Newsletter from The Center for Biblical Spirituality

In this edition:

• Crossway releases new edition of Don’s Family Worship book
• A new, free, five-part video series by Don on family worship
• New blog post by Don: “Family Worship and the Day I Made by Daughter Cry”

Crossway releases new edition of Don’s Family Worship book

After 10 years in print, I am excited to announce that my self-published Family Worship book has been revised, repackaged, and re-released in a beautiful new Crossway edition.

“Don Whitney has written a book we truly need. . . . This book belongs in every Christian home and in the hands of every Christian parent.
—R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

What’s different from the original, 2006 edition?

——More content. In every major section—family worship in the Bible, family worship in Christian history, and in the practical, how-to section—there’s at least some new material. If you are familiar with the original edition, you’ll still see all of that, but now you’ll find even more helpful material about family worship.

——More features. In addition to an attractive new cover, the Crossway team has reformatted the book for easier reading. This edition of Family Worship also has a Scripture index and more extensive endnotes.

——More editions. Besides the paperback edition, Family Worship is now available in Kindle and iBooks formats. You can also get the book on CD audio from christianaudio.com and as a digital download from both Audible.com and christianaudio.com.

Family Worship by Don Whitney is a priceless little volume. . . . This book is persuasive, practical, and most of all, doable.
—Dr. Tedd Tripp, Pastor; author, Shepherding a Child’s Heart

I’ve also revised the Discussion Guide printed in the back of Family Worship. This makes the book useful for class or small group study

With the original edition, the majority of copies sold were through bulk sales. Because of that trend, Family Worship will be available at a significant price reduction for bulk orders. As many did with the older edition, you may want to consider purchasing the book in discount quantities for your men’s ministry, men’s or couples’ conferences, or to distribute as gifts to your men on Father’s Day. Crossway has discount pricing on case quantities (call 800-543-1659), as does The Center for Biblical Spirituality on both case orders and 10-packs.

If you are one of the 35,000 who read the original edition of the book, please receive my heartfelt thanks. May the Lord guide you in your use of this new edition, and bless you with much lasting fruit in your life, family, and ministry from it.

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A new, free, five-part video series by Don on family worship

Many readers of this newsletter enrolled in the free, five-day video course on praying the Bible when my book on that subject came out last year. That series was so successful that Crossway, the publishers of Praying the Bible, decided to do the same with the release of Family Worship.

So “Family Worship 101” is also a free, five-day video course. By going to this page to sign up (simply by providing your email address), you’ll receive an email from Crossway each day for the next five days. Each email will contain a video (of about 3 to 5 minutes) in which I teach practical tips on leading family worship. Here’s a sample:

“Family Worship is a great introduction to a topic of great importance. I recommend it for any and all Christian families.”
—Tim Challies, author, The Next Story; blogger, Challies.com

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My daughter, Laurelen, graduated from a small, classical Christian high school. The school enjoys a commencement tradition in which the parents hand the diploma to their child, but only after speaking a few words of encouragement (usually accompanied with some nostalgia) to him or her. The graduate responds with some brief, prepared remarks of his or her own.

A surprise for me

From her response to us, here’s the section Laurelen specifically addressed to me:

Dad, I can’t think of learning to read, reading, or books without thinking about you. I remember how encouraging you were when I first learned to read. I would finish those little books, so proud of myself, and you would encourage me to start another one right away. I remember you reading to me when I was little and telling me how exciting it would be when I learned to read and could read to you. For as long as I can remember, you’ve been bringing home books from used bookstores for me to read and enjoy. By the time we moved from Kansas City, I had 4 or 5 bookcases full of books that you had lovingly brought home for me.

Reading has always been such an important part of us as a family. Dad, the way you have so consistently led us in family worship every single night of the week for every night of my life [Note: her memory certainly failed her here] is so meaningful and inspirational for me. I’m going to cherish those moments together for as long as I live. You have been a wonderful, loving, spiritual leader for my entire life. Not only our time reading the Bible or Christian books together, but also our time reading classic books will be something I’ll remember forever. Thank you so much, Dad, for making that such a huge part of our time as a family.

As meaningful to me as they obviously were, Laurelen never finished reading these two precious paragraphs (which, with her permission, I copied from her manuscript). When she started talking about how much family worship had meant to her, Laurelen began to cry. And when I say cry, I mean I cannot remember her weeping that hard since she was a preschooler. She came and sobbed on my shoulder, and the photo of that moment is my all-time favorite of the two of us together.

Perhaps a surprise for you

Now before you imagine something that isn’t true, I want you to know that I cannot recall once in the thousands of nights before Laurelen wrote these words when we concluded family worship and I had some atmospheric sense of the presence of God. Not one time did we finish family worship where I would have said afterward, “The Lord evidently moved in great power among us tonight.”

On the contrary, most nights our family gathering was more like, “Will y’all pay attention; I’m reading the Bible here. . . . Please put down your phone. . . . Are you listening?”

Was anything accomplished tonight?

Many times after family worship I wondered if anything good had been accomplished. Almost nightly I had to remind myself to trust in the Lord to do His work through His Word, and not in my perceptions or feelings about what had or had not occurred.

Often came the nights when I perceived no enthusiasm to gather for family worship, and frankly, many times I had very little myself. In many such cases you know you need to proceed with at least a brief time of family worship out of sheer discipline and a resolve that refuses to cave in to plausible excuses of everyone’s fatigue or busyness. Sometimes you’ll sense that for you to mandate family worship on that occasion would be received as harsh and legalistic, so you simply for a quick circle and sing the Doxology or offer a brief prayer. And you’ll second-guess yourself just about every time you have to make such a call.

It will be worth it

Strive for faithfulness in family worship, not immediate results. I fully understand that what you may see night-after-night, week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year in family worship may be uneventful. Just realize that the effects are rarely immediate; usually they’re cumulative.

Oaks aren’t grown by the effects of an occasional spectacular day of weather, but by long-term, consistent exposure to the elements that encourage their growth. The same patient persistence is true for growing “oaks of righteousness” (Isa. 61:3).

Give your family years of faithful, if unspectacular, leadership in family worship, and you’ll agree it’s worth it all when someday, perhaps far from now, unexpectedly, you get a response like this:

“This book will equip you to lead your family in worship, without fear or awkwardness or intimidation. This book could change your home, and you will be glad for the change.”
—Dr. Russell Moore, President, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

“I love this little book. It is clear, biblical, and practical. It gives hope and direction for anyone. . . . The “what if” chapter is worth the price of the book. I highly recommend it.”
—Martha Peace, Biblical Counselor; author, The Excellent Wife

To order Family Worship online, click here.

To order by phone or get more information, call Terry at 502-883-1096.