Follow the Leader: A Biblical Plan for Raising Godly Children

By Xlibris US

Follow the Leader is a book that provides a detailed Biblical plan for Christian parents to follow in raising their children to love, honor, obey, and follow God. This book will inspire and encourage parents as they face the daunting task of raising kids in the destructive and many times anti-Christian culture in which we live. Follow the Leader will help you to develop an intentional plan for passing your faith to your children and grandchildren and thus ensuring a legacy of faith in your family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499038071

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Rev. Rick Calloway.

Library of Congress Control Number:            2014910993

ISBN:            Hardcover            978-1-4990-3805-7

                       Softcover            978-1-4990-3806-4

                       eBook                  978-1-4990-3807-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scriptures taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/16/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

636308

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter One Finding the Right Builder

Chapter Two Working with the Builder

Chapter Three An Intentional Plan

Chapter Four The Right Foundation

Chapter Five What’s the Goal?

Chapter Six Following the Right Model

Chapter Seven Specific Building Plans

Chapter Eight Dealing with the Four D’s

Chapter Nine Protecting What You Have Built

Chapter Ten Never Give Up

Chapter Eleven The Work is Complete- They are All Grown Up

Epilogue A Lasting Legacy

Endnotes

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the two most important women in my life. First, I want to dedicate the book to my beautiful wife Karen. I am so grateful to God for directing my path to her in 1984. I have been blessed to share my life with her these last 30 years. She is a Godly wife and mother to our children. She has supported me and stood by me through all the adventures that God has taken me during our years together. She is indeed more precious than rubies to me.

Also, I want to dedicate this book to my mother Arlene Calloway. She has been my constant prayer warrior all my life. She worked to instill a love for God and a desire to work hard and do what is right in my life. My mom is as consistent a Christian as I have ever known.

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.Proverbs31:10-12

Introduction

There is no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth. 3John 4

On October 29, 1988, my life changed forever. It was on that beautiful fall day that I became a father for the first time. Lindsay Amanda Calloway was born that Saturday and to my surprise neither the hospital nor the doctor provided an instruction manual for my wife Karen and I to use in caring for and raising her.

I remember being so scared when we took our daughter home. It was now our responsibility to care for this child. I did not sleep much those first few days after bringing her home and that was not because she cried a lot at night. It was because I was constantly checking on her to make sure she was doing all right.

I wondered so often in those early days what methods would we use to teach her so that she would learn to be obedient and also learn to love and serve God. Honestly, I was scared to death of being a dad and being responsible for this child. All I knew about children was my own experience as a child being raised by my parents.

I was so fortunate to have grown up in a Godly home with two incredible Godly parents. My wife had the same experience with her parents so that became the early roadmap for us to follow.

Karen and I decided early on that we wanted to do whatever it would take to raise kids that would develop a love and passion for God. We knew that we may never be able to give them the best material things the world has to offer but we were determined to do as Psalm 78 commands and pass our faith onto our children and our children’s children.

In other words, we wanted to truly build a household of faith. The idea of that sounds so good but we needed to figure out what all of that really would look like. It is one thing to talk about raising Godly kids but fleshing it out would be the real work ahead of us.

Now, twenty six years later I am the father of three incredible Godly daughters named Lindsay, Katie, and Madison. Being a father to these three girls has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.

I have had the privilege in my life of leading one of the largest Christian schools in North Carolina and I enjoy facing the challenges of growing a Christian school. Running a Christian school can be very difficult at times but it does not compare to the challenge of being a parent. This is especially true if your desire is to be a Godly parent and raise Godly kids.

This book is about following God’s plan for raising kids and developing an intentional process for their discipleship. Karen and I are by no means expert parents but we do know the Master Builder and he is more than capable of giving you what you need to not only survive parenthood but experience the truth of 3 John 4. That verse declares that "There is no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth."

As kids, most of us played a game called "Follow the Leader." It was a pretty simple game of doing exactly what the leader tells you to do and the only way to be eliminated is to not do what the leader says. I believe that the same type principle holds true for the Christian life and being a Kingdom parent. If we will do what the leader (God) says and follow His Word, we can see our children walk in truth one day.

My prayer is that this book will prompt you to ask yourself a couple of questions. The following two questions have caused me to stop and think a lot over the years.

What kind of spiritual legacy are you planning on leaving your children?

"Will you intentionally develop and implement a plan to follow what God says in order to raise Godly kids?

The answers to those questions will reveal whether or not our children will do as Psalm 78:7 says and "set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments." My prayer is that my faith will be passed onto future generations of my family. I do not want my children or their children to live out a lackadaisical Christian life that so many believers experience today. I want them to experience a vibrant and passionate walk in Christ.

Our culture desperately needs a generation of young believers in Jesus Christ who will rise up and impact this culture for the Kingdom.

I pray that this book will be a blessing to you and provide you with great truths from God’s Word that will help you as you build your household of faith and raise your children to "walk in truth". I believe that it is all about "Following the Leader (God) and doing what He has written down in His Word!

Chapter One

Finding the Right Builder

Psalm 127:1. Unless the Lord builds the house they that build labor in vain.

First Things First

Who is going to help you establish or build your family? Is it going to be a DIY Project (do it yourself project) or will you look for help? If the goal is to raise children who are going to live with a Godly purpose, then this process will never be successful doing it on our own or looking to this world for inspiration and instruction. There will be a lot of assembly required for this project. You cannot wing it and hope to raise Godly kids. We have to follow the directions that God set forth in His Word. We have to commit this process of establishing a Godly home to Almighty God as He is the only one capable of building your home successfully.

However, the first step in raising Godly children and allowing God to be our builder of choice could easily be overlooked. It is the cornerstone of the project. The first step in raising Godly children is to ensure that both parents have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The duck species does not produce goats nor does the dog species produce chickens.

Therefore, it stands to reason that people who do not have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ will be unable to raise children who will pursue God.

If we are to have any hope of raising Godly kids, we as parents must begin by entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ ourselves. This happens when we confess our sins and ask Christ to become the Lord of our lives as Romans 10:9-10 describes. In effect, we place our faith and eternal destiny in Him.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved

Please do not overlook this very important part of being a parent. As the old saying goes, "You cannot impart what you do not possess." You cannot pass faith onto your children if you yourself do not have a relationship with God.

Have you placed your faith in Christ? Has there been a time where you confessed your sins and asked Christ to become the Lord of your life? If not, I would advise that you begin by taking this most important step in becoming a child of God. Once you have secured your relationship with God, then you can begin to allow God to work in and through you as you guide your family towards the life that God has designed.

How do I do this? I am so glad you asked! First, you must acknowledge that your sins have separated you from God according to Romans 3:23. Next, you must confess those sins and ask for forgiveness according to 1 John 1:9. Let me provide you with a prayer to use to do just this. There is no magic in the prayer but if you really mean the words of the prayer you can truly be moved into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus, I know that you are the Son of God and I know that you died and rose again on my behalf and Jesus; I confess to you that I am a sinner and that I am in need of a Savior. Jesus, please forgive me of all my sins and I ask that you come into my life and I give you everything and I give you complete control of my life. I want to thank you Jesus for becoming the Lord of my life and saving me. Amen.

Romans 10:13- For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

I am convinced that if you prayed that and really meant it you are not only on your way to Heaven but also now have a real source of power for living this present life. This is a power that you will desperately need in your pursuit of raising Godly kids.

Now What

OK, I am saved now. What comes next for me to be a Godly parent and have some hope for raising Godly children? I was saved at age 9 and also rededicated my life to the Lord at age 18. In my early twenties, I had begun to passionately develop my relationship with the Lord. But, here I was at age 28 becoming a dad.

It is critical that we understand the importance of the builder (God) we have chosen to help us establish our home and raise Godly kids and the role that He alone must play.

The Right Builder

I love watching many of the home improvement shows on the Home and Garden TV Network (HGTV) with my wife. I especially like the DIY Do-It-Yourself shows which highlight stories of people who start a project and quickly realize that they are in over their heads. The episode begins with them desperately making the call to a professional to rescue them from the mess they created.

The other great mistake so many people like me at times make is to attempt to assemble something without following the directions. I am not exactly what you would call

Reviews for Follow the Leader

[paroof · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another Elmo-less Sesame Street book that my Elmo-loving toddler enjoys. There aren't many of those either so this must be good. Look for Big Bird peeking out at Ernie and Bert until he meets up with the gang at the playground, too.