Family Time
Thank you for taking the time to connect with STCH Ministries through our Messenger! As you read through this issue, I hope that you are encouraged by what you read and challenged as to how you can become involved.
It has long been said, show me your friends and I will show you your future. While this “saying” has merit, I believe show me your family and I will show you your future is a more accurate statement. The role our family plays in who we are and who we become is vital. Unfortunately, in the United States, we are suffering a crisis of the family. A major relational issue we face is that of the father. I personally dedicated my thesis to the research and study on this topic. The role of the father in our families must not be overlooked.
One important part of my research pertained to shared quality time by fathers. Generally speaking, since the rise of the industrial revolution the need for men to work outside the home has grown significantly. What this meant for the family was that fathers were away more leading to disengagement. The number one way that I found fathers and sons connect was through shared quality time.
As summer rapidly approaches, I implore us all to make time for our families. The window of influence for our children is directly correlated to the amount of quality time we spend with them. It is also important to note that ideally, biological fathers would be the “father figure” involved. However, research shows that men that are in the fathering role can have a very similar level of influence or impact as compared to our biological fathers.
As a STCH Ministries family, we recently celebrated our Week of Hope and also our 70th anniversary. It was a great week of connecting with familiar friends and also meeting new ones. Our open house locations were in McAllen, Corpus Christi, Victoria, Houston, San Antonio and also on our three campus ministry locations which are our Boothe Campus, Marshall Campus and our Bluebonnet Campus. As I traveled to all these different locations, it was amazing to reflect on our humble beginnings and see where the Good Lord has brought us to today. I also had time to dream about what our next endeavors will be. While as an organization we celebrated our 70 years of ministry, I also celebrated my 10 years of service as President/CEO. How thankful I am to serve alongside such a great team of God-called people!
In closing, I want to implore us all to fight for our families. You may be reading this in the middle of a family struggle, maybe we can help. The stress and strain on families is greater now than ever in our history; we are here to help. Our families are the building blocks of society and the church is the hope of the world. Let’s all commit to investing all we have in our Faith and in our Families!
