I’ve been listening to preachers and teachers for many years now and I’m cautious about recommending them to others.  The longer I’ve walked with the Lord, the more I’ve come to realize that my trust belongs in Christ alone. My faith is in Christ and his word and I no longer put preachers and teachers…. or anyone at all,   on a pedestal like I used to when I was a young Christian. They never asked to be put on a pedestal…I did this on my own, and I was wrong. That being said, I appreciate the good teaching that I have been able to hear from Voddie Baucham; he has been such an encouragement to me and my husband. We don’t agree 100% with all of his theology,  but we feel so blessed by much of what he has to say about parenting and family life. The following quotes are some of my favorite about family living. ~Anne

~Many Christians believe the best thing they can do for their family is provide them with more stuff. So we continue to accumulate as though accumulation is the answer. All the while our children are screaming at us from beneath the piles of untouched toys and unworn clothes begging for a few minutes of our time. Time we simply don’t have because we are too busy trying to find that one thing we can add to the pile that will make the screaming stop.

~God has designed your family—not the youth group, not the children’s ministry, not the Christian school, but your family—as the principle discipling agent in your children’s lives

~It is not the job of the youth pastor to evangelize my child—that’s my job. It is not the youth pastor’s job to equip (disciple) my child—it’s mine. And it is not the youth pastor’s job to send my child out to engage the world; you guessed it—that’s my job too.

~Most Christians in our culture live like everyone else. There is little distinction between our lives and the lives of the pagans down the street. We wear the same clothes, watch the same movies, read the same books, send our children to the same schools, and sign the same divorce decrees as everyone else.

~Our homes must be rife with the aroma of love. Those who visit us should notice immediately that they have left the world of self-serving, egocentric narcissism and have entered a safe harbour where people value and esteem others above themselves. Outsiders should enter our homes and never want to leave. Our neighbors should find excuses to visit us just to get another whiff of the fragrant aroma of love. The brokenhearted should long to be near us. The downtrodden and the abused should seek us out. Families on the brink of disaster should point to us and say, “Why can’t our home be like that?”

~Voddie Baucham