New research coming out of the Barna Group sought to get some insight to a questions many of us ask. "What is the connection between childhood faith and adult religious commitment?"

From the Barna Update,

The survey asked adults to think back on their upbringing and to describe the frequency of their involvement in Sunday school or religious training. The Barna researchers then compared those reported early-life behaviors with the respondents' current levels of faith activity and faith durability.

So, what did the research reveal? here are some quotes from the report.

More than eight out of every 10 adults remembers consistently attending Sunday school or some other religious training before the age of 12.

Adults recall their church involvement as teenagers as less frequent than their participation as children.

...

Among the most active as children were Catholics (86%), upscale adults (78%), Midwesterners (76%), notional Christians (75%), college graduates (75%), women (73%), political conservatives (73%), and those ages 65-plus (73%). The least likely population segments to have attended Sunday school or other religious programming as children were atheists and agnostics (35%), people associated with faiths other than Christianity (52%), Asians (53%), unchurched adults (56%), 18- to 25-year-olds (59%), never-married adults (60%), Hispanics (61%), and residents of the West (63%).

The types of Americans most likely to recall religious participation as teenagers were evangelicals (61%), those ages 65-plus (60%), born again Christians (58%), Catholics (58%), women (56%), political conservatives (56%), residents of the Midwest (56%), married adults (55%), and Protestants (54%). On the other hand, atheists and agnostics (19%), members of other faith groups (30%), unchurched adults (31%), never-married individuals (33%), economically downscale adults (40%), and men (44%) were the least likely to have frequently attended Sunday school or other religious programs during their teen years.

How did those who were plugged into Sunday School and religious instruction and children and youth remain connected to faith as adults?

The research examined four elements of adult religious commitment: attending church, having an active faith (defined as reading the Bible, praying, and attending church in the last week), being unchurched, and switching from childhood faith.

When it comes to church engagement, those who attended Sunday school or other religious programs as children or as teens were much more likely than those without such experiences to attend church and to have an active faith as adults. For instance, among those who frequently attended such programs as a child, 50% said they attended a worship service in the last week, which is slightly higher than the national average and well ahead of those who rarely or never attended children's programs. Among those who frequently attended religious programs as teenagers, 58% said they had attended a worship service in the last week. In comparison, less frequent participation as a teenager correlated with less frequent adult participation.

David Kinnaman points out that the research uncovers a correlation, between early instruction and continued adult spiritual engagement, and not causation. Yet it does provide "clarity that the odds of one sticking with faith over a lifetime are enhanced in a positive direction by spiritual activity under the age of 18." (Might I add that it is refreshing to see someone release research that explains the difference between correlation and causation.)

Head over to the Barna Group, read the entire article, and then come back here to discuss.

When we think about the mission to make disciples we obviously need to do more than provide good teaching for adults and provide a cool/fun atmosphere for the young ones. What might this mean more specifically as we consider how the church teaches children and youth, and develops parents who are capable of discipling their own children working in partnership with the church?

We recently contracted to do an analysis of successful parenting from a biblical perspective. As a researcher, this interests me. As a father, this has my full attention.

With the overwhelming amount of information and advice out there relating to raising children parents don't always know who's offering real wisdom. And as Christian parents we want to to raise children to become gospel-believing, Christ-centered, mission-focused, young adults. But, to whom do we listen?

Well, what we decided to do was to ask parents who have reared children who meet those characteristics. As such, we plan to survey 1000 parents of young adults who are following Christ. And, we want to ask them one simple question: what did you do?

In other words, we want to ask the parents of young adults who are following Jesus how they reared their children.

It is our plan to do these surveys over the next year. Our client will then write a book on the research and I will present the data first at the D6 Conference in Dallas next fall.

Here are some of the categories / questions we are planning to address.

Education: Homeschooled / Public / Private / Christian (open or closed)
Educational Performance: Grades
Father and Mother employment situation
Church Attendance habits
Denominational affiliation / type of church
Sunday school / small group attendance
Family Devotions/frequency
Marital status
Family habits (vacations / time with each parent)
View of parental authority
Gender roles in marriage
Discipline Habit (spanking/grounding/loss of privileges)
Allowance
Education level of parents
Means of parents
Devotional life of parents
Mission habits of the family
Sports of children
Jobs/work training of children
Attitude of the home
Parents work habits (how many hours per week)

So, my question for you, my blog readers, what would you want to ask?

There can be a FEW open ended questions, but most of them need to be multiple choice, scales, or yes/no.

Please note: if you leave it here we will consider this your permission to use it without attribution and for the glory of God and the betterment of Christian parenting.

I've been with the family at Glorieta all week speaking, working, and spending the off-time with my family. Glorieta is beautiful and always a destination we enjoy. I have posted a few pics to Twitter including one right after we canoed on the lake.

Sure, my last post had audio from John Piper, but this one is "way better."

Here is my daughter singing in the 5th grade talent show. She nails it. Sorry for my screaming at the end, but... well... I am a big fan of my kids.

Feel free to tell Kristen how well she did in the comments... she will read every word. ;-)

I just returned from vacation and then several days of travel. The vacation was needed and is what prompted this post. Donna and I went on a cruise and had an excellent time hanging with some old friends and decompressing a bit. It was a welcome respite from the cold weather back home. In Nashville it was frozen, but in the Caribbean it was very warm.

I love getting away with my wife, and we work hard to invest in our relationship. Why? Because it pays dividends.

People often ask me how I balance work and travel. Sometimes it is really a question. Other times, they are just reminding me to be sure to do that. By no means, do I think I have it all figured out, but my wife says she thinks we have a good balance.

When I invest in relationships it is the same as putting money in the bank, and that's important because I have to make frequent withdrawals. I travel a lot, work a lot, and am probably not easy to have as a husband or father. Those withdrawals demand frequent deposits.

With that in mind, and knowing that I am not the perfect example by any means, let me share how I try to make relational deposits in the life of my family.

Whenever I come to Orlando, I end up thinking about life and ministry.

Today was a day like that. After I finished teaching class, my daughter and I did a little tour and I shared with her part of her dad's (and her mom's) journey. She seemed interested, but it might have been the promise of ice cream along the way.

I was born and reared in New York and list that as "home" on forms that ask. However, Orlando has a lot of memories for me. I lived here as a teenager and had some significant milestones during those years:

1. I came to Christ in Orlando.
2. I was discipled here (in a new church plant as a teenager).
3. I met my wife in High School. We were high school sweethearts and even went to the prom together.
4. My sister died here (in 1987).
5. I grew greatly in my faith through, and in some cases because of, those things.

So, today I went by my old house (which was just torn down), the restaurant where I had my first date with Donna, my sister's memorial garden, and some other meaningful places with my daughter.

Being in Orlando makes me wish it was a simpler time when I did not have to worry about books and research, the challenges of denominational structures, who has this-or-that agenda, what event I was speaking at next, or what I had to say (or not say) at the next place.

I miss those days when things were simpler and it seemed that the big concerns were loving God, growing in faith, and helping others do the same. I am sure it was not as simple as I remember, but coming to Orlando makes me wish it was.

Being here makes me want to go back in time, grab a guitar (yes, I play, though not well), and go start a church with nothing but God, a Bible, and a mission...

So, pardon my musings. It was just a good day. It reminded me of what really matters... and it prompts me to adjust some things in my own life today and over the next few months.

Teachable moments are important things.

When I taught at Southern, I (occasionally) attended chapel, talked to some brilliant theologians, learned from some great missiologists, and even read a few books. But, one of the more important teachable moments came in a brief conversation with Hershael York.

Hershael and I were talking one day and he told me of a practice he had with his children. Hershael told them (when they were young) that he would take them on trips at certain ages:

• When they were 10, he would take them anywhere they wanted to go in the United States.


• When they were 15, he would take them anywhere they wanted to go in the world.

And, he explained how these were pivotal times for children and time with their father was an important part of that. It was a teachable moment for me.

I stole the idea and started telling my oldest, Kristen, the same thing. I told her when she was 4 (knowing that she would never be 10).

Well, kids do grow up... and Saturday she is 10. (That sure happened fast.)

So, she picked:

• Disneyland


• Riding to the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible, and


• Yosemite

Hershael was right: there are key moments in your children's lives when you can talk about things that matter, far away from the rush of life. Children have those teachable moments, too. They happen everyday, yes, but you can also find special times to be together and talk. And, thanks to a bunch of frequent flyer and frequent stayer points, this is a way I can spend special time with my daughters.

That's what Kristen and I are doing today-- and it is much more important than all the speaking, writing, and leading that I might otherwise do.

Anyway, if you like some pictures, you can follow the adventure on Twitter (the pic is from the Twitter feed).

So, back to the car, the sunglasses, "tweener" tunes on the CD, and another day in the park taking pictures of flowers, trees, and mountains with her new birthday camera...

Updated-- Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today (from the Twitter feed):

I am worn out after a long day at Whiteboard Sessions. Since I knew most of the speakers, they asked me to interview them... which was rewarding and exhausting at the same time. You can watch the interviews here.

Later, here at the blog, I will post the interviews individually with some commentary... they were very different from one another and said some, well, different things.

But tomorrow is a short church planting event in the morning (the event goes longer, I just speak in the morning, see here). Then, I am off, gone, outa' here to spend the weekend with my daughters in Washington D.C.

I am on my way to New York City as I write this (plane delayed as usual).

It will be a busy week, assuming Al Sharpton does not succeed in his promise to shut down the city.

From Drudge:

Monday, I meet all day with the leaders of a denomination called the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada.

Monday night, it is off to dinner with Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and our wives. It should be a good time. (And, I always enjoy it when Donna can join me on trips.)

Tuesday, I speak on the "Mission and the Kingdom of God�? at dwell. I will also be staying around to hear some of the other speakers. The lineup is pretty impressive: Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, CJ Mahaney, Darrin Patrick, and Eric Mason.

Wednesday, I will be speaking to the staff of The Journey. Nelson Searcy planted the church several years ago and has recently written a new church planting book, called Launch.

In between, I plan to have a great time with my wife and will be far from my computer. However, I will post another SBC related blog on Monday.

Today, the LifeWay Communications Department put out their weekly "Lifelines," which is our employee newsletter at LifeWay. Since I am in the office today, I had a chance to see the issue. It is not available on-line, but this is the actual text (no April Fools "trick," just a little "treat").

Doing their jobs well, the communication folks edited my answers. But, since the newsletter came out today, and in the spirit of April Fools Day fun, I have added the original text back in underline/italic at the beginning or end of each question.

Unlike our staff at the LifeWay building, you get to read the rest of the story... grin.

Yep, there is a reason I am behind in my emails and my work. (Friday is for Friends will probably be Monday, for example). But, I am still catching up. You see, I had some meetings with VERY important people last week... and things got a little crazy.

Today, I spoke to a group of associational leaders in Orlando. These leaders all coordinate the mission work of churches partnered together in associations-- much like districts or judacatories in certain denominations. In some cases they are a few dozen churches (like Cleveland and Pittsburgh) and in others it is hundreds of churches (the Dallas Baptist Association has over 300 churches-- larger than some small denominations).

To be in the group, there association has to cover a geographic area including at least a million people. They also tend to be in urban centers.

We talked about the future of cooperation and missions-- a fascinating dialogue. I will probably share some more later here at the blog.

The next two days are way more important... Disney World days with my two oldest daughters!

1 2002 Ford Sport Trac, 125K miles, (probably) totaled, $7000
1 Blackberry cracked, $250
1 sore back and two sore legs, $2 in Motrin

Walking away from a rollover accident at 60 miles per hour to go home and see your wife and daughters.

Priceless.

Here is a photo of the vehicle on its side:

More tomorrow...

My favorite part of the evening (other than living): talking to the fighfighter who, at the end of the conversation, said he wanted to come to church on Sunday with his wife.

Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose."

Update 1:

Having never had an accident of this kind, some of the "best" moments included:

1. Crawling out of the sunroof of my truck because the airbag gas was choking me. (Nothing better than watching a fat man squeeze-- and, oh, I was motivated.)

2. Having the police officer suggest that, after walking away from the wreck with some bruises and a minor cut, I might consider getting a lottery ticket before the end of the day.

3. Getting a kind call from Thom Rainer that starts with, "I heard you broke the blackberry."

4. Hearing from my boss, Brad Waggoner, who suggested I not "text" when I drive.

5. My daughter kissing me on the arm (where I had the small cut) and saying, "That will make it better."

6. Calling back the guy who I was talking to when the crash happened. (And, yes, I was using my hands free set, for the record.) Doug told me that all he heard was my yelling that I was about to crash, several crashes, then a horn. He waited on the line for 30 more minutes not hearing anything and told me later that he though I was dead.

7. Finding an old picture of my daughter as I cleaned out the car... and it reminded me that, although I am ready to see Jesus, I am glad I have some more time with my daughters.

Accidents remind us of what is precious. This Sunday, at my church, I will preach on the biblical value of community. As part of that message, I will confess that I am not yet in much community-- being new to town-- but I will make an added effort to be.