breath in the air.

As you step forward under the moonlight, you stumble on a newborn baby that has been abandoned, alone and vulnerable, in an alley.

What do you do?

The scenario I laid out might seem improbable, but it’s exactly what happened to Pastor Lee Jong-rak of Seoul, South Korea.

Pastor Lee scooped up the baby, and the baby – and that experience – changed his life.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: events, family, pop culture, pro-life, promos November 12, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Things to Remember About PTSD

With Veterans Day tomorrow, it’s hard for us at Focus on the Family to forget the many sacrifices the men and women of our armed forces make.

Colorado Springs is a military town. We have Army and Air Force bases here. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is located within our mountains. Every May, Focus employees stand on our ministry’s balcony and watch the Thunderbirds perform at the Air Force Academy graduations. Huge cargo planes fly overhead and rattle our houses.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, marriage, relationships November 10, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura