The Journey: PCA Parent Podcast

Dismantling Transgender Ideology (1 of 2 episodes)

Guest: Alycia Wood, apologist with The C.S. Lewis Society

 

The C.S. Lewis Society was organized by Princeton University students in 1975, as a guest-speaker forum for the campus community to hear Christian scholars articulate a biblical perspective on topics of wide public concern.  After years of fruitful ministry, the Society was re-launched on the campus of Trinity College of Florida in 1988 as a fellowship of those committed to explaining and defending the Christian faith internationally. Our outreach has focused especially on university campuses and nations that are dominated by skeptical attitudes toward the core truths of Christianity.

 

Today, in some countries, misgendering a person (using a pronoun that is different than what another person prefers) can actually result in criminal penalties!

 

You need to understand how the world is using words - “sex” is limited to your biology, “gender” is how you feel about things or how you identify.

 

Excellent Resources:

• Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
• The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Excessive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Dr. Carl Trueman
• What is a Woman? documentary by Matt Walsh

 

As of 2021, 1.8% of people under 18 years of age identified as transgender. Over 80% of these individuals were born female, lived with their parents, and had zero history of gender dysphoria as children. The majority of the girls that are transitioning have one or more of the following characteristics: depression, anxiety, ADHD, and autism - and about half of these girls were engaged in self harm before any type of gender dysphoria. This is a mental health issue that is not being treated properly. Also, about 65% of these individuals greatly increased their social media usage just before coming out as transgender.

 

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria - “all of a sudden” groups of young people are feeling that their gender does not match their assigned sex…

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

What Does It Mean to Be a Godly Success?

Guest: Dr. Connor Bales, Pastor, Prestonwood North Campus

 

How can a young man keep his way pure (how to be a godly success)? Listen and learn as Dr. Bales shares some “gold nuggets” of wisdom from Psalm 119:9-16:

1. By guarding it according to your word. Filter everything through the lens of Scripture - relationships, college, social media, church…let God’s Word inform you on literally everything! Which means…that you need to know, read, and study your Bible!
2. Go ALL IN…“with my whole heart I seek you.” When you live your life with Christ at the center, that’s your “best hand!”
3. Study and learn God’s word - “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The Word of God is both a window through which to see the world…and a mirror by which to see yourself!
4. Stay teachable (coachable). “Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes.” The more teachable we are, the more God can teach us! Humility is essential for the Christian journey!
5. Speak God’s truth. “With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.” Big difference between “I think that…” and “God’s Word says…”
6. Find your greatest joy in Jesus! “In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.” Know the transcendent joy that comes from connection with God through Christ…which is far greater than temporary circumstantial happiness.
7. Give your thought life to God. “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.” Consider the spiritual disciplines…and practice them, they are there to draw you closer to God!
8. Define genuine joy, seek after it, don’t forget it when you arrive! “I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

88th Texas Legislative Session Recap

Guest: Matt Shaheen, Texas State Representative, District 66

Find out who represents YOU in Congress and the Texas Legislature HERE.

Important legislative initiatives that were addressed during the 88th Legislative Session:

1. Ended government-mandated COVID restrictions
2. Funded border security
3. Removed porn from public schools - check out HB 900.
4. Banned DEI in higher education - to find out more about the Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion efforts in the State of Virginia, read this.
5. Returned election law violations to a felony
6. Holding facilities accountable if they host a “drag show” for minors
7. Ended gender modification on minors

 

Governor Abbott is looking to call at least two “Special Sessions” on the following issues:

1. Tax relief for Texas citizens - lowering the tax rate for your property tax rate and/or adding a larger homestead exemption.
2. Parental rights in education (otherwise known as “school choice”)

 

The Texas State House of Representatives also heard evidence on the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton and voted 121-23 to impeach him. His case will be taken to the Senate for a trial next where the rules require a ⅔ vote to convict.

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

4 Questions You Should Be Asking!

Guest: Michael Craven, Vice President for Equipping and Mobilization at The Colson Center for Christian Worldview

 

Colson Fellows: Gain Wisdom, Live Faithfully, Act Courageously.

 

What problem does the Colson Center remedy - the privatization of the Christian faith!

 

Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland

 

4 Questions You Should Be Asking:

1. What is good that I can preserve, protect, and promote?
2. What is missing that I can provide?
3. What is evil that I must stand against?
4. What is broken that I can repair and restore?

 

3 Institutions Critical to the Future:

1. The family
2. K-12 Christian education
3. The church

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

The Journey PCA - 10K Downloads and Parent Survey

Guest: Katie McDonald, PCA’s Senior Director of Marketing and Communications

 

Parents, thank you for listening to The Journey, PCA’s parent podcast - we just went over 10,000 downloads for the podcast, which is awesome! 

Parents, YOU are our best means of communicating all that is happening here at PCA - and we want to hear from you - we would love for you to take our PCA Podcast Parent Survey and share about how and when you listen as well as ideas for future episodes that you’d like to hear. And, we want to encourage you to share these podcasts with your friends, family, coworkers, etc…

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

How Well Does PCA Prepare Students for College?

PCA Alumni: Sabeen Toranian (‘19), Colson Burchard (‘20), and Sophie Panetti (‘22)

 

Sabeen recently graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and will be heading to medical school in the fall. Colson will be a senior at Texas A&M University and is studying supply chain management. Sophie just finished her freshman year at The University of Arkansas and is studying apparel merchandising.

 

Preparing students for college includes far more than just equipping them to be ready and successful academically - which PCA does very well - but also includes preparing students for the college culture from a spiritual perspective as well.

 

Parents, make sure you get your students plugged into a good Christian ministry and church as soon as possible. Many universities have opportunities for Christian students to meet and connect the summer before their freshman year - the Prestonwood Student Ministry has a great list of outstanding churches and ministries on the campuses of several of the colleges that PCA graduates attend.

 

Great take-aways:

1. Determine who you want to be before heading off to college - or you will be “tossed to and fro” (Eph. 4:14) by the waves of culture and the winds of change.
2. As a Christian, you can navigate the fraternity/sorority world with integrity of character in your Christian walk.
3. Look for good Christian community - it might be in Greek life, or in a Christian-based community group, or in a church - but you need a solid community to stand boldly for Christ in a hostile environment.
4. While in college, being a camp counselor for a wonderful Christian camp is an amazing experience and can really help a young person grow in their faith as they lead others! Other than the normal Christian camps, there are great Christian organizations that are specifically on college campuses like Student Mobilization.
5. The greatest weapon and opportunity you have as parents to equip, prepare, and fight for your children - in college and beyond - is with prayer! PCA joins you in praying for your students here and as they launch out into the world!

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

Mama Bear Apologetics

Guest: Hillary Morgan Ferrer

 

Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies

 

Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality: Empowering Your Kids to Understand and Live Out God’s Design

 

A “Mama Bear” will do things for her children that she wouldn’t even do for herself. Moms are on the front lines for spiritual warfare - the primary person that children ask questions of - moms, you need to be equipped and prepared!

 

If the enemy can’t attack God directly, he’ll attack His image-bearers - that’s us!

 

How do we talk to our kids about sex…how about defining sex in the category of “things that need to be guarded” or “things that are valuable.”

 

Parents, questions are coming…if your children are not asking you their questions, they’re asking someone…the conversations around the dinner table or while driving in the car - those are the most powerful times to engage and equip your children!

 

R.O.A.R. Technique:

Recognize the message

Offer objective discernment

Argue for a healthy approach

Reinforce through discussion, discipleship, and prayer

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

Cultivating Kids and Creating Cookies

Guest: Monek’ Smith, wife and mother of two PCA students, founder of MS. Cookie Co.

 

PCA mom Monek’ Smith has an interesting side hustle - she makes cookies, but that’s sort of an undersell - if we were completely honest, she crafts tiny masterpieces of culinary confections - seriously insane cookies and not only look amazing, but taste great, too! Listen as Monek’ shares her journey from Texas A&M grad to cookie queen - then check out the gallery on her website of some of her incredible creations! Monek’ loves PCA and loves making cookies - but remember this is a side hustle, so if you reach out and she says no, don’t take it personally - she said no to me as well - her family comes first!

 

mscookieco.tx@gmail.com

MS Cookie Co Facebook page

@mscookieco.tx

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

PCA Prays and The National Day of Prayer

Guests: Brittnye Schroeder and Trisha Ruzynski

 

PCA Prays is a parent-led organization that covers PCA students, faculty and families in prayer. Each grade level has a prayer coordinator and has monthly meetings where parents can gather together and pray for their students by name. You can also find out information on MyPCA on the PCA Spiritual Life button or on the parent-led Facebook page for each grade level. Finally, look for your weekly email from PCA Prays asking for prayer requests that can be shared and prayed for either by the leadership team, the entire grade, or all of the PCA Prays community.

 

E.M. Bounds on Prayer

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Teenage Brains

Guest: Mark Oestreicher

MarkO is a partner in The Youth Cartel, providing services and resources for individual youth workers and organizations. He has been married to Jeannie for 30 years, and has two great kids: Riley (22) and Max (18). Here's The Youth Cartel's website. twitter: @markosbeard instagram: @whyismarko

 

You can listen to MarkO on Five Minutes with Marko on YouTube.

 

MarkO - the four years following puberty is the most important developmental period in the life of a person - the most significant changes (that a person is aware of) - and changes in several different aspects of their life - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

 

Educational theory - stuff you don’t talk about is called your “null curriculum” - and what you don’t talk about ends up teaching your children as much as what you do!!!

 

Five areas of significant change in the life of a pre-teen:

• Physical - obvious, and most teens hate this developmental process. Parents, you need to have a ministry of normalizing this experience.
• Cognitive - we move from being limited as pre-teens to having the ability to think in the abstract, gives the opportunity to speculate, the “what if” and “why” questions and adding a “third person perspective”
• Emotional
• Relational
• Spiritual

The dominant perspective of young people is that they are broken or incapable - which is why adolescence has been extended to almost 20 years long! Instead of expecting young people to mature, we make their journey easier and expect less and less of them.

 

MarkO - do you see teenagers as a problem to be solved or a wonder to behold?!

 

Birth-4 are years of discovery

Ages 5-7 are years of testing

Ages 8-11 are years of concluding (they have everything figured out!)

Ages 11-14 are years of discovery (again!)

Ages 15-20 are years are testing

Ages 20-30 are years of concluding (again)

 

When your child expresses a doubt, we can see that shifting in their brain, testing out new concepts and ideas, moving from literal thinking to abstract considerations. Doubt is not the enemy, but unexamined doubt can be dangerous. Parents, lean into those doubts and help your children wrestle with their doubts.

 

Understanding Your Young Teen: Practical Wisdom for Parents by Mark Oestreicher

 

A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Teenage Brains: Why They Act the Way They Do by Mark Oestreicher

Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!