4MAT Book Review: Family to Family:
Leaving a Lasting Legacy
Presented to Dr. David Wheeler
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
Evan 525-B02
Contemporary Evangelism
Contents
Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3
Abstract--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
Concrete Response--------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
Reflection-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
Action Steps----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9
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Introduction
It is God’s will for parents to teach their children Christian values, morality, and about
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection or the gospel of Jesus Christ. “You shall teach them diligently
to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way,
when you lie down, and when you rise up, You shall bind them as a sign on your hands, and they
shall be as frontlets between your eyes,. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house
and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:7-9, NKJV).” This paper will show that this book, “Family
to Family,” teaches the people of all ages, step-by-step how to restore families back to the way
God designed them to be, which is to live together as one unit, loving, praying, eating, playing
and working together to win souls for Christ Jesus and leave a lasting legacy.
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Abstract
This is one of the best books I have read in quiet a while, and reading is my most favorite
hobby. It is a page turner and I hate to put it down. The authors wrote this book to assist the
Christian families with one of the major problems in the Christian families today, which is
absentee parents and children. Meaning, they are in the same house, but absent because of work
schedules, school activities, and electronics. This book focus on how a family can change their
schedules and spend quality time together and become a healthy family. “One purpose of this
book is to help you structure your family according to God’s purposes and to help you
understand how to spend quality and quantity time together.”1 One of the main focus of this
book is to create a good “Family Mission Statement,” then live it out using the statement and the
Holy Spirit as your guide, daily. The parents are to be role models for their children by
physically living out their mission statements with their children’s involvement, which will leave
a “Lasting Legacy” in the Christian families. It is very important that the family’s “Mission
Statement” is lived out and passed on to the next generation to ensure that every family’s
generation will be a healthy Christian family. Parents are to be mentors for their children by
encouraging them , sharing their wisdom with them in a loving manner so they can become a
mature Christian and pass the “legacy” on to the next generation.
Concrete Response
My parents always taught us that love begins at home, then spreads abroad. This book
reminds me of that statement, because to become a healthy Christian family and leave a “lasting
1 Jerry Pipes and Victor Lee, Family to Family: Leaving a Lasting Legacy, Shreveport, LA., Jerry F. Pipes,
2016, 11.
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legacy,” the family must first be in one accord with God and each other, then reach out to those
in need. Growing up in my Christian home was a lot like the teachings in this book. I remember
my family, four brothers, one sister and my parents living together in a warm loving home. We
were a typical family with no hidden agendas. We were farmers, so we were up at daybreak, and
we ate all three meals together (after my dad’s prayers) before going any place. I remember my
dad’s prayers before every meal, he always asked God to help us to remember that our souls
must spend eternity somewhere. This always stuck with me my whole life, I always knew that I
wanted to be saved so I could go to heaven. Back then, there was only one colored TV in the
house, which was not allowed to be turned on during meals. The family ate and talked together
about each other’s day, and my dad was a master at injecting Jesus into our conversations three
meals a day, seven days a week. My parents taught us to take evangelism out into the world by
modeling it for us. We heard our dad preach on Sundays (he was our pastor), then saw him take
food to the needy people in our community. They (my parents) took in strangers (elderly), and
gave them a home until their deaths, because they had no place to go to when they could no
longer live alone, and no families to take them in. They were living out their faith in Jesus Christ
and mentoring us at the same time. I did not realize it then, but after reading this book, it is clear
that I was blessed to be raised by two Christian parents who always put God first in everything,
leaving a “lasting legacy,” and I must do the same.
Reflection
This book, “Family to Family” is so thoroughly written that I could not think of anything
that I would question or that bothered me, because I agree with the authors. This book is written
for every age group to help the whole family to get to know who they are in Christ Jesus, then go
out and make disciples. Even if you do not have children, this book can be of great benefit to
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single people, because every home needs to have a mission statement, and every Christian need
to live out that “Mission Statement,” daily. God wants all his children to become involved with
Him in His work. As the old saying goes, “only what you do for Christ will last.” “He wants you
to be part of the harvest, part of the ingathering of those He is drawing to Himself. Only two
things will last through eternity: people (see Phil. 2:9-11) and God’s Word (see Isa. 40:8).”2
Therefore, this book is for all believers who are trying to leave a “lasting legacy” and make
heaven their homes, regardless of their marital status. This is what make this book so great, it
can reach anybody. It focusses on the fact that it is the duty of the parents to mentor and model
the Christian life before their children to assist in bringing them to spiritual maturity. “Modeling
is teaching. Observing, then doing, is learning. Lois taught Eunice who taught Timothy who
became a great man of God. Lois and Eunice were mentors.”3
Action
Action Step One: The first action I am going to take is to order at least ten of these books to
begin teaching. First to my two sons, who love to read. Reading has always been big in my
family, my granddad was a big reader, my dad was too, and so am I. My sons are used to doing a
lot of reading, especially when I recommend a book. Then I am going to give this book to some
of my Sunday school class students to read as an assignment. I will stress the importance of
relational and intentional evangelism with my sons and my students. The Holy Spirit will lead
and guide me as I go forth with the right motive and intention, which is to bring glory to God, be
a modeling mentor for my sons and students, and increase the kingdom of God by making
disciples that will leave a “Lasting Legacy.” Once my students read this book, and we discuss it
2 Ibid. 17.
3 Ibid. 50.
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in class, the Holy Spirit will open their understanding so that they can see the importance of
bringing their families together for every meal, sit down and eat together and talk about the
goodness of the Lord. After they understand how to become a healthy family, then we will move
on to developing a “Mission Statement.” I am quite sure that none of my students have even
thought about developing a “Mission Statement,” so this will be fun to teach. I will continue to
teach and mentor through this entire book, focusing more on modeling it before them.
Action Step Two: Bringing my sons together will be an exciting and rewarding experience,
because they live out of town and every time we get together it has been for a holiday or
birthdays. Therefore, I will set this up for the day before Thanksgiving, November 21, 2018, it
will be for the relational purpose of family bonding. My sons usually come home the day before
Thanksgiving and leave the day after. This year, I will plan to have at least a few hours to use to
put together a “Family Mission Statement.” I have never thought about doing this until after I
read this book. I will call my sons and give them some scriptures that I found at the end of
chapter two. This will give them time to read them and allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate the
word in their hearts. That is another great thing about this book, it has questions, activities,
scriptures, and additional resources at the end of each chapter. This really help in applying what
you have read to your everyday life. When my sons and I get together on (Wed.) 11-23-18. We
will finally come up with a “Family Mission Statement,” because I firmly believe that every
Christian family should have a “Family Mission Statement,” and live it out daily to please God
and win souls for Christ Jesus. I raised my sons on prayers and daily devotions. Every day
before they went to school or I went to work, we met in one room, prayed and read the Bible and
interpreted it. This devotion continued until my children were grown and left home. However,
we never even thought about putting together a “Family Mission Statement,” until now.
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Action Step Three: After determining our “Family’s mission statement, the next step that we
will do is to put it into action. My sons and I have always talked about helping the foster
children at Social Services, in our community at Christmas time and for their birthdays, but we
never put our thoughts into action, until now. This Christmas will be the perfect time to go visit
our local Social Services Department. We went there one Christmas when they were small, but
we never made it back. Looking back now, I cannot remember why we stopped going. The year
that we went was so rewarding to see all the happy faces of the children who were so excited to
be getting a lot of extra toys, clothes, and food. I know this is God’s will for our lives, we must
allow the Holy Spirit to use us to be God’s hands and His mouthpiece. This is the “family
legacy” that I am passing on to my sons, so they can pass it on to their children by the power of
the Almighty God. “The call of our Lord is loud. The case of the demise of the North American
family is alarming. The Word of God makes it clear that the significance of mankind—and thus
the family—is to be found in our relationship with God and the Father and in carrying out His
will by His immense power.”4
4 Ibid. 121.
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