12 Taskers
Here you can find some testimonials and ideas from others who have done or are doing the 12 Tasks.
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Running for Your Heart
My grandson Anderson and my son Richard just ran a half marathon in the heat of Portland for one of Anderson’s 12 tasks. Richard had tried to practice in Rwanda during his month-long teaching time there but he was clearly dragging as they passed the 12 mile mark....
In The Steps
A few days ago, I stood at the wailing wall in Jerusalem watching devout worshippers bobbing and chanting before the last known remnant of Herod’s Temple. Jews and Gentiles alike stood in this place and contemplated how faith ought to be expressed to gain approval...
The Mountains Around Us
I had to smile when I heard the young preacher from the prairies talk about his sense of coming into my area of the country. He had come from a place where you could see a dog running fifty miles away. Now, he stood gazing up at whitecapped peaks which tickled the...
Four Things for Grace-based Parenting
I am a fan of grace. There are times in my life when I knew that talking about grace wasn’t going to be enough. Grace is undeserved favor and nothing I could do in a given situation was going to change the way I’d blown it. I’ve needed grace with my wife, my...
Setting Traditions as a Family
We all have traditions. They may not look like anyone else’s but we have them. Whether it’s the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years or Easter festivities – we know where we’re supposed to meet and what we’re supposed to do. One of our family traditions is to go camping...
Should Gaming Be a Task?
One temptation as parents is to make the 12 Tasks easier on their child by choosing an activity they are already achieving at and simply upping the accomplishment for that area. That can work but you need to be careful not to play into anything that might seem like a...
Testimonial
Our book, 12 Tasks: Creating a Rite of Passage, is beginning to have an impact on families. Here’s a testimonial from our friend Gaylene DeMars from Fresno, California. “I picked up one of your 12 tasks books and shared it with a family at church that has an...
Fighting Fair With Your Teen
Fights between two independence-oriented individuals seem inevitable – even within the same family. James (4:1) tells us that fights and quarrels are caused from unmet desires battling within us. We want something but can’t get it so we focus our laser-anger on the...
Climbing a Mountain
One task we gave to each of our four children was to climb Mt Kenya up to Point Lenana, the third highest peak at 16,355 feet above sea level. It didn’t require any technical climbing skills, but it was a tremendous challenge to reach the top. We struggled up a...
Building Communication Patterns that Last
When my son Richard was young there was no problem in getting him to talk. He would follow my wife around the kitchen and the house as she worked, talking about all the new things he was learning and doing. As he grew up and engaged with his friends, his focus of...