Jim Daly

Take 17 Minutes and Pray for Our Students

You’ve likely heard about the national school walkout happening tomorrow:

Thousands of students will engage in a historic, national demonstration by walking out of their classrooms for 17 minutes—at 10 a.m. in all time zones– to honor the 17 students and staff who were tragically murdered in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. It will likely impact your community—more than 180,000 school kids are expected to participate.

Why the walkout?

Many students simply want a significant way to memorialize those who lost their lives, several of whom heroically sacrificed their own life or incurred injuries while protecting others.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events

Heaven: Our Ultimate Hope and Home

Anne Graham Lotz is the daughter of the late Reverend Billy Graham. You can hear echoes of him in her voice – both in her southern accent … and in the way she talks about heaven.

She says:

“I wonder if you’ve ever really had a home. Were you raised in an orphanage? Were you in a situation where your family moved from place to place to place? If you’ve never really had a place that was your own, there is a heavenly home that has your name written on it.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, church, faith

Focus on the Family Best Seller List

Week ending March 6, 2018:

Raising a Modern-Day Knight (by Robert Lewis)
Family: How to Love Yours (and Help Them Like You Back) (by Jessie Minassian)
10 Ways to Say “I Love You” (by Josh McDowell)
Enjoy!: The Gift of Sexual Pleasure for Women (by Cliff & Joyce Penner)
One More Try (by Gary Chapman)
Raising an Original (by Julie Lyles Carr)
The Married Guy’s Guide to Great Sex (by Cliff & Joyce Penner)
Married But Lonely (by David E.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith, family, intimacy, marriage

How to Keep Gender Differences from Driving Your Marriage Crazy

Mary and Joseph both heard from God about the coming birth of their son, Jesus. But have you ever noticed how differently the Lord communicated that to each of them?

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that she would bring the Christ child into the world, Mary asked, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34, ESV). She wanted to know in what way God’s plans could happen.

Gabriel patiently outlined the full plan: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, husband, marriage, wife

Less Hollywood, More Heartland: How the Oscars Forgot Middle America’s Values

Guest Post: Paul Asay, Movie Reviewer, Plugged In:

It’s only fitting that Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water took home an Oscar for Best Picture (and three others) at Sunday night’s Oscars.

Both a lyrical, sensual fable and a brutal immolation of Leave It to Beaver-era America, the movie is a study in inclusion and exclusion: It posits that god-like mermen are people, too, while hypocritical Christian Cadillac buyers are the real monsters.

The film feels pretty emblematic of where Hollywood stands right now—a Hollywood that has pushed through the #OscarsSoWhite and the #MeToo movements with a desire to reward new, diverse storytellers, looking toward a hoped-for future while perhaps burning the (in Hollywood’s eyes) problematic past.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, events

How to Have Constructive Conversations with Your Teen Daughter

Jessie Minassian knows the struggles teenage girls face. Not only is she an author, a speaker, and a blogger who has passion for mentoring young women, she lived through some challenging teen years herself.

Teen girls are trying to figure out who they are in the midst of social pressures, hormone-induced mood swings, and – many times – family dynamics. Even girls (and boys) who love God sometimes have a hard time acting respectfully at home.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, kids, parenting

The Secret to a Joyful Life

Where does your significance come from? Where does your sufficiency come from? Where does your security come from?

Materialism, marketing, and social media skew our perspective. We compare ourselves with movie stars, professional athletes, and Facebook friends who post about their newest car or their latest vacation – and we don’t measure up.

The secret to a joyful, fulfilled life is to see who you are in Christ.

The late Dr. Adrian Rogers shared a powerful message at one of our chapel services many years ago.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith

Raising Boys Who Become True Men

“My coach from my senior year could look at me and knight me with his eyes.”

That powerful comment illustrates the hunger of every boy to have a man, particularly a father, draw him into manhood. It comes from Dr. Robert Lewis, who has been associated with Focus on the Family for years. Back in the late 90s, he wrote a book with Focus called “Raising a Modern-Day Knight.” Since then, it’s been our number one best seller.

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

Going Beyond the Gun Control Debates

Last week’s extraordinary public debates about guns, both at the White House and at CNN’s Florida Town Hall, were highly emotional and contentious events. Over a week after the catastrophic carnage in Parkland, Florida, debate concerning what to do about it is raging red-hot, and understandably so. People committing violent acts with guns is a growing epidemic, particularly in schools. Since early January, in addition to Florida, there have been school shootings in Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: events, news, policy, pro-life

Loving Your Spouse Day by Day

What is it that God wants out of our marriages?

Do we think about that? We know what we want out of our marriage, and we know what we expect our spouse to provide us. But what does God want?

Well, much of what God wants for you is wired in to you. A woman’s deepest need is to know that her husband loves her. A man’s deepest need is to know that his wife respects him.