Timothy Paul Jones

Free apologetics resources from Timothy Paul Jones

Timothy Paul Jones

Family Ministry: Why Not Reward Spiritual Activities?

In a recent blog post Coleman Ford, PhD student at Southern Seminary, asks the question, “Should we reward children and youth for spiritual activities?” He says, Spiritual activities such as reading and memorizing Scripture, prayer, worship and evangelism are the duty (yes, duty) of all followers of Jesus Christ. These activities do not accumulate merit, […]

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FULL Family Equipping Forum at D6 Conference FULL

While you’re enjoying D6 Louisville, the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary wants to:   * take you to dinner, * provide you with transportation to dinner, * give you an opportunity to receive answers to your questions about family ministry and church revitalization, and * enter […]

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Family Ministry: Why Retention Rates Can’t Determine a Ministry’s Effectiveness

If you’ve spent much time in youth ministry, you’ve probably heard the claim at least a few times: “Nine out of ten youth walk away from the church after high school!” But, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, there’s good reason to doubt this claim. The infamous nine-out-of-ten dropout statistic was always a false alarm. Most […]

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Family Ministry: Ten Tips for Discipling Your Children

Justin Buzzard, author of Date Your Wife and lead pastor of Garden City Church in Silicon Valley, recently wrote: “Jesus gave his church one mission: make disciples. As a church planter I’m consumed all day with the work of disciple making, but the most important disciple making in my life happens with my three sons. The mission Jesus […]

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Family Ministry: Are You Engaging in the Cosmic Battle for Your Child’s Soul?

Cosmic combat occurs most Friday mornings at a coffee shop a few blocks from my home. If you happen to be ordering your mocha latte during this episode of intergalactic warfare, you might not even notice. Neither arms nor armor can be seen at the epicenter of this celestial struggle. No lightsabers are visible, and […]

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Leadership: What You Probably Don’t Know About the Families in Your Church

A while back, I wrote an article for D6 Family entitled “It’s Time to Engage!: Three Facts You Need to Know to Launch an Incredible Family Ministry.” Here’s an excerpt from the article: The animated feature The Incredibles is a favorite movie in our household—and one of our favorite scenes is the family meal early […]

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Family Ministry: A Blessed Necessity for Christian Marriages

Are children necessary in a Christian family? In a recent article Dr. David Schrock, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, Indiana says, “In truth, the Great Commission must begin with our own families. In Christ, be fruitful and multiply takes on greater significance—we are to make disciples of those outside our families and we are to have […]

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Apologetics: Can We Trust a Copy of a Copy?

  I slumped in an unpadded pew, half-listening to the morning Bible study. I wasn’t particularly interested in what the Bible teacher in this small Christian high school had to say. But, when the teacher commented that the Gospels always reported word-for-word what Jesus said, I perked up and lifted my hand. This statement brought […]

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Family Ministry: Adoption–Living in a Story That’s Bigger Than You

In a recent Desiring God blog post, Dan Cruver writes these words: “The eternal Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — existed forever in the communion of love before time began. But when the three Persons of the Trinity created the heavens and the earth, the story of the Trinity broke into human history […]

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Family Ministry: Teaching Your Children the Big Story of God

I have a long list of books that I recommend on a broad range of subjects—apologetics, family ministry, church history, and so on. But there’s a much briefer list on which it’s far more difficult to gain a spot: books I use with my own children. This new book by Jim Hamilton, The Bible’s Big […]

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Family Ministry: “As it Were a Little Church,” The Puritan Model for Family Discipleship

Even in the latest models of family ministry, there are components that can be traced back centuries before the recent surge of family ministry books and conferences. Among the Puritan heirs of the Reformation, there was a clear model for family discipleship that could be learned and transferred from one context to another. Brief, daily times […]

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Proclamation: “Don’t Worry. I Read the Book. He Doesn’t Stay Dead.”

One rule in our household is that, if a book is turned into a movie, everyone must read the book before watching the movie. Our oldest daughter was eight years old when C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was turned into a feature film. In the weeks leading up to the movie’s […]

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Apologetics: What Are the Chances That Jesus’ Body Was Left On the Cross?

:: The Obscenity of the Cross in the Ancient World :: With few exceptions, even the most skeptical scholars admit that Jesus was crucified—and with good reason. Not only Christian authors but also the Roman historian Tacitus mention the crucifixion of Jesus. It’s highly unlikely that first-century Christians would have fabricated such a shameful fate […]

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Culture: Wendell Berry, “Total Economy,” and the Quest for New Forms of Community

In a Touchstone book review of The Humane Vision of Wendell Berry, A.W. Hunt skillfully summarizes agrarian writer Wendell Berry’s economic critique as well as possible pathways to wholeness: “We now live under what Berry calls a ‘total economy,’ one where everything has a price. The market no longer serves the culture; rather the culture […]

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