#112. The Christian Parenting Study Your Church Is Looking For: Why Entrusted with a Child’s Heart Helps YOU as a Pastor or Ministry Leader

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Welcome to the Again podcast from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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We know a lot of churches and

Ministries are thinking about the

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study they'll be using in the fall.

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We also realize it takes a lot of

research and many conversations

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to get a church on board to do

a year long study as it should.

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We're so thankful that churches are

diligent to find truly biblical resources.

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I'll link to our statement of

faith in the show notes so you

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can know exactly where we stand.

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But this episode is something you

could send a pastor or women's ministry

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leader to explain why you think and

trusted would really bless your church.

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It'll be brief, but hopefully it'll

provide you with the main benefits of

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bringing this thorough scripture saturated

study to your church or group of moms.

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I would say we are most closely

aligned with the parent parenting

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philosophy of Paul Tripp.

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His book Parenting is Phenomenal.

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And was so like-minded

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to our study Entrusted

with the child's heart.

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Entrusted was written in 1999 by

Betsy Corning, along with being

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a lifelong student of the word.

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She has her master's in biblical studies.

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She wanted to ensure that everything

she was promoting in a trusted,

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truly aligned with the heart of God.

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What sets Entrusted apart is the

length and the practicality of the

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study, because it was written by a mom.

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That often spent her days on kitchen

floors training her children day by day.

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It really gets to the heart of what do

you do when it's not just theoretical or

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philosophical, it's thoroughly practical

while remaining solidly biblical.

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It's intentional, yet full of grace,

it's obedience focused, but all while

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maintaining the heart of your child

seeking transformation and humility

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in their hearts over behaviorism.

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Entrusted with A Child's

Heart is a ministry to moms.

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This nine month study takes a

deep dive into biblical parenting.

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It will apply to every age

and every stage of parenting.

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With every single lesson, we

provide 20 hour long lessons

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that are full of scripture.

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And after that, moms work out these

biblical truths in a small group setting,

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so they're building real fellowship

within the walls of your church.

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There's minimal homework because

we know that moms are doing all the

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things, but we do have scripture memory.

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Every week later, there's an opportunity

to have a discussion with their husbands

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at home about how to practically

apply the principles they're learning.

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We also have the Entrusted with

the Child's heart book for couples

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for those wanting to work through

the same principles together.

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And we recently recorded videos with

Betsy and David Corning that recap

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each of these chapters so moms and

dads can watch these at home together.

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Or you can start a couple's

group in your church.

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Speaker 4: You might find it interesting

to learn that Betsy was asked to write

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this study by her church leadership

because they realized they were spending

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so much time counseling crisis situations.

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They wondered if they could

prevent these situations from

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occurring before they began.

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As Betsy often says, in counseling

situations, we've got some scrambled

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eggs, but we wanna make sure that we

don't add any more eggs to the pan.

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But in many cases, we can prevent

the eggs from ever getting

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cracked open in the first place.

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No, we don't guarantee a prescription

for parenting or for marriage.

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What we're about is helping parents and

families apply the wisdom of the Bible

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so that even when the unexpected happens,

we can be steadfast and hold to Christ.

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And what's really exciting is

that Entrusted doesn't just

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transform moms and their parenting.

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It gives them a foundation to

apply the word of God to every

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aspect of their life, and that will

bring unity in your entire church.

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So let me explain what I think

are some of the biggest benefits

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for your church.

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in hosting and Entrusted with a

child's heart group, number one,

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you develop a shared language.

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For example, often a question or

issue arises that can be simply

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solved by discerning, is this a

biblical conviction, a personal

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conviction, or a personal preference?

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When the members of your church understand

this distinction, and they know that

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we're called to be steadfast in regard

to biblical convictions, understanding

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in regard to personal convictions.

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And flexible in regard

to personal preferences.

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You can clearly guide them in wisdom.

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Personally, I have seen deep waters

calmed by this Clarity COVID-19.

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Anyone.

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A few years ago at a conference, I was

talking to a pastor that was explaining

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a heartbreaking situation of divisiveness

going on with the moms of his church.

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I looked at him and I said, these moms

are turning an issue that should be

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a personal conviction, and they're

elevating it to the level of a

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biblical conviction, and they shouldn't

be requiring that of each other.

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And the light bulb went on as he told me.

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You're right.

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I have been so thankful for the clarity

that Entrusted has brought me over and

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over as I've thought about how to approach

so many matters of unity in the church.

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Steph: Another amazing

benefit of Entrusted.

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Is that as a church, you are equipping

the key disciples in your body.

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Most churches host leadership

trainings for their staff and

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their small group leaders.

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But did you know that a mom

might be spending the most time

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discipling of anyone in your church?

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There is more and more research coming

to light that the worldview that children

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have when they're very young, even as

toddlers, is often a worldview that

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will carry them through to adulthood.

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And possibly to the end of their life.

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And this means when a mom is

next to her toddler, you don't

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want the counterfeit lies

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of the culture or of social

media guiding her parenting.

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You want it to be the word of God.

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And when moms understand their

biblical role before the Lord and

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when churches equip them for the

task, this partnership is powerful.

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It doesn't guarantee an outcome.

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Or make the Deb any easier, but it helps

a mother understand how crucial her

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role is and the fruit of that is she can

joyfully serve her family in a way that

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will bless your church for years to come.

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It's the heart of multiplication.

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Number three.

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As I mentioned at the beginning,

Entrusted can lessen the amount of time.

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Leaders in your church

do crisis counseling.

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We know how many things are

vying for your attention.

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But we want you to be able to focus on

ministering to your flock and preparing

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to train them in the word not reinventing

the wheel and trusted won't alleviate

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the need for all intervention, but it

can help parents in your congregation to

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proactively point their families to Christ

instead of reactively dealing with issues.

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Each lesson is like sitting in

a biblical counseling training.

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These moms are learning how to apply

the word of God in their homes,

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and they're also learning how to

encourage one another to follow

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wholeheartedly after the Lord

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even when it gets hard.

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And that type of fellowship

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will transform your church.

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Number four, we found over and over

that Entrusted helps assimilate

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new families into your church.

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Moms are looking for fellowship.

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They want a place to process

all they're doing at home.

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And the struggles that they're

having when they know they can find

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a place of wisdom and belonging at an

Entrusted group, they usually don't

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just stay for the mom's ministry event.

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They start bringing their

family to church on Sundays.

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We've seen it time and time again.

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People might be hesitant

to come through your doors.

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For the first time for a church service.

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But a moms group can make them feel safe

and loved in a less intimidating way.

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And many moms have come to Christ

through this study because we begin with

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building a foundation on Jesus Christ.

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Because everything depends on him.

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Number five, as I alluded to earlier,

the church has an opportunity to

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proactively train their congregation,

not reactively, respond to the culture.

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They won't just reactively respond

to the news issues of the day.

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I heard a statistic.

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That on average, we are seeing more

ads in a day than our grandparents

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saw in their entire lifetime.

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So much of this promises, quick

fixes for parenting, but very

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little of it is in line with the

Bible, and that's just the ads

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That isn't the news articles

and politicized agendas.

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The church needs to speak loudly and

clearly, particularly for family life,

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or we're allowing parents to be swept

away In the current of culture, it takes

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intentional training for parents to

become resolute at raising their kids.

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Christian.

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Parenting is often hard, but it

doesn't have to be confusing,

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when I think about the uphill

battle that Christian parents are

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facing today, I picture parents.

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Swimming through Whitewater Rapids,

it's coming at them with powerful force.

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They're mentally and physically

weary from sorting through

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all the lies and the truth.

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Are you providing the parents at your

church with breath support for the

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swim, or are you leaving them to be

swept away in the current of culture?

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I am personally available

to answer any questions you

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might have about our studies.

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I'll link our website in the

show notes as well as my email.

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You can connect with me that

way, or we could even set up

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a call so I can explain why.

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After almost 30 years of ministry,

we still have seen nothing.

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With the depth and intentionality of

Entrusted with the child's heart So

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that's my perspective, but I want you

to hear how powerful this study is

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from a real women's ministry director.

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This is from Sylvia Zider.

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She leads the women at

Quorum Deo Bible Church.

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And for years they've offered Entrusted

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about every other year, and they'll have

about 150 ladies go through the study.

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But they wanna make sure moms

keep applying the word of God.

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And because every age

and stage is different.

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Women repeat this over and over.

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And it fits for moms that just found

out they're expecting all the way to

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grandma's or school administrators,

anyone who has children in their life.

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And that helps build the tightest

two model in your church because

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the older women can attend and

pour into the younger women.

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And instead of these young moms

looking to an algorithm for wisdom

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and guidance, they learn to look to

the godly wise women in your church,

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clinging to the timeless

truth of scripture.

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Here's a little more

from Sylvia explaining

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how the Lord has used Entrusted

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Sylvia: oh, it's absolutely distinct

and I'm so thankful for that.

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I think so often moms are driven towards

method right now and they want to look

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at results of their children where

what I love most about Entrusted with a

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Child's Heart is that it starts with God.

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It starts with who he is and his character

and his nature and why we can trust the

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Bible and why the Bible has to be the

foundation of everything that we do.

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And then it funnels into our

commitment to obey the Bible.

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And part of that includes our marriages.

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So it's building the foundation wisely.

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And I think about, how the Bible talks

about building your house rightly and

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foundation matters and entrusted with a

child's heart emphasizes The Bible and

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the authority of it and the goodness

of it and the rightness of it And that

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it gets to have supreme value And so

that then lays the foundation for good

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parenting and that's what sets it apart

because other studies blogs articles are

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so quick to go to Instant gratification

and give you the five ways you can do

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this and the four ways you can do this,

but That is so short sighted to biblical

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living and so I just appreciate that

entrusted really forces us and allows us

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the joy of Finding contentment and joy

and sufficiency in the word of God first.

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Stephanie: Well said, I agree, such

a strong foundation is set how have

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you seen women in your church grow

and their parenting through Entrusted?

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Yes.

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Sylvia: study is it's the ultimate

outreach opportunity too as a church,

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because everyone's interested in raising,

they don't know it, they're wanting

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to raise good kids, we want to raise

kids that know the Word of God, but

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it's a way to get people in the doors.

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Of the church that typically wouldn't

come into the church and they'll come

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in and we've seen women get saved

Through entrusted with a child's heart.

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And so that's of course our greatest joy

that they've suddenly committed their

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life To the lordship of jesus christ.

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And so that's beautiful.

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That's astounding.

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It's miraculous.

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And so we're very thankful for that

The other thing that I see more than

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anything is women Finding joy in the word

of God and parenting out of the Bible's

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truth rather than the world's truth.

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And I think that's the biggest

distinction is we're all over informed

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we Can all go to the internet

and search up anything and find

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anything to, answer those questions.

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But we don't just want

answers, we want truth.

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And so Entrusted with a Child's

Heart steers us away from worldly

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wisdom, which we know is fleeting

and futile and unsatisfying, and

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instead drives us towards the

biblical truth, which does satisfy.

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And the coolest thing is watching

hundreds of women every year, as

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we walk them through Entrusted with

a Child's Heart, seeing them grasp

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it, seeing them get it, seeing them

Really see families transformed.

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We've seen marriages healed because of it.

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As women realize, I need

to do this with my husband.

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This is a joint effort and

he can lead our family well.

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And I'm going to learn

to trust him in that.

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And we've seen a lot of that.

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We've seen women find that the Bible gets

to have a place of priority in their life

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because of taking the entrusted study.

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And suddenly they realize I

can't parent without this.

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It's not how do I fit the

Bible into my parenting?

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It's transformational thinking.

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Now, all of a sudden they're thinking,

how do I parent out of the word of God?

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That's now become such a source of

great joy and wisdom in my life.

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And that's exciting.

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Stephanie: Praise the Lord.

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That's so exciting to hear.

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It really will bless you, eternally

and really every year of your life.

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I love hearing from leaders

that they watch that play out.

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Sylvia: I also think is fantastic

is the scripture memory and how that

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becomes family scripture memory.

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It's not just mom learning the Bible

verses, the kids are learning them,

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they're singing them together, the

family's listening to them in the van

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as they go places, and suddenly now

instead of mom's Bible study being

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mom's It's a shared experience with

the family and they can all go back to

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the verses they've learned together.

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And that's so precious to me.

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I love watching that.

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Stephanie: Oh, it is so sweet.

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And that the kids know where

are our rules coming from?

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They're coming from the word of God.

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My mom didn't just pull

this out of thin air.

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There is a basis for this that

makes it so much more powerful

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Speaker 6: it is been amazing to see how

creatively different groups have worked

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out the schedule for Entrusted while it

was created to be a school year study

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ideally running from September to April.

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We have seen churches.

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Do January to December

and break for the summer.

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I'm actually piloting a group.

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I'm actually piloting a group right now

at my church, and it's going great, but

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we're doing a totally different model.

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And another group just came on board

saying, we really wanna get these

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truths rooted in the mom's hearts.

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We're gonna take a really slow

approach and go through it over

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the course of several years.

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We can make this work for you.

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See, we won't compromise.

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On the authority of scripture.

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Or the value of a mother but

we can flex on the timeline to

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make this work for your church.

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All right.

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All the links are in the show notes.

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You know what to do.

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Generally, I close our

podcast praying over the moms.

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So I'd just like to take

a moment to pray over you.

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Heavenly Father.

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We thank you for these shepherds

and servants of your kingdom

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Strengthen them when there is so

much vying for their attention.

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Give them clarity.

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And direction about what you

would have them prioritize.

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We pray.

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They would hear, encouragement

more than criticism.

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Build your church family by family

generation after generation.

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It is in the matchless name

of Jesus Christ we pray.

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Amen.