Bring your family together for a fun time of interaction and bonding, or invite your friends over for a good chance to socialize and/or witness! This game will teach you a lot you may have not known about the Bible! It will “cause each participant to think about what the Bible says.”

There are 2 versions- the printed version of the original Bible Challenge Game, as well as the New Testament Bible Challenge CD!

The Bible Challenge Game has:

•Hundreds of Bible quizzes

•Instructions for small groups using the game board

•Instructions for projecting the questions for a large group

Game Board use:

If the question is answered correctly that person rolls a dice and moves the appropriate number of spaces.

If one lands on a gray space, follow the instructions printed.

The first one who reaches the goal wins.

The New Testament CD:

The New Testament CD is well suited for individuals, families or groups that are using a Bible Reading program.

This CD includes:

•Many Bible reading schedules and quizzes

•One or more quizzes for each book of the New Testament.

54 quizzes on the New Testament with over 2000 questions

•Quizzes in PowerPoint which when projected on a screen can be used with large audiences in “Spelling Bee” type games or “Audience Response” type reviews

The quizzes can be copied and are all formatted so they can be easily graded if they are to be used in a school situation.

So buy your game now, or for a special someone for the holidays! It’s a great investment in creating quality family time as well as developing your knowledge of the Word!

Visit to order: www.BibleChallengeGame.com

For Christian parents, the ultimate goal is to rear children in a God-centered environment so that they will desire a more intimate relationship with Him. To do that, we lay a foundation in their lives that includes knowing, believing, loving, fearing, and serving God.  In the church, we help encourage these things by providing a setting that stimulates spiritual growth through teaching, preaching, mentoring, role modeling, and making church a place where children feel safe to ask questions about God.

Clearly, each child is born with their own temperament and personality traits that can make helping some make good choices, a little more challenging. We can guide and provide positive Christian opportunities; however, no one can force someone else to make good life choices. Even God gives us (and our children) the ability to choose right from wrong. God promises to lead and direct us, but He will not force us. The goal is to help children want to walk in the footsteps of their God loving parents and those ministers He has placed in their lives, just as we want and desire to walk in the footsteps of God.  

Modeling a life of discipleship is of the utmost importance!  We are what we observe. Therefore, it is imperative that children see what it means to love God and love this Christian walk through the lives of their parents and other people God has placed in their path. A child’s perception of what it means to serve God is built upon their example. It is impractical to believe that we can raise God fearing children if there are not genuine godly examples for them to emulate. If children see prejudice, hypocrisy, and selfishness, they will not be attracted to this Christian way of life.  Instead, they will most likely succumb to negative peer influences and later have a negative attitude toward God and the church.

A friend of mine shares this story about her son Richard, who is a bright, but often impulsive young boy. He had gotten in trouble at school and his mother, driving him first to the store and then home, asked Richard to please remind her that she needed to discipline him for the problems he had caused at school that day.  She was concerned that because they had to so many errands to run, she might forget. Recently her pastor had made the statement, “If you don’t do what you tell your children you are going to do, you are lying.” Not wanting her children to see her as a liar, she asked Richard to remind her.

Just as she had suspected, she forgot. But Richard didn’t.  As she was putting her things away, Richard piped up, “Mom, don’t forget about the discipline. I don’t want you to be a liar.” 

Teaching children by role modeling God’s character, and not just teaching them His commandments, provides them evidence that living for God is of ultimate importance. Faithfulness to His Word and to the church is crucial. If we have not clearly demonstrated to our children that following God is first-rate, then how will we ever persuade them that understanding and following His laws are worth their effort and time? Simply put, our lips and lives need to say, “I believe in God and His Word.” 

Assuring that children have their physical needs such as food, shelter, and clothing provided for is only part of what we do as helpers of God. Equally as important is to help ensure that each child and family member is provided emotional support and spiritual guidance. This is true biblical teaching and modeling of our faith in God, a message that is often not taught with words, but is caught and modeled by our Christ-like actions toward others.   No child should ever leave our churches feeling unwanted or unloved; just as no parents should leave without a clear understanding of the principals to Christ centered living. And the most effective way to provide this … is to model it. 

An excerpt from the book “Christian Counseling: ‘How To’ Guide to Compassionate Christian Care” authored by Beth Baus.  You can order this book and view other books written by this author by going to www.ourhealthyfamilies.org

27 Ways to Show Kids You Care

1. Notice them. Catch them doing something right and tell them about it.                                 
2. Listen to them. Take some time, make eye contact, smile, and seem genuinely   interested in what they are saying.  You might be surprised what you will learn.
3. Laugh together. (Prov 15:30)
4. Model the life of discipleship.
5. Teach them good manners.
6. Give them space when they need it. This is especially important for teenagers.
7. Talk to them about their dreams.
8. Be faithful to church.
9. Relax. Don’t let your own stress get the best of you and rob you of a good relationship with the child God has placed in your care. 
10.  Apologize when you’ve done something wrong. 
11.  Keep your promises.
12.  Teach them the Word of God. (Deu 11:18)
13.  Appropriately discipline them. (Prov 22:15)
14.  Love God with all your soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)
15.  Wave and smile when you part.
16.  Ask them for their opinion.
17.  Let them act their age.
18.  Praise more and criticize less. Give them lots of compliments.
19.  Encourage them. ( Prov 18:21)
20.  Be consistent
21.  Be flexible. Say yes more often.
22.  Respect them and their opinions. Thoroughly listen to what they have to say before making any comments or   suggestions. Never yell at or humiliate them in front of others.
23.  Teach by example.
24.  Love them, no matter what.
25.  Never forget that to a child, LOVE is often spelled T-I-M-E. (Prov 29:15)
26.  Pray for them and with them.
27.  Ask them to pray for you.

 An excerpt from the book “Christian Counseling: ‘How To’ Guide to Compassionate Christian Care” authored by Beth Baus.  You can order this book or other books written by this author by going to her website at www.ourhealthyfamilies.org

Loving Your Prodigal Home

Raising a teenager can be a challenge for many parents.  Most teenagers rebel against authority at some point; they talk back, break their curfew, or simply disobey. Your child may at times be a source of frustration and exasperation, not to mention a financial stress. This is normal. While these things can be frustrating, our culture often overemphasizes these negatives. However, it’s also important to remember that along with the difficult times of raising teens, these years also bring many moments of joy, pride, laughter and even times of special closeness. To simply assume that the teen years will be full of conflict, can distort our perception of our child’s behavior and result in a self- fulfilling prophecy as kids tend to rise or fall to our expectations of them.

The good news is that most young people go through adolescence without any major lasting problems. One nationwide poll of more than one thousand children ages 13-17 reported that 97% of those teens claimed to get along with their parents “very well.” Nevertheless, there are some teens that take rebellion to a degree that disrupts their family and even endangers their own their lives and future.

Most of us are familiar with the Bible story of the prodigal son found in Luke 15. The story is about a son who rejects the teachings of his father and sets out on a path of self-destruction. After much failure and deep despair, he returns home and into the arms of a loving and forgiving father. This beautiful message of patience, enduring love, repentance and forgiveness, reminds us that there is hope for our prodigal sons and daughters.  This is because God is patient, His grace sufficient, and will welcome home the most far off of our rebellious children.

 So, what do you do if your child is a prodigal and rebels against you, God and anyone else who gets in their way? 

First, let me remind you that God knows what you’re going through and loves you very much. And better yet, He loves your prodigal as well and even more than you do. The scripture reminds us in Lam 3:22-24 that because of God’s great love towards us, His compassions never fail and are renewed every morning; “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”          

Here are some ways to show love to your prodigal and help them back onto the right road:

•  DON’T talk to others about “how bad” your child is, but DO ask them for support and prayer. It will be a lot easier for your child to return to the fold if they know that the door of repentance is always open and the people in the church love them and do not have knowledge of all their transgressions.

•  DON’T enable their irresponsible behavior or make excuses for their mistakes and DO let them face the consequences of their actions. If they don’t show up for school because they spent the evening out too late, don’t make excuses for them when their teacher calls. To truly help a prodigal often means practicing “tough love.”

• DON”T focus so much on your prodigal that you forget about the needs of the rest of the family, but DO entrust God to continue to work in their lives. Your spouse and other children need you to be there for them physically and emotionally. You can’t do that if you focus too much on the negative.  Focus on the positives.  A fun, loving and godly home will help in giving your prodigal a reason and desire to return home and to the things of God.

•  DON’T let them run over you and DO set boundaries.  Allowing any child to disrespect you or your spouse does not breed respect for you or create God loving children. Only unconditional love with limits grows children that become godly adults.

• DON’T allow feelings of guilt and regret to ruin your relationship with your spouse, but DO build a unified front. If there was ever a time to unite as a couple, it is now.  Don’t allow your child to pit you and your spouse against each other. This is not the time to place blame on each other for this situation. Give your prodigal plenty of reasons to believe that you both love each other and stand by what the other says.  More than ever before, they need this feeling of stability.

• DON’T add bitterness to their rebellion, but DO make sure to that you continue to talk and spend time with your child. It’s essential that they know that you still believe in them.

• DON’T let your embarrassment, disappointment, or feelings of failure get in the way of your walk with God, but DO continue to be faithful to Him and the church. Show your prodigal what a true Christian life of love, faithfulness and grace really looks like. When they get tired of running away from God, they need to come home and feel God’s presence and have faith in your unwavering love and faithfulness to God and towards them.

• DON’T ever give up, but DO continue to love and pray for your child and have faith that God is still in control, He hears, He loves, and patiently waits for them to repent so He can show them His great mercy… “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” (I Chronicles 16:34) 

 For additional resources and books from this author, please visit www.ourhealthyfamilies.org