Nick and Nancy Stinnett have partnered in research on strong families for the past thirty years.  Nick has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of Human Development and Family Studies for thirty-five years, most recently at the University of Alabama.  Nancy served as a teacher at the Infant Laboratory in the Department of Human Development, also at the University of Alabama.

Based on the largest study on strong families at the time they wrote their book, Fantastic Families: 6 Proven Steps to Building a Strong Family, in 1999—they contend that strong families are built with intentionality.  Too many husbands and wives, and too many parents just “go with the flow.”  We lack intentionality, have no plan, and as a result many times our families fall apart.

After twenty-five years of worldwide research involving over 14,000 strong families, they identified six definite steps to building a fan ...

The sermon series titled Love Is A Decision continues this morning with particular focus on parenting.  As a church family, we will extend special blessings to parents who have experienced the birth of children during this past year.  This annual Family Commitment Sunday is always a reminder of the joy of life, and of the blessings and challenges that come in being a parent.

Regardless of background, training, upbringing, or physical condition, parenting requires some basic skills.  May I suggest the following specifics for those of us who are parents and grandparents.

• Comforting:  Parents must be able to understand and share the pain when their children hurt.  The initial step is not fixing, denying, condemning, or even teaching—the first step is always to identify with the pain.
• Storytelling:  Telling the stor ...

I encourage you to be part of a seven-week Café Monterey session that will begin this Wednesday evening, April 16th.  In addition to coffee and desserts, we will enjoy moments of worship, study, and conversation regarding God’s forever love!  We will discover again God’s passionate love for us—a love that pursues us, a love that invites us into his very presence, into his warm embrace.

God’s forever love is also a love that calls us to extend hugs to our community and world—to extend love, grace, and forgiveness to the unlovable, to bring good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and release for the oppressed (Luke 4:15).  You see, an important piece of celebrating God’s love in our lives is extending that love to others.

My goal in leading this Café session is to encourage us to bask in the warmth of God’s love for us, but also to call us to step beyond our comfort zones in extending ...

We welcome Mark & Samjung Hamilton and their children to Monterey today.  Mark will speak in our morning assemblies, and both of them will be part of the Shaping Faith in a New World event from noon-2 p.m.  Their presentations are geared toward adult and children’s Bible class teachers.  Both Mark and Samjung teach at Abilene Christian University, and we look forward to the blessing they will be to our teachers today.

April will be a busy time for numerous ministries at Monterey.  Please be aware of the following opportunities during the month:

• This Wednesday, April 9th, Best Friends from Lubbock Christian University will sing during our evening gathering.  Several of our Wednesday adult classes concluded a series this past Wednesday night, so we encourage you to hear Best Friends at 7 p.m. in the Worship Center.  The College-Age Class, and both the Middle School and High School Classes ...