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Chap Bettis

Nov 28
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Should I Make My Teen Go to Church?

By Church Life, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Teens and Beyond
I have been asked this question four times in the past four months. Though there are variations, the basic question is, "Should I make my teenager go to church if he or she doesn't want to?" One parent thinks of a 16-year-old son who says, "I am not a Christian and don’t enjoy church; why do I have to go?" Others were thinking of a similar scenario. One added the twist of having a 19 or 20-year-old still living at home and negatively influencing the younger siblings. The following are some wisdom principles that would lead me to conclude that...
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Nov 15
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Dads: Don’t and Do Defend Your Wife

By Christian Living, Family Discipleship, Leadership, Marriage

I was recently presenting a workshop on overcoming anger, and two moms brought up a point that may help all of us. I stated that anger is an emotion given to us when we see something that is important and wrong. However, Ephesians 4:26 tells us, “In your anger, do not sin.” That is to say, anger is a special temptation to sin. We are often wrong in our understanding of how important and how wrong something is. We can be sinfully angry in how we address something. But we also need to allow that anger, I said, to prompt…

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Nov 14
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Pastor All the Sheep

By Christian Living, Church Life, Family Discipleship

I recently was asked to give a very short talk to pastors about the pastor’s family. I wrote about the subject several years ago here: How Churches Can Care for Their Pastor’s Children How Pastors Can Care for Their Children *The following are my rough notes from my most recent talk.* dHaving pastored for over 30 years and raised my children as a pastor, what advice would I give that is unique to a pastor? Here are three specific thoughts. 1. Pastor all the sheep. When you study the life of Jesus you see that there was a priority in discipleship: the crowds, the 70,…

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Nov 09
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Keith Plummer – How Scientism Might Be Causing Problems for You or Your Teen

By Apologetics, Discerning Culture, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Teens and Beyond, Podcast
"If only I had some scientific proof that Christianity is true that would really strengthen my faith." Have you ever found yourself thinking something like that? Or maybe your teen has also wished that there was scientific proof for Christianity? If that's true, then this podcast is for you. In today's podcast, we're going to be thinking about the blessing and limitations of science. We live in a time when we're blessed and amazed at the scientific discoveries that enrich our lives. But a belief in science can morph into the idea that science itself is how we know reality....
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Oct 26
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Living to Please the Lord

By Christian Living, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

Have you thought of the fact that your walk with Christ can please him? In fact, this should be one of the motivations in our Christian life. Though we are in Christ and therefore well-pleasing to him already, we also should be motivated to please him in our daily life. You can see that encouragement referenced in verses like: 1 Cor 7:32, 1 Thes 2:4, 4:1, 1 Tim 2:3, 5:4. But this drive to please is also in our children. Read the following excerpt from page 90 of The Disciple-Making Parent. I would love to know your thoughts. – Chap Wired to Please…

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Oct 19
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Rick Horne – How to Shepherd Troubled and Angry Teens

By Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Teens and Beyond, Podcast

  Resources From This Podcast Get Outta My Face, by Rick Horne Get Offa My Case, by Rick Horne Topics Covered In This Week’s Podcast 00:11 Introduction 02:53 How Get Outta My Face came about 10:17 Wise wants 19:37 Connecting consequences with behaviors 39:09 Get Offa My Case Episode Transcript I’m Chap Bettis, and you’re listening to The Disciple-Making Parent, where we seek to equip parents and churches to pass the gospel to their children. The teenage years can be tumultuous. Suddenly we wake up and find that we have an angry and unmotivated teen. Where did that come from?…

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Oct 12
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A Second Look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17

By Christian Living, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

Every so often, new information causes us to take a new look at a familiar verse. In a previous post, I had us take a second look at Proverbs 22:6, asking if we had not misunderstood the intent and the application of the verse. In a similar vein, I want to have us look again at 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. NIV84 Important for the Parent These are two important and familiar verses….

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Sep 29
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Tim Challies – Walking Through Deep Sorrow and Loss

By Christian Living, Church Life, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond, Podcast
It's every parent's nightmare. An unexpected phone call, an unexpected funeral burying your own child. How do we react in the days and months and years ahead? On November 3rd, 2020, Tim Challies received just such a call. He received the shocking news that his son Nick had died. During those days, months, and year of loss, Tim began to write. And the content of that writing is what we're going to talk about in this episode. We're going to talk about his most recent book, Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God. Play Video...
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Sep 28
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How Do Children Make Their Faith Their Own?

By Christian Living, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

A key component of discipling our children is understanding a little bit of what to expect in that journey. Paul said Timothy learned the faith as a young person and then became convinced of it. This pattern holds true for 95% of those who grow up in a Christian home. At a conference I will ask, “How many of you heard the gospel and professed faith at a young age? Now, keep your hand up if there was a later time that your faith became your own.” And 95% of the hands stay up. This is the learning and becoming convinced…

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Sep 27
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How You Can Use The Disciple-Making Parent in Your Church – An Interview with Guy Wilcox

By Church Life, Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

Recently, I sat down with Guy Wilcox to discuss how they seek to equip their parents to disciple their children. Guy serves at University Baptist Church in Fayetteville, AR, working with both students and music ministry. I thought I would share how he uses The Disciple-Making Parent in his context and might be an encouragement to get something like this started in your church context. At UBC, he takes men and women through 10-week studies on parenting. You can see the details below. Chap: Why did you choose The Disciple-Making Parent? Guy: It covers a lot of different parenting topics…

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