The Journey: PCA Parent Podcast

BWi Debrief with Allen Parr

Guest: Allen Parr

 

PCA’s Biblical Worldview Institute (BWi) theme this year was Anchored in the Faith and was a response to the primary reasons that people give for “deconstructing” (walking away from) their faith. The conference was held on Nov. 1-2 and featured plenary sessions from the following speakers: Dr. Sean McDowell, Alisa Childers, Dr. Scott Stripling, Dr. Craig Evans, Dr. Randy Guliuzza (with ICR), and Allen Parr. Over 3000 individuals attended the conference including students from 25 different schools across 9 different states - and the conference was available to be viewed on a live stream as well.

 

The BWi conference was sponsored by several different organizations including our new Title Sponsor for this year’s conference which was Logos Bible Software. Platinum sponsors for the conference included Boyce College, Charleston Southern University, Criswell College, Ouachita Baptist University, John Brown University, and Lee Strobel Ministries.

Allen Parr is a Bible teacher and national speaker whose passion lies in helping people grow spiritually through providing clear and relevant teaching of God’s word. His purpose is to equip believers with the tools, training and teaching they need to live a victorious life and fulfill their God-given purpose. His weekly YouTube channel, The BEAT, reaches hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide each week. He is also a proud graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned his Master of Theology degree. Most of all, he loves Jesus Christ and is happily married to his beautiful wife Jennifer and is the proud father to his daughter Anaiah and his son Micah. Find out more about Allen at his website allenparr.com

Understanding the Importance of VOTING

Guest: Scott Turner, Associate Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church

 

Scott - voting is paramount and has to be a priority! Get EDUCATED on those who are running for office - and vote to advance your worldview!

 

Who represents me - check out this website, put in your address, find out who your current representatives are.

 

Mid-term General Election Dates

• Early voting - Monday, October 24 - Friday, November 4
• Election date - Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Politics is about policies, which are about principles, which affect people.

 

Primary Election - multiple people running to be the one candidate from each political party (usually held in March of each election cycle)

 

General Election - one person from each party running to serve as the representative for that political office (usually held in November of each election cycle)

 

Also remember that there are election cycles for federal, state, county, and local governmental positions. Election cycles may differ, especially for “municipal” or city elections.

 

As Christians, we also have the responsibility and opportunity to PRAY for our leaders - 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

 

When the righteous rule, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Proverbs 29:2

 

To find out where candidates stand on the issues, check out iVoterGuide.com

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

BWI Prep with Sean McDowell

Guest: Sean McDowell

 

PCA’s Biblical Worldview Institute theme this year is Anchored in the Faith and is a response to the primary reasons that people give for “deconstructing” (walking away from) their faith. This incredible conference will be held Tuesday, Nov. 1st and Wednesday, Nov. 2nd. Doors open at 8 am and the main sessions are held in the worship center at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX.  Sean McDowell will be speaking on Tuesday morning for his plenary session and Tuesday afternoon for the breakout sessions.  For more information or to register, visit the PCA website.

Sean has a new book out that you’ll also want to get - A Rebel’s Manifesto: Choosing Truth, Real Justice, and Love amid the Noise of Today’s World

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

BWi Prep with the Institute for Creation Research (ICR)

Guest: Institute for Creation Research (ICR)

PCA’s Biblical Worldview Institute theme this year is Anchored in the Faith and is a response to the primary reasons that people give for “deconstructing” (walking away from) their faith. This incredible conference will be held Tuesday, Nov. 1st and Wednesday, Nov. 2nd. Dr. Randy Guliuzza will be speaking on Wednesday morning for his plenary session and Tuesday afternoon for the breakout sessions.  For more information or to register, visit the PCA website.

Who is ICR?

At the Institute for Creation Research, we want you to know God’s Word can be trusted with everything it speaks about—from how and why we were made, to how the universe was formed, to how we can know God and receive all He has planned for us.

That’s why ICR scientists have spent more than 50 years researching scientific evidence that refutes evolutionary philosophy and confirms the Bible’s account of a recent and special creation. We regularly receive testimonies from around the world about how ICR’s cutting-edge work has impacted thousands of people with God’s creation truth.You’ll find faith-building science articles in Acts & Facts, our bimonthly science news magazine, and spiritual insight and encouragement from Days of Praise, our quarterly devotional booklet. Sign up for FREE at ICR.org/subscriptions.

Our radio programs, podcasts, online videos, and wide range of social media offerings will keep you up to date on the latest creation news and announcements. Get connected at ICR.org.

We offer creation science books, DVDs, and other resources for every age and stage at ICR.org/store.

Learn how you can attend or host a biblical creation event at ICR.org/events.

Discover how science confirms the Bible at our Dallas museum, the ICR Discovery Center for Science & Earth History. Plan your visit at ICRdiscoverycenter.org.

Dr. Brian Thomas, Research Scientist at ICR, specializing in Dinosaurs (specifically dinosaur proteins, soft tissue), Problems with Evolution, Human Origins

• Where is the “defensible science” that explains macro evolution - the apparent changes from one species to another, from ape to man, etc…?
• ICR has scientists from a wide variety of scientific disciplines - Dr. Jeff Tomkins (Genetics), Dr. Tim Clarey (Geologist), Dr. Jake Hebert (Physics), Dr. James Johnson (Forensic Science), Frank Sherwin (Zoology), and Dr. Randy Guliuzza (Engineering Science).

 

ICR Discovery Center

• Located at 1830 Royal Lane, Dallas, TX 75229 (Royal and Luna), open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am-5pm.
• Exhibit Hall and Planetarium (Deep Space and the Solar System and the Ocean)
• Give yourself a couple hours to walk through the Exhibit Hall - you can go through a little faster with younger children, but with older children you’ll want to stop, read, digest, and converse about all the different displays
• Discovery Center mini-tour on YouTube

 

ICR YouTube/Podcast

 

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

BWI Prep with Alisa Childers

Guest: Alisa Childers

PCA’s Biblical Worldview Institute theme this year is Anchored in the Faith and is a response to the primary reasons that people give for “deconstructing” (walking away from) their faith. This incredible conference will be held Tuesday, Nov. 1st and Wednesday, Nov. 2nd. Alisa Childers will be speaking on Tuesday morning for her plenary session and Tuesday afternoon for the breakout sessions.  For more information or to register, visit the PCA website.

 

Alisa Childers is a wife, a mom, an author, a blogger, a speaker, and a worship leader. She was a member of the award-winning CCM recording group ZOEgirl. She is a popular speaker at apologetics and Christian worldview conferences, including reThink. She has been published at The Gospel Coalition, Crosswalk, the Stream, For Every Mom, Decision magazine, and The Christian Post. Her blog post “Girl, Wash Your Face? What Rachel Hollis Gets Right . . . and Wrong” received more than one million views. You can connect with Alisa online at alisachilders.com.

 

Alisa Childers’ Books:

Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity

 

Live Your Truth (and Other Lies): Exposing Popular Deceptions That Make Us Anxious, Exhausted, and Self-Obsessed

 

Alisa - Christianity is very “counter-cultural” - the dominant worldview of the culture is not based on the Bible!

 

Alisa - Truth is true regardless of how many people follow or believe it!

 

Alisa - the battle over truth is the greatest battle our kids are facing today.

 

Alisa - what approach will you take as a parent…Alisa encourages you as a parent to expose your child to “bad” or “false” ideas - research shows that the FIRST person to introduce an idea to a person becomes the “expert” on that issue - so we want, as parents, to introduce ideas to our children before the world does - within reasonable and age appropriate limits. But the idea that we can “shelter” our children from the false ideas of the world can be dangerous - especially when your children first hear of things when they are outside of your home and don’t have the foundation and support structure of a good family and biblically-solid Christian community around them.

 

Alisa - consistency and discipleship are essential to the spiritual health and growth of your children.

 

Alisa - it’s NOT too late to do a “reset” with your kids - tell them what mistakes you’ve made, let them see godly repentance - and then put the spiritual health of your family as your top priority.

 

Alisa - we’re on a spiritual journey together - be open to questions that your children are wrestling with and go on the journey of exploration together to find the truth!

 

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

Deconstructionism Discussion with Alycia Wood

Guest: Alycia Wood

Alycia Wood spoke to our students during the 2017 Biblical Worldview Institute - check out her presentation titled Engaging Your Mind.

PCA’s Biblical Worldview Institute (BWi) theme this year is "Anchored in the Faith" and is a response to the primary reasons that people give for “deconstructing” (walking away from) their faith. This incredible conference will be held Tuesday, Nov. 1st and Wednesday, Nov. 2nd. For more information or to register, visit the PCA website.

Reasons why people are giving for walking away from their faith:

1. Not enough evidence for the Bible, resurrection, etc.
2. Personal morality conflict with Biblical morality - sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
3. The Christians I know are hypocrites so their God must be fake, too.
4. Christianity and science are at odds with each other.

There are two parts of deconstructionism - one negative, one positive. If a person throws off ideas just because others believe it, that can be a positive element of a person making their own personal faith. Reconstruction is as important as the deconstruction concept.

 

God isn’t afraid of your questions. The problem comes when a person can’t make some “puzzle pieces” of life fit, so they leave it unfinished and walk away from the table.

Excellent resources to consider:

The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man by J. Budziszewski

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Dr. Carl Trueman

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

SLi Students Wrestle with SOGI Issues

Guest: The Honorable Matt Shaheen, Texas State Representative, District 66

Student Leadership Institute (SLi) is a leadership training program for Upper School students to train our students how to think critically, engage and debate ideas, and present their solutions to an audience. Each year we select a current cultural issue and this year our PCA students are wrestling with SOGI (Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity) issues. 

We selected this topic because of the prevelence of this issue in our culture, and one example is the narrative of the parental rights law passed in Florida that the media dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Here is an article from the Washington Post on this legislative initiative - notice how a bill meant to protect children from LGBTQ indoctrination has a headline that is more worried about how this bill might “limit discussion” on these issues.

The Texas Legislative Session will begin in January 2023 and run through May. The Texas Constitution limits the legislative session to 140 days every two years, although the Governor may call as many Special Sessions and reconvene the legislators as needed to complete the work of the state.

If you want to find out who represents you in the Texas Legislature, visit Who Represents Me? Site, put in your address, and they will tell you who your elected representatives are for your location.

For the actual story on the young woman influenced by her school to transition genders, check out the BreakPoint article by John Stonestreet.

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

Minimester 2022

Guest: Mike Beeson, Minister of Missions, Prestonwood Baptist Church

 

Minimester registration will be available as follows: 

• Seniors - Sunday, September 25, 9:00 p.m. to Monday, September 26, 9:00 a.m.

• Juniors - Tuesday, September 27, 9:00p.m. to Wednesday, September 28, 9:00 a.m.

• Sophomore & Freshman - Thursday, September 29, 9:00 p.m. to Friday September 30, 9:00 a.m.

 

A trip deposit of $300 for domestic and international trips or $75 for local/Texas trips is due at the time of registration. 

 

If you have not already, we encourage you to watch the Minimester video to learn more about the heart of Minimester.

 

As a reminder, Seniors and Juniors will have the option of selecting either an international or domestic trip. Sophomores will have the option of traveling domestically.  Freshmen will serve the local community through various ministry options. These offerings will be comprised of 15 local ministries directly connected to Prestonwood Baptist Church and vetted by PBC Missions. The students will be partnered in groups and will travel to serve at a different ministry opportunity each day.

 

We are committed to the spiritual development of our students and intentionally train students to serve in the local mission field before sending them to serve abroad. Students are taught how to be a witness as commanded in Acts 1:8 in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. Serving provides students with an opportunity to put into practice what they have learned in alignment with the biblical concept of sharing the gospel and making disciples. Local missions also have the added benefit of making Minimester affordable for PCA families.

Questions?

If you have questions please reference the FAQ on the Minimester tile on MyPCA.  If your question is not answered there, please email minimester@prestonwoodchristian.org.  We have created this centralized communication method so that our staff can work together as a team to provide you with timely responses.  

   

Thank you to Jared Wood for allowing The Journey to use his incredible musical gifts and talents as our intro and outro for this podcast. Check out his music at JaredWoodMusic.

PCA LS Library Audit Update

Guest: Dr. Katie Chretien, PCA Plano Lower School Principal

PCA has undergone an intensive examination of the books and resources that our students have access to especially in the Lower School library. Resources must be age appropriate in their language, imagery, and ideas communicated to our students. Dr. Chretien shares about the work being done at the Lower School library at the Plano campus, but this audit is ongoing at the Middle School, Upper School, and North Campus libraries as well.

PCA Lower School has moved from Scholastic Books to I:55 Book Fairs, Where Faith Matters. From I:55’s website: Our vision at I55 Book Fairs is to partner with Christian schools, churches, and organizations in proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. We are passionate about raising up a generation of inspired readers. Our name comes from Isaiah 55. This chapter encompasses all we strive to do, knowing that nothing is impossible with God.

The audit of the books and resources that students have access to in the library should also encourage you as a parent to do a similar audit of what information has access to your children at home through TV, movies, and social media.

Parents, help us continue to be vigilant - if you run across something in a book that you think we need to be aware of, please contact either Dr. Chretien at kchretien@prestonwoodchristian.org or Dan Panetti at dpanetti@prestonwoodchristian.org

North Texas Giving Day 2022

Thanks to Marcus Schreiner (PCA’s Director of Development) , Megan Rogers (PCA North’s Director of Development Relations), and Lauren Aulenbach (PCA’s Director of Annual Funds) for talking about the opportunities to support PCA, PCA North, St. Timothy Christian Academy and The King’s Academy through North Texas Giving Day (NTGD) - open now until September 22, 2022.

To give, check out the NTGD website:

Prestonwood Christian Academy - you can designate what grade level and campus (North or Plano) you are giving to during the giving process.

 

St. Timothy Christian Academy

 

The King’s Academy