Lee Ann Mancini, Founder of Raising Christian Kids, steps into “The Corner.”

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
4. 0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassadors.
8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28And now, the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:33Good evening, everyone.
12. 0:34Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
13. 0:36My name is Abraham Hamilton, the third.
14. 0:39Joined by the Purdue's extraordinaire,
15. 0:41often imitated but never duplicated the Rio J. Mac.
16. 0:45I'm so excited about today's program.
17. 0:48I am confident that it will be encouraging
18. 0:52and inspiring and provoking in the best way possible.
19. 0:57and I am looking forward to the conversation
20. 1:00that we're about to have.
21. 1:01But at this very moment, many of you,
22. 1:02if not most of you are making your transition
23. 1:05from your part-time jobs where you generate an income
24. 1:08to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome.
25. 1:11And as you do so, I want to remind you
26. 1:13to do so with intentionality,
27. 1:15understanding the primacy that God places on family
28. 1:19and welcoming his position, his view to govern,
29. 1:24guide and guard your engagement in your homes.
30. 1:28Simply put, I want to challenge you and encourage you
31. 1:33to refuse to sacrifice your families to the spirit of the age,
32. 1:38to refuse to allow the press of the world,
33. 1:42the insanity of the culture,
34. 1:45to dictate to you some notion of inevitability,
35. 1:50inevitability, can I talk today?
36. 1:53Inevitability, but to recognize that we have been positioned
37. 1:57and ordained for such a time as this,
38. 2:00as you're making your transition from your part-time jobs
39. 2:03to your full-time jobs, I wanna remind you
40. 2:06that what goes on in your house, what goes on in your house,
41. 2:11this is more important what's going on in the White House.
42. 2:14The primary reason for this is that you and I are directly,
43. 2:16directly accountable and responsible
44. 2:20for our engagement in our homes.
45. 2:22We have the wherewithal to directly impact our children, for those of us who are in the
46. 2:27similar life stage as I am with young children at home.
47. 2:29We have the direct responsibility for how we engage our wives if we are husbands or your
48. 2:38husbands if you are wives.
49. 2:39You have the direct opportunity and responsibility to engage there.
50. 2:44And so we must refuse to allow the things that are percolating in the world to manipulate us
51. 2:51away from what must be foundational, our foundational engagement as our full time commitments.
52. 2:59So we would welcome the Lord to grasp a hold of us in our homes and in our families.
53. 3:05There is no question, no question as to what could happen in our societies.
54. 3:09But the focal point must not be, well, we're going to do this so that the society's becoming
55. 3:14this, that and the other.
56. 3:15we must engage in our families out of obedience
57. 3:18to what Jesus commands of us.
58. 3:22And we're gonna begin the program as usual in the word of God
59. 3:27because it is vitally important that we refuse
60. 3:30that we refuse to try to do life,
61. 3:31but putting God's word aside.
62. 3:33There are too many mantles, too many coffee tables,
63. 3:36too many in tables that have Bibles collecting dust,
64. 3:39and not enough Bibles that are being utilized
65. 3:44and put into practice.
66. 3:46You know, one of the things I say all the time,
67. 3:47I don't search the scriptures and study the scriptures,
68. 3:49so I have something to come on the radio and talk about,
69. 3:51to come on the air and talk about,
70. 3:52to come on the podcast and talk about.
71. 3:54I study God's Word to be challenged and transformed personally.
72. 3:58I read God's Word to welcome the God of His Word to read me.
73. 4:02I encourage you to do the same thing.
74. 4:05Okay, we're gonna begin the program today in third John.
75. 4:08Third John, verses one through four.
76. 4:11Third John, this is the Beloved Disciples,
77. 4:13the beloved disciples recording of this epistle,
78. 4:18the first four verses, say this,
79. 4:20the elder to the beloved,
80. 4:22gayest whom I love in truth.
81. 4:25Beloved, I pray that in all respects
82. 4:27that you may prosper and be in good health
83. 4:30just as your soul prospers.
84. 4:33For I was very glad when brethren came
85. 4:36and testified to your truth,
86. 4:38that is how you are walking in truth.
87. 4:42I have no greater joy than this to hear of my children walking in the truth.
88. 4:50Now, the Apostle John is articulating these words, these phrases.
89. 4:57He's addressed gay-us by name directly.
90. 5:02He is discussing really a disciple, a discipleship relationship when he refers to his children,
91. 5:10doubt about it, but it is something that we should glean and apply in the discipleship context.
92. 5:16I say it all the time, the Great Commission, and not to go you therefore make converts,
93. 5:20but it is to make disciples.
94. 5:23Discipline learners who are lifelong, obedient followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus
95. 5:29Christ, but this also should stir us who are parents as well.
96. 5:34I've explained to you guys before, this is a verse that has grasped my wife and I at a
97. 5:42foundational core level that our foremost desire with our children is for them to join us in
98. 5:48eternity, our foremost desire for our children as they are regenerate individually and that
99. 5:56they learn and embrace the glorious wonder of living lives fully submitted to the Lordship
100. 6:02Jesus Christ, that is our foremost desire, more than anything else.
101. 6:08And that should be the desire of all Christians who God is blessed with children,
102. 6:13that our foremost commitment, our primary objective, the thing that we want more than
103. 6:16anything, anything else, more than them having a quote unquote, good life, more than
104. 6:19them having a quote unquote successful career, more than them having, you know,
105. 6:23seasonal vacationing and all this other kind of stuff, attending certain educational
106. 6:28establishments, our foremost desire, my foremost desire, should be to know that our children are
107. 6:33walking in the truth. John's description of walking in the truth is using the word picture to depict
108. 6:39manner of living. I have no greater joy than to know that my children's lives are characterized by
109. 6:47living according to the truth. Living in the truth captured by truth with a capital T. I've said
110. 6:55numerous times that there's a light years worth of
111. 6:59difference to being casually curious about Christ and
112. 7:01being captured by him. And when you have been captured
113. 7:05by Christ, you move away from merely giving offerings to
114. 7:10becoming the offerings. One of the major, I just say
115. 7:17plainly, man, setbacks that has befall in us in our
116. 7:20nation is that we have really seeded the area of the
117. 7:25discipleship of our children outsourced is a better way to describe it. Outsource that in many ways
118. 7:32to people who are haters of God in his word, frankly. Now, some of you think, what do you mean,
119. 7:38what do you mean by that? And I'll tell you exactly what I mean by that. One of the major sources of
120. 7:43disciple making in our country is the decisions we've made as to how we would educate our children.
121. 7:49You know, education, we describe it as education, but education really is the cultivation of the
122. 7:54mind. When Jesus was asked about the great commandment, he said very plainly, you shall
123. 7:59love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and your strength. And the second is like you
124. 8:03shall love your neighbors as yourself. We have ceded the cultivation of the mind largely to
125. 8:09people who are anti-Christ. Then at the same time, we become, you know, apoplectic at the notion
126. 8:19that this mind cultivation has actually been effective. I mean, we funded the tunes of trillions
127. 8:23of dollars, we send our children to these systems of discipleship and they come home having learned
128. 8:28well what they have been instructed to learn. We have a phenomenon right now, I mean a lot
129. 8:37of people are talking about what just happened in New York where you have outright open socialists
130. 8:43who are running for office and they're getting elected, right? It's not sufficient to just
131. 8:48just curse the darkness and to assess what is dark.
132. 8:52Have we invested in a populace who is so anchored and fortified in truth with the reality of
133. 8:59socialism is not attractive?
134. 9:02You hear me say very often and it became, I didn't intend for it to become like a tag
135. 9:05line or nothing on the show, but that's what happened.
136. 9:07That darkness is not an affirmative force.
137. 9:09However, it will reoccupy the space that is vacated by the light.
138. 9:14That is what is going to happen.
139. 9:16was not sufficient to say, oh, America is never going to be a socialist country.
140. 9:20Isn't that it's not sufficient to say, well, that is anti-American.
141. 9:23That's not sufficient.
142. 9:24The question is, have we invested in our children and subsequent generations of
143. 9:30Americans sufficiently where they will be able to live Charles Spurgeon's
144. 9:35description of discernment.
145. 9:38Charles Spurgeon described discernment as not merely distinguishing right from
146. 9:42wrong.
147. 9:43Charles Burgess said, discernment includes, in addition to distinguishing right from wrong,
148. 9:47also distinguishing right from almost right. Have we cultivated a populace? Have we invested in
149. 9:56generations sufficiently to where they have their own capacity to distinguish right from almost right,
150. 10:03as well as distinguishing right from blatantly highlighted, screaming down the street down the
151. 10:10on the roadway at 100 miles per hour wrong and evil.
152. 10:12Have we done that?
153. 10:13Have we done that?
154. 10:16And my point in sharing this now is not for us to cry
155. 10:19over spilled milk and to pull an E or an O,
156. 10:23but an O is a trouble I've seen.
157. 10:26But to say, wait a minute, oh, I realize we might have missed
158. 10:31it in the past, let's pick up from where we are right now
159. 10:36in change course.
160. 10:38Are we willing to do so?
161. 10:39Do we have the humility and the integrity
162. 10:41acknowledge. Yeah, I missed that one. There's a reason why guys that that our nation, though we have
163. 10:50our founding declaration that we're about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of on July 4th,
164. 10:56that begins that we hold these shoes be self evident that all men are endowed by our creator.
165. 11:03We're certain in unalienable rights. The unalienable rights notion flows directly
166. 11:08from the biblical revelation of the Amago Day, because man is made in God's image that man
167. 11:14enjoys intrinsic bequests from our Lord.
168. 11:18Governments at best exist to protect and to secure to the individual what has been given
169. 11:22by God.
170. 11:24That's a part of our founding document.
171. 11:25Yet, we here we aren't approaching 250 years and we have people that are preferring outright
172. 11:31socialists, which by the way, if you understand, Moses Mordecai, Mark Levy, his articulation
173. 11:37and communist manifesto, socialism was always meant from his standpoint to be an intermediary
174. 11:42step in route to full-blown communism that the theological undergirding for socialism
175. 11:46and communism or to say more broadly in one word Marxism is atheism.
176. 11:51It has a fundamental rejection of truth concerning the fall and the damn nature rejected outright.
177. 12:01But we have younger people that are embracing it and I said this before and I'll say it
178. 12:05again, there are lots of people that want to complain about young people, young people
179. 12:08of this and young people to that a young people to understand. I told you guys before my grandmother
180. 12:12said a long time ago when you pointed finger one is pointing out what but you got at least
181. 12:15three pointing back at you. All of these young people come from somebody's homes. All of these
182. 12:21young people come from somebody's families. Many of these young people are parts of peoples
183. 12:26of certain churches, youth groups. All of these young people come from somewhere. They didn't
184. 12:30just zoom. It wasn't like a Star Trek kind of like being that just caused them to be just
185. 12:36disembodied plants in the world, they all came from somewhere.
186. 12:42I can tell you the number of conversations I had, you know,
187. 12:45with people, and y'all know, because I'm the third,
188. 12:47and my home church back in New Orleans,
189. 12:48everybody called me Lil A, they would say Lil A,
190. 12:50but if I'd have known, if I would have known,
191. 12:53I would have made different choices.
192. 12:54If I'd have known, I would have made different choices.
193. 12:57But the scripture tells us that the church exists
194. 12:59to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
195. 13:02We have lots of saints who have not been equipped.
196. 13:05We have lots of saints who haven't even realized
197. 13:07that God has entrusted your children to you,
198. 13:10specifically and intentionally,
199. 13:11not just a coincidental biological occurrence.
200. 13:14He has specifically and intentionally entrusted your children
201. 13:18to you and entrusted my children to me,
202. 13:19for what purposes so that we,
203. 13:21Ephesians 6, 4 says it plainly.
204. 13:23Fathers, do not exacerbate your children,
205. 13:25rather rear them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
206. 13:28God has assigned our children to us
207. 13:31and us to our children,
208. 13:33because we are primarily responsible
209. 13:35for the evangelization, the catacizing, and the disciple making of our children.
210. 13:43Have we done it? Have we been involved in it?
211. 13:48One of the saddest realities when you introduce the concept of disciple making to a conversation
212. 13:53where many Christians are probably supposed to say many church hymns.
213. 13:57Because churchy entity is not synonymous with Christianity.
214. 14:01Oftentimes the whole concept of disciple making is conflated, but really,
215. 14:06worship, service, attendance, decorum.
216. 14:09That is not making disciples.
217. 14:11So we're going to have a conversation today, and I'm invited to guess to join me to help me
218. 14:15to have this conversation about it is God's divine ordinance.
219. 14:22He has created the institution of marriage and blessed fathers and mothers with the privilege,
220. 14:28prerogative, and opportunity to be frontline vanguards of disciple making.
221. 14:33This is your mission. You have no choice whether or not to accept it.
222. 14:38We must be about our Father's businessman.
223. 14:41We know intuitively that darkness is not an affirmative force.
224. 14:45That's why none of us goes home at the end of the long work day
225. 14:47and say, honey, would you turn the darkness off?
226. 14:49All that is necessary is for us to turn the light on.
227. 14:53Jesus told us to put the light on the lampstand.
228. 14:56Let's be about our Father's business.
229. 15:00America's 250th birthday.
230. 15:02It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream,
231. 15:06but we can help your celebration go well beyond that.
232. 15:09Show your patriotism with America 250 Apparel that will become a memento of this special year.
233. 15:15We also have special episodes on AFA Stream to help underscore that America is a Christian nation
234. 15:21and help you find God in the Constitution.
235. 15:23Find all of this and more in one place.
236. 15:26AFA.net slash topics slash 250.
237. 15:29Shining light into the darkness, this is the Hamilton Corner, an American family radio.
238. 15:41Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here. I'm delighted to have on the program with me a woman who I've come who I'm coming to know
239. 15:49She attended a conference where I was speaking in Florida earlier this year, and then she contacted our ministry
240. 15:57After that her name is Lee-Ann Mancini
241. 16:00She is the founder of Raising Christian Kids and and the host of the award-winning podcast Raising Christian Kids
242. 16:06which is available on all major platforms and streaming on KHCB Radios
243. 16:11uplifted station. She shares their expert golly advice,
244. 16:15biblically based wisdom and insightful tools for parenting children
245. 16:18to bring them closer to Jesus. She's also an adjunct professor at South Florida
246. 16:23Bible College in theological seminary and she's also a sought after speaker on
247. 16:27topics such as Christian growth, biblical understanding, and
248. 16:30children's spirituality. She has a bachelor's in religious studies from
249. 16:33and Regent University and Master's degrees in Christian and Classical Studies and Biblical
250. 16:38and Theological Studies from Knox Theological Seminary and Master's in Christian Studies
251. 16:42from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
252. 16:45My guest is Leanne Mancini.
253. 16:47Thank you for joining me here on this program.
254. 16:50Well, thank you for having me.
255. 16:52I'm honored to be here.
256. 16:53Oh, the honor is certainly mine.
257. 16:55And I want to show the people with that because you were kind enough to send me your book,
258. 16:58Raising Kids to Follow Christ, Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God, which if you're watching
259. 17:04show I'm showing you the book right now. It is an amazing guide for parents to aid you on your journey
260. 17:11of in making disciples of your children. And one of the things that you guys know if you listen to the
261. 17:15show and watch it for any length of time that I'm exceedingly passionate about this, you get
262. 17:19do-overs in lots of areas. You get mulligans in golf, but you don't get mulligans in parenting.
263. 17:23You know what, you don't get to go back and repeat the ages and things of that nature.
264. 17:27And so one of my things that I enjoy doing is sharing resources with you that I find to be helpful
265. 17:32And this book from Lee-Ann Mancini is one of those books.
266. 17:36Our good friend Dr. Kathy Cook wrote the foreword to Lee-Ann's book.
267. 17:40And so this is one you definitely need to get.
268. 17:43And I'll just say this right at the onset and Jeff, please put this in the show notes.
269. 17:47Go to her website raisingchristiankids.com.
270. 17:50She has all kinds of resources available there to aid you in your journey.
271. 17:54All right. First and foremost, how did you end up in the position where you
272. 18:04ultimately wrote your book Raising Christian Kids, but you also had the animated series,
273. 18:09See Kids Adventures, how did you come to the position recognizing that, wait a minute,
274. 18:13this is something that not only we can do, we must do this. Well, as you know, God calls us and he
275. 18:21equips us. I had no desire on the radar of doing an animation series or writing children's books or
276. 18:28writing a parenting book. I was a volunteer of my children's school and just helping
277. 18:34raise my children well, as best as I can, but God called me and well,
278. 18:39let me just back up. When my kids were little, I wrote these stories,
279. 18:43because I couldn't find books that taught them how to live out the biblical
280. 18:46principles I was trying to instill in them in real life situations that little
281. 18:51kids face. And I wrote these stories and my kids love them and I shelved them
282. 18:55well years later, I felt the Lord and the Holy Spirit prompted me to write the
283. 18:59see kids stories. So I wrote the books and went to NRB. I met a producer who said we need to make
284. 19:06them in an animation series. So they are an animation series on right now media, pure flicks,
285. 19:13answers TV, minnow yippy. And then from there, I started realizing that children were walking
286. 19:19away from their faith in an alarming rate five years ago with like 45% middle school and 75%
287. 19:26high school. And I prayed to the Lord and I felt the Lord prompted me to do research because
288. 19:31I'm a professor. I love to research and teach and research and write a book, write a book that
289. 19:39would help parents and grandparents raise their children from the womb to age seven to build
290. 19:45that foundation. Once the foundation is solid to build upon that foundation because by the age 13
291. 19:52in their worldview has formed.
292. 19:55So I felt the calling and I was obedient,
293. 19:58and that's how we got the raising kids to follow Christ.
294. 20:01Now I just wanna run a highlighter over something
295. 20:06you just said, and this is how some of the greatest
296. 20:09contributions are made.
297. 20:11You were in the trenches raising your own children,
298. 20:13and you were seeking to do what you now encourage others
299. 20:17to do, but yet you found that there weren't sufficient
300. 20:19resources to convey the biblical truth that you wanted your children to grasp and
301. 20:26In practical application there in their own lives. So you did with any loving mom God fear and Christian mom would do
302. 20:34It doesn't exist. Well, I'm why don't I make it? Why did I do it myself? That's that's often the most important step to take
303. 20:42because
304. 20:43The society wants us to be in a position kind of where we're paralyzed or infantilized to where we don't have anything
305. 20:49we can't do this, we can't do that, well, which keeps us from making the kind of things that
306. 20:54we want to see.
307. 20:55You know, I say often, I don't want to be one who just stands on the sideline and curses
308. 20:58darkness.
309. 20:59I want to turn the light on.
310. 21:00I want to raise, put the light on the lampstand.
311. 21:05What would you say to other moms or dads and parents who are listening to you right now to
312. 21:10encourage them to be willing to step into the void that they may sense or may feel surrounding
313. 21:14them to be able to serve their families well and honor the Lord in doing so.
314. 21:20I would really listen to that Holy Spirit touching you on your shoulders saying there's
315. 21:28a problem.
316. 21:30You need to solve this, but with God's help with the Holy Spirit, you can accomplish anything.
317. 21:37So you need to trust and pray in the Holy Spirit.
318. 21:40for guidance, if you have this burning desire to create something, there's a reason you have
319. 21:46that burning desire. And if you don't want to stifle it, like you said, you don't want to put that light
320. 21:52underneath the bowl and not let it shh, you want to fan the flames through the Holy Spirit.
321. 21:59And you'll be so amazed at what you can do if you step out of the boat. Okay, step out of the boat
322. 22:06and trust the Lord in what you need to do.
323. 22:11And it's so much fun.
324. 22:13It's creating things for the Lord and for children
325. 22:16is so much fun and it's so rewarding.
326. 22:19But don't be afraid,
327. 22:20because the world will tell you you can't, you can't,
328. 22:23but God says you can, you can and you will,
329. 22:25and I will help you.
330. 22:27Man, and one of the things that,
331. 22:29and as you said, this wasn't even on your radar,
332. 22:31you were just endeavoring to serve your family.
333. 22:33But here God takes what you were willing to step out in faith
334. 22:37to trust Him to do for your own family,
335. 22:39and now it becomes something that is beneficial,
336. 22:41a resource for other families.
337. 22:43I read some of the children's books
338. 22:45that you sent to me to my own children,
339. 22:48to where the things that you did for your children
340. 22:50are now being a blessing to my family.
341. 22:52And I'm able to pass it on and share it with others now.
342. 22:55I mean, that's how God does things,
343. 22:58that as we follow Him and trust Him, as He says,
344. 23:00in what we may perceive as something little,
345. 23:03Man, he expands that and makes it maximally fruitful and reproductive and productive within
346. 23:08his economy for his kingdom.
347. 23:11Yes, he does.
348. 23:12You just have to be obedient to his calling.
349. 23:15Amen.
350. 23:16Amen.
351. 23:17So, you mentioned for this book, Raising Kids to Follow Christ, Instilling a Lifelong Trust
352. 23:23in God, the one I mentioned that Dr. Cathy cooked to the foreword for, you told me that
353. 23:29that you did a bevy of research as an academic,
354. 23:32as a professor, that you enjoyed doing research
355. 23:35because you didn't wanna just kind of just share
356. 23:38off the cuff, you wanted to make sure you anchored
357. 23:40your presentation in empirical facts and objective truth.
358. 23:46What are some of the things that you learned
359. 23:48during your research for your book
360. 23:50that kind of struck you as you were preparing to write it?
361. 23:54Well, I'm just so excited to share that.
362. 23:58You start teaching children from the womb.
363. 24:01Okay, God says in Psalm 51, 6,
364. 24:04yet you desired faithfulness,
365. 24:06even the womb you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
366. 24:09And Psalm 78, 6 says,
367. 24:12teach even to the children yet to be born.
368. 24:16At 18 weeks, the baby can hear in the womb,
369. 24:20but at 28 weeks,
370. 24:21they can decipher between a mother's voice
371. 24:24and a stranger's voice.
372. 24:26And what happens is you can just talk about Jesus
373. 24:29and sing songs about Jesus,
374. 24:32let your, your fetus or your infant in your belly there
375. 24:36hear the name of Jesus all the time.
376. 24:39When from the womb to age three,
377. 24:41what we're doing is we're preparing that soil
378. 24:43to be rich soil.
379. 24:46For example, you're feeding your baby.
380. 24:48You can say, Jesus loves you, Johnny, Jesus loves you.
381. 24:51What you're doing is you're connecting the name of Jesus
382. 24:53with his needs being met.
383. 24:57You have a six month old giggling
384. 25:00and looking in the mirror at the reflection.
385. 25:02You say, Sarah, Jesus loves you.
386. 25:04You're so beautiful.
387. 25:05Jesus created you.
388. 25:06You're connecting her happy emotions
389. 25:08with the name of Jesus.
390. 25:10And there's so much you can do by the age of three.
391. 25:13Okay, you have a toddler that needs to take a nap
392. 25:15instead of saying take a nap.
393. 25:16Say, let's take a Sabbath's rest.
394. 25:19Now they don't understand the true meaning of Sabbath,
395. 25:21but they know it has something to do with resting
396. 25:23and praying to Jesus.
397. 25:25Then from the ages four to seven,
398. 25:28when you're instilling biblical principles and wisdom,
399. 25:30you're planting those seeds into rich soil
400. 25:33to grow deep roots.
401. 25:36So I learned a lot about how to build that foundation
402. 25:40by the age of seven, what you can do.
403. 25:43And I'll give you an example.
404. 25:44I have my God child is three years old
405. 25:48and his mother's done a fabulous job.
406. 25:50He can recite the Lord's Prayer.
407. 25:52He can tell you the story about David and Goliath, Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale.
408. 25:58He knows all of these and he can tell you about them.
409. 26:01He can articulate them and he can recite Bible verses because his mother has worked with him
410. 26:06through playtime.
411. 26:08She made playtime sacred playtime.
412. 26:12And Einstein says play is the highest form of research for children, for anybody really.
413. 26:18When you play, you learn.
414. 26:20That's how they learn.
415. 26:21So I learned a lot through reading over 250 parenting books and researching doctors and
416. 26:28the brightest minds and children's spirituality.
417. 26:30And I condensed it into this book to be a tool parents can use a lot of application
418. 26:35ideas I put in this book.
419. 26:38And I don't keep any of my proceeds from this book.
420. 26:41I donate them to our nonprofit, Raising Christian Kids, which gives free resources to families
421. 26:47who are in need. So it's all a mission. It's a mission to serve parents and grandparents to
422. 26:53the best of my ability that God has blessed me to do. Amen. I know in your book you refer
423. 26:59to who's a friend of mine and a friend of this program, Dr. George Barna, his book Raising
424. 27:04Spiritual Champions. He often talks about world view being crystallized by the age of 13. And
425. 27:10early in your book, you were just talking about Jonathan Edwards and things of that nature.
426. 27:15you have this quote in your book concerning parenting, that it is the most important and
427. 27:19blessed duty the Lord has assigned to us.
428. 27:23This is something that I wholeheartedly believe and agree with, but unfortunately much of our
429. 27:27world, including the church in our world, doesn't seem to practically agree with that.
430. 27:33Is that something you encountered in your research or even anecdotally as you have been
431. 27:38invested involved in the ministry raising Christian kids?
432. 27:41Yes, you know in fact he talks about his statistics with the Christian Arizona University
433. 27:46That 13 to 14 year olds from Christian family
434. 27:5070% don't believe Satan is real
435. 27:5384% don't believe we're born into sin and need a Savior in 90% of those children don't believe in absolute moral truth and
436. 28:01You know, this is the problem. We have in 53% of children's Christian pastors believe in reincarnation
437. 28:08our nation. So this is the problem we're having, you know,
438. 28:13that the church is not stepping up and meeting the needs to the
439. 28:15parents, not all churches, but many of the churches. They have a
440. 28:20lot of programs for divorce care and for grief and everything,
441. 28:23but they need parenting classes in the church that can equip these
442. 28:27parents to educate them so they in turn can educate their children
443. 28:32and biblical principles. And you know, we have God's word that
444. 28:36tells us, what does Jeremiah, Isaiah,
445. 28:40King David have in common?
446. 28:41They were taught from birth, from the womb, from a young age.
447. 28:47There's so much we can do.
448. 28:48We just have to be willing to get out there and learn it
449. 28:52and do it.
450. 28:54You mentioned that we start teaching our children from birth.
451. 28:58What has happened in our society that occurs
452. 29:02that where we get to a certain age
453. 29:03and parents sometimes believe once my child becomes this age,
454. 29:06I'm no longer capable of teaching them.
455. 29:08Because the truth is, from the moment that even before birth,
456. 29:11like you mentioned, the capacity to distinguish dad and mom's voice,
457. 29:14I remember, I mean, it's a little inside, but I would sing to my children
458. 29:19when my wife was pregnant, you know?
459. 29:21And because I know what you just said, not only statistically,
460. 29:26but I would sense the responses and things of that nature,
461. 29:28what has happened to cause parents to all of a sudden become kind of immobilized
462. 29:33and thinking, well, I can't actually teach my children
463. 29:36in this way.
464. 29:37What has happened in our culture that has led
465. 29:38to that kind of communication?
466. 29:41Well, I think what happened is you have in the 50s
467. 29:43and the 60s, everybody went to church,
468. 29:46people knew God's word, they passed it on to their children.
469. 29:50We were living in a society that was more acceptable
470. 29:53to the Christian morals and values and virtues.
471. 29:57Fast forward, now we're living in a society
472. 29:59where I think parents have failed to learn God's word
473. 30:03well enough and you have parents who are unchurched
474. 30:06or knowledgeable in the word of God
475. 30:08and they don't know how to raise their children
476. 30:11in the word of God.
477. 30:12And but there's a big turnaround.
478. 30:14A lot of parents are seeking wisdom.
479. 30:16They see what's happening in our world.
480. 30:18They see this socialistic, you know, woke society,
481. 30:21all this craziness and they're like,
482. 30:24wait a minute, I don't want my children
483. 30:26to believe that this is true.
484. 30:28How can I teach them?
485. 30:29What proves, how can I educate them
486. 30:31to know that this is not true,
487. 30:32that this is a lie from the devil, that this is not truth.
488. 30:36And so they're seeking and they're asking for help.
489. 30:40And so programs like yours and ministries like mine
490. 30:43and the things that we're doing our ministries
491. 30:45are helping parents, they want and need the help.
492. 30:49And so we can turn this around.
493. 30:52It's just we have to adhere to what God's calling is
494. 30:56and step out of the boat like I said and be active.
495. 30:59I wanna mention before we get too far into the conversation,
496. 31:02what is your website where people can access these resources
497. 31:05and again, the name of the podcast that you do?
498. 31:08Yes, well, the website is RaisingChristian Kids
499. 31:13with the POUR S RaisingChristianKids.com.
500. 31:17Now, my podcast, I have past episodes
501. 31:20because I've moved on from the podcast,
502. 31:22a live podcast right now.
503. 31:24And I have George Barna, I have a section of apologetics
504. 31:28with the top educators and apologetics for children,
505. 31:33for disciplining, because I have George Barna,
506. 31:37I have Natasha Crane, I have so many well-known experts.
507. 31:41Appearance can go and listen to these episodes.
508. 31:45What we are having is we're having a parenting conference
509. 31:48October 10th in Pompano Beach.
510. 31:50We have a one-day parenting conference.
511. 31:53We have excellent speakers, Ginger, Hubbard, Rhonda Stopby,
512. 31:57Sam Sorbo, you know, Kevin Sorbo, the actor Sam Sorbo,
513. 32:01and their ministry speaking.
514. 32:03So we have a fun-filled day that we want to give back
515. 32:06to parents and grandparents.
516. 32:09We have tons of door prizes that are out of this world
517. 32:12that we're just going to give to these parents.
518. 32:14So this is what we're all about at RaisingChristianKids.com.
519. 32:18We want to help parents.
520. 32:20We want to assist them and grandparents
521. 32:23in raising their children.
522. 32:30presenting AFA Stream, an online platform that hosts all
523. 32:35AFA-produced video content, including documentaries,
524. 32:39church curriculum, American Family Radio shows,
525. 32:42and our Cultural Institute series.
526. 32:44I would submit that we are a Christian nation,
527. 32:47and the proof of that is in our founding documents
528. 32:51and in the US Constitution itself.
529. 32:54These are founders recognized for the first time
530. 32:58in world history, that our rights come from God our Creator, not our government.
531. 33:03AFA Stream is a vital step that we are taking to fulfill our vision to be a leading organization
532. 33:10in Biblical worldview training for cultural transformation.
533. 33:14You'll find top-notch resources that address the issues of our day related to marriage,
534. 33:19family, the sanctity of life, and many others.
535. 33:23Start streaming today, stream.afa.net.
536. 33:35Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terrets
537. 33:38are available at aFR.net.
538. 33:40Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
539. 33:45Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, my guest is Leanne Mancini,
540. 33:49author of Raising Kids to Follow Christ
541. 33:51and stealing a lifelong trust in God.
542. 33:54Also, the founder of Raising Christian Kids.
543. 33:58Her website is RaisingChristianKids.com
544. 34:01that is RaisingChristianKids.com.
545. 34:03before we went to the break, Leanne,
546. 34:05you were sharing that you are preparing
547. 34:07a one day parenting conference,
548. 34:09October 10th in Pompano Beach, Florida, is that right?
549. 34:13Pompano Beach.
550. 34:15Where can people get the information for your conference
551. 34:18and all of the details?
552. 34:19Is there a cost and all of that information?
553. 34:22Would you share that with us, please?
554. 34:24Yes, it's very affordable at $65.
555. 34:27And you could go to raisingdisciplesconference.com.
556. 34:35So that's again with an S raising disciples conference.com.
557. 34:41And this is so, so good.
558. 34:43What are you seeking to accomplish through the conference?
559. 34:46As I know we've been having this conversation,
560. 34:48I can into it what you're seeking to accomplish.
561. 34:51But I wanna invite you just to share
562. 34:53what the conference's objective is.
563. 34:57Well, God says in Psalm 127,
564. 35:00our children are arrows in our quiver.
565. 35:04So what are arrows used for and how are they manufactured?
566. 35:08They're made precise.
567. 35:09So they can be used to shoot and kill the enemy.
568. 35:15So what we're doing at this conference
569. 35:17is we're equipping parents to sharpen their children
570. 35:22biblically, emotionally, spiritually,
571. 35:24so that they can become the future fighters,
572. 35:28disciples against evil.
573. 35:31And we're also making sure that parents are walking away,
574. 35:35feeling loved and understood and heard.
575. 35:38They'll be able to engage with the speakers.
576. 35:41And we're giving tons of door prizes.
577. 35:45I mean, really, really nice door prizes.
578. 35:47When they go to the website, they'll be able to see that.
579. 35:50And we want parents to have a fun filled day
580. 35:52why learning, while learning a lot about what they can do
581. 35:56and take home, the goody bags will be filled
582. 35:58with information as well.
583. 36:00Hmm, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
584. 36:03Now in the previous segment, you mentioned something
585. 36:05that is unfortunately seems to be so sorely lost
586. 36:09in our culture, you were talking about the importance
587. 36:11of discipline in rearing children.
588. 36:14You know, the word to discipline actually is disciple.
589. 36:17Why is that such an important feature
590. 36:20of Christian parents' commitment
591. 36:23to rearing the children God and trust our care
592. 36:25in his nurture and admonition?
593. 36:28Well, your children need to be obedient
594. 36:30if they're going to learn.
595. 36:33The first step is obedience.
596. 36:34In my book I have, I think two chapters,
597. 36:37teaching children how to obey
598. 36:39and then how to follow the rules after they learn how to obey.
599. 36:43They need to learn how to obey first.
600. 36:46For example, I have parents say,
601. 36:48I always tell them write a family mission statement.
602. 36:50Start with the family mission statement that tells about what you're going to, as a family,
603. 36:56how you're going to worship, have a contract, a disciplinary contract in that as well that
604. 37:01talks about what is expected for obedient children, what are the consequences for disobedience.
605. 37:08I tell parents that children earn their consequences.
606. 37:11You're not doling them out.
607. 37:12They earn that and they earn privileges as well.
608. 37:16I'll have parents say, you know, I have a teenager and so I did what you said.
609. 37:20They're still not listening.
610. 37:21And I tell them, look, you have to sit down and tell your shot or your teenager.
611. 37:25The three reasons we're doing this is because we have to be accountable to God for how we're
612. 37:30raising you.
613. 37:32We're doing this because we want to keep you safe and we're doing this because we love you.
614. 37:37Those are three reasons that they cannot push back upon.
615. 37:41And you'll see how fast your teenager will turn around when you take the computer away,
616. 37:45cell phone or the keys to the car. And I also think it's important for also for learning
617. 37:53children, teaching children how to be obedient is having a good relationship with your child.
618. 37:58You don't lecture to your teenagers. You lecture them, they're going to turn around and run away.
619. 38:04You have to have a good relationship and that starts very early. You need to listen to them
620. 38:10them and hear them out it and understand them. You're a coach when you're a teenager. And
621. 38:17so there's just so much we can do. Teach our little ones how to be critical thinkers when
622. 38:22they come to you with a question instead of answering their question, ask them what they
623. 38:27think about it. So when Johnny comes to you and says, Mommy, is that okay? Tommy has two
624. 38:31daddies. Is that okay? Is God okay with the s2 daddies? You say, Tommy, what do you think?
625. 38:38And how he answers you is how you reply.
626. 38:41Yes, you're right.
627. 38:42It's not right.
628. 38:43And God's word, it's a mommy and a daddy.
629. 38:46Or you say, well, here's what God's word says.
630. 38:50Let's look.
631. 38:51You teach them how to become critical thinkers by asking the question back to them.
632. 38:56So critical thinking also works with obedience.
633. 39:00When you want them to learn how to be obedient, they need to work through situations and it's
634. 39:04all about relationship.
635. 39:05Well said one of the things you tackle in your book
636. 39:10Raising kids to follow Christ is you highlight the distinction between honor and respect
637. 39:17Honor and respect. We know the commandments
638. 39:20articulated first in the Hebrew text
639. 39:23reiterated in Ephesians 6
640. 39:25Children are the honor your father and your mother. This is the first command with a promise
641. 39:30what is the distinction between honor and respect that we should understand and
642. 39:35seek to convey and cultivate in our children? Yes respect is please thank
643. 39:42you, obeying the authority figures in our life, doing what we're told to do. Johnny
644. 39:50you have to go take the garbage on on Friday okay mom he takes the garbage on
645. 39:54Friday. Honor is a little bit different honor goes above and beyond what they're
646. 39:59called to do. So how does a child honor a parent? Susie has to do the dishes every night after dinner.
647. 40:06But after Susie does the dishes, now she goes to the front room and starts cleaning the front room
648. 40:12or putting the toys away from her little brother and sister. And she wasn't told to do that.
649. 40:17That's how she's honoring her parents. Honor goes above and beyond what is called, what is necessary.
650. 40:24That is something that is so sorely lacking because we live in a society and I encounter
651. 40:34this often that people are often surprised when they see children who are obedient in public
652. 40:39and let alone children who are willing to honor their parents.
653. 40:45If you don't mind, and this is something I invite my guests to do all the time, would
654. 40:49you share, excuse me, would you share a bit how the Lord saved you and I know you and
655. 40:54your husband, God, you all have two children who are adults now.
656. 40:57How the Lord saved you and how has it been for your family implementing this into your
657. 41:05own lives?
658. 41:06What's your teaching others through your books and resources?
659. 41:09Yes.
660. 41:10Well, I was a believer of Christ since I was a young child.
661. 41:15My mother, I was raised Catholic and my mother had a big picture of Jesus on the wall in
662. 41:22in our front room and we had all the family pictures around him.
663. 41:25And I was raised by a single mother.
664. 41:28And we didn't have a lot, but we had everything we needed.
665. 41:31And she always instilled that relationship with Christ
666. 41:35from a very early age, praying,
667. 41:38asking him for forgiveness and praying.
668. 41:40So I've always believed in him.
669. 41:43And it wasn't until I was older
670. 41:46that I realized what it meant to confess your sins to Christ
671. 41:50and asked forgiveness and received salvation and be baptized.
672. 41:53So I was baptized in my 40s.
673. 41:57I'm not gonna tell you what I am now, but I'm way past.
674. 41:59Yeah.
675. 42:00So the record reflect, I didn't ask, I didn't ask.
676. 42:05And as I was raising my kids, I always wanted them to love the Lord Jesus.
677. 42:12Now I wish I knew then what I know now, it would have been easier.
678. 42:18I said, praise the Lord, my adult children come to my house
679. 42:21once a week for Bible study.
680. 42:23Wow.
681. 42:24They're learning from me.
682. 42:25They said, Mom, there's no one better than to teach us
683. 42:27than you about the Bible.
684. 42:29So we have Bible study every week in my home.
685. 42:32And now I have a new grandson and I can't wait to teach him too.
686. 42:36Wow, wow.
687. 42:38And I asked that question, I'm so grateful for your response
688. 42:41because the Lord saves us and calls us.
689. 42:44We all have different journeys.
690. 42:45And there will be some who would say, and I encountered these people,
691. 42:47sure you do as well, I would say, well, I wish I had known this at some earlier point, but
692. 42:53you can't go back and know what you didn't know when you didn't know it.
693. 42:57But the issue is now that you know what are you going to do with it?
694. 43:00So now here you have this life stage where you're able to, you're studying the scripture
695. 43:06with your adult children and now you're positioned with your first grandchild to be able to invest
696. 43:12there.
697. 43:13And this is something that I encourage our audience to do all the time.
698. 43:15Listen, don't waste time, crying off a spilled milk,
699. 43:17what's done is done.
700. 43:18But what are we going to do now?
701. 43:20How can we implement now?
702. 43:21What we know, how can we serve now?
703. 43:23And having that broad vision, that Psalm 78 vision,
704. 43:26that you conduct and engage for your children,
705. 43:29your children, children, your children yet to be born.
706. 43:32And that we have the wherewithal,
707. 43:33I often think about this, I have the wherewithal,
708. 43:36that the way I can put myself now to set a foundation
709. 43:39for how my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren,
710. 43:42Lord willing one day, will be impacted to a degree.
711. 43:45I obviously won't be their parents,
712. 43:47but I have an opportunity and a platform
713. 43:51from which to impact them as well.
714. 43:53So that is just encouraging to hear.
715. 43:58Oh, I'm so excited.
716. 43:59You said that because that little God's son of mine
717. 44:01that I told you about, that's three years old.
718. 44:03I took the time to invest in his mother,
719. 44:08to teach her, to talk to her, to educate her,
720. 44:10to give her the resources she needed.
721. 44:14And because of that, she is an outstanding Christian mom.
722. 44:19And she is raising an outstanding Christian child,
723. 44:22a little toddler who all he wants to do is know about Jesus
724. 44:26and play puppets about Bible stories and sing Christian songs.
725. 44:32If you try to give him something else to look at another book,
726. 44:35he just tosses it to the side.
727. 44:37He wants everything, all the biblical stories,
728. 44:40he just eats them up.
729. 44:41Because I took the timed invest in her.
730. 44:46Praise God.
731. 44:47One of the things that you stress, you said it here,
732. 44:51that you emphasize the necessity of starting young.
733. 44:56I'm sure you've got this question a bunch of times.
734. 44:59How soon? When is it the appropriate age?
735. 45:03Or is there an appropriate age to start to pour into your children,
736. 45:06to raise them, to become Christ followers?
737. 45:09Right away, like I said in the womb, sing songs about Jesus, volunteer at a church nursery.
738. 45:17Let your feet hear the songs of children singing the songs and then volunteer after that and
739. 45:22bring your infant son with you.
740. 45:23And the first day they have to attend, they're going to be used to it.
741. 45:27Always everything you do, it's, you know, do the right of me.
742. 45:29When you rise up, when you walk along the path, when you lie down, when you play with your
743. 45:33children, when you talk with your children, bring Jesus into every conversation.
744. 45:38And also I tell parents, when you have a little one memorizing a Bible verse, make sure they
745. 45:42understand every word that they're memorizing.
746. 45:47Children will say, honor thy father thy mother, but they don't know if the word honor means.
747. 45:52So there's just so much we can do.
748. 45:54Your play areas at home, are they more reflected of Disneyland or Destiny land?
749. 45:59You know, you have to make it a sacred play area with everything biblical.
750. 46:04You can buy biblical Legos now.
751. 46:07so much you can do. And as they get older, you supplement their books and their reading
752. 46:13and what they're watching, make sure you know everything that your child is reading and watching
753. 46:19and hearing. Because again, you have a short window, 13 years really. This is your most important job.
754. 46:25There is no other job on earth more important than a parent raising the next
755. 46:30Christian disciple and honor of God and being obedient to his word to go make disciples.
756. 46:37I'm gonna invite you to say that again. There's no more important job than what?
757. 46:42Raising disciples starting in your home with your children.
758. 46:46Amen. This is the last question we probably have time for because as we mentioned already, I know you're also an adjunct professor.
759. 46:54How has your work in helping parents
760. 46:58to disciple their children impacted your work
761. 47:01as a professor, if it has at all?
762. 47:03Has it provided any contributions
763. 47:06to your academic offerings and what you do as a professor?
764. 47:10Yes, I'm so excited.
765. 47:12South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary
766. 47:14is one of the top 10 most affordable colleges in the country.
767. 47:18It's a wonderful college and they said,
768. 47:22Hey, why don't you teach an elective
769. 47:25for the psychology course degree?
770. 47:29And so counseling degree, I'm sorry.
771. 47:31And so I was teaching a biblical parenting course
772. 47:35for the counseling degree.
773. 47:36And the students loved it.
774. 47:40They said, well, we've never heard of this.
775. 47:41We never seen this before.
776. 47:43And we addressed all the issues
777. 47:45that children are facing today, the problems,
778. 47:48especially the cell phone.
779. 47:50And I would like to add,
780. 47:51There's a cell phone that is fabulous and it's true me, T-R-O-O-M-I.
781. 47:58That is the best cell phone you wanna get for your children.
782. 48:01You can research it and the parents can research it.
783. 48:04But it made me a better teacher in the classroom too
784. 48:12because I understood that even when I'm teaching Romans
785. 48:15or apologetics, you can teach with the idea
786. 48:20of making sure, listen, when you talk,
787. 48:21when you teach your children at home
788. 48:23or when you talk to your niece and your nephew,
789. 48:25make sure they understand this concept.
790. 48:29Again, it's the most important job is teaching
791. 48:31not only our children, but somebody else's children,
792. 48:34or your niece and your nephew, or your grandchild.
793. 48:38It's just so important.
794. 48:39It's the future of Christianity.
795. 48:43It's the way we change the trajectory of our world.
796. 48:46It's the only way.
797. 48:48the only way. Decipalled our way into it. We have to
798. 48:51decipher our way out of it. Lee Ann Mancini, thank you so much
799. 48:54for joining me here on the program. RaisingChristiankids.com
800. 48:58is a website October, October 10th, the one day parenting
801. 49:01conference coming up. You do not want to miss it. You all have
802. 49:06a wonderful year.
803. 49:09The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not
804. 49:12necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or
805. 49:15American Family Radio.