Jim Daly

Heroic Moms Raising Godly Heroes

“We practiced an active shooter drill today.”

Those words from Lee Nienhuis’ grade-school aged son, Ryan, felt like a gut punch. She could barely hold herself together when he told her, “We pile up in the corner like puppies, and we hide.”

That wasn’t the only time Lee was confronted by the darkness her children face in this world. Another incident happened in church. The congregation was singing the hymn I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. Lee could hear her son Ryan singing when they reached the words: “The cross before me, the world behind me.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, parenting

‘The Hunt’ cancelation is welcome news – murdering political opponents isn’t entertaining or funny

As you may have recently heard, Universal Pictures announced Saturday it had canceled the planned September release of the film “The Hunt” about liberals hunting conservative “Deplorables” who fit the description of supporters of President Trump.

The cancelation was a victory for common sense and decency.

But as I wrote for Fox News, liberals have been – metaphorically speaking – “hunting” religious conservatives for years. They have been attempting to deconstruct our traditional values, as well as seeking to tear down all the institutions that so many of us hold dear.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: current events, movies

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 a lot of couples is to seek stress relief in non-relational ways that enable them to hide – 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, conflict, faith

Finding Grace in the Midst of Racial Division

Sometimes God calls us to do things that are bigger than us – so big that all we can do is rely on His strength to get us through.

Captain Ron Johnson experienced that truth in an inspiring way. He’s a retired African-American police officer who became well-known after the governor of Missouri assigned him to lead security efforts in Ferguson, Missouri after a young black male, Michael Brown, was killed by a white police officer.

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Of Course Violent Video Games Desensitize Kids

As officials attempt to continue piecing together the motives behind last weekend’s horrific cold-blooded murder sprees in both El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, attention has turned once again to the role violent video games play in these types of attacks.

In remarks from the White House earlier this week, President Trump suggested they were likely one factor in a long list of many.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” he said.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: current events, entertainment, parenting

Redeeming a Marriage and Childhood Wounds

Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter Russ Taff grew up in church, but he was an adult the first time he was truly able to understand God’s love.

His dad was a pastor who preached what Russ calls a “hard Gospel.” That means there were rules about clothes, rules about hair, rules about attitude. Rules, rules, rules – so many that his father couldn’t live up to his own standards. His father relapsed with alcohol again and again for years and, ultimately, didn’t stop drinking until he died.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: Domestic abuse, faith, marriage

The World is Sick, Sinful and in Desperate Need of Revival

This weekend’s murderous rampages in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that claimed a total of 31 lives, join an ever-growing list of incidents of mass violence in America.

Whenever horror of this magnitude occurs our focus almost always turns to motive. Although it’s impossible to make sense of the inexplicable, we still want to know what’s behind the evil.

For these two separate tragedies, less than 24 hours apart, the early evidence seems clear both murderers were driven by hatred.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: current events, tragedy

Discovering the Best Ways to Educate Your Child

So here’s the scenario. It’s a weeknight, and your child has spent most of the evening on the same school assignment. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t understand the information. To top it off, he’s brought home a note from the teacher warning you about a failing grade.

What do you do?

Many parents immediately assume the worst. They think their child has a behavior problem, difficulty learning, or is just plain lazy. But most of the time school challenges like this aren’t a crisis.

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Cultivating a Healthy Single Life

Imagine two keys.

Now imagine threading those keys onto a key ring.

Here’s the question: are either of those keys more complete now that they are joined together than they were individually?

Answer: no.

And neither will you be if you’re single and hoping to be married one day. “Singlehood” is often considered synonymous with “incomplete” – as in, there’s something unfinished in you that only a spouse can complete.

As romantic as Hollywood makes that scenario sound, it’s not really true.

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Facing Confrontation with Grace

Deborah Pegues was once vice president of MCA Universal Studios. She headed up the venture capital division that was responsible for starting new companies. It was a high-risk, high stress business. Her role frequently required her to confront people.

You might even say she got good at it.

Which is precisely the reason we’ve invited her to our studios to talk about how to confront someone effectively. We’re airing the conversation on our Focus on the Family Broadcast titled “Facing Confrontation with Grace.”

Deborah says most people try to avoid confrontation because it’s hard, and it doesn’t feel good.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, confrontation, faith, Grace