June 2006 Archives

Family Support Network Booklet

Download a booklet (PDF), produced by the Institute in Basic Life Principles, which explains the vision and mission of the Family Suppport Network.

Posted by Chris Hogan on Jun 14, 2006

Leadership Being Developed For Family Support Network

People who share a common vision need to be encouraged, challenged, and to strategize how to fulfill their vision. The secret of small groups who support one another and experience true Koinia fellowship are those that have openness and share real needs and develop authentic relationships in a safe environment. We validated these needs at the four Strategic Leadership Summits this past spring. Based on input from over five hundred participants, ATI is re-aligning its support structure to strengthen families so they can build the foundations of many Godly generations and make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

We fathers discussed our failures and successes and concluded that there are a few things we must do to successfully pass on the faith to the next generation. We understood that if we fail in any of these initiatives then all our other efforts would be useless. One husband and wife shared how their two sons had rejected their message because they saw no joy or understanding in their home, no oneness in their marriage, and a programmed education that forced compliance but lacked the power of love. Many brutal facts were shared which proved that only God’s Spirit can produce eternal fruits. During the summits we looked for the few things that we must do consistently with excellence to have the greatest impact on building strong foundations for many Godly generations. We developed the following three initiatives as fathers that we cannot fail to do or everything else could be rendered inconsequential in light of eternity.

1. Become Credible Messengers – men of truth who do what they say, men who love mercy, and as a result they are men with a life message and a vision to share it. Others will know we are “credible messengers” of Jesus by our love that is grounded in truth. Children tend to reject the message if the messengers are not believable.
2. Develop a Safe and Joyful Home – a place where people feel understood and therefore they can trust that those in leadership have their best interest at heart. Children really are looking for righteousness, peace and joy in the home. They will likely leave a home that is full of anger, pride, judgment, and punishment.
3. Incrementally Release Family into their Life Purpose – this is about making ready a people prepared for the Lord. It is helping family members find their life purpose and releasing them into opportunities to become equipped to fulfill their calling.

The great desire all of us fathers voiced was to be equipped as leaders in the home. We want to be “credible messengers” of God, to walk with Him daily, to have oneness in our marriage, to provide a safe and joyful home to train our children, to wisely provide for our families and to incrementally release them into God’s calling for their lives. We realized that a new support system would need to be built to support families on the local level.

So ATI has begun to build the Family Support Network. In this next year we will lay the foundation for the network that will provide tools, strategy and networking among people who share a common vision to raise up the foundations of many Godly generations and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Your Family Consultant will be calling you in the next few weeks to fill you in on the details of the Family Support Network. Each HSC leader who desires to be a part of the Family Support Network will become either a Ministry or Resource Family.

Ministry Families are those who are willing to open their home as a ministry center to encourage families in their area with a common vision of raising up the foundations of many Godly generations. They have been in the process of developing a daily walk with God, experiencing oneness of spirit in marriage, helping their children yield to God’s grace working in them, and demonstrating wisdom in finances. This ministry is not limited to ATI families-it is an invitation to anyone who is grabbing our arm because they see that God is with us. (See Zechariah 8:23.) God has and will give people to us so we can reveal His name. Our family is our greatest means of evangelism; they will know we are His disciples when they see our love for one another.

Resource Families are allowing God to work in the same areas as the Ministry Families, but their niche is to offer remote ministry via phone or e-mail. They are available to assist others in specific areas in which God has developed a testimony in their life, such as scheduling, teaching WBLA, counseling, etc.

There are three options you can take to become a part of the Family Support Network at this time:

1. Become a foundation family by joing ATI and begin working on the five roles of life. Develop a vital walk with God as a person, develop oneness of Spirit in your marriage, train your children by teaching them diligently the Word of God, becoming a wise steward over the resources of God, and developing a life message based on yielding to God’s working in your life as you obey his commands.
2. Become a resource family that encourages others in the vision by sharing their life message that God has developed and deeped in their life over the years.
3. To be a Ministry Family in the Family Support Network, you will continue to receive monthly DVD’s for training and equipping families in the three initiatives previously outlined. The curriculum for this year will focus on 1) becoming credible messengers, 2) developing a safe, joyful home, 3) and incrementally releasing our families into God’s purpose for their lives. Ministry Families will be able to hold Basic, Advanced, Anger and Health seminars in their homes with greater ease. Likewise, Resource Families will be able to minister and counsel via phone or e-mail. The Family Consultants will help you develop the Ministry and Resource Family Profiles that will provide the content for the FSN website. The site will allow people to see the closest family in their area and will provide a place to share creative ideas for best practices in developing a home ministry center.

Remember, “It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed, than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.” -Bobby Bowden

You can find more information about the Priorities of ATI and the Family Support Network on the ATI Web site:

• Vision of ATI
• Family Support Network

A copy of the Family Support Network Brochure is available here.

Posted by Chris Hogan on Jun 14, 2006