Some people walk out their faith under constant scrutiny. On the Tuesday edition of Live the Promise Barnabas Piper joins us to talk about what it’s like to be the son of a well-known pastor. His book is .
“For the first 16 or 17 years of my life, [my dad] wasn’t a nationally known figure. He was respected, he was an author, but … I was just a pastor’s kid. With the rise of the Passion conferences, the fishbowl grew. People became more and more aware of my life and my family’s life.”
Barnabas and Susie explore
• The double standard we tend to put on the children of the church versus the children of the pastor.
• Legalism.
• How Barnabas’ faith eventually became his own. During a “major crisis point” when Barnabas lost his job and made a few poor decisions, he returned to the basis of his faith and started wrestling with what he truly knew and believed about God.
• How we can find our own faith while respecting and honoring our own parents.
• How a parent can respond when their son or daughter starts wrestling with faith. Barnabas shares what he’s learning as a young father.
“For me, it is a constant leaning-back into the sovereignty of God. Your role changes from filling up your kids’ heads with things you think to being a sounding board for what they actually think. That’s a hard shift for many parents.”
• Walking in denominational differences without dividing over them.
• How to respect the boundaries of the pastor’s family while loving them.
Barnabas offers these thoughts.
“I have a tendency to not like to be told what to do. A lot of that comes from being told ‘Do this because it’s right.’ This is not saying there shouldn’t be a moral standard – but it should be set up as something that’s desirable [rather than] a hammer waiting to drop on you. It’s very freeing for a kid to have a chance to just relax and be yourself.”
Key Scriptures: Mark 9:22-24; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 2:12-13
Theme Song: Your Grace Abounds to Me by Hillsong
