COURAGEOUS PARENTING

“Homeschooling is not an experiment, like many like to call it; historically homeschooling has been one of the oldest forms of education.” Whether you homeschool and have been for many years or are in the process of deciding if you want to, this episode is sure to be an encouragement from two homeschool veterans, Angie Tolpin and Jennifer Pepito. Jennifer has homeschooled her 7 children over the past 30 years and Angie has been homeschooling her 9 children! 

There are so many lies and struggles that homeschool parents face, especially as they are just getting started. 

“I am not educated enough to homeschool my children.”

“What if my children become socially awkward and they have a hard time making friends.”

And then there are the lies we struggle with in the midst of the journey such as:

“I am not doing enough.”

“My child isn’t getting it, am I failing him/her?”

“My child is not loving a specific subject, maybe it’s because I am not a good enough teacher?”

We must take EVERY thought captive to the obedience of Christ in all things and realize that these are all thoughts that every homeschool parent has been tempted to believe. But instead of just believing them and quitting, let’s seek God’s will, be encouraged by one another to grow, get better, and to rise up and become the parent He calls us to be, all while trusting in a sovereign God will cover us and our homeschool with grace and mercy. His grace is much greater than any mistake or shortcoming we have as parents. 

Jennifer Pepito has just launched an incredibly encouraging book with practical insights on homeschooling and the historical relevance in deep diving into the past of some influential leaders in our world’s history and seeing not only how they were also homeschooled, but the depth of relationship that was developed with their parents that contributed in making them who they are and helping them to accomplish all they did. This is one of those must have books to read and reread with friends who are also thinking of homeschooling or who have been and just need a little reminder of just how powerful it is what they are doing! 

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📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

🤝 Companies we love and use:

Previnex vitamins the Tolpins use and love, get 15% off using code CP15 at previnex.com

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 CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

Do you really trust God? Are you allowing Him to guide your decisions? Are you willing to obey Him even if it’s a riskier path? 

Too many Christians crave and pursue safety, but that’s not the example our children need to see. You could train them up in all the right things, but if your example doesn’t shout loudly in support of the words you teach, wisdom will likely be discarded in their futures.

Be inspired to fully hear from the Lord and obey His guidance for your most important decisions. If your decisions fall in line with normal Christianity don’t be alarmed if the fruit of your legacy down the road is diminished. There’s no time to spare as we encourage and lead our families. They must see courage under our feet not just hear it from our lips. Equipping confident Christian Children for unprecedented times takes a path most Christians aren’t willing to walk down because it’s a path the leaves comfort and pursues righteousness that other Christians will mock.

🔔 Subscribe for more episodes on raising faith-filled kids in a hostile culture.

📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

🤝 Companies we love and use:

Previnex vitamins the Tolpins use and love, get 15% off using code CP15 at previnex.com

 REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

 CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

How much better could your marriage be? In this episode, the Tolpins reveal two things most marriages miss, even the good ones, and each share an area they've been personally working on to strengthen their own marriage of 27 years.

Isaac and Angie know this firsthand. They have nine children, three of whom are launched, thriving, and married with children of their own. They're authors, podcasters, and Isaac is a pastor while also running Be Courageous Ministry. They live on a homestead in the mountains of Idaho, and after 27 years, their marriage is thriving stronger than ever, with a heart for helping other marriages thrive too.

🔔 Subscribe for more episodes on raising faith-filled kids in a hostile culture.

📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

🤝 Companies we love and use:

Previnex vitamins the Tolpins use and love, get 15% off using code CP15 at previnex.com

 REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

 CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

While Isaac and Angie are celebrating their 27th Wedding Anniversary they have spent some time reflecting and auditing their legacy and family culture and have some insights to share with you that might make you think and evaluate the power of legacy beyond habits on a more simple level of practicality that can influence even the way you decorate your home and what you prioritize in meditating on. You can learn a lot by walking through antique shops, when you are willing to ask yourself the good, hard questions and even ask questions about the current generations, their stance on “things” as well as their connectedness to family and faith. It’s worth a listen and may even get you excited about learning about your own family and what you can do to cultivate special memories to leave with your children about their childhood home they grow up in! 

Topics covered: 

• What God’s word commands us to teach our children and how to diligently do that
• The power of dedicating and claiming your home for the Lord and inviting the Holy Spirit
• How scripture and visuals of Christ, the parables, psalms, and other biblical truths can help plant the word on your children’s hearts and minds
• How you decorate your home impacts other people and stirs powerful conversations
• Your Home can point your children to Christ and build a culture- what culture is being built by what you value and prioritize?

Scriptures used in this episode: Duet. 6:5-9; Isaiah 55:10-11; Joshua 24:15; Eph. 6:10-20

🔔 Subscribe for more episodes on raising faith-filled kids in a hostile culture.

📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

🤝 Companies we love and use:

Previnex vitamins the Tolpins use and love, get 15% off using code CP15 at previnex.com

 REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

 CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

We sat down with Alex Kendrick, the storyteller behind Facing the Giants, Courageous, War Room, Forge, and the upcoming Flywheel movie, for a conversation that goes far beyond moviemaking. Alex opens up about what his parents did to encourage their direction and sibling teamwork. He shares the testimony behind his calling, writing scripts rooted in biblical truth, and the difference between a good idea and a God idea when discerning direction for movies.

He shares a powerful story from their teenage years, when he and his brothers shifted toward encouragement and teamwork with one another, living at the highest and wisest level as a family, and the practical fatherhood rhythms that hold their household together in the midst of the movie business: four family devotions a week, intentional travel together, and one on one time with each child so no one feels like just another task on the list.

Alex shares a personal story of God calling him to deny himself, leading him to exclude himself from acting in one of the movies he wrote.

We get into how attention, affirmation, and affection shape a child's sense of being fathered well. And movie making perspectives on AI as well.

If you've ever wondered how a family builds a legacy of faith while also building a dynamic career, or how to keep from compartmentalizing calling and home life, this episode is for you.

Topics covered:

• Alex's testimony and calling into filmmaking
• The Good Idea vs God Idea filter for discerning direction
• Flywheel's re-release, October 16
• Keeping siblings and family in alignment
• Family rhythms: devotions, one on one time, not compartmentalizing
• Point man mentality in being an effective team running a business with siblings
• Attention, affirmation, and affection as the bedrock of fathering
• Raising up the next generation of Christian filmmakers
• His standards on AI and movie making as a Christian

Learn more about the Kendrick brothers new movie Flywheel at flywheelignitionofthesoulmovie.com

🔔 Subscribe for more episodes on raising faith-filled kids in a hostile culture.

📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

🤝 Companies we love and use:

Previnex vitamins the Tolpins use and love, get 15% off using code CP15 at previnex.com

 REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

 CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

Isaac and Angie have been married for 26 years, raised nine children together, and have a marriage that's thriving, not by accident, but on purpose. In this episode, they share four principles for proactively protecting and strengthening your marriage during unprecedented times, along with candid stories from their own journey.

If you don't proactively protect your marriage, you'll end up reacting to problems that never needed to happen in the first place. The enemy is actively working to destroy Christian marriages, but the Lord has given us the responsibility to nourish and guard what He's given us.

Listen in, and start applying these four principles to shift your marriage today.

🔔 Subscribe for more on marriage, fatherhood, and biblical masculinity.

📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

🤝 Companies we love and use:

Voetberg Music Academy (25% off, code COURAGEOUS25): VoetbergMusicAcademy.com

REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

Don't let overwhelm rob your home of peace, productivity, and joy. In this episode of Courageous Parenting, Isaac and Angie Tolpin share two simple, biblical steps to recalibrate your family with clarity — and build the rhythms that actually last.

Barna's 2026 research found that only 1% of Gen Z holds a biblical worldview — proof that "normal" Christian parenting rhythms aren't working. Don't let your family conform to what's normal. Think clearly about what's best.

This episode gives you a clear two-step plan the Tolpins use to keep thriving as a family whenever overwhelm creeps in. Stop letting overwhelm steal your joy — do these two things today.

Subscribe for more episodes on raising faith-filled kids in a hostile culture.

Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

Companies we love and use:

Voetberg Music Academy (25% off, code COURAGEOUS25) — voetbergmusicacademy.com

REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries — hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

CTC Math — ctcmath.com

Dustin Garrett was addicted to heroin, nearly took his life in prison, and is now a strong Christian husband and father. Episode 413 of Courageous Parenting.

He shares what he believes his parents could have done better when the early signs of waywardness first appeared — and what his father eventually did that was exactly what he needed, even though he hated it at the time.

You'll hear why tough love becomes necessary once a child is fully in a prodigal season, and how well-meaning help can actually prolong the problem instead of solving it.

Perhaps the most powerful moment in this conversation: the testimony of his grandmother, who kept speaking God's truth over him for years even when no one was listening — and who ended up playing a key role in his eventual return to Jesus. Too many parents let discouragement stop them from pointing their kids to Christ. This episode is a reminder that consistency matters more than results you can see right away.

If you're watching a child drift and aren't sure whether to tighten your grip or let go, this conversation will challenge and encourage you.

Here's an Apple Podcasts version — same content, but formatted for Apple's platform conventions (plain URLs instead of markdown links, no video tags since Apple doesn't use them, and structured so the strongest hook lands in the first couple lines, since that's what shows before "see more" gets tapped):

Get a candid behind-the-scenes look at what God's doing with the Tolpin's large family — full of powerful takeaways you can apply in your own. Do you want your family to be even more intentional about serving the Lord together?

Is there anything God wants you to obey Him in, but you're not sure how to move forward? You'll learn something the Tolpins have experienced to be true and were reminded of while on their personal marriage retreat recently.

They'll teach you the new marriage exercise they came up with that encouraged their marriage immensely, and also encouraged them to continue being obedient to the Lord when it isn't clear how it's even possible to do it. They get candid about the Lord's call to plant another Rooted Bible Church in a neighboring town this fall, and invite you to pray with them as they move forward.

This is sure to empower you in the unique journey the Lord has for you and your family.

📖 Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

Check out companies we love and use!

REDEEM™ HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

Voetberg Music Academy: 25% off, use code COURAGEOUS25 — VoetbergMusicAcademy.com

Are you making decisions within God's will — or just your own? It's one of the biggest questions people wrestle with, and if adults struggle to answer it, how do we disciple our children to walk confidently in God's will?

In this episode, Isaac and Angie share insights from two chapters of their new book, Courageous Parenting: Biblical Parenting in Unprecedented Times, unpacking what Scripture says God's will IS — and isn't. Romans 12:2 reminds us that discerning His will requires a renewed mind through the washing of the Word, which changes how we approach decision-making with our kids.

What you'll hear in this episode:

- Tips from two chapters of Courageous Parenting on seeking God, surrendering your will to the Father, and walking by the Spirit, not the flesh

- Why living out what you teach is essential to discipling your children

- How to help your kids tell the difference between God's will, their own fleshly desires, and the "will" others try to place on them

- The spiritual disciplines — prayer, fasting, stillness, abiding in Christ, and seeking wise counsel — that train discernment over time

Whether you're wrestling with a big decision yourself right now or teaching your children to make biblically wise decisions, this episode is one worth taking notes on.

Get the Courageous Parenting book: becourageousministry.org/book

Companies we love and use:

REDEEM HealthShare from Samaritan Ministries: https://hubs.ly/Q04n6bxv0

CTC Math: https://ctcmath.com/

Voetberg Music Academy (25% off, code COURAGEOUS25): voetbergmusicacademy.com

Connect with Be Courageous Ministry: https://www.becourageousministry.org/