My husband was on the panel of local entrepreneurs at the Family Economics Conference this past weekend. Each entrepreneur explained their businesses as well as the ups and downs that come from working for yourself. One of our main challenges has been to "cash flow" the business in terms of each contract. When RM gets a contract, it usually requires a significant amount of up-front supplies in order to get the contract done which requires a lot of cash, thousands of dollars. We hope to get to a place where this isn't an issue, but until then it requires a relationship with a bank. Well, there's a story in all of this.
Yesterday, RM went to pay off what had been borrowed for this past contract which is significant in and of itself as he isn't usually able to pay off the entire amount. When he went to the teller, she didn't know what to do! Her exact words were, "I'll have to get the manual, this so rarely happens!" It seems paying off loans is unusual in a bank!
So, yesterday was a good day. We made real progress as we not only paid off the entire bank loan, but we more than doubled our mortgage payment which is our new goal for each month. It is a funny thing though...if you pay off your mortgage early, you get penalized. Oh, the irony. The bank loves the fact you are in debt to them.
Back to Swanson for a bit. He started off by explaining he is entirely who he is because of his father. His father was a missionary in Japan and he was one of the rare missionaries who wouldn't send their children away to boarding school and so was one of the first homeschooled generation, at least before it became known offically as "homeschooling" since, I suppose, people have homeschooled since the world began. It was during this time of extreme discipleship that he caught his father's love and passion for God. Time after time, Swanson said this, "I stand on the shoulders of my father." His father wrote many books on faith, even translating some into Japanese. He sounded like an amazing man, still alive today and even now building into his son's life by doing all his research for Kevin's "Generations Radio Show" which I highly recommend. His show takes a look at culture in light of Scripture.
The whole point of Kevin's talk was Family Economics, but not necessarily how I thought it would be. When you hear the word "economics", you assume it means running a business, ideas about money come into your head, etc., but he went right back to the original Greek of the word which means "household management", who knew? This was why he talked about his Dad and reflected on how his Dad had managed their family economy. As a result of all the years of discipleship, all 6 siblings of Kevin's are serving the Lord in some capacity. So "economy", yes, but more in the sense of how are we running our families? Do we have a good family economy? What does that look like?
His point was simply this - we are not a discipling people. It's the solution to the youth mileu he says that we are seeing in youth today. Because young people aren't being discipled at home, but instead are being discipled by their peers and pop culture, young people, in particular boys, aren't growing up - ever. They aren't getting married. They are simply playing. From video games to sports, all they do is play. It is what Scott Brown calls, "the high cost of entertainment". There are no men to marry our daughters. So what we are seeing is a generation of single girls, looking for Godly spouses, but guess what? They aren't there.
He gave lots of awful statistics with respect to young men in particular and where they are spending their time these days. You know it, the internet. More awful than that was how only 3/10 parents consider salvation to be important. That goes along with the stat that 70-80% of youth are leaving the church. That makes sense if only 3/10 parents consider salvation to be important! Worse than that, only 1/20 Christian families have tried family worship. That is not good.
He gave two options - 10,000 hours with 3 people or 10,000 people for 3 hours. In other words, deliberate, intentional, DAILY, discipling of the children we have over a long period of time, or sending them off to a "revival" that is 3 hours long. He went to Christ's model. The classic question, "What would Jesus Do?" Well, we know what he did. He simply chose 12 men and discipled them and loved them for three years and then those men turned the world upside down. So, clearly, the best way is the 10,000 hour plan, even though that is the harder way. It means constant repetition of lessons to our children. Even Kevin said he knows how hard it is as our kids just don't seem to get what we are teaching them, but even the disciples were a little thick at times. In fact, Jesus seemed exasperated with them, but they got it eventually and did they ever get it!
If we are not daily discipling our children we are in trouble. If we are not controlling their influences, we are in trouble. It is a constant competition for their souls. He asked the question, "Have you ever gone 12 hours without opening the Word of God or exhorting them in the Word of God?" Sure, we all thought. "What do you see, what do you notice right away? Instant hardening of their hearts, a calcification starts to occur," he said. Isn't this true? "
Does it have to be daily? Why? Isn't Sunday good enough? No. Hebrews says is clearly, "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13. The Bible says it, not just Kevin Swanson, "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin". This is what happens without daily exhortation.
He said it's like a baby coming out of the womb. They come out "blunt". If we want them to be polished swords with a sharp edge, then they need daily polishing to sharpen them.
The classic go-to verse for so many of us who homeschool is Deuteronomy 6:4-7,
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
The key words in these verses are teaching them DILIGENTLY. That means "characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort", according to Webster. "...When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise...." God was definitely referring to it being around the clock.
The rewards of discipleship lead to converts. His father spoke to his siblings and of course to the Japanese, perhaps 100s of Japanese, but Kevin is now speaking to hundreds of thousands, simply because he was discipled by his father. He said we need to focus less on evangelism and more on discipleship if we want to see conversions! This is not how the Church typically works! But again, he keeps going back to the model of Scripture. Jesus only worked with 12 men, but his ministry was multiplied through these men in the generations to come.
Ultimately, it does affect the choices we present to our children with respect to their future jobs and school choices. Even whether or not they do a profession as opposed to being an entrepreneur. If they want to be successful in either field of choice, mentorship or discipleship must be a part of that picture. It is life application at its best. So many mistakes are made without mentors alongside us in life.
There is so much more he said. This was from one session only!
It reinforced what we already knew, but was a great encouragement to stay on the path of 10,000 hours with the few disciples I have. They can already turn the house upside down, hopefully one day the world!
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