How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph by Linda Massey Weddle

Develop Spiritual Champions for Jesus Christ with

New Practical Guide for Growing Children of Faith

Parents long to help their children reach their full potential. They schedule regular medical exams, get them involved in planned activities, help them with their homework, and invest for their college education. Yet while they may plan for their success, they can overlook a vital part of their personal development: Nurturing and encouraging a solid, lasting foundation of faith. Though we often assume that children are growing spiritually through church youth groups and programs, it’s essential that parents take an active, encouraging, and purposeful role in developing their values and morals.

Linda Massey Weddle, the U.S. program senior designer for AWANA and established author of children’s books and curriculums, has created How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph (David C Cook, June 2009) as a resource for parents who are longing to help their children find spiritual success. Based on Raising a Modern-Day Joseph, this unique guidebook encourages parents to develop a practical, personalized plan for instilling faith-based values and beliefs in their children that will last a lifetime.

How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph is modeled after Joseph of the Old Testament, who maintained his faith in spite of challenging circumstances. It features insights for growing kids spiritually and plotting out critical milestones from the toddler years through adolescence, while also allowing for the uniqueness of each child.

An ideal target for how parents want their kids to develop spiritually and morally, Joseph of Genesis offers parents a Biblical standard for building children of character. Using his story, How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph will help them do just that. They’ll discover how to instill five Master Life Threads for each stage of life, from preschool through high school. The practical guide helps children:

• Acquire wisdom from the Bible



• Understand God’s grace



• Gain a sense of destiny and purpose



• Develop a life-perspective based on God’s perfect plan

The result: Children and teenagers who know, love, and serve the Lord. How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph is a sure investment in the spiritual development of our youngest generation.

I'd like to say that I'm a huge fan of AWANA. My daughter's were involved when they were little and now my boys are in Sparks and T&T! I think AWANA is playing a vital role in my sons' spiritual development!

Thank you to Audra from The B&B Media Group for providing me with my review copy of How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph.

This guide for "growing great kids" has an encouraging introduction from it's author Linda Massey Weddle. One of the statements I love that she makes is when she's talking about how there are no guarantees in our children's walk. She says, "After all, even with the first two kids we read about in the Bible, one had a criminal record." Linda gets that we aren't perfect and neither are our kids. Thankfully, our God is perfect and his Word endures.

Linda also places an emphasis on the children not only learning about God at church and placing the weight on the church, but also on the parents - together training up the children. I appreciate that she speaks to single parents (such as myself) when she talks about our roles in raising our children.

The sections of this guide are broken up by age group. Linda tells us that just because our kids might be older as we're starting this book, doesn't mean we can't look over what she's sharing. There are principles that apply at every age that can be shared.

I love that I've got this book at the beginning of the school year, although it can be used at any time. At the end of each age group there is a Family Itinerary for the year. She gives an example of how to fill it out at the beginning of the book. It's very well laid out for us and readers will be able to tell a lot of thought has gone into how the book is set up, especially for families in our hectic times!

This year I'll be able to work on 2 sections: Early Elementary (Ages 5-8) regarding WISDOM and Older Elementary (Ages 8-11) regarding GRACE. Each chapter also goes into detail about what kids are asking about at these ages with some great answers. One question my 6 yr old might ask is "Where did God come from?" while my 10 yr old could ask "Why are there so many different kinds of Bibles?".

Linda also shares some errors we should avoid in each age group. There are verses each child is encouraged to memorize and biographies they might want to learn about. At the end of each section there is a checklist for parents about their child. And to top it off, she has ways parents can partner with their church.

I'm hoping this will be a book our AWANA leadership would be interested in doing. I think it would be a great encouragement to each family. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to use this book with my boys this year.

There is a companion book that goes along with How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph called Raising a Modern-Day Joseph by Larry Fowler. This book can be found at the David C Cook website. If you're interested in purchasing either of these books, you can type the title in the Christianbook.com box on the right side of my screen. Today, August 6, 2009, the guide was $12.99 and the companion book was $9.99. Fantastic prices for such great resources!