Influence?
Who has the greatest potential to influence a kid’s life?
Chloe Grimes is an 8 year old girl who is currently battling cancer. She’s also a baseball fan and her favorite player is an outfielder by the name of Brett Phillips who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Recently, Chloe was invited to throw out the first pitch before a game and she asked Brett Phillips to catch for her, which he was more than glad to do. They met before the game and Chloe gave Brett a softball she had signed, a picture of her, and a wristband that he wore during the game. He told her he thought it would bring him good luck… which, it did.
During the third inning Brett came up to bat. During his at bat, a reporter by the name of Tricia Whitaker was interviewing Chloe on TV. As Chloe tells Tricia about how Brett is her favorite player because, “he has the best smile,” Brett launched a monster home run!
After the game, Brett was in tears talking about Chloe, her bravery, how she is an inspiration to him, and how he wanted to stay connected to her and her family which, by the way, he has.
Every Kid Needs a Caring Adult to be an Influence
My wife and I have 3 amazing kids and this is a question I think about from time to time. Every parent I know wants their kids to have people in their life who are a good influence. But who has the greatest potential to influence a kid’s life?
The truth is…
“There is no one who has more potential to influence a kid than a parent. But, a parent is not the only influence a kid or a teenager needs in their life.”
– Reggie Joiner
Learn more about how to Widen the Circle for your kids in: Parenting Beyond Your Capacity
This is incredibly important for us to think about. If you’re a parent, you need to know that you have incredible influence in your kid’s life. Sometimes you may wonder about that! There may be times, especially during the teenage years, when you’re not sure of that’s true. But it is. And at the end of the day your presence in your kid’s life is so important.
But as a parent, this is also true, your son, your daughter, needs other people in their life. People they can trust, people you trust, people they can turn to, talk to, and go to when they need someone besides you or other than you to go to.
Maybe more than ever before, we live in a world where community can be hard to come by. Finding the right kind of role models, the kind of people we want our kids to look up to and the kind of people they can have a life on life relationship with… that can be hard!
Every Chloe needs a Brett Phillips in their life. Every kid needs another caring adult in addition to their parents who is pulling for them, encouraging them, caring for them, and cheering them on. But where do you find people like that for your kid?
Every Kid Needs a Community, A Church to be an Influence
As a parent and as a pastor, I believe this is where the church comes in. In fact, I think this was God’s original plan… for the church to be more than something you go to once a week on a Sunday. I think God’s plan all along was for the church to be a family, a faith family, where every person has a role to play in the lives of the next generation.
The beautiful thing about being a part of a church that sees itself as a family is that now you’ve got the opportunity to have other trusted adults involved in the lives of your kids before they need them so that they are there when they need them!
No one has the potential to influence kids like a parent. But a parent is not the only influence a kid or a teenager needs.
As the old saying goes, it takes a village.
So… who’s a part of your village?
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