("Best-of" Edition from 6/26) 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. 0:31Good evening everyone.
12. 0:34Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
13. 0:36My name is Abraham Hamilton.
14. 0:38The third joined by the
15. 0:40produce extraordinaire often
16. 0:42imitated but never duplicated.
17. 0:43The Rio J. Mac.
18. 0:45I'm so excited about today's
19. 0:47program.
20. 0:48I am confident that it will be
21. 0:51encouraging and inspiring and
22. 0:54provoking in the best way possible.
23. 0:56And I am looking forward to the
24. 0:59conversation that we're about to have, but at this very moment, many of you, if not most
25. 1:03of you, are making your transition from your part-time jobs where you generate an income
26. 1:08to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind
27. 1:13you to do so with intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on family and welcoming
28. 1:20his position, his view to govern, guide, and guard your engagement in your homes.
29. 1:29Simply put, I want to challenge you and encourage you to refuse to sacrifice your families to the
30. 1:36spirit of the age, to refuse to allow the press of the world, the insanity of the culture,
31. 1:45to dictate to you some sort of some notion of inevitability, inevitability.
32. 1:51Can I talk today? Inevitability. But to recognize that we have been positioned
33. 1:57and ordained for such a time as this, as you're making your transition from your part time jobs
34. 2:03to your full time jobs, I want to remind you that what goes on in your house, what goes on in your
35. 2:10house, it's more important what's going on in the White House. The primary reason for this is that
36. 2:15that you and I are directly, directly accountable
37. 2:19and responsible for our engagement in our homes.
38. 2:22We have the wherewithal to directly impact our children,
39. 2:25for those of us who are in the similar life stage
40. 2:28as I am with young children in our home.
41. 2:29We have the direct responsibility for how we engage our wives
42. 2:34if we are husbands or your husbands if you are wives.
43. 2:39You have the direct opportunity and responsibility
44. 2:42to engage there.
45. 2:44And so we must refuse to allow the things that are percolating in the world to manipulate us away from what must be foundational, our foundational engagement as our full time commitments.
46. 2:59If we would welcome the Lord to grasp ahold of us in our homes and in our families, there is no question, no question as to what could happen in our societies.
47. 3:09But the focal point must not be,
48. 3:11well, we're gonna do this so that the society's
49. 3:13becoming this, that and the other.
50. 3:14No, we should do, we must engage in our families
51. 3:17out of obedience to what Jesus commands of us.
52. 3:22And we're gonna begin the program as usual in the word of God
53. 3:27because it is vitally important that we refuse to try
54. 3:31to do life by putting God's word aside.
55. 3:33There are too many mantles, too many coffee tables,
56. 3:36too many in tables that have Bibles collecting dust.
57. 3:39and not enough Bibles that are being utilized
58. 3:44and put into practice.
59. 3:46You know, one of the things I say all the time,
60. 3:47I don't search the scriptures and study the scriptures,
61. 3:49so I have something to come on the radio and talk about,
62. 3:51to come on the air and talk about,
63. 3:52to come on the podcast and talk about.
64. 3:54I study God's Word to be challenged and transformed
65. 3:57personally.
66. 3:59I read God's Word to welcome the God of His Word to read me.
67. 4:03I encourage you to do the same thing.
68. 4:05Okay, we're gonna begin the program today in third John.
69. 4:08Third John, verses one through four.
70. 4:11Third John, this is the beloved disciples,
71. 4:13the beloved disciples recording of this epistle.
72. 4:18The first four verses say this,
73. 4:20The elder to the beloved, Gaius, whom I love in truth.
74. 4:25Beloved, I pray that in all respects
75. 4:27that you may prosper and be in good health
76. 4:30just as your soul prospers.
77. 4:33For I was very glad when brethren came
78. 4:36and testify to your truth, that is how you are walking in truth.
79. 4:42I have no greater joy than this to hear of my children
80. 4:47walking in the truth.
81. 4:50Now the Apostle John is articulating these words,
82. 4:56these phrases, he's addressed gayus by name directly.
83. 5:02He is discussing really a disciple,
84. 5:06discipleship relationship when he refers to his children, no doubt about it.
85. 5:11But it is something that we should glean and apply in the discipleship context.
86. 5:16I say it all the time, the Great Commission and not to go you therefore make
87. 5:19converts, but it is to make disciples, all right?
88. 5:23Discipline learners who are lifelong, obedient followers and disciples of the
89. 5:28Lord Jesus Christ.
90. 5:30But this also should stir us who are parents as well.
91. 5:34I've explained to you guys before, this is a verse that has grasped my wife and I at a
92. 5:42foundational core level that our foremost desire with our children is for them to join us in
93. 5:48eternity, our foremost desire for our children as they are regenerate individually and that
94. 5:56they learn and embrace the glorious wonder of living lives fully submitted to the Lordship
95. 6:02Jesus Christ, that is our foremost desire, more than anything else.
96. 6:07And that should be the desire of all Christians who God is blessed with children, that our foremost
97. 6:14commitment, our primary objective, the thing that we want more than anything else, more than
98. 6:18them having a quote unquote good life, more than them having a quote unquote successful
99. 6:21career, more than them having, you know, seasonal vacationing and all this other kind of stuff,
100. 6:27attending certain educational establishments, our foremost desire, my foremost desire, should
101. 6:32be to know that our children are walking in the truth. John's description of walking in
102. 6:37the truth is using the word picture to depict manner of living. I have no greater joy than
103. 6:42to know that my children's lives are characterized by living according to the truth. Living in
104. 6:51the truth captured by truth with a capital T. I've said numerous times that there's a
105. 6:58light year's worth of difference to being casually curious about Christ and being captured
106. 7:02by him. And when you have been captured by Christ, you move away from merely giving offerings
107. 7:10to becoming the offerings. One of the major, I just say it plainly, man, setbacks that
108. 7:18has befallen us in our nation is that we have really ceded the area of the discipleship
109. 7:26of our children, outsourced is a better way to describe it, outsourced that in many ways
110. 7:32to people who are are are haters of God in his word, frankly.
111. 7:36Now, some of you think, what do you mean? What do you mean by that?
112. 7:38And I'll tell you exactly what I mean by that.
113. 7:41One of the major sources of disciple making in our country is
114. 7:46the decisions we've made as to how we educate our children.
115. 7:49You know, education, we describe it as education, but education really is the
116. 7:53cultivation of the mind.
117. 7:55When Jesus was asked about the great commandment, he said very plainly,
118. 7:58You should love the Lord with all your heart, so mind and your strength.
119. 8:03And the second is like, you should love your neighbors as yourself.
120. 8:06We have seeded the cultivation of the mind largely to people who are antichrist.
121. 8:14Then at the same time, we become, you know, apoplectic at the notion that this
122. 8:19mind cultivation has actually been effective.
123. 8:21I mean, we funded the tunes of trillions of dollars.
124. 8:23We send our children to these systems of discipleship and they come home
125. 8:28having learned well what they have been instructed to learn.
126. 8:35We have a phenomenon right now.
127. 8:37I mean, a lot of people are talking about
128. 8:38what just happened in New York,
129. 8:40where you have outright open socialists
130. 8:43who are running for office and they're getting elected.
131. 8:47It's not sufficient to just curse the darkness
132. 8:50and to assess what is dark.
133. 8:52Have we invested in a populace
134. 8:56who are so anchored and fortified in truth
135. 8:58with the reality of socialism is not attractive.
136. 9:01You hear me say very often and it became,
137. 9:03I didn't intend for it to become like a tagline
138. 9:05or nothing on the show, but that's what happened.
139. 9:07That darkness is not an affirmative force, however,
140. 9:10it will reoccupy the space that is vacated by the light.
141. 9:14That is what is going to happen.
142. 9:16So it's not sufficient to say,
143. 9:18oh America is never going to be a socialist country.
144. 9:20It's not sufficient to say, well that is anti-American.
145. 9:23That's not sufficient.
146. 9:24The question is, have we invested in our children
147. 9:29and subsequent generations of Americans sufficiently where they will be able to live
148. 9:34Charles Spurgeon's description of discernment. Charles Spurgeon described discernment as
149. 9:39not merely distinguishing right from wrong. Charles Spurgeon said discernment includes,
150. 9:45in addition to distinguishing right from wrong, also distinguishing right from almost right.
151. 9:51Have we cultivated a populace? Have we invested in generations sufficiently to where they
152. 9:58have their own capacity to distinguish right from almost right, as well as
153. 10:04distinguishing right from blatantly highlighted, screaming down the street
154. 10:09down the roadway at a hundred miles per hour wrong and evil, have we done that?
155. 10:12Have we done that? And my point in sharing this now is not for us to cry over
156. 10:19spilled milk and to pull an E or an O, but an O to trouble I've seen. But to say
157. 10:26Wait a minute. Oh, I realize we have might have missed it in the past. Let's pick up from where we are right now in change course. Are we willing to do so? Do we have the humility and the integrity to technology?
158. 10:42Yeah, I missed that one. There's a reason why guys that that our nation, though we have our founding declaration that we're about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of and on July 4th.
159. 10:56that begins that we hold these shoes be self-evident, that all men are endowed by our Creator.
160. 11:03We're certain in unalienable rights. The unalienable rights notion flows directly from the biblical revelation of the Amago Day,
161. 11:10because man is made in God's image that man enjoys intrinsic bequests from our Lord.
162. 11:17Governments at best exist to protect and to secure to the individual what has been given by God.
163. 11:24That's a part of our founding document yet we here we aren't approaching 250 years and we have people that are preferring outright socialist
164. 11:32Which by the way if you understand
165. 11:35Moses Mordecai Marx Levy his articulation and communist manifesto socialism was always meant from his standpoint to be an intermediary
166. 11:42Stepping route to full-blown communism that the theological undergirding for socialism and communism or to say more broadly in one word Marxism is
167. 11:50is atheism. It has a fundamental rejection of truth concerning the fall and the
168. 11:57damn nature. Rejection outright. But we have younger people that are embracing it
169. 12:03and I said this before and I'll say it again, there are lots of people that want
170. 12:06to complain about young people, young people of this and young people of that,
171. 12:09a young people to understand. And I told you guys before my grandmother said a
172. 12:12long time ago, when you pointed finger one is pointing out, well, but you got at
173. 12:15least three pointing back at you. All of these young people come from somebody's
174. 12:19homes. All of these young people come from somebody's families. Many of these young people
175. 12:24are parts of people's of certain churches, youth groups. All of these young people come
176. 12:29from somewhere. They didn't just zoom. It wasn't like a Star Trek kind of light being
177. 12:35that just caused them to be just disembodied plants in the world. They all came from somewhere.
178. 12:42I can tell you the number of conversations I had, you know, with people and y'all know
179. 12:46because I'm the third in my home church back in New Orleans. Everybody called me Lil A,
180. 12:50They would say, Lil A, if I'd have known,
181. 12:52if I would have known, I would have made different choices.
182. 12:54If I'd have known, I would have made different choices.
183. 12:57But the scripture tells us that the church exists
184. 12:59to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
185. 13:02We have lots of saints who have not been equipped.
186. 13:05We have lots of saints who haven't even realized
187. 13:07that God has entrusted your children to you,
188. 13:10specifically and intentionally,
189. 13:11not just a coincidental biological occurrence.
190. 13:14He has specifically and intentionally entrusted
191. 13:17your children to you and entrusted my children to me.
192. 13:20For what purposes so that we,
193. 13:21Ephesians 6, 4 says it plainly.
194. 13:23Fathers, do not exasperate your children, rather
195. 13:26rear them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
196. 13:28God has assigned our children to us.
197. 13:31And us to our children,
198. 13:33because we are primarily responsible
199. 13:35for the evangelization, the catechizing,
200. 13:38and the disciple making of our children.
201. 13:44Have we done it?
202. 13:45Have we been involved in it?
203. 13:48One of the saddest realities when you introduce the concept
204. 13:51of disciple making to a conversation with many Christians,
205. 13:54or probably should say many church hymns,
206. 13:57because churchy entity is not synonymous with Christianity.
207. 14:01Oftentimes the whole concept of disciple making is
208. 14:04constellated, but really worship, service,
209. 14:07attendest decorum, had us not making disciples.
210. 14:11So we're gonna have a conversation today
211. 14:13and I've invited the guest to join me to help me
212. 14:16to have this conversation about it is God's divine ordinance.
213. 14:21He has created the institution of marriage and blessed fathers and mothers with the privilege,
214. 14:28prerogative, and opportunity to be front-line vanguard of disciple-making.
215. 14:35This is your mission and you have no choice whether or not to accept it.
216. 14:39We must be about our fathers business, man.
217. 14:41We know intuitively that darkness is not an affirmative force.
218. 14:45That's why none of us goes home at the end of a long work day and say, Honeywood, you turn
219. 14:48the darkness off.
220. 14:50All that is necessary is for us to turn the light on.
221. 14:53Jesus told us to put the light on the lampstand.
222. 14:57Let's be about our Father's business.
223. 15:00America's 250th birthday.
224. 15:03It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream,
225. 15:06but we can help your celebration go well beyond that.
226. 15:09Show your patriotism with America 250 Apparel
227. 15:12that will become a memento of this special year.
228. 15:15We also have special episodes on AFA Stream
229. 15:18to help underscore that America is a Christian nation
230. 15:21and help you find God in the Constitution.
231. 15:23Find all of this and more in one place.
232. 15:26AFA.net slash topics slash 250.
233. 15:35Shining light into the darkness.
234. 15:37This is the Hamilton Corner, an American family radio.
235. 15:41Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner,
236. 15:42Abraham Hamilton III here.
237. 15:44I'm delighted to have on the program with me,
238. 15:46a woman who I'm coming to know.
239. 15:50She attended a conference where I was speaking
240. 15:52in Florida earlier this year.
241. 15:54And then she contacted our ministry after that.
242. 15:58Her name is Leanne Mancini.
243. 16:00She is the founder of Raising Christian Kids
244. 16:03and the host of the award-winning podcast,
245. 16:05Raising Christian Kids, which is available
246. 16:07on all major platforms and streaming
247. 16:10on KHCB Radios Uplifted Station.
248. 16:13She shares their expert golly advice,
249. 16:15biblically based wisdom and insightful tools
250. 16:17for parenting children to bring them closer to Jesus.
251. 16:20She's also an adjunct professor
252. 16:22at South Florida Bible College
253. 16:24in theological seminary.
254. 16:25And she's also a sought after speaker on topics
255. 16:28such as Christian growth, biblical understanding,
256. 16:30and children's spirituality.
257. 16:32She has a bachelor's in religious studies
258. 16:33from Regent University and master's degrees
259. 16:36in Christian and classical studies
260. 16:38and biblical and theological studies
261. 16:39from Knox Theological Seminary
262. 16:41and a master's in Christian studies
263. 16:43from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
264. 16:45My guest is Leanne Mancini.
265. 16:47Thank you for joining me here on this program.
266. 16:51Well, thank you for having me.
267. 16:52I'm honored to be here.
268. 16:53Oh, the honor is certainly mine.
269. 16:54And I want to show the people with that
270. 16:56because you were kind enough to send me your book,
271. 16:58Raising Kids to Follow Christ,
272. 17:00Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God,
273. 17:03which if you're watching the show,
274. 17:04I'm showing you the book right now.
275. 17:06It is an amazing guide for parents to aid you on your journey
276. 17:10of making disciples of your children.
277. 17:13And one of the things that you guys know
278. 17:14if you listen to the show and watch it for any length of time
279. 17:17that I'm exceedingly passionate about,
280. 17:18that you get do-overs and lots of areas.
281. 17:21You know, you get mulligans and golf,
282. 17:22but you don't get mulligans in parenting.
283. 17:24You know, you don't get to go back
284. 17:25and repeat the ages and things of that nature.
285. 17:27And so one of my things that I enjoy doing
286. 17:29is sharing resources with you that I find to be helpful.
287. 17:32And this book from Lee Ann Mancini is one of those books.
288. 17:37Our good friend Dr. Kathy Cook wrote the foreword
289. 17:39to Lee Ann's book.
290. 17:40And so this is one you definitely need to get,
291. 17:43and I'll just say this right to the all and send Jeff,
292. 17:44please put this in the show notes.
293. 17:47Go to her website, RaisingChristianKids.com.
294. 17:50She has all kinds of resources available there to aid you in your journey.
295. 17:54All right.
296. 17:56First and foremost, how did you end up in the position where you ultimately wrote your
297. 18:05book Raising Christian Kids, but you also had the animated series, uh, see kids adventures.
298. 18:10How did you come to the position of recognizing that, wait a minute, this is something
299. 18:14that not only we can do, we must do this.
300. 18:19Well, as you know, God calls us and he equips us.
301. 18:22I had no desire on the radar of doing an animation series or writing children's books
302. 18:28or writing a parenting book.
303. 18:30I was a volunteer of my children's school and just helping raise my children well as
304. 18:36best as I can.
305. 18:37But God called me and well, let me just back up.
306. 18:40When my kids were little I wrote these stories because I couldn't find books that taught them
307. 18:45how to live out the biblical principles I was trying to instill in them in real life
308. 18:49situations that little kids face. And I wrote these stories and my kids love them and I
309. 18:55shelved them. Well, years later, I felt the Lord and Holy Spirit prompted me to write the
310. 18:59see kids stories. So I wrote the books and went to NRB. I met a producer who said we need to
311. 19:06make them an animation series. So they are an animation series on right now media, pure
312. 19:12flicks, answers TV, minnow yippee. And then from there, I started realizing that children
313. 19:19we're walking away from their faith in an alarming rate five years ago with like 45% middle school
314. 19:24and 75% high school. And I prayed to the Lord and I felt the Lord prompted me to do research
315. 19:31because I'm a professor. I love to research and teach and research and write a book. Write
316. 19:38a book that would help parents and grandparents raise their children from the womb to age seven
317. 19:44to build that foundation. Once the foundation is solid, to build upon that foundation because
318. 19:51by age 13, their worldview has formed. So I felt the calling and I was obedient and that's how we
319. 19:58got the raising kids to follow Christ. Now, I just want to run a highlighter over something you just
320. 20:06said. And this is how some of the greatest contributions are made. You were in the trenches
321. 20:12raising your own children and you were seeking to do what you now encourage others to do,
322. 20:18but yet you found that there weren't sufficient resources to convey the biblical truth that you
323. 20:23wanted your children to grasp and in practical application there in their own lives. So you did
324. 20:30with any loving mom, God, fear, and Christian mom would do, it doesn't exist. Well, what did I make
325. 20:36Why don't I do it myself?
326. 20:38That's often the most important step to take
327. 20:42because the society wants us to be in a position
328. 20:45of kind of where we're paralyzed or infantilized,
329. 20:47where we don't have anything, we can't do this,
330. 20:49we can't do that.
331. 20:50Well, what keeps us from making the kind of things
332. 20:53that we want to see?
333. 20:54You know, I say often, I don't want to be one who just
334. 20:56stands on the sideline and curses the darkness.
335. 20:58I want to turn the light on.
336. 21:00I want to raise, put the light on the lampstand.
337. 21:04What would you say to other moms or dads and parents
338. 21:08who are listening to you right now
339. 21:09to encourage them to be willing to step into the void
340. 21:12that they may sense or may feel surrounding them,
341. 21:15to be able to serve their families well
342. 21:17and honor the Lord in doing so?
343. 21:19I would really listen to that Holy Spirit,
344. 21:24you know, touching you on your shoulders, saying,
345. 21:27there's a problem.
346. 21:29You need to solve this, but with God's help,
347. 21:33with the Holy Spirit, you can accomplish anything.
348. 21:37So you need to trust and pray in the Holy Spirit.
349. 21:40Ask for guidance.
350. 21:41If you have this burning desire to create something,
351. 21:45there's a reason you have that burning desire.
352. 21:48And if you don't want to stifle it, like you said,
353. 21:50you don't want to put that light underneath a bowl
354. 21:53and not let it shh.
355. 21:54You want to fan the flames through the Holy Spirit.
356. 21:59And you'll be so amazed at what you can do
357. 22:03If you step out of the boat, okay, step out of the boat
358. 22:07and trust the Lord in what you need to do.
359. 22:11And it's so much fun.
360. 22:13It's, you know, creating things for the Lord
361. 22:15and for children is so much fun and it's so rewarding.
362. 22:19But don't be afraid,
363. 22:20because the world will tell you you can't, you can't,
364. 22:23but God says you can, you can and you will,
365. 22:25and I will help you.
366. 22:27Man, and one of the things that,
367. 22:29and as you said, this wasn't even on your radar,
368. 22:31You were just endeavoring to serve your family.
369. 22:33But here God takes what you were willing to step out in faith
370. 22:37to trust Him to do for your own family
371. 22:39and now it becomes something that is beneficial,
372. 22:41a resource for other families.
373. 22:43I mean, I read some of the children's books
374. 22:45that you sent to me to my own children,
375. 22:48to where the things that you did for your children
376. 22:50are now being a blessing to my family.
377. 22:52And I'm able to pass it on and share it with others now.
378. 22:55I mean, that's how God does things
379. 22:58that as we follow Him and trust Him as He says,
380. 23:00what is we may perceive as something little, man, he expands that and makes it maximally fruitful
381. 23:06and reproductive and productive within his economy for his kingdom. Yes, he does. You just have to be
382. 23:13obedient to his calling. Amen. Amen. So you mentioned for this book, Raising Kids to Follow Christ,
383. 23:21instilling a lifelong trust in God, the one I mentioned that Dr. Cathy cooked to the foreword for,
384. 23:26You told me that you did a bevy of research as an academic,
385. 23:32as a professor, that you enjoyed doing research
386. 23:35because you didn't wanna just kinda just share off the cuff.
387. 23:38You wanted to make sure you anchored your presentation
388. 23:42in empirical facts and objective truth.
389. 23:46What are some of the things that you learned
390. 23:48during your research for your book
391. 23:50that kinda struck you as you were preparing to write it?
392. 23:54Well, I'm just so excited to share that you start teaching children from the womb.
393. 24:01Okay.
394. 24:02God says in Psalm 51, 6, yet you desired faithfulness, even the womb, you taught me wisdom in that
395. 24:07secret place.
396. 24:09And Psalm 78, 6 says, teach even to the children yet to be born.
397. 24:16At 18 weeks, the baby can hear in the womb.
398. 24:20But at 28 weeks, they can decipher between a mother's voice and a stranger's voice.
399. 24:26And what happens is you can just talk about Jesus and sing songs about Jesus, let your,
400. 24:34your fetus or your infant in your belly there hear the name of Jesus all the time.
401. 24:39When from the womb to age three, what we're doing is we're preparing that soil to be rich
402. 24:44soil.
403. 24:45For example, you're feeding your baby.
404. 24:48You can say, Jesus loves you, Johnny.
405. 24:50Jesus loves you.
406. 24:51What you're doing is you're connecting the name of Jesus
407. 24:53with his needs being met.
408. 24:57You have a six month old giggling and looking in the mirror
409. 25:01at the reflection.
410. 25:02You say, Sarah, Jesus loves you.
411. 25:04You're so beautiful.
412. 25:05Jesus created you.
413. 25:06You're connecting her happy emotions
414. 25:08with the name of Jesus.
415. 25:10And there's so much you can do by the age of three.
416. 25:13Okay, you have a toddler that needs to take a nap
417. 25:15instead of saying take a nap, say, let's take a Sabbath's rest.
418. 25:19Now they don't understand the true meaning of Sabbath,
419. 25:21but they know it has something to do with resting
420. 25:23and praying to Jesus.
421. 25:25Then from the ages four to seven,
422. 25:28when you're instilling biblical principles and wisdom,
423. 25:30you're planting those seeds into rich soil
424. 25:33to grow deep roots.
425. 25:36So I learned a lot about how to build that foundation
426. 25:40by the age of seven, what you can do.
427. 25:43And I'll give you an example.
428. 25:44I have my God child is three years old
429. 25:48and his mother's done a fabulous job.
430. 25:50He can recite the Lord's Prayer.
431. 25:52He can tell you the story about David and Goliath, Noah's Ark,
432. 25:57Jonah and the Whale.
433. 25:58He knows all of these and he can tell you about them.
434. 26:01He can articulate them and he can recite Bible verses
435. 26:04because his mother has worked with him through playtime.
436. 26:08She made playtime sacred playtime
437. 26:12Ed Einstein says, play is the highest form of research
438. 26:16for children, for anybody really.
439. 26:18When you play, you learn, that's how they learn.
440. 26:21So I learned a lot through reading over 250 parenting books
441. 26:26and researching doctors and the brightest minds
442. 26:29in children's spirituality.
443. 26:30And I condensed it into this book
444. 26:32to be a tool parents can use,
445. 26:34a lot of application ideas I put in this book.
446. 26:38And I don't keep any of my proceeds from this book.
447. 26:41I donate them to our nonprofit, Raising Christian Kids,
448. 26:44which gives free resources to families who are in need.
449. 26:49So it's all a mission.
450. 26:50It's a mission to serve parents and grandparents
451. 26:53to the best of my ability that God has blessed me to do.
452. 26:56Amen.
453. 26:58I know in your book, he referred to,
454. 27:00he was a friend of mine and a friend of this program,
455. 27:02Dr. George Barna, his book Raising Spiritual Champions.
456. 27:05He often talks about worldview being crystallized
457. 27:07by the age of 13.
458. 27:09And early in your book, you were just talking about Jonathan Edwards and things of that nature.
459. 27:15And then you have this quote in your book, Concerning Parenting, that it is the most important
460. 27:19and blessed duty the Lord has assigned to us.
461. 27:23This is something that I wholeheartedly believe and agree with.
462. 27:26But unfortunately, much of our world, including the church in our world, doesn't seem to practically
463. 27:32agree with that.
464. 27:33Is that something you encountered in your research or even anecdotally as you have been invested
465. 27:38involved in the ministry raising Christian kids? Yes, you know, in fact, he talks about his statistics
466. 27:44with the Christian Arizona University that 13 to 14 year olds from Christian families, 70%
467. 27:51don't believe Satan is real, 84% don't believe we're born into sin and need a savior,
468. 27:57and 90% of those children don't believe in absolute moral truth. And you know,
469. 28:02this is the problem we have and 53% of children's Christian pastors believe in reincarnation.
470. 28:09So this is the problem we're having, you know, that the church is not stepping up and meeting the needs to the parents, not all churches, but many of the churches.
471. 28:19They have a lot of programs for divorce care and for grief and everything, but they need parenting classes in the church that can equip these parents to educate them so they in turn can educate their children and biblical principles.
472. 28:33And you know, we have God's word that tells us,
473. 28:36what does Jeremiah, Isaiah, King David have in common?
474. 28:41They were taught from birth, from the womb, from a young age.
475. 28:46There's so much we can do.
476. 28:48We just have to be willing to, you know,
477. 28:51get out there and learn it and do it.
478. 28:53You mentioned that we start teaching our children from birth.
479. 28:57What has happened in our society that occurs
480. 29:01occurs that where we get to a certain age and parents sometimes believe once my child becomes
481. 29:05this age, I'm no longer capable of teaching them.
482. 29:08Because the truth is, from the moment that even before birth, like you mentioned, the capacity
483. 29:13to distinguish dad and mom's voice, I remember, I mean, it's a little inside, but I would sing
484. 29:18to my children when my wife was pregnant, you know, and because I know what you just said,
485. 29:24not only statistically, but I would sense the responses and things of that nature.
486. 29:28What has happened to cause parents to all of a sudden become kind of immobilized and thinking,
487. 29:34well, I can't actually teach my children in this way.
488. 29:37What has happened in our culture that has led to that kind of communication?
489. 29:40Well, I think what happened is you have in the 50s and the 60s, everybody went to church,
490. 29:47people knew God's Word, they passed it on to their children.
491. 29:50We were living in a society that was more acceptable to the Christian morals and values
492. 29:55and virtues.
493. 29:57forward, now we're living in a society where I think parents have failed to learn God's word well
494. 30:03enough and you have parents who are unchurched or unknowledgeable in the Word of God and they don't
495. 30:09know how to raise their children in the Word of God. But there's a big turnaround. A lot of
496. 30:14parents are seeking wisdom. They see what's happening in our world. They see this
497. 30:19socialistic, woke society, all this craziness and they're like, wait a minute, I don't want my children
498. 30:26to believe that this is true, how can I teach them?
499. 30:29What proofs, how can I educate them to know that this is not true,
500. 30:32that this is a lie from the devil, that this is not truth.
501. 30:35And so they're seeking and they're asking for help.
502. 30:39And so programs like yours and ministries like mine
503. 30:43and the things that we're doing in our ministries are helping parents.
504. 30:46They want and need the help.
505. 30:49And so we can turn this around.
506. 30:52It's just we have to adhere to what God's calling is
507. 30:56and step out of the boat, like I said, and be active.
508. 30:59I want to mention, before we get too far into the conversation,
509. 31:02what is your website where people can access these resources
510. 31:05and again, the name of the podcast that you do?
511. 31:08Yes, well, the website is RaisingChristianKids
512. 31:12with a poor S, raisingChristiankids.com.
513. 31:17Now, my podcast, I have past episodes
514. 31:20because I've moved on from the podcast,
515. 31:22a live podcast right now, and I have George Barna.
516. 31:25I have a section of apologetics with the top educators
517. 31:31and apologetics for children, for disciplining,
518. 31:35because I have George Barna, I have Natasha Crane,
519. 31:39I have so many well-known experts.
520. 31:41The parents can go and listen to these episodes.
521. 31:45What we are having is we're having a parenting conference
522. 31:48October 10th in Pompano Beach.
523. 31:50We have a one-day parenting conference.
524. 31:53We have excellent speakers, Ginger, Hubbard, Rhonda Stoppi,
525. 31:57Sam Sorbo, Kevin Sorbo, the actor Sam Sorbo,
526. 32:01and their ministry, speaking.
527. 32:03So we have a fun-filled day that we wanna give back
528. 32:06to parents and grandparents.
529. 32:09We have tons of door prizes that are out of this world
530. 32:12that we're just gonna give to these parents.
531. 32:14So this is what we're all about at RaisingChristianKids.com.
532. 32:18We want to help parents, we want to assist them,
533. 32:22and grandparents in raising their children.
534. 32:30Presenting AFA Stream, an online platform that hosts all AFA-produced video content, including
535. 32:37documentaries, church curriculum, American Family Radio shows, and our Cultural Institute
536. 32:43series.
537. 32:44I would submit that we are a Christian nation, and the proof of that is in our founding documents
538. 32:50and in the U.S. Constitution itself.
539. 32:53because our founders recognized for the first time in world history,
540. 32:59that our rights come from God our Creator, not our government.
541. 33:03AFA Stream is a vital step that we are taking to fulfill our vision
542. 33:08to be a leading organization in Biblical worldview training for cultural transformation.
543. 33:14You'll find top-notch resources that address the issues of our day
544. 33:18related to marriage, family, the sanctity of life, and many others.
545. 33:22Start streaming today stream.afa.net.
546. 33:27Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terrence
547. 33:38are available at aFR.net.
548. 33:40Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
549. 33:44Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner.
550. 33:46My guest is Leanne Mancini, author of Raising Kids
551. 33:50to Follow Christ and Stealing a Lifelong Trust in God.
552. 33:54Also, the founder of Raising Christian Kids.
553. 33:57Her website is raisingchristiankids.com, that is raisingchristiankids.com.
554. 34:03Before we went to the break, Leanne, you were sharing that you are preparing a one day parenting
555. 34:08conference, October 10th in Pompano Beach, Florida. Is that right? Pompano Beach.
556. 34:14Yeah. Where can people get the information for your conference in all of the details? Is there a cost
557. 34:20and all of that information? Would you share that with us, please?
558. 34:23Yes, it's very affordable at $65 and you could go to RaisingDisciples.com.
559. 34:35So that's again with an S Raising Disciples Conference.com.
560. 34:41And this is so, so good.
561. 34:43What are you seeking to accomplish through the conference?
562. 34:46As I know we've been having this conversation, I can intuit what you're seeking to accomplish.
563. 34:51but I want to invite you just to share
564. 34:53what the conference's objective is.
565. 34:57Well, God says in Psalm 127,
566. 35:00our children are arrows in our quiver.
567. 35:04So what are arrows used for?
568. 35:06And how are they manufactured?
569. 35:08They're made precise.
570. 35:09So they can be used to shoot and kill the enemy.
571. 35:15So what we're doing at this conference
572. 35:17is we're equipping parents to sharpen their children
573. 35:22biblically, emotionally, spiritually,
574. 35:24so that they can become the future fighters, disciples,
575. 35:29against evil.
576. 35:31And we're also making sure that parents are walking away,
577. 35:35feeling loved and understood and heard.
578. 35:38They'll be able to engage with the speakers
579. 35:41and we're giving tons of door prizes.
580. 35:45I mean, really, really nice door prizes
581. 35:47when they go to the website, they'll be able to see that.
582. 35:50And we want parents to have a fun filled day
583. 35:52while learning a lot about what they can do and take home.
584. 35:57The goody bags will be filled with information as well.
585. 36:00Hmm, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
586. 36:03Now in the previous segment, you mentioned something
587. 36:05that is unfortunately seems to be so sorely lost
588. 36:09in our culture, you were talking about the importance
589. 36:11of discipline in rearing children.
590. 36:14you know, the root word to discipline actually is disciple.
591. 36:17Why is that such an important feature
592. 36:20of Christian parents' commitment
593. 36:23to rearing the children God and trust in our care
594. 36:25and his nurture and admonition?
595. 36:27Well, your children need to be obedient
596. 36:30if they're going to learn.
597. 36:33The first step is obedience.
598. 36:34In my book I have, I think two chapters,
599. 36:37teaching children how to obey
600. 36:39and then how to follow the rules after they learn how to obey.
601. 36:43They need to learn how to obey first.
602. 36:46You know, for example, I have parents say,
603. 36:48I always tell them write a family mission statement.
604. 36:50Start with the family mission statement
605. 36:52that tells about what you're going to,
606. 36:55as a family, how you're gonna worship,
607. 36:57have a contract, a disciplinary contract in that as well,
608. 37:01that talks about what is expected for obedient children,
609. 37:04what are the consequences for disobedience.
610. 37:08I tell parents that children earn their consequences.
611. 37:11You're not doling them out.
612. 37:12They earn that and they earn privileges as well.
613. 37:16And I'll have parents say, you know, I have a teenager
614. 37:19and so I did what you said, they're still not listening.
615. 37:21And I, Tom, look, you have to sit down and tell your child
616. 37:24or your teenager.
617. 37:25The three reasons we're doing this is because we have to be
618. 37:29accountable to God for how we're raising you.
619. 37:32We're doing this because we wanna keep you safe
620. 37:34and we're doing this because we love you.
621. 37:37Those are three reasons that they cannot push back upon.
622. 37:41And you'll see how fast your teenager will turn around
623. 37:44when you take the computer away, the cell phone
624. 37:46or the keys to the car.
625. 37:49And I also think it's important for also,
626. 37:53for teaching children how to be obedient,
627. 37:55is having a good relationship with your child.
628. 37:58You don't lecture to your teenagers.
629. 37:59They don't lecture, you lecture them,
630. 38:01they're gonna turn around and run away.
631. 38:05You have to have a good relationship,
632. 38:06and that starts very early.
633. 38:08You need to listen to them.
634. 38:11and hear them out and understand them.
635. 38:14You're a coach when you're a teenager.
636. 38:16And so there's just so much we can do.
637. 38:19Teach our little ones how to be critical thinkers
638. 38:22when they come to you with a question,
639. 38:24instead of answering their question,
640. 38:26ask them what they think about it.
641. 38:28So when Johnny comes to you and says,
642. 38:29mommy, is that okay, Tommy has two daddies?
643. 38:33Is that okay?
644. 38:34Is God okay with the S two daddies?
645. 38:36You say, Tommy, what do you think?
646. 38:38And how he answers you is how you reply.
647. 38:41Yes, you're right.
648. 38:42It's not right in God's word.
649. 38:44It's a mommy and a daddy.
650. 38:46Or you say, well, here's what God's word says.
651. 38:50Let's look.
652. 38:51You teach them how to become critical thinkers
653. 38:54by asking the question back to them.
654. 38:56So critical thinking also works with obedience.
655. 38:59When you want them to learn how to be obedient,
656. 39:01they need to work through situations
657. 39:04and it's all about relationship.
658. 39:06Well said, one of the things you tackle in your book,
659. 39:10raising kids to follow Christ
660. 39:12is you highlight the distinction between honor and respect.
661. 39:18Honor and respect, we know the commandments articulated first
662. 39:21in the Hebrew text, reiterated in Ephesians 6.
663. 39:25Children are the honor, your father, and your mother.
664. 39:28This is the first command with a promise.
665. 39:31What is the distinction between honor and respect
666. 39:34that we should understand and seek to convey
667. 39:36cultivate in our children?
668. 39:39Yes, respect is please thank you,
669. 39:43obeying the authority figures in our life,
670. 39:47doing what we're told to do.
671. 39:49Johnny, you have to go take the garbage on on Friday.
672. 39:52Okay, Mom, he takes the garbage on on Friday.
673. 39:55Honor is a little bit different.
674. 39:57Honor goes above and beyond what they're called to do.
675. 40:00So how does a child honor a parent?
676. 40:03Susie has to do the dishes every night after dinner.
677. 40:06But after Susie does the dishes,
678. 40:09now she goes to the front room and starts cleaning
679. 40:12the front room or putting the toys away
680. 40:14from her little brother and sister.
681. 40:15And she wasn't told to do that.
682. 40:17That's how she's honoring her parents.
683. 40:21Honor goes above and beyond what is called,
684. 40:23what is necessary.
685. 40:26Mm, that is something that is so sorely lacking
686. 40:32because we live in a society.
687. 40:34And I encounter this often that people are often surprised
688. 40:37when they see children who are obedient in public and let alone children who are willing
689. 40:41to honor their parents.
690. 40:45If you don't mind, and this is something I invite my guests to do all the time, would you
691. 40:49share, excuse me, would you share a bit how the Lord saved you, and I know you and your husband,
692. 40:54God, you all have two children who are adults now, how the Lord saved you, and how has it
693. 41:02been for your family implementing this into your own lives?
694. 41:06you're teaching others through your books and your resources?
695. 41:09Yes.
696. 41:10Well, I was a believer of Christ since I was a young child.
697. 41:15My mother, I was raised Catholic.
698. 41:17And my mother had a big picture of Jesus on the wall in our front room.
699. 41:23And we had all the family pictures around him.
700. 41:25And I was raised by a single mother.
701. 41:28And we didn't have a lot, but we had everything we needed.
702. 41:32And she always instilled that relationship with Christ from a very early age, praying,
703. 41:38asking him for forgiveness and praying.
704. 41:41So I've always believed in Him.
705. 41:43And it wasn't until I was older that I realized what it meant to confess your sins to Christ
706. 41:50and ask forgiveness and receive salvation and be baptized.
707. 41:53So I was baptized in my 40s.
708. 41:57I'm not going to tell you what I am now, but I'm way past.
709. 42:01Let the record reflect, I didn't ask, I didn't ask.
710. 42:04And as I was raising my kids, I always wanted them to love the Lord Jesus.
711. 42:11Now, I wish I knew then what I know now, it would have been easier.
712. 42:18But praise the Lord, my adult children come to my house once a week for Bible study.
713. 42:23Wow.
714. 42:24They're learning from me.
715. 42:25They said, Mom, there's no one better than to teach us than you about the Bible.
716. 42:29So we have Bible study every week in my home.
717. 42:32And now I have a new grandson and I can't wait to teach him too.
718. 42:36Wow, wow.
719. 42:37And I asked that question, I'm so grateful for your response because, you know, the Lord saves
720. 42:43us and calls us.
721. 42:44We all have different journeys.
722. 42:45And there will be some who would say, and I encountered these people, I'm sure you do as
723. 42:48well, who would say, well, I wish I had known this at some earlier point, but you can't go
724. 42:54back and know what you didn't know when you didn't know it.
725. 42:57But the issue is now that you know what are you going to do with it?
726. 43:00So now here you have this life stage where you're able to, you're studying the scripture
727. 43:06with your adult children and now you're positioned with your first grandchild to be able to invest
728. 43:12there.
729. 43:13And this is something that I encourage our audience to do all the time.
730. 43:15Listen, don't waste time, crying out with spilled milk, what's done is done.
731. 43:18But what are we going to do now?
732. 43:20How can we implement now?
733. 43:21What we know?
734. 43:22of now and having that broad vision, that Psalm 78 vision, that you conduct and engage for
735. 43:28children, your children, your children yet to be born, and that we have the wherewithal.
736. 43:33I often think about this.
737. 43:34I have the wherewithal that the way I can put myself now to set a foundation for how my grandchildren,
738. 43:41my great-grandchildren, Lord willing one day, will be impacted to a degree.
739. 43:45I obviously won't be their parents, but I have an opportunity and a platform from which
740. 43:52to impact them as well. So that is just encouraging to hear.
741. 43:57Oh, I'm so excited. You said that because that little God's son of mine that I told you
742. 44:01about that's three years old, I took the time to invest in his mother, to teach her, to talk
743. 44:09to her, to educate her, to give her the resources she needed. And because of that, she is an outstanding
744. 44:17Christian mom. And she is raising an outstanding Christian child, a little toddler, who all
745. 44:24he wants to do is know about Jesus and play puppets about Bible stories and sing Christian
746. 44:31songs. If you try to give him something else to look at another book, he just tosses it to
747. 44:36the side. He wants everything, all the biblical stories, he just eats them up because I took
748. 44:44the time to invest in her.
749. 44:46Praise God.
750. 44:48One of the things that you've stressed, you've said it here,
751. 44:52that you emphasize the necessity of starting young.
752. 44:57I'm sure you've got this question in a bunch of times.
753. 44:59How soon?
754. 45:01When is it the appropriate age?
755. 45:03Or is there an appropriate age to start
756. 45:05to pour into your children, to raise them,
757. 45:07to become Christ followers?
758. 45:10Right away.
759. 45:11Like I said in the womb, sing songs about Jesus,
760. 45:13volunteer at a church nursery.
761. 45:17Let your fetus hear the songs, children sing in the songs,
762. 45:20and then volunteer after that and bring your infant son with you.
763. 45:23And the first day they have to attend,
764. 45:25they're gonna be used to it.
765. 45:27Always, everything you do, it's, you know, do to run a me.
766. 45:29When you rise up, when you walk along the path,
767. 45:31when you lie down, when you play with your children,
768. 45:34when you talk with your children,
769. 45:35bring Jesus into every conversation.
770. 45:38And also I tell parents,
771. 45:39when you have a little one memorizing a Bible verse,
772. 45:42make sure they understand every word that they're memorizing.
773. 45:46Children will say honor thy father thy mother,
774. 45:49but they don't know if the word honor means.
775. 45:52So, there's just so much we can do.
776. 45:54Your play areas at home, are they more reflected
777. 45:56of Disneyland or Destiny Land?
778. 46:00They make it a sacred play area with everything biblical.
779. 46:04You can buy biblical Legos now.
780. 46:07There's so much we can do.
781. 46:08And as they get older, you supplement their books
782. 46:13and their reading and what they're watching,
783. 46:15make sure you know everything that your child is reading
784. 46:18and watching and hearing.
785. 46:20Because again, you have a short window, 13 years really.
786. 46:24This is your most important job.
787. 46:26There is no other job on earth more important
788. 46:28than a parent raising the next Christian disciple
789. 46:33and honor of God and being obedient to his word
790. 46:36to go make disciples.
791. 46:38I'm gonna invite you to say that again.
792. 46:39There's no more important job than what?
793. 46:42Then raising disciples starting in your home
794. 46:45with your children.
795. 46:46Amen, amen.
796. 46:48This is the last question we probably have time for
797. 46:50because as we mentioned already,
798. 46:51I know you're also an adjunct professor.
799. 46:54How has your work in helping parents
800. 46:58to disciple their children impacted your work
801. 47:01as a professor, if it has at all?
802. 47:03Has it provided any contributions
803. 47:06to your academic offerings
804. 47:08and what you do as a professor.
805. 47:10Yes, I'm so excited.
806. 47:11South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary
807. 47:14is one of the top 10 most affordable colleges in the country.
808. 47:18It's a wonderful college.
809. 47:20And they said, hey, why don't you teach an elective
810. 47:24for the psychology course degree?
811. 47:28And so counseling degree, I'm sorry.
812. 47:31And so I was teaching a biblical parenting course
813. 47:35for the counseling degree.
814. 47:36And the students loved it.
815. 47:39They said, well, how have we never heard of this?
816. 47:41We never seen this before.
817. 47:43And we addressed all the issues that children are facing today,
818. 47:47the problems, especially the cell phone.
819. 47:50And I would like to add, there's a cell phone that is fabulous.
820. 47:54And it's true me, T-R-O-O-M-I.
821. 47:58That is the best cell phone you want to get for your children.
822. 48:01You can research it and the parents can research it.
823. 48:04But it made me a better teacher in the classroom, too,
824. 48:12because I understood that even when I'm teaching Romans
825. 48:15or apologetics, you can teach with the idea of making sure,
826. 48:20listen, when you teach your children at home
827. 48:23or when you talk to your niece and your nephew,
828. 48:25make sure they understand this concept.
829. 48:29Again, it's the most important job
830. 48:30is teaching not only our children, but somebody
831. 48:33else's children or your niece and your nephew or your grandchild.
832. 48:37It's just so important.
833. 48:39It's the future of Christianity.
834. 48:43It's the way we change the trajectory of our world.
835. 48:46It's the only way.
836. 48:47It's the only way.
837. 48:48It's the only way.
838. 48:49Disciples our way into it.
839. 48:51We have to decipher our way out of it.
840. 48:53Lee Ann Mancini, thank you so much for joining me here on the program.
841. 48:56RaisingChristiankids.com is a website.
842. 48:59October, October 10th, the one day parenting conference coming up.
843. 49:03You do not want to miss it.
844. 49:05You all have a wonderful year.
845. 49:09The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect
846. 49:13those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.