Page Translator


Social Media

Toolkit
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church's Parent Summit Teaches Parents how to Spiritually Connect with their Child
Written by Temia Griffin   


When it comes to impacting the lives of youth, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church (F.A.B.C.) Youth and Young Adult Pastor Fred 'Chip' Luter, III.'s background is outstanding. But, it was Pastor Chip's professor in seminary school who inspired him to broaden his experience and develop the Parent Summit. “It was really a conclusive moment that day because I realized I put a lot of money and time investing into reaching students, but I don’t think about how I can equip parents to play that major role when they are the ones who will be in their kids’ lives a lot longer than me,” says Pastor Chip.

Hoping to encourage parental involvement and clear the lines of miscommunication between parents and children, Pastor Chip and the Youth and Young Adult Ministry at F.A.B.C. in New Orleans, Louisiana, initiated the F.A.B.C. Parent Summit in January of this year.

Parents, grandparents and educators gather eagerly at F.A.B.C. every three months to listen attentively to guest speakers share techniques on building a spiritual bond of communication with their adolescents. "The motive of this Summit is to encourage, equip and engage parents to disciple their children for Christ. First, the speaker encourages, then they equip you to be a praying parent. And lastly, they engage, so parents can get engaged and practically make this work,” says Pastor Chip.

First Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention and Pastor of F.A.B.C. Fred Luter, Jr., was the first invited speaker, and he delivered a phenomenal lecture on ‘the critical role of parents to the development of children.’ The next guest speaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Luter, blew attendees away with her speech on ‘being an actively praying parent,’ and recently in July, renowned speaker Dr. Calvin Mackie gave a motivational lecture, addressing 'the cultural influence parents have on society in raising their children today.' However, Pastor Chip says that the focal theme of every Summit this year is for parents to find ways to pray with and for their children. “Because as you pray with and for them, you are able to build that spiritual connection.”

Let’s face it. Children are inquisitive, and they are easily influenced if educators and parents are not there to properly guide them. With the advancement of the media and social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, Pastor Chip feels that it is more critical than ever to discuss with parents how to converse with their children about social networking and ‘sex-texting.’ “One of the problems we discovered about our youth is that they’re getting all this information about sex from outside the church. And those of us in the church, we feel that we have the best place to talk about this because God is the creator of sex.”

Pastor Chip says that the Parent Summit is an outlet for parents to speak with experts and share their experiences with other parents. “The thing is that sexual education is happening whether they (parents) want to believe it or not. They (children) can learn sexual education through their phones and Facebook than ever before. So, we wanted to give some time during our Parent Summit that would allow some of our parents to learn how to tackle these issues,” says Pastor Chip.

Here are seven (7) quick tips that were proposed at the July Summit to assist parents in building a spiritual pipeline of communication with their children:

1.) Make your child feel comfortable when speaking with you. Parents should be receptive.

2.) Put systems on your computer, where you can block obscene websites, or have e-mail notifications sent to you if someone is on an inappropriate site in your home.

3.) Parents must mandate and manage the cell phone. If needed, get rid of the data-plans on cell phones. Remember, you are paying the bill.

4.) Ask what’s going on in your child’s life. Get involved. Just being present and letting them know that you are here is all it takes most times.

5.) Facebook and Twitter have their pros and cons, but regulate your child’s times on these websites.

6.) Parents don’t force your will on your child. Apologize for putting so much pressure on your kids.

7.) Finally, continue to pray for your children. Through prayer, parents are acknowledging and experiencing the presence of God in their lives and their children's life.

After the great receptiveness and participation throughout the last three forums, Pastor Chip and the F.A.B.C. Youth and Young Adult Ministry are excitedly awaiting to host the next Parent Summit, which is scheduled to be held in October at F.A.B.C. “We plan to do this indefinitely. There’s no stop to this! We make the forum accessible and practical, so parents don’t feel intimidated and will be motivated to attend the conference again," says Pastor Chip.

 
 
The 2012 Parent & Community Power Summit
Written by Temia Griffin   

Supporter and guest speaker, Dr. Louise S. Kaltenbaugh at the 2010 Parent & Community Summit

 

 


Once again, Modern Parents Magazine and the United States Department of Education have collaborated to present the annual Parent & Community forum to uplift communities, parents and educators to advance our children's education.
http://www.nfdinstitute.org/Inaugral-PARENT-POWER-Forum.html
 
The Hidden Cost of Parenting
Written by Shelby White and James Williams   
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 12:06


As parents, we always seem to be forking over money for one thing or another. But it’s the small-unexpected expenses that catch us off-guard. Often times, we budget enough money for the essentials, gas, food, bills and a mortgage. However, we seem to get side swiped by the extra money that we need for school field trips, Friday pizza, school fundraisers and other minor expenses. Items like these are what I call the Hidden Cost of Parenting, or the Hidden Cost of Living.

For instance, you send your child to a great school. The only catch is that the school asks for quarterly fundraiser donations, where a mountain of candy is sent home for you to sell but never seems to sell out. This is a great ways to cut costs for the parents, right? Well, guess who ends up buying that candy? You, of course, because we MUST support our kids! What about the field trips where the destination just happens to be 100 miles away? This one trip can blow your week’s gasoline budget out of the water (if you have a budget).

Being a good parent calls for a lot of work and anticipated expenses; but it is these hidden costs that we do not prepare for or even notice. Well, there is a solution to this problem that will help stop the hemorrhaging of money. It’s called “Glove Compartment Cash (GCC).”

This is similar to the petty cash that a business keeps for minor expenses, except these monies are for expenses associated with your children’s school affairs. GCC is a small amount of paper money that you set aside each week only for unexpected occasions. You can seal it in an envelope or have it placed on a prepaid debit card, and keep it in the glove compartment of your car. For safety precautions, simply use a visa prepaid debt card, which you can get from any Walgreens or CVS store.

GCC should be no more than $100 a month, keeping in mind that some months you won’t have a need for this money at all. However, there are three laws of GCC:

1. GCC should never be used for things like fast food. - Once you form a habit of using this money for fast food purchases, it will be gone within days! Children have a hard time passing McDonalds or Wendy’s without pouring on about how hungry they are. If your child needs a snack after school, add that expense into you grocery budget and keep a few snacks in the trunk.

2. GCC should only be used for gasoline when associated with school activities. - A school activity is not defined as a typical drop-off and pick-up of your children to and from school. Reserve GCC for those trips where you are a chaperone and must drive to meet the children on site.

3. Resist, Resist, Resist - There will come a day when you have accumulated a few hundred dollars in GCC. On these days, tell yourself, “this money can be used in some other way.” This is when you should resist the most. Remember, as a parent the last thing you would ever want to tell your child is “I can’t afford for you to go on a field trip.” Think of how that would make you and your child feel, or in some cases, how it has already made you feel.

Parenting is full of responsibility; let’s embrace it! By preparing for the unforeseen cost associated with being a parent, we empower and liberate ourselves from day-to-day stress, adding years to our lives, years that we can spend with our children and grandchildren.