Jim Daly

New Song Featuring Youth Choir Proclaims the Real Meaning of Christmas

“Sitting in the darkness they saw a great light. The doors of Heaven were opened wide. How much more … does God love you?”

That’s the opening line to the joyful new Christmas single, “How Much More.”

Sung by the Georgia Youth Choir, the song is filled with Biblical imagery and hope-filled reminders of God’s immense love for us.

It seems every year, winter brings out those who can’t get enough of Christmas – and those who can’t wait for the music to stop playing.

For those of you who may not hold Christmas music in very high esteem, especially those songs that are overplayed, “How Much More” is a new track you just might enjoy.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: christmas, holidays

Motivating Your Kids to Reflect the Character of God

Teaching character to children and motivating them to embrace change can be a challenge.

Dr. Kathy Koch says strengthening your relationship with your child is key to helping him or her to feel known and understood and to intentionally impart character qualities like resilience, humility, self-respect, respect for others, and self-control.

First, you model those qualities yourself. Then, you guide your children to interact with life in the same way. Communicating as a teacher, a coach, a cheerleader, and a referee, parents can address five core needs of a child:

Security – Who can I trust?Identity – Who am I?Belonging – Who wants me?Purpose – Why am I alive?Competence – What do I do well?

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, children, parenting

Helping Your Daughter Become a Confident Woman

I saw a video that powerfully illustrates the incredible influence that fathers have in the lives of their daughters. It captured a dad in his living room, watching a basketball game. He jumped and yelled in support of his favorite team.

Right beside him, his three-year-old daughter copied his every move. She jumped when he jumped. She clapped when he clapped. She even copied his expressions of excitement.

Then the mood changed. The dad started shouting at the television.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, father, parenting

Your Help is Needed: Please Speak Up for Faith-Based Child Placement Services

As someone who spent time in foster care as a child, the plight of our nation’s children who find themselves detached and unsettled outside their biological families is of great concern to me.

In fact, according to the most recent statistics, over 443,000 kids in America today find themselves somewhere in the foster care system. There are names behind that huge number, and every one of them represents a little world that hangs in the balance. Like you, I’m deeply grieved to know that many of them feel as though their future is bleak and hope is in short supply.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: foster care, government, policy

Growing Your Marriage in Times of Stress

Does your marriage stress you out?

If not, there’s still a good chance that you’re bringing stress into your marriage.

Either way, how do you handle it?

The natural inclination for many couples is to seek stress relief in non-relational ways that enable them to hide from each other – things like drugs and alcohol, or even behaviors like shopping, gambling, excessive cleaning, or binge-watching television – all of which lead to addiction, unhealthy obsessions, or lashing out at other people.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, relationships

Seeing the Value of Every Person

Being pro-life means much more than being against abortion. Our value statement on the sanctity of human life reads:

We believe that human beings are created by God in His image. Therefore, every person, from conception to natural death, possesses inherent dignity and immeasurable worth – including preborn children, elderly individuals, those with special needs and others marginalized by society. Christians, then, are called to defend, protect, and value all human life.

Author and speaker Emily Colson has lived the truth of that statement up close and personal.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, pro-life

How Advent Changed My Perspective on Christmas

Years ago, a friend asked Asheritah Ciuciu if she was excited that the Christmas season had arrived.

“Actually, no,” she said.

Christmas had both a joyful side and a dark side for Asheritah. She and her parents lived in Romania for ten years during the communist regime while her father pastored five churches – one officially recognized church and four underground churches. They lived under intense persecution and death threats.

Asheritah’s childhood Christmases had so many hard memories that she grew up wanting the season to be over with as soon as possible.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, christmas, holidays

Religion Should Influence Americans’ Political Activism

As the old maxim goes, the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

And according to a recent Pew poll, the majority of Americans think churches should do exactly that as far as public policy is concerned. Nothing.Most Americans believe churches should not get involved in politics. The Pew Research Center found that 63% of Americans say houses of worship should keep out of political matters. Only 36% said churches should express views on social or political questions.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: church, policy

The Beautiful Struggle to Forgive

Emmy Award-winning sports journalist and former ESPN producer Jason Romano remembers the day he got the phone call. How could he forget?

On the other end was his father, who was in tears with terrible news. Patty, his second wife and Jason’s stepmother, had been killed in a house fire. Jason was devastated.

Then he discovered it was all a lie.

His father had been drunk and made up the whole story. For money? For sympathy?

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, relationships

Are You a Good Listener?

Pastor Ted Cunningham says, “Social media is a place where people share their opinions without sticking around for the conversation.”

He’s right. A lot of people like to share their opinions, but few like to listen. Beyond social media, that’s also a big problem in marriage, in parenting, and in interactions with friends and extended family.

Listening has become synonymous with approval, agreement, and wholesale acceptance of someone’s opinion. The natural response, then, is to talk over people and to express our point of view to the exclusion of all others.