I have done interviews with many radio, television and print media over the years. It always helps me to have an interested party asking me all the basic questions that their readers or listeners have. So, in the spirit of getting down to the basics of The Households of Strength Seminar, I have decide to interview myself for the seminar’s blog. As with most interviews I provided myself with a few initial questions to guide myself in getting started. I hope you enjoy the result.
Reporter: Okay, Mr. Harris, I am…
Gregg: Just call me “Gregg.”
Reporter: Gregg. Let me get this straight. I am going to ask you these questions that you yourself wrote and you are going to answer them for the blog. So, why am I needed? Why can’t you just answer them yourself and let me go prepare my sermon for this Sunday?
Gregg: Well Gregg, that is not one of the questions. But, to answer you anyway, this is how you can help me get into that place in my mind where I can talk about the new seminar without talking like everyone out there already knows all about it. It is harder than you might think.
Reporter: Alright then. Here goes. Tell me, what is the purpose of The Households of Strength Seminar?
Gregg: I am so glad you asked that question! The purpose of the seminar is to bring biblical wisdom to bear on the crucial issues facing Christian families today. We live in a time of rapid change. Morality, technology, religious trends, economic crisis, political challenges, it’s all in a state of flux and change and I am deeply concerned that most today families are not aware of what is happening and what they need to do to make it through this time successfully. Marriage. Career. Ministry. Civil liberties. It’s all up in the air.
Reporter: So, you think the world is about to end and we should all go hide out in the woods?
Gregg: The world may end at any time. Jesus could come back today. But no, this seminar is not a call to hide out anywhere. It is a call to stand up and stand out where ever you are. We are commanded by God to live boldly for His glory, regardless of what else is going on around us. The way we do that is by being more and more of an example of His goodness and His wisdom in our circumstances. If you want to live in the woods, that’s fine. But don’t stop living as an embassy of the kingdom of God. Home school. Mind your own business. Practice hospitality. And help organize your community to be an island of sanity and morality in the midst of the insanity and immorality of the world around you.
Reporter: Let’s go back to what you said about living for God’s glory. Explain what you mean by that.
Gregg: God’s kingdom comes where ever God’s will is being done cheerfully from a heart of faith in His goodness and wisdom. His glory is the display of His goodness and wisdom and power in specific situations, like ours. When we trust in God enough to actually obey Jesus, His goodness and wisdom begin to over rule our own sinfulness and foolishness. His power begins to over rule our weakness. That is what it means that “Jesus is Lord.” He has always been Lord, but by the obedience of my faith in Him His lordship begins to become observable in my life and He is glorified in my life.
Reporter: Are you the only one who see things this way? Are you just making this up?
Gregg: Well, there have been many Christians who have influenced my thinking on this if that is what you mean. Charles H. Spurgeon, Abraham Kuyper, J. Gresham Machen and more recently, Francis Schaeffer, J.I. Packer, David Wells, D.A. Carson, John Piper and Timothy Keller. Not that I am in any way in their league, or that they would say things in the same way I do, but in general there is a growing consensus that the Gospel that saves us as individuals out of the darkness of this world also transfers us into this new kingdom of God’s dear Son, Jesus. Jesus really is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. His good and wise will is our best option. In a sense, the social gospel of the modernists and the liberals is a kingdom without a King and the individualistic gospel of personal salvation in modern evangelicalism is a King without a kingdom. There is always a ditch on both sides of the road of sound doctrine. Biblical Christianity offers us a King who actually rules over a Kingdom and that kingdom begins in our own hearts and homes as soon as His will governs our lives by faith.
Reporter: Okay, but what does home schooling or family business have to do with all that? Does everyone have to home school or be self-employed in order to be a “real Christian.” Isn’t that adding to the gospel and excluding about 90% of the evangelical church?
Gregg: Wow, you are truly a hard hitting reporter! In answer to your question, home schooling and family business are not morally superior, they are simply good and wise. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that we are to walk in wisdom because the days are evil. Covenant marriage, home schooling, family business, home-based healthcare and hospitality are good works that allow us to shine in the darkness of this world’s foolishness. The gospel sets us free to be truly wise. Whatever options in education parents may choose for their kids, they are going to have problems. I choose to home school my kids because I have more direct control over the problems that come with home schooling. It’s never easy. It’s hard. But it’s harder to protect kids from the rampant hypocrisy of a private school, or the blatant immorality and lack of discipline of a typical public school. So, I pick my problems! There are no easy paths. But some paths are wiser and better than others. I choose the more ancient path of home schooling and family business and all the rest because that is “where the good way is.” And it has worked very well for us. That’s why I advocate this very different way of life. It’s better.
Reporter: And Family Business?
Gregg: It is the same with family business. Everyone already has a family business whether they realize it or not. We all have to make an income and cover expenses. But it is often wiser and better to become an employer rather than just another employee. It can offer far more flexibility and greater income without incurring a lot of the downside of the other options. It’s never easy. In fact, it’s hard. But not as hard as most forms of employment and self-employment. God’s kingdom needs more employers who can actually create more and better jobs for their employees. For us as adults it may be just a part-time, seasonal venture. But if our kids grow up in a resourceful, entrepreneurial environment they will be better equipped for business and leadership than we could ever be.Home schooling and family business also work well together in this way. Family business is a training ground and a fund raiser for the education activities of our children. I am not opposed to employees. I just believe more of our children to one day have some.
Reporter: What about ministry hospitality and civic influence?
Gregg: Again, the issue here is God’s goodness and wisdom. We get to do these things in Christ’s kingdom as ambassadors for Christ. Our homes are the embassy of His kingdom. A practical commitment to practice more hospitality is good for your marriage. It broadens your world and it can help prosper your career or business. It’s good for your children to meet and get to listen to knowledgeable guests at the dinner table. It is good for your church to have guest rooms for missionaries and evangelists. Its good for the guests to avoid the temptations of commercial hotel nightlife. Everyone wins when we do things God’s good old fashioned way. Civic influence is just hospitality with an agenda. It allows a few like-minded householders to gather in one another’s homes to plan and found new organizations to respond to pressing needs in the culture and the community. This kind of humble visionary thinking routinely changes the course of history. It is how great businesses, churches, charities and political parties get started.
Reporter: Can you give us some examples?
Gregg: Certainly. Walmart. Focus on the Family. Home School Legal Defense Association. The Creation Museum. Gresham Household of Faith Community Church, Pregnancy Resource Centers, The Tea Party Movement. Just about every major business, institution, organization and church started somewhere at a kitchen table where a few friends got past the “Somebody ought to do something” stage and launched into the “So, what will we do?” stage. My job in the seminar will be to help householders and their families connect the dots and see how their own household fits into the bigger picture of how God’s kingdom comes into glorious display in time and space history.
Reporter: How do all these things fit into a normal lifestyle? Is it really practical.
Gregg: It is far more practical than what most “normal” families are doing now. DINK families (i.e. Duel Income No Kids) think they are getting ahead when they are not. They are losing their marriages in record numbers as working people often transfer their affection to someone else in the workplace. They could have been working together. They are losing their kids to the youth culture when they could have been learning and working together at home. They are losing their influence on the culture by being consumers rather than producers. They lose their liberties because, to be honest, they never really use them to do anything. Home becomes just a place to go when nothing else is open. And we wonder why life is not working. God’s way is very practical because He is both good and wise. It’s not easy. But it’s good. And, it will be there during good times and bad. I just hope we can become Households of Strength before it is too late. The world is drifting into a new dark age and the Christian household, properly managed is the new Noah’s Ark and the new Mayflower that God has provided to carry us through it.
Reporter: I have to ask, why is it called The Households of Strength Seminar (plural) instead of The Household of Strength Seminar (singular)? Seeing double, are we?
Gregg: Because God intended for households to work together in their church and community. It only takes a few like-minded householders to make the vision more practical. You may be in the same local church. That does make things easier. Or you may be in different local churches. Either way, lookout for one another’s interests like a support group for Christian households. Encourage one another. Support one another. My own support team here in Gresham made it possible for me to continue my work as a father and a pastor and an instructor, after my wife Sono passed away, in ways that never could have been done without them. Build your team of households because you are going to need it one way or another.
Reporter: Well. this has been illuminating. Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
Gregg: Yes. Register today for the seminar nearest you. Or, if you have the means to do so, fly in for the seminar that best suits your schedule. Either way, do yourself and your family a favor by attending together as soon as possible. I know that each session will deliver more than enough value to make it well worth your while.
Having presented the new seminar in two locations, Sarasota, FL and Boston, Mass, I am ready to offer more specific descriptions of the seminar sessions than before. It takes a few runs to get a feel for what material fits and flows well in each session. So, you will find the new descriptions under the Session Times, Topics and Descriptions tab under the About the Seminar tab to your left.
