{"id":5326,"date":"2017-11-29T17:08:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T23:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5326"},"modified":"2017-11-29T17:08:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T23:08:48","slug":"from-the-editors-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2017\/11\/29\/from-the-editors-5\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Editors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A parent should never have to bury a child\u2014it is outside the normal order of things. But there are things worse than such a death if he is God\u2019s child. Consider for a moment the reality of living day to\u00a0day with the knowledge that your adult children are lost, and will step over into eternity unprepared to meet God. This pain and grief is all too real for many in the church. Knowing your child was a faithful Christian means all the world to a parent who is forced to deal with such an untimely death.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:562,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nAnd yet, every year we see young people abandon godly principles and cling to the enticements of this world. There are parents in every congregation around this nation who are silently suffering and searching for peace as they offer up prayers and look for ways to reach out to their lost children. Preacher Jay Lockhart recently asked a group of Christians gathered together for a Family Enrichment Seminar to raise their hands\u00a0if someone in their family was lost. More than 50% of those in attendance raised their hands\u2014and this was a group of Christians who were giving up their weekday evenings to strengthen their families. We suspect these findings are typical.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:562,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nTake one minute and consider how large the church would be today if we had not reached a single soul from our communities for the past 60 years\u2014<b>but we had retained every single one of our family members.<\/b>\u00a0That would mean roughly two generations of new Christians would be praising God and preparing their children for the field of discipleship. In our last issue we focused on the importance of taking the Gospel to those in our communities\u2014a command from the Great Commission. We\u00a0do\u00a0believe that the time has come for Christians to get out of their comfort zones and reach out to their neighbors.\u00a0But in this issue, we turn the focus onto saving our own families\u2014a principle found throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The reality is that we have a mission field right before our eyes that we often overlook\u2014the home.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:562,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nBecause of the emotions and pain involved, the issue of our spiritually lost adult children is rarely addressed. And yet, can you consider an issue of greater importance? As many families prepare to send their children away to college,\u00a0we wanted to shine a\u00a0spotlight on lost children.<i>\u00a0Think<\/i>\u00a0has always tried hard to address serious issues that affect Christians outside the walls of the church building. We believe the epidemic of lost children is one that must be confronted, especially given the current trend of negative church growth.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:562,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nHow hard are we working to protect our families? How diligently are we in teaching His principles to future generations? What legacy are we leaving through our posterity?<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:562,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nThis issue of the magazine is not meant to assign guilt or cast judgment. Rather, our aim is to point out that we do have a problem\u2014a very real problem! We have asked parents who have lost their children to share their real accounts with you. We also want to offer encouragement and suggestions to those who may have children who are lost. We hope that through this issue you find hope and maybe a door opening that will help you reach your child. For those with younger children,\u00a0we hope this issue is a wake-up call that you must get\u00a0<b>serious\u00a0<\/b>in training up your children. It is our prayer that this issue will be an eye-opener for parents, elders, and preachers\u2014and that through it we can focus on a much neglected mission field\u2014the Christian home.\u00a0 And as always we hope you will\u00a0think\u00a0on these things.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:562,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A parent should never have to bury a child\u2014it is outside the normal order of things. But there are things worse than such a death if he is God\u2019s child. Consider for a moment the reality of living day to\u00a0day with the knowledge that your adult children are lost, and will step over into eternity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46,66],"tags":[1135,1137,58,120,956,1150,1163,253],"class_list":["post-5326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-think-excerpts","tag-1135","tag-august","tag-children","tag-family","tag-from-the-editors","tag-lost","tag-prodigal","tag-teaching","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From The Editors - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2017\/11\/29\/from-the-editors-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From The Editors - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A parent should never have to bury a child\u2014it is outside the normal order of things. 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