TLP 387: Ministry Update, August 2020

Truth.Love.Parent.

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Today, we're going to recap where we've been, where we are, and where we're going, and I hope you're ready for the ride.

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Welcome to Truth, Love, Parent, where we use God's Word to become intentional premeditated parents.

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Here's your host, AM Brewster. Today is a very different episode to follow up 10 very different episodes, but I think it's important for all of us during this season of change to have a clear picture of where we've been and where we're going.

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So buckle up as I do my best to get all of us on the same page. First, let me welcome all the new listeners.

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Many new people have started enjoying TLP's collection of nearly 400 free biblical parenting episodes as well as the many other parenting resources we've created.

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More and more people are joining the TLP family as well, and they're doing that for free just to expand their access to Christ -centered parenting tools, and Team TLP and I are honored that you've joined us.

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Maybe you found us by searching online, maybe a friend told you about us, either way, we're glad you're here. Now, if you've never checked out

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TruthLoveParent .com, you definitely need to head over there. In a little over a month, Truth, Love, Parent will be celebrating its fourth anniversary and its 400th episode, and we're extremely excited about the future of this ministry.

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But we do need to take a moment to talk a little bit about our past and our present before we can catch a glimpse of our future.

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TLP started as an extension of the Victory Academy for Boys parent program that I created while I was there.

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While I was the lead family counselor at Victory, I wanted to develop a biblical curriculum to help the parents who entrusted us with their boys to get back to a place of God -glorifying influence in their families.

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But I soon realized that it wasn't just the parents of at -risk teen boys who could benefit from this material.

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I, as a parent of then -elementary -aged children, a boy and a girl, I needed it. Every Christian parent needed it, not because of the fact that I put it together, but because we did our best to root the material deep in the

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Bible, and all Christians need that. So I decided to release the parenting program as a podcast and then continue adding to it.

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What started as a ministry to a very small group of people in the north woods of Wisconsin exploded to an audience that represented nearly every continent on the globe.

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Then back in November of 2019, my family and I took another leap of faith. We left Victory Academy and decided to invest ourselves full -time in Truth Loved Parents so that we could equip

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Christian dads and moms to prepare their families for greater spiritual success. I also started the process of turning

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TLP into a 501c3, and I am happy to say that we have our first board members and are proceeding nicely through the experience.

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Among other things, we really look forward to passing on to our TLP friends the tax benefits of supporting a nonprofit ministry.

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That was a brief overview of our past. What about our present? Well, many years ago, the Lord planted a seed in my soul that has taken root and started blossoming.

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And most recently, we've been on a 10 -episode journey to introduce TLP's newest parenting resource called

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The Celebration of God. And just like the original material that later became the Truth Loved Parent podcast, we found that The Celebration of God had amazing application beyond Christian families alone.

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Every born -again believer has the command and joy of celebrating God, growing in their relationship with the

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Lord, and leading others to Him. So, as of August 1st, The Celebration of God podcast has its own life.

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But what does that mean for TLP? Some people have wondered if I am moving away from the parenting content to focus primarily on The Celebration of God.

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Others have been curious about the impact this may have on TLP overall. Allow me to answer those questions to the best of my ability.

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I am still dedicating all of my time to Truth Loved Parent. The Celebration of God is simply a resource of TLP, and Truth Loved Parent is still the driving force.

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However, The Celebration of God podcast will allow me to eventually remove the discussion of holidays from the main content of TLP, thus providing us more time to talk about all the other parenting issues we face on a day -to -day basis.

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And for those of you who are interested in more gospel -centered parenting content, you can subscribe both to Truth Loved Parent and The Celebration of God for even more edification.

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However, again, within this transition, there will be a natural search for equilibrium. The board of directors and I need to talk a little bit more about the best use of my time lest I overextend myself.

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Let's just say that I can't create five new episodes every week for TLP and five new episodes for The Celebration of God and get everything else that needs to get done, done.

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Now, for that reason, let's go ahead and talk about our near future. Starting this week, we will post a new

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TLP episode every Tuesday, and The Celebration of God will post every Friday. By the way, due to the fact that we added to our introductory material for The Celebration of God and we started to run out of time before August 1st, you can subscribe to The Celebration of God today and listen to the last five introductory episodes.

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They will not be posted here, so from now on, all COG episodes will be posted only on that podcast and at thecelebrationofgod .com,

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and there are five new episodes waiting there for you already, and then a new one will be posting on Friday.

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Moving forward, you will still be able to access just as much parenting content as you did before. Again, one episode every

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Tuesday and one episode every Friday, just like we've been doing for quite some time. And we'll continue doing this as the

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Board and I develop a more concrete plan moving forward. We want to consistently provide biblical content for you at least twice a week, but we also need to make sure

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I have availability to counsel and speak as the opportunities arise. So, for the rest of August, Lord willing, we're going to post three more episodes here on Truth Love Parent.

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Two will deal with defensible parenting, and the last will be an episode I promised during our Spiritual Warfare series entitled,

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Parenting Like the Rich Young Ruler. It will deal with the dangerous temptation we all face to hoard our spiritual riches.

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And while those episodes are posting every Tuesday in August, we plan to post every Friday on the Celebration of God podcast to get your family ready for the beginning of the year -long celebration of God starting in September, which of course, as you know, is an exciting and in -depth discipleship tool for your family.

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We have an episode about preparing, celebrating, and discipling during the season of mercy, and three episodes about preparing, celebrating, and discipling during our first major holiday of the year.

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Then our plan is to continue posting every Friday and potentially add more episodes as necessary. My ultimate dream for TLP is that the amount of content we produce will grow and not decline.

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I want to continue unpacking God's Word, and I want to continue introducing you to other people who are doing the same thing.

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I'm looking at a resource on my desk right now. It's a fantastic resource created by a couple who are doing an awesome work for God, and I can't wait to introduce you to them and many other people

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I've been introduced to recently. All right, so we want to continue doing this, and the more supporters we get, the more free parenting resources we can create for any and every family who wants them.

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Imagine how excited we might be about the potential of hosting free parenting conferences and family events, creating video resources and books, and getting them into the hands of dads and moms all over the world for hopefully little to no cost.

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But that's obviously going to require supporters, and that's where we need your help. We need your prayer. We need your financial support, and for you to tell every parent you know about what we're doing at TruthLoveParent .com.

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The more people who are blessed by our resources, the more people will be interested in helping us continue our mission to equip dads and moms to be the intentional, premeditated, disciple -making ambassador parents

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God called and created them to be. So don't just tell your parenting community. Tell your pastors, your camp directors, your homeschool groups, your

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Christian schools. Tell everyone about TLP and its desire to equip them to disciple the next generation with God's Word.

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So that's a little bit about our past, our present, and a peek into our future, if the Lord wills. I pray you're excited about how the ministry is growing, and I pray that you will seriously consider becoming a

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TLP friend by signing up to support us on a monthly basis. Any support of any dollar amount will be cherished and will be put to use to glorify

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God. Just go to TruthLoveParent .com and click anywhere it talks about TLP friends. And don't forget that you can email us anytime at Counselor at TruthLoveParent .com.

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Just be aware that sometimes we try to respond, but people don't get our emails because of their spam filters. If you write, we write.

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We won't ever ignore your requests. So if you're not getting a reply from us, check your trash. You can also call us at 828 -423 -0894.

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Lastly, please head over to the Celebration of God on your favorite podcast directory, subscribe and rate us.

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The more ratings we get on Apple Podcasts this first week, the better chances we have of showing up on their new and noteworthy section and being found by more searching

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Christians. And remember, if we want our children to grow up into Christ, we must parent in truth and love.

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To that end, join us next time as we ask the question, can you defend your parenting?

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Truth. Love. Parents. Is part of the Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional, premeditated parent.

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Join us next time as we search God's word for the truth your family needs today.