Gordon West and Melissa J. MacDonald welcome Ted Wueste to this week's conversation on the spiritual practice of guidance. Ted is the founder and Executive Director of the Spiritual Formation Society of Arizona. To learn more about Ted's ministry of Spiritual Direction, visit http://www.desertdirection.com.

There are times we get mixed signals from sources of guidance. Cultural voices will change over time. The voices of authority can waffle depending on hidden agendas and personal benefits. Even the laws of the land can be altered. We need something that gives us enduring and reliable guidance.

If we don’t acquaint our children with ways to identify godly wisdom and guidance, we rob them of life-giving wisdom — the Word of God; the unity of understanding with other wise Christians; and the loving promptings of the Spirit of God.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Receive God's Love."

Gordon West and Adam Ormord have an important conversation with Luz Figueroa about the spiritual practice of fasting.. Luz is founder and director of a wonderful international ministry, Entre Ninos (http://www.entreninos.com), which includes an online magazine by that same name. She has a Masters degree in Spiritual Formation,  a Master of Divinity from Carey Theological College and she is working on her Doctorate of Ministry from Bethel Seminary.

Fasting is intentionally turning our affection away from pleasures and solutions that are temporary to focus on the One who satisfies without end. When we are fasting, we are learning by experience what really feeds our souls — we are "feasting on God."

We give children a lifelong gift as we model fasting for them, when we set aside things we love too much in order to hold closely the One we can never love enough.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Respond to God's Love."

Recommended Resources - 
Entre Ninos - Online Magazine (www.entreninos.com)

Habits of a Child's Heart: Raising Your Kids with the Spiritual Disciplines, by Valorie Hess

Spiritual Disciplines for Children: A Guide to a Deeper Spiritual Life for You and Your Children, 
by Vernie Schorr Love

With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, by Skye Jethani

Gordon West and Melissa J. MacDonald welcome Becky Dietz, Vice President of Training Resources (KidZ at Heart), to the conversation about Radical Love. Submission is one of the most misunderstood, yet most important spiritual practices for us to engage in with God and with others.

Romans 12:10 (CSB) beautifully summarizes the invitation into submission: "Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor." That invitation has no age limit. Adults and children alike are invited into the joy of loving others radically.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Reflect God's Love."

"Journaling is a rehearsing of the story God is shaping." - Steve Macchia

In this week's conversation we talk with author and speaker, Steve Macchia, the Founder and President of Leadership Transformations. Steve is a lifelong practitioner of the spiritual discipline of journaling. His latest book, entitled "Legacy: 60 Life Reflections for the Next Generation," is a personal record of God's love as told through his own personal journal entries over the years.

We hope this conversation will challenge you as Gordon, Melissa and Steve talk about leading children into a spacious place of reflection on God's loving activity in their lives.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Receive God's Love."

Gordon West and Melissa MacDonald are joined by Luis MacDonald for a dynamic conversation on the spiritual practice of prayer. Born and raised in Guatemala, Luis has dedicated his life to ministering to children in "the Land of Eternal Spring."

Although children may be little, they have a lot on their hearts. What if they were sitting on God's lap? What would they want to say? What would they hear? What a wonderful existence if children can go through life with the habit of talking to God and hearing from him — in conversation.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Respond to God's Love."

Imagine a big room with no walls and no barriers where everyone is under the protective roof. That's the picture of Christian community — a lot like heaven — that this incredible multicultural panel will share with you as you join us for our most recent KidZ at Home discussion: "Teaching Kids to Love Others, Part 2."

Gordon West (KidZ at Heart President/CEO) and Adam Ormord (KidZ at Heard CDO) sit down with dear brothers and sisters who have all walked in different shoes. This discussion focuses on how kids can learn to "love your neighbor as yourself" as they engage in the spiritual practice of Christian community.

You will be blessed by our multicultural panel that includes Aja Carr-Favors, a lawyer from Chicago; Craig Omoto, a retired accountant from Seattle and KidZ board member; Anny Chinchilla, KidZ at Heart's National Training Network Coordinator from Honduras; Lynnette Stander, KidZ at Heart's Regional Training Director from South Africa; and Shantell Guzman, a dynamic children's ministry leader from Denver.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Reflect God's Love."

Join Gordon West (KidZ at Heart President/CEO) and Adam Ormord (KidZ at Heart's Chief Program Officer) for a very special discussion entitled "Just Him and Me." The content of this discussion on the spiritual practice of solitude is a gift from our special guest, Lacy Finn Borgo, that will help you create desire and hunger for this transformative experience in the lives of the children you love.

Lacy is a spiritual director, a trainer of spiritual directors, a professor, and a mother and wife. She is also a sought-after speaker and the author of Good Dirt and Spiritual Conversations with Children: Listening to God Together. Currently, you can find her formational curriculum, Life with God, available for free at Good Dirt Ministries. http://www.gooddirtministries.org

The practice of solitude is when we are most known, and we know it - because there are no distractions to draw us away from enjoying him. Solitude is when we are the least alone. It is when we are with the One who made us, knows us, and loves us. Our children need quiet space to process, reflect, and wrestle with life. And they need to do that in the company of the One who loves them unconditionally, with the comforting, instructing whispers of the Holy Spirit in their ear. Solitary time with Jesus will repair them and refresh them — just as it does for us.

Recommended Resources:

• "Spiritual Conversations with Children: Listening to God Together" by Lacy Finn Borgo
• To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Receive God's Love."

Catherine Stonehouse is the special guest for this conversation with Gordon West and Becky Dietz on the spiritual practice of keeping the Sabbath. Catherine is an author, professor, and influential voice in conversations related to children’s spirituality. She is the author of "Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey" as well as other books.

In times of true Sabbath, we take time to remember who we are and who God is. He is limitless, and we are not. Neglecting rest is failing to acknowledge that we are not God; it is a denial of our human limits. Relentless activity says, “I have no need to rest and recharge. I have divine capacity, limitless physical resources.” That is one step away from saying, “I don’t need God. I am enough on my own.”

On the other hand, as we enjoy a Sabbath rest, we live out the message, “Christ is enough for me.” We are content, joyful, in our place in his wonderful creation at the feet of the Creator. What a live-giving and life-changing gift we offer our children when we invite them to acquire the habit of Sabbath, finding their rest in God.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Respond to God's Love."

Gordon and Melissa welcome back Michayla White, Executive Director of the International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM),  to an important conversation on the spiritual practice of lament.

Lament isn’t about the happy at the end of the story. Lament is about the reassurance within the trouble of the story. Lamenting is living through the hard things with God. Lament is what happens when we ask, “Why?” and don’t get an answer. It is never too early to learn that it’s not our role to explain what is happening or why. Our role is to lament — to face the hard and to feel the hard — when we cannot explain.

We do children no favors when we cultivate the lie that life is always going to be easy, sunny and happy. God wants to live closely with us in days that are hard. He will show himself to be enough — bigger than the hard things. Our children need to have this confidence early in life, so let's listen to them and show them how.

To download our free Resource Guide for this episode, please visit www.kidzathome.org and scroll to the bottom of the page. This episode is listed under the category "Respond to God's Love."

Michael Washington, a member of KidZ at Heart’s board of directors joins Gordon West for this special discussion entitled “Teaching Children to Love Others." Michael is a pastor in Chicago, a chaplain, a prolific writer, a student and a professor, a father of two adorable boys, and a respected voice in the field of spiritual formation. Join Michael and Gordon as they discuss the very complex issue of race relations in the United States.

Our goal in releasing this special edition is to learn to love God and others more deeply and in ways that are truly meaningful, even as we encourage others to do the same.  We hope you will be challenged, blessed, and inspired through this important conversation.