Raul and Melanie Salaverria
New Tribes Missions
Twenty-two years ago, Raul and Melanie claimed I Thessalonians 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it;” and began training with New Tribes Missions. Raul spent his formative years in Puerto Rico, taught missionary kids in Mexico, and is now helping missionaries find education solutions for their families; specifically, he is involved in establishing a school in Mozambique for missionary and national children. Melanie recently received her Master’s degree in counseling and just returned from New Guinea.
Last Sunday night, Raul challenged the church with II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Raul and Melanie trusted God with the call to spread the Gospel message that He would give them courage and power to accomplish His will. God has promised power (revealing Himself), great love (for brothers/sisters in Christ) and soundness of mind (understanding the world situation) when we offer our lives as a living sacrifice to Him.
From Pastor Wayne…
"Parenting Goals"
When it comes to your job as a parent, how will you measure your success? I mean…what benchmark will you use to be able to one day look your spouse in the eyes and say, “We were good parents?"
For the first ten years of my life, I was surrounded by people who simply seemed happy not to have to visit their grown children in prison. Between the ages of 7-10, we rented from a family who had five boys. The family had stored some things in the house we were renting. On a few occasions, all five boys asked my mother’s permission to go into our attic to look for something they had misplaced. One day when I was ten years old, their mom let it slip to a neighbor that her boys had stuffed the pieces of my train set into their clothing and carried the whole set out in those trips; she seemed proud of their prowess. Hmmm…I wonder where those boys are today.
Actually, every parent has a set of parenting goals, though they may be implicit. In other words, there are certain outcomes for which parents imagine themselves saying, “That’s my boy!” It may be that they just don’t vocalize them along the way. I can tell you from experience that it is much easier to accomplish those goals when your kids are in on the vision.
I pastored my first church back in 1973, and I’ve talked with a lot of parents about their children over the years. I’ve been involved in Christian education since 1977 in one capacity or another. Many parents in those years have shared their parenting stories with me and sought my advice regarding their ongoing child-rearing strategies. I’ve seen parents with detailed plans fail with their children while other parents with seemingly no plan at all succeed. However, it is most common that good planning and follow through lead to better results.
I see an alarmingly larger number of parents who place more emphasis on athletic goals for their children than on character goals these days. Convinced that they are training the next highly-paid professional athlete, everything else is secondary to these opportunities. When I pass by the packed-to-capacity athletic fields on my way to church on Sunday mornings, I can’t help but wonder if one day there will be a whole generation of parents who regret that they didn’t put more emphasis on spiritual training with their children.
Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves for a moment here. Nearly all of us would like to see our children grow up to be well-educated, honorable adults with great spouses, great kids and great values. Let me just say from decades of observation: That doesn’t usually just happen without a lot of directional parental input along the way. It grieves me to see parents sacrifice value training in lieu of trying to cultivate superstars.
It’s clear: Things turn out better with planning. Nobody builds a house without a set of plans. However, that home blueprint is quite technical and doesn’t really display the glory of the finished product. You imagined the finished product before you selected the corresponding blueprint. Hey! That’s the same way you raise kids. You imagine the finished product, and then you develop the plan to achieve the end.
I’d like to encourage you to visualize your goals for the children who have been entrusted to your care. What do you visualize for your children when they’re thirty years old? What will be your measure of success for them? Once you have imagined the finished product, develop your blueprint for success. Then…work your plan.
Psalms 127:3 says, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” It’s a great feeling to be able to participate in the lives of your grown children and see them productive as adults and serving the Lord. It’s very rewarding to be able to say, “Yup, this is the way I imagined it.”
Get on track at www.bibletrack.org.
Contact Us
Fayette Bible Church
355 McDonough Road
Fayetteville, GA 30214
770 461 0138
Weekly Activities |
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Sunday |
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Morning Bible Study |
9:45 am |
Tuesday |
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Men's Lunch |
11:30 am |
Wednesday |
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Home Bible Study |
7:00 pm |
Thursday |
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Ladies' Bible Study |
1:30 pm |
Upcoming Events |
Sundays, 6:00 p.m. |
Download "Ministry Update" 7/28/10
Download "Ministry Update" 7/21/10
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