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media should rightly raise a great concern as it is often
unmonitored. Wright calls parents “to fight to keep the
battle outside the home” (32) by being vigilant to guard
what they allow to penetrate the walls of their home.
To ensure parents and church leaders keep the matter
centered, Wright is faithful to lay out a robust biblical
foundation for each element, beginning with a
concise theology of family. This commitment to biblical
foundations is the key that launches this book to the
forefront of parenting resources.
ApParent Privilege hammers home several important
issues for the Christian parent. As parents travel down
the road of leading the family, they should remember
the following key points. First, Wright asserts that
model parenting is the difference between good parenting
and godly parenting (64). The missing element that
makes a good parent a godly parent is a daily, authentic
Christian walk. Wright states that “Christian parents
must take hold of the incredible privilege of modeling”
(66) that Christian walk.
Parents must not only serve as models but also partner
with the church. It is often overlooked in Deuteronomy
6, but the Shema commands the attention of the
nation with the words, “ Hear therefore, O Israel” (v.3).
Just prior to Moses commanding parents to disciple
their children, he calls the attention of all God’s people.
As Wright supports, godly parenting requires the family
and church to work together as God intended. According
to Wright, this requires placing “equal importance
on family and church” (99).
Last, Wright directs the call to godly parenting
squarely where it must be directed—to fathers. Take a
look at this passage in Malachi 4:6: “And he will turn
the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of
children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land
with a decree of utter destruction.” The final word in the
Old Testament has everything to do with fathers and
their children. In a similar fashion, tucked away at the
end of chapter 8, Wright hits every dad right between
the eyes. Every dad in the church must read these words,
“our career really isn’t our job” (146). Wright has accurately
called fathers to recalibrate their understanding of
their primary job as fathers and career men. This reversal
of priority has robbed families of the power of a father’s
presence. Wright follows this up with a solid reproducible
brief job description for dads.
It’s imperative that every senior pastor, youth pastor,
and children’s pastor get this book into the hands of
every parent possible. ApParent Privilege is a foundational
resource for every local church family ministry.
Troy W. Temple, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Masters Studies,
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Impress Faith on Your Kids. By Mark Holmen. Nashville,
TN: Randall House, 2011, 128 pp., $11.99.
It’s often true that simpler is better. In the landscape of
family ministry discussions in the church today, solutions
can sometimes feel elusive. Church leaders seem to be
aiming at the same thing but approach it from different
angles. While there are a few who offer a robust theological
foundation for family discipleship, there are others
who have presented a simple executable strategy that
any parent could employ within minutes of reading the
first chapter. Mark Holmen has given readers the latter.
Impress Faith on Your Kids has put the core values of
family discipleship easily within reach for parents at any
level of spiritual maturity. His simple process turns up
the microscope on Deuteronomy 6:3-9. As he progresses
through these verses, the author offers highly practical
suggestions that parents will find simple but truly effective.
Four strong take-a-ways are highlighted below.
First, the gospel is the top priority. Ultimately, the
strength of this book is rightly located in the first chapter.
Holmen outlines the ultimate agenda for impressing
faith on your kids as one not of moral endeavors but one
of life and death. The simple plan for great parenting
is to lead our “children into life not death” (7). While
those words may not seem cutting edge, they dictate the
end goal of parenting in all aspects and reflect a biblical
value of parenting.
Second, parents are primarily responsible to disciple
their children. Holmen spends a few pages discussing
a common phenomenon in local church ministry
that he labels “drop off,”: defined as “letting the professionals
do it, an outsourcing approach to parenting
and impressing faith on your children” (31). This must
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