I would hazard a guess that you are here because at some point in your life you’ve had the privilege of naming a child and are on this beautifully messy journey of parenting. If you’re not a parent, at some time in your life you’ve probably named some animal or thing. What was some of your process to get to that name?

Let me let you into some of our process in choosing a child’s name.

– Does the name rhyme with anything untoward?
– Do I have any negative associations with this name?
– Is the name an easy target for bullies?

Super duper spiritual, isn’t it? Of course, we also asked deeper, holier more spiritual questions. We’ll leave that process for another blog post 🙂

The reason I am bringing this up is because while choosing a blog name, I was surprised at the similarities that arose. I could easily answer “yes” to all of the above questions for the Glow blog. Specifically the one about bullying – someone who will read this blog, said of Glow: “glow is a bit flowery and overboard. like a 12 year old in a massive ball gown for her grade 7 farewell. Calm down Stacey!” I’ll keep the name of this particular bully to myself 🙂

While we don’t want to overplay the name of blog because we care more about the actual content, we do want the name to represent our hearts well.

Over the last couple of years God has been stirring something in my heart as it relates to parents, the next generation and the church. These thoughts represent many conversations with partners, friends, experts, readings in many books, input from conferences and what I believe to be the leading the Holy Spirit.

It is worth saying up front that a very significant book in this process, is a book called “Think Orange” by Reggie Joiner. Many concepts and thoughts in this book will likely shape a fair amount of what you will see in this blog over the next while.

The premise of “Glow” is both simple, but also profound. Here it is at a simple level:

There are two powerful and God-ordained influences on the planet: the church and the home. They both exist because God initiated them. They both exist because God desires to use them to demonstrate His plan of redemption and restoration. If they work together they can make a greater impact than if they work alone. They need each other. Too much is at stake for either one to fail. Their primary task is to build God’s kingdom in the hearts of men and women, sons and daughters.

There are two powerful and God-ordained influences on the planet: the church and the home. Click To Tweet Two combined influences can have a greater impact than just two influences. A glow happens when two things, heat and light, come together. It’s not just light in the cold or warmth in the dark, Glow represents light and warmth together – a beautiful, inviting environment suitable for life and growth.

So at a basic level, this blog is about two entities partnering to make a greater impact in the next generation. When the Church (the bright light in the world) and the family (the warm heart of the home) come together there is a beautiful, wonderful, spectacular God-ordained Glow that emits both light and warmth, more of either than they could do alone.

Our hope is the bright light of the church can join with the warm heart of the home to create an irresistibly strong glow that reaches the next generation and draws many in. We hope and pray that this blog acts as a blessing, an encouragement, an envisioning agent and an inspiration to you in the discipling of your kids into Christ’s likeness – there is no higher calling if you are a parent.