Hundreds of grandparents gathered in Dallas and host sites around the country in October for Legacy Coalition’s Grandparenting Summit, an annual event that specifically addresses the needs and opportunities of Christian grandparenting.
There are more than 30 million Christian grandparents in America, noted Larry Fowler, founder of Legacy Coalition.
“When we started our ministry in 2016, research said that there was only 1% of Christian grandparents who had ever heard a sermon, listened to a podcast, attended a class or read a book on the topic of Christian grandparents — only 1%,” Fowler said.
In the years since, Legacy Coalition has built a ministry around resources to help grandparents in their role of mentoring and loving the generations that follow them. The Legacy Summit, billed as the only one of its kind, is held each year in October at a live host site and livestreamed to hundreds of other sites across the United States.
In 2023, about 600 grandparents attended the live event held in Dallas at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Oct. 19–20. Shades Crest Baptist Church in Bluff Park was one of the 6,000 satellite sites across the country, participating in a delayed version of the virtual event Oct. 20–21.
Topics covered
The conference included eight sessions with topics that varied from practical advice to broader topics such as Bible exposition. In between sessions, time was set aside to get to know other grandparents through sharing experiences and discussing how faith is passed along to their grandchildren.
Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and teacher, author and speaker, explained how his son got lost once “between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland” due to looking at the sights and sounds in a Disney park.
“He had been distracted by a magic kingdom, a kingdom that offered sights and sounds that took him away from his parents,” Evans said.
Evans then compared this to how children and grandchildren are being pulled away from the influence of Christian homes, pointing out that it takes a combined effort of both parents and grandparents to intervene.
Evans’ session was followed by a Q&A with author and speaker couple Jeremiah and Jean Castille. They emphasized the importance of being intentional when grandparenting and gave examples of what they do when they spend time with their grandchildren. One resource they use to help them with that bonding time is Legacy Coalition’s “Let’s Talk” conversation cards.
They stressed the importance of keeping in touch over a long distance for the grandchildren who don’t live close, but even more so, the power of and need for prayer for them.
Group needs
Kathy Koch, founder and president of Celebrate Kids Inc., spoke on some of the biggest needs of this group — identity, security, belonging, purpose and competence. She noted how important it is to not emphasize accomplishments because those types of factors, like popularity or grades, could change.
Reminding the audience how crucial it is to be intentional, Koch said, “But in the meantime, there are so many other things we can do. When you know that God answers these questions (about identity, security, belonging, purpose and competence), it changes you, but until they know God, they have you,” Koch said.
Former NFL football player Mike Singletary discussed the question, “What is my role or purpose in my grandchildren’s lives?”
He emphasized the importance of reminding grandchildren of the need to learn everything possible about God, as well as who they are and the power and authority they have in God.
Shifting for a moment into academia, Mark Yarbrough, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, discussed “the greatest story ever told” while explaining the structure of the English Bible and the Bible’s master narrative.
Samuel Rodriguez, lead pastor of New Season Church in Sacramento, California, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, passionately communicated how “the health of the next generation depends on the holiness of the now generation” and then explained the necessity of waging war with the enemy over the next generation.
An ear to listen
Mark Gregston, author, speaker, radio host and founder of Heartlight, a residential counseling center for struggling teens in Longview, Texas, revealed how, more than almost anything, grandchildren need someone to listen. They have more than enough information but need to hear the wisdom their grandparents have learned.
Grandparents need to express to their grandchildren, “I want you to know, there’s nothing you can do to make me love you more and nothing you can do to make me love you less.”
Crawford Loritts, a former pastor and also an author, speaker and founder and president of Beyond Our Generation, continued this theme of imparting wisdom, noting that “you can’t Google wisdom.”
He specifically mentioned the need to share with grandchildren how God has led, failures you’ve experienced and how God showed Himself through them, particular ways God has provided and examples of God’s discipline.
At the end of Fowler’s session, he challenged everyone, “Are you lighting the way for your grandchildren? How about your countenance? How about your lifestyle? How about what you’re doing with the Word of God? Are you lighting the way for them?”
To the grandparents who aren’t “allowed to shine God’s Word to [their grandchildren],” Fowler said, “There’s really hope for this in this matter because nothing can stop us from having the countenance of light of the life of the Word of God. Nothing can!
“You need to make the decision this morning, as we start, to become an intentional Christian grandparent, to do all you can to light the way for your grandchildren.”
Legacy Coalition provides many resources to become an intentional grandparent, including group studies, ways to connect with other grandparents, help in connecting with grandchildren, podcasts and more, at legacycoalition.com.
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