How To Use Story To Grow Your Kids’ Faith

Hey, homeschoolers! I am so excited about today's topic. I believe story is the most powerful way to teach, so of course, I believe in using story to teach our kids the faith. The Bible and Jesus Himself used story to teach, but today we'll talk about another way story can inspire our children with my guests Janet and Geoff Benge, authors of the Christian Heroes and Heroes of History series, published by Youth With a Mission. Special Offer Before we get to the interview, I want to share a time-sensitive offer with you. Grammar Galaxy, the curriculum that uses story to teach all language arts concepts, is 20% off now through Cyber Monday with code THANKS. Go to GrammarGalaxyBooks.com/shop and enter the code for the biggest savings of the year. My deepest desire is for kids to love reading and writing the way that I and Janet and Geoff Benge do. So many homeschool parents tell me that Grammar Galaxy has motivated their kids to read and write. They even tell me grammar is their child's favorite subject!     Sponsor Now I'd like to thank our sponsor, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a Sony/Affirm Films movie. Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in this timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism. This is based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod, showing the power of forgiveness. How to Use Story to Grow Kids' Faith with Janet and Geoff Benge Before I introduce Janet and Geoff Benge, I have to tell you how I met Janet. I attended the 2 to 1 Conference in October. This is a conference for Christian homeschool content creators. The first activity was an ice breaker in which we were randomly paired with someone. We were to ask a few questions of our partner so we could introduce her to the group. Janet told me she was with Benge Books. I asked her what kind of books she wrote and she said Christian and History Heroes. I said, "Oh, like the ones YWAM publishes?" She said, "Yes, those are the books." I looked at her nametag again and understood why her name seemed so familiar. I promptly burst into tears and hugged her. I told her that her books had changed my life and my children's lives for eternity. I asked her if she would do me the honor of appearing on the podcast and the following interview is the result. Janet and Geoff Benge have written together for 33 years. They learned the craft of writing from another husband and wife writing team, John and Elizabeth Sherrill, authors of The Cross and the Switchblade, The Hiding Place, God Smuggler, and many other classic Christian books. Their mission in writing is to entertain, inform, and inspire their readers. Their own lives are a testimony to the power of God. Janet is dyslexic yet is the author of more than 300 books. I know you will love these two as I do. The Geoffs and I discussed: * their personal faith stories * how they came to write Christian and History Heroes biographies * how their research of heroes affects them personally * their favorite heroes of the faith * how we can reach kids of various ages and faith stages through story Resources for growing your kids faith through story George Muller biography Adoniram Judson biography John Williams biography