Breakfast & Bible

 Looking for a simple, fun, and effective way to shape and disciple your kids? I have an idea for you.Most of how Taylor and I form and disciple our three sons happens Deuteronomy 6:6-9 style ("You shall teach them diligently to your children...when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way..." = every moment is a discipleship moment) and 1 Thessalonians 2:8 style—we are always sharing the gospel and our lives with our boys. But in addition to this main strategy of all-of-life-is-discipleship, I lead my sons in an awesome weekly meeting to stoke their hunger for God's Word, deepen their trust in their Heavenly Father and earthly father, discuss theology, and experience the power of prayer. We call this weekly meeting "Breakfast & Bible."Every Thursday at 7am Breakfast & Bible takes place at our dining room table with me and one of my sons. This one-on-one meeting rotates every Thursday, oldest to youngest. What we do is simple, sustainable, and a total blast: we make breakfast together, we eat breakfast together while reading just 1 chapter of the Bible (wherever I happen to be that day in my plan to read the whole Bible in a year), we discuss and apply that chapter of the Bible to our lives, we each share 1 prayer request and take turns praying for each other's need, and then I close by asking my son if there's anything else he wants to talk to me about or needs my help with.That's it. Most of these Thursday morning meetings last just 30 minutes. My sons look forward to their turn/their Thursday. I look forward to every Thursday. Years ago at my mom's funeral, my former Youth Pastor said "your mom put a lot into you." His phrasing has always stuck with me. My mom "put a lot into me" as she intentionally loved and discipled me. My hope and prayer is that many years from now my sons will look back on our Breakfast & Bible tradition as one of the ways I "put a lot into them" in my quest to prepare and launch them for a life of godly manhood.Parents (especially dads), the years go fast. Let's be intentional about discipling our kids, about putting a lot into them. Don't complicate this. Sometimes all you need is breakfast and a Bible.