Tim Bradley said it well in this video. Every day our children are choosing between different gods. Who will they serve? Who is worthy of their attention, affection, and allegiance?

Part of our responsibility as the people of God is to proclaim the truth of God’s greatness and glory to our own children, and to all children who will hear. In deed, as the Scriptures exhort us, “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. . . . so that they should set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:1-8).

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a strategic means of fulfilling our mission among children in our own church and in our city. Let’s make the most of it. Consider now what friends, family, and neighbors you might tell about VBS. Point them to this blog or our VBS landing page.

Online Registration

To register for VBS, download this registration form, fill it out, and email it to dscgoldrush@gmail.com. You will receive confirmation of your submission within one week to verify your registration.

The sooner you register your children the better, for two reasons. First, this helps our team plan for the appropriate number of children. Second, and as important, we want to provide an orderly and hospitable first visit for families from the neighborhood who will register their children on site at the start of VBS. As Ryan said in his announcements, lets register early and clear out that registration table for our guests.

From June 24-25 we will be joined by Dr. Fred Zaspel for a weekend on the subject of parenting called, “The Word on Parenting.” Here’s the schedule:

Friday night, 6:00-8:30 PM

• Parenting with a Goal
• Saving our Children

Saturday morning, 9:00-11:15 AM

• Directing and Disciplining our Children
• Q&A

Fred will also preach in both services on June 26.

While the schedule is built with parents of children in mind, this conference is for more than just parents, even as the Bible’s instructions to parents and children is for more than just parents. If you are a child, it’s for you. If you long to parent, it’s for you. If your kids are out of the home this is for you, as you have much to offer the younger parents at DSC.

Now, a little bit about our speaker.

Many of you are familiar with Fred, as this parenting weekend will mark one year since his last visit with us, when he spoke on the subject of God’s sovereignty in salvation and in suffering. But even if you weren’t with us for that weekend, you’ve been helped and encouraged by him in as much as you have been helped and encouraged by Ryan. In Ryan’s own words, “he’s really been a long-distance Paul to this Timothy.” Over a dozen years they have shared hundreds of emails and hours of conversation about the decisions and struggles of life, including the ins and outs of parenting.

Fred is a pastor on staff at Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA, and instructor in Bible and theology at To Every Tribe missions. His recent book, The Theology of B. B. Warfield: A Systematic Summary, is the fruit of his PhD dissertation on one of the most important American theologians. On a slightly lower shelf of reading, he also co-authored (with Tom Wells) New Covenant Theology. Even more accessible, dozens, or even hundreds, of Fred’s sermons and articles are online at biblicalstudies.com.

So Fred is a lover of God, a lover of theology, and a lover of the church. But, certainly as relevant to the subject of his next visit, he is also a lover of his family. Fred and his wife, Kimberly, were married in 1979 in Columbus, Ohio, and have two grown children: Gina and Jim. All four love and serve Christ together and they are known for their happy, happy home.

As Christians, we know how happy homes get that way – love, confession, forgiveness, discipline, time, instruction, and the grace of God. We look forward to hearing God’s Word on parenting from a man who is both a hearer and a doer of God’s Word on parenting, by God’s grace.

Registration is required for childcare. You can register on Sunday morning or just email Kayla to let her know the number, names, and ages of your children (birth-12 years).

On March 12th, the Paradox youth and family ministry hosted their first Saturday night “Engage” gathering, part of a new ministry format. I’ve asked Greg Schneeberger, DSC’s Minister to Youth, to share about the new format and their first Saturday gathering:

Paradox youth and family ministry has turned a corner. We’ve decided to drop our ill attended Wednesday night gatherings and switch to two longer, more fun, and deeper Saturday nights per month. The first of these two gatherings occurs every second Saturday night of the month, from 5:00-9:00 PM. This gathering is for all youth and parents in middle school and high school. The second gathering takes place every fourth Saturday of the month during the same timeframe, but this gathering is offsite and exclusive to the high school ministry. We’re calling these gatherings “Paradox Engage.”

Our first foray into our new format was on March 12. In short, it was a huge success. We had almost 100 parents, students, and families gathered with us to celebrate the grace of Christ in worship, community, and mission.

True to the core values of our church, Paradox is committed to creating fun environments where youth and parents can grow together. We want our events to be a great time for relationship building across ages. The 2nd Saturday Paradox Engage did just that. Parents were talking. Young people were outside playing. Young adult and high school leaders were serving. Everyone was eating great food. When our hang out time came to a close, we sang music to our Lord, studied his word, and met together in small groups. The small group time was sweet to watch. Dads, moms, young adults, and kids sat together and discussed the big things of God. At the end, they closed in prayer. I watched with thankfulness as the night went off without a hitch.

No doubt, we’ll have things to change for next time. But our goal was accomplished. We were able to show the world that Christians can gather across ages, hobbies, and styles to be unified in the love of Christ. I’m excited to see where this goes and add fun elements to the gathering in the future. By God’s grace we will continue to gather and be strengthened as an intergenerational body so that both young and old can be equipped to be on mission in the world.

Read more about Paradox, review the schedule, and note upcoming events here.

Thomas Brooks, a 17th century puritan pastor, wrote the following about prayer:

God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are.

This weekend is DSC’s annual Prizing the Privilege of Prayer weekend. Saturday at 8:00 AM is the Men’s Prayer Breakfast. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, call the church office if it is open to let us know you are coming. But if you forget, you are still welcome to come. This Sunday, take advantage of the chance to pray with the body through guided prayer gatherings in the West Wing during both services.

There are also several helpful prayer books and resources available at the Resource Center:

• Prayer Coach: For All Who Want to Get Off The Bench and onto the Praying Field, James Nicodem
• Praying Backwards: Transform Your Prayer Life by Beginning in Jesus’ Name, Bryan Chapell
• A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, Paul Miller
• Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Also, go to the messages section of the site to hear sermons on prayer, a Saturday Seminar on Prayer by Ryan Kelly, and a series of sermons on prayer by Jerram Barrs from his visit to DSC in 2009.

This Wednesday, we meet for our monthly Lord’s Supper service at 6:30 PM to remember Christ’s death in Scripture, song, and symbol.

This service will also include a Q&A time with DSC’s elders, which is a great opportunity to interact with and learn from those who lead our church. If you have any questions about our operations, ministries, vision, church planting, etc. that you would like answered, please email them to info@desertspringschurch.org. The elder’s collect questions in advanced to ensure coverage of the most prominent issues. However, if there are questions unaddressed at the Q&A they will be answered through the DSC Blog or email.

Also, don’t forget to plan for our monthly church-wide dinner served before the Lord’s Supper meeting at 5:30 PM in the Youth Room. Suggested donations for this meal support church planting: $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children under 13 ($10.00 max per family).