williamsfamilylife

Welcome to williamsfamilylife...

Thanks for wanting to catch up with our family and ministry with FamilyLife.

First Time Visitors: If you're new to the Williams Family, we invite you to get to know About Our Family, About Our Ministry, and how to SUPPORT OUR WORK for the Kingdom.

Return Visitors: To read our latest news, just scroll down. To be notified as soon as we post new updates, click one of the "Subscribe..." options in the column to the left. If you're not already part of our ministry team, would you consider FINANCIAL SUPPORT. Without that, we can't continue to do what we do.

Thanks for your interest in our family and ministry. We're interested in you, too. Do you have any family news, prayer requests or comments to share with us? Please let us know.

Because of you ... Because of Him

For those of you who have supported our ministry with FamilyLife, or any of the myriad other ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ around the world, THANK YOU! We're honored to be co-laborers with you in reaching the world with the life-changing power of Christ.

Campus Crusade for Christ -- Christmas Thank You from Masterworks on Vimeo.

 

 

Our 10th Anniversary with Campus Crusade

Today marks our 10th anniversary on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Back in November of 2001, Ellie and I spent a week in Daytona and Orlando, receiving the basic training required of all new staff: understanding the various aspects of the ministry, focusing on ministering the gospel, and learning how to raise support. We were with over 75 others who had left careers to serve with the various ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ, including FamilyLife, Military Ministry, and Student Venture.

On Saturday night, November 10, we all stood to recite and pledge our commitment to Campus Crusade for Christ's Statement of Faith, and to be officially commissioned to the ministry.

When Campus Crusade's celebrated it's 60th anniversary this summer, Ellie and I stood once again - this time with about 10,000 active staff members - to reaffirm that commitment during the ministry's bi-annual U.S. Staff Conference in Ft. Collins, Colorado. It was a great reminder, not just of the ministry with which we serve, but most importantly, of the great God who we serve.

If the Lord allows, we plan to serve another two decades reaching the world with the life-changing power of Christ and working to develop godly marriages and families that help change the world, one home at a time.

Thank you for being a part of our ministry. Without your prayers, financial support and encouragment, we would not be beginning our second decade of ministry with Campus Crusade and FamilyLife.

By the way, the picture is of our mid-career New Staff Training class. It was taken at Campus Crusade Headquarters in Orlando as the outer bands of Hurricane Michelle were moving in. Ellie and I are on the front row, just right of center.

Starting our 20th year of radio

When FamilyLife (then called The Family Ministry) began in 1976, it was exclusively about sharing God's blueprints for marriage and family to couples attending conferences in various cities across the United States. Over the next 15 years, through the conferences and printed couples studies, we were able to tens of thousands every year.

But we knew we needed to reach many times that number. So in 1992, the first FamilyLife Today broadcast was aired on 22 stations. The original broadcasts covered communication, romance, husband-wife role, conflict resolution - the sam type of material couples would receive from attending a conference.

Today, the award-winning program and related broadcasts are heard by over nine million listeners in over 1,200 outlets in 45 of the top 50 U.S. media markets. FamilyLife president Dennis Rainey and co-host Bob Lepine have honest conversations from widely-recognized authors and experts as well as the not-so-well-known as they honestly and openly discuss issues affecting marriage and the family. There are few topics that are off limits. If you've never heard FamilyLife today, just looking at the topics covered since the beginning of the month show you the breadth of issues we address:

• Why are so many kids raised in Christian homes are turning from Christ?
• Guiding and praying prodigal children back to faith in Christ
• 10 friendly warnings for first-time dads
• Looking 20 years into your child's future to devise a plan for parenting them now
• Adults opening up to deal with sexual abuse they suffered as a child

The shows this month have focused more on families, but of course, we focus just as much, if not more, on the marriage relationship.

Whatever the broadcast, there's rarely a time that I don't find myself encouraged, challenged, or equipped by what I hear. More times than not, I find myself so impressed by the quality of the content that I thank God for the privilege of working at FamilyLife, co-laboring alongside Bob and Dennis and dozens of others whose heart is for godly homes. I've even had the opportunity to do show prep for several broadcasts

I encourage you to turn in to FamilyLife Today on a radio station near you. And you can listen online anytime to any broadcast from the past several years.

Back in Action ... Sorta

October 24 was a great day.

After spending most of 2011 raising support full-time, I (Scott) returned to the office and my ministry responsibilities.

At least part-time … for now.

As most of you know, for many years, we have struggled with insufficient support. What that meant is that medical bills (and sometimes utility bills) went unpaid. For more than five years, the monthly donations we received were only about 70-75 percent of what our family needed to pay our bills. It seemed we were in constant financial crisis, which necessitated us sending appeals for special giving at least twice a year to make up for the monthly budget shortfall.

To us it seemed like poor stewardship. Because I was constantly juggling balls to make ends meet financially for our family, I was dropping the ball at work. My effectiveness was severely affected. At our request, FamilyLife leadership allowed me to go to full-time support-raising for a season so that we could finally get back on top of things financially. It took us a lot longer than we anticipated, partly due to the flagging national economy, but we’re so much better off now. While we’re not at full support yet, the Lord has blessed us with a significant increase from new monthly donors and from current supporters who increased their monthly amounts.

My status right now is that I’m back doing my ministry activities two days a week and raising support the other three. We still have another $350 in monthly support to raise by the end of the year to be fully funded and to fully concentrate on my ministry responsibilities. If it doesn’t come in by year’s end, I’ll have to return to full-time support-raising until we’ve made our goal.

Please pray that we’ll receive the rest of the support we need to meet our monthly obligations and have a little buffer for unexpected expenses like car and home repairs and medical bills. And if the Lord so leads, would you consider either becoming a monthly donor, or if you already are, increasing your monthly donation to help us meet our goal and get back to ministry full time.

 

Pray for Hurting Marriages

When a couple attends a FamilyLife Weekend to Remember marriage getaway, they fill out an evaluation sheet about how the conference has impacted them, and also an opportunity to further the work of FamilyLife by supporting a staff member. Ellie and I have the privilege of following up on several of those interested in support. Sometimes these contacts result in a new member of our ministry support team. Lately, though, we’ve found ourselves talking to folks who are looking at divorce in spite of the weekend.

I followed up on one couple who rated their marriage health 1 before the conference (on a 10-point scale) and 1 after. Then there’s another couple who I’ve been working with for many months to help them get pointed in the direction that will turn their marriage around. Last week they just got divorced.

One of the things I’m seeing more of is women who have put up with thoughtless husbands for so long, their hearts are deadened toward them. When the husband finally wakes up and realizes how needy the relationship is, it’s too late - no amount of work on his part is enough to win back his heart-hardened wife.

This is nothing new, except for the fact that I’m seeing it more frequently. I am increasingly more surprised at the level of hurt that is out there in the typical home. Much of it has been inflicted by the couple themselves, but oftentimes, that has been passed from the previous generation.

Ellie and I recently attended a Weekend to Remember in Tulsa, not as FamilyLife missionaries, but as one of the 150 or so couples there. One of our speakers asked for a show of hands of those who feel their parents gave them a good model for how to do marriage right; not that they were perfect, but that they worked to build a decent marriage. I was expecting about half the crowd to raise their hands (after all, most of those attending heard about the conference through their church or Christian radio).

Only about 10-20 percent of the couples raised their hands. My first reaction was shock, followed by heartbreak, then almost immediately by a renewed sense of gratitude for our parents. Ellie and I consider ourselves pretty typical. Sure, we have a great marriage, but our relationship is subject to the same stresses as everyone else, and our marriage, too, drifts toward isolation when we’re not constantly steering toward oneness with God and each other.

But I believe marriages are more precarious than ever. I believe the enemy, Satan, is doing all he can to destroy God’s great gift through society’s redefinition of marriage, our increasingly individualistic (selfish) culture, and it’s increasing inability to stomach anything that requires us to sacrifice or endure any personal discomfort.

Please pray for marriages. For ours. For your own and those of your parents, children, grandchildren and other family members. For your friends and neighbors, and those you meet in passing throughout the day. And if the Lord so impresses, please support those who build into marriages, whether it’s through FamilyLife, you church, local Christian counseling center or anywhere else. The need is huge.

Your Husband’s Two Biggest Fears

You can do something about your husband’s twin fears. In fact, your husband will never get over them without you.

Taken from The Family Room emagazine

By Priscilla Shirer

 Throughout the last several years, I’ve enjoyed the distinct honor of sharing a speaker’s stage with two beloved authors and Bible teachers—Kay Arthur and Beth Moore. And during one of our recent panel discussions before thousands of women, Miss Kay summarized a huge dose of marriage reality into so tight a capsule that any of us could swallow it and keep it down. 

She said that men possess two great fears:

• the fear of being found inadequate
• the fear of being controlled by a woman

… which lead them to the following attitudes and aspirations: Your man wants to be your hero. He wants to feel like he is worthwhile to you and needed by you. He desires more than anything to see a look of love and admiration in your eyes. He wants to know that you celebrate him, depend on him, feel privileged to be married to him, and expect great things from him.

Let’s see what these twin fears in our guys’ lives have to do with us and what will happen if we try to alleviate them.

Read the rest of the article.

Walking in Christlikeness

10 Scriptures to Help Guide You Through Your Interpersonal Relationships at Home

 

“Familiarity breeds contempt.”

“You always hurt the ones you love.”

The timeliness of these old adages speaks volumes. It seems we reserve our unkindest words, do our most thoughtless deeds, are the most mean to those who mean the most to us. And because those close to use care  more about what we say and think, those words and actions hurt more deeply. It’s a double whammy.

Because the stakes are so high in the family , we must ensure that our communications not only stay away from the negative, but that they lead everyone to the positive. Here are ten passages of Scripture that can be very helpful in transforming our family communication.

1. Mining for Good – Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is puree, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

During the Gold Rush of the mid 19^th century, prospectors would scoop up pan after pan of rocks and carefully wash away the useless lumps in hopes of finding just one gold nugget. We need to be prospectors of the good in other family members.

2. Rot Not – Ephesians 4:29

“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”

Unwholesome, in the original Greek, can just as legitimately be translated “rotten.” The contrast in this verse makes it clear that our words fall into two categories:  “Edifying” and “Rotten.” If our words are not lifting our family members up, we don’t need to be wasting our breathless.

3. Takes One to Know One – John 13:34

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

When we’re considering how we ought to respond to an unkind word from a spouse or other family member, we need think no further than what Christ has done for us. “While were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

4. The “I Insist” Principle – Philippians 2:3-4

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

I come from “The Hospitality State” (Mississippi), where it’s not unusual to have two drivers stopped at an intersection, sometimes for 10-15 seconds, each politely signaling to the other to go first. Sure, that may be a bit of overkill, but in this age of selfish individualism, maybe a pendulum swing in the opposite direction would be helpful … and closer to Scripture.

5. Go Deep Into Debt – Romans 13:8

“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor had fulfilled the law.”

Scripture warns against being in financial debt to anyone. But here, Paul makes the point that there is an acceptable – even desirable – kind of debt. And because God, who is the author of love, offers an endless reserve of the commodity, the more debt we carry, the better it is for everyone.

6. It’s the Law – John 13:34

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

All the laws of the Old Testament, Jesus proclaimed, hinged on loving God and others. The burdensome, unattainable “to do lists” created by the Pharisees are preempted by one single command, which Jesus deemed important enough to repeat twice. And rather than being burdensome, it is incredibly freeing to both the giver and receiver.

7. The Checklist of Love – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Few passages of Scripture are as widely accepted and as lightly applied as this one. I’ve found it to be one of the most helpful tools for revealing my own unloving attitudes in times of turmoil. People generally don’t appreciate having it pointed out when they’re wrong, but because this passage is so well loved, it tends to disarm even the most stubborn combatant.

8. Egg ‘Em On – Hebrews 10:24

“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.”

How many quibbles turn into full-blown disputes because one person has “stimulated” (the word is “provoked” in some translations) the other to anger? Instead of being students of one another’s hot buttons, we need to consider what can nudge each other back into the right direction.

9. Share the Load – Galatians 6:2

“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”

In this age of radical individualism, a person’s responsibility goes no further than the tip of his nose. But the Apostle Paul reminds us that when we notice someone limping down the highway of life with an oversized load, it is our responsibility as Christians to claim some of that load as our own.

10. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me – Ephesians 4:26-27

“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil and opportunity.”

Few marriages are destroyed as the result of a single action. The vast majority collapse under the combined weight of unconfessed sin and bitterness held in reserve. God’s way of you preventing that kind of stockpiling is with a self-imposed Sunset Clause. Knowing that you have to deal with an issue not only defuses  the dissention, but it improves communication, which makes the marriage (or other family relationship) stronger.

Taken from The Family Room emagazine. Scott Williams is a writer and editor for FamilyLife. He and his wife Ellie, have seven children and live in Little Rock, Ark.

Mukama Yebazibwe

Mukama Yebazibwe! (Praise God!)

God has done so much in my life and the lives of so many others in these past few weeks. I feel entirely incompetent to explain to you all that He did, so I pray that He will speak through me instead.

From our first day in Uganda, God brought children into our lives and built sweet relationships. They are so precious; always wanting to be held, loved on, and played with. We were taught a few Luganda phrases (Luganda is the local language), including how to say, “You’re beautiful” (oliomulugi). Parents in Uganda do not often tell their children how much they are worth, so it was amazing to watch the children’s eyes light up as we told them that they were beautiful.  The blessing of showing them Christ's love was incredible.

On our first full day in Uganda, we went into the slums to pierce ears and share the gospel with the children. It was quite hectic, but God brought many fruitful conversations with the people there. The same thing happened over the next few days with different slums each day. More than 800 children got their ears pierced!

In the mornings, we painted the walls at Save the Street Children, a ministry started by Pastor Innocent, who was a street child himself for 6 years. Innocent is now used by God to find children living on the streets without a home and take them in. At Save the Street Children, the once homeless children are provided a home and schooling, learn how to make money, and most importantly - hear about Yesu Cristo (Jesus Christ). God has truly used this ministry to draw these children to Himself; we were given the opportunity to hear some of their stories one night, they are truly eye-opening.

Later in the week, we joined with the believers at Innocent’s church to worship. Although it was sweltering hot and there was sweat literally rolling down our backs, God showed us true Ugandan worship (which is incredibly energetic and lasts for about 2 hours).

Aside from all that we did were the relationships God formed, both between team members and Ugandans. Over the weeks, He united our team until we were truly a family in Christ. God taught us many lessons about His nature through other team members. Some of our ministry there was to spend time with the Rackleys, a sweet family from Little Rock who listened to God’s calling five months ago to move to Kampala, Uganda. God encouraged both our team and their family through the time.

God blessed me in particular with getting to know some incredible Ugandan women; sweet women who have so little yet give God every ounce; sweet girls who have next to nothing, yet willingly give you jewelry and photos to remember them by. I will miss them so much… God taught me so much from their simple faith.

I am at a loss for words at how to describe it to you. How can I communicate to you this yearning I have to be back there? How can I explain this connection that spans half the world? I can’t make you see what I saw… No words can describe it… No picture can capture it… All I can say is: Go. Let God lead you where He wants you to go. See that this world is about so much more than your small life. Ask God to give you His heart for the nations. But beware - it just might rock your world.

 

Off to Uganda

There were lots of hugs, a few tears, plenty of prayers but mostly happy times as we dropped Joy off at Little Rock Airport for the first leg of her mission trip to Uganda. She made it to O'Hare and by text message let us know that her first flight was "suuuuper fun." I'm sure after 38 hours of flying the newness will have worn off, but we never know with enthusiastic Joy.

This is not only Joy's first time to fly, but her first time overseas. I'd be surprised if it was her last. She has such a heart for missions. When she started praying about going to Uganda for this trip, it was like a switch was turned on in her heart. We all look forward to when she returns and tells us about how God worked during their time in Uganda. And we're fully expecting that as much as we know He will do through the members of this team, the greatest work will be what he does in each individual on this team who is going.

For months, these team members have supported each other with prayer and encouragement. Many of them only knew one or two people on the team when they signed up. Some of them were from different churches and were encouraged to by a school mate to join them on the trip. When we were at the airport today, it was obvious that this team is one. Lots of personality, but little ego. From what I've been able to tell, they care little about what glory they might get from themselves and, but care greatly about reflecting Christ and serving others.

They'll have lots of opportunities over the next couple of weeks. Not only will they be showing the Luganda language version of The Jesus Film several times on the streets of Kampala, they'll also be doing work to support a local Christian school, and sharing the gospel through backyard-Bible-club type events.

And they'll be piercing a lot of ears.

That seems like a frivilous thing to go a third of the way around the world to do, but there's a very real purpose, very serious purpose. Apparently, witch doctors kidnap and kill young children for a very evil purpose. There's a belief that if you offer a pure human sacrifice by burying a body part under your business property, it will find success. However, witch doctors aren't interested in any child who has been defiled, including girls who have their ears pierced and boys who have been circumcised.

The team has brought supplies to pierce 800 sets of ears, and have raised several hundred dollars to pay Kampala doctors to perform circumcisions. These Ugandan parents want to do this to keep their children safe, they just don't have the means to do so.

As you think about this group over the next several days, pray that my ministering to the physical needs of the Kampala street people that it will open up the hearts of these parents and children to hear the life-changing power of Jesus Christ.

Pray also for the team's safety, both on the ground and in the air. As I write this,Joy and the team are sitting in a Boeing 777 ready to taxi to the runway and make the trans-Atlantic flight to London. And on Saturday, they'll make an even longer trip from there to Uganda. We can't be there with them, but we can pray to the Lord of the Universe to empower these young people and adult leaders to reflect Christ wherever they go.

 

Family Update

Looking back, I didn't realize how long it's been since we gave you an all-in-one update on who's where in our family. Now that we've finished another school year and headed into summer, I figure it's as good a time as any.

Ellie just finished her 19th year teaching homeschool. This year it was only Becky, who has been taking 5th and 6th grade courses. At 11, she's looking more like a young lady every day. She's always looked like her sister Joy, but now were amazed how much she's beginning to look like big sister Amy, even in some of her expressions.

Ben finished his 8th grade year and Joy her 10th grade year at Lisa Academy, a public charter school. We're so proud of them for making honor roll, a real achievement at a school that boasts the third highest standardized test scores among the state's public schools. Joy actually had straight A's all year, and was just inducted into the National Honor Society.

Speaking of Joy, she's just days away from boarding a flight (her first) to Chicago, then London, then Uganda for a 2 1/2-week mission trip. The busyness of getting all her shots and medications, passport and visa has been done for a couple of weeks and now she's just making a list and checking it twice. She's so excited about sharing the love of Christ with the street children of Kampala. We know she's going to come back with an even deeper commitment to her Lord and His call on her life.

Joy won't be the only one away from home. Brian is spending the summer in Alaska, working as a waiter at a resort in Gustavus, near Juneau. He's enjoying the incredible beauty of God's creation, while at the same time putting away money for the fall, when he'll begin graduate school at Ohio State University.

Amy, Chris and Jeff are all living in Little Rock still. Amy just finished her junior year at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is working two jobs this summer. Chris and Jeff share an apartment when they're not working full time. Both are showing the maturity of years that come from being on their own.

Ellie and I celebrated our 26th anniversary in May by attending a Weekend to Remember marriage getaway in Tulsa, Oklahoma, our first FamilyLife conference in five years. Even good marriages can get better, and we appreciated the time alone to focus on each other and to be reminded that we are God's perfect gift to each other.

May also marked the beginning of our 10th year on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ/FamilyLife. Despite the faultering economy, the Lord is supplying our needs so that we can stay in full time ministry to couples and families.

Thanks so much for keeping us in your prayers. Like you, we have struggles as a family that we don't talk much about but that remind us how dependent we are on the Lord's grace and wisdom. Please keep praying, and please let us know if there's anyway we can pray for you!