Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers , livre ebook

PRAISE FOR
THE CRY FOR SPIRITUAL MOTHERS AND FATHERS
There are a few significant books on my bookshelf about the important issue of spiritual fathering and mothering, but none of them tops this one. Larry Kreider has reached into the storehouse of his unique experience and insight to offer us what will no doubt become a new standard on the subject. Because Larry’s understanding of the role of spiritual parents in the family of God is so profound, I enthusiastically recommend this book to you.
Dr. David Cannistraci
Senior Pastor, GateWay City Church, San Jose, California Author, God’s Vision for Your Church
Larry Kreider is a true servant to the Church, a leader whose dimension of effectiveness in advancing the Kingdom and shaping leaders evidences a level of gifting and humility that is so apostolic that it doesn’t need that title to certify it. I trust this man because his heart is pure and his mind is clear.
Jack W. Hayford
Founder and Chancellor, The King’s University, Los Angeles and Dallas
Larry Kreider’s book The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers reflects the values and vision he has imparted to DOVE Christian Fellowship International. The wisdom of these pages shows why DOVE has produced a stable, growing apostolic stream. When many American movements have declined or disappeared, Larry shows the way to growth and stability through spiritual parenting.
Dr. Daniel C. Juster
Director, Tikkun International
I devoured Larry’s book in one reading. Now I want to go back and digest it so I can pass on to others what I have learned.
Floyd McClung
Founder, All Nations, Cape Town, South Africa
Once again Larry Kreider has pioneered the way for others with this new book. He combines experience, knowledge and passion to guide us into Kingdom community. Read it with a highlighter in your hand and a person you wish to mentor in your heart!
Ralph Neighbour
Touch Ministries, Texas
Larry has done it again! He’s put cutting-edge concepts into laymen’s language. This is by far the best book on spiritual parenting that I have read on this subject. The combination of biblical principles and practical examples easily goes cross-cultural. This should be read by senior church and missions’ leaders, but also by young leaders who can begin to apply the teachings immediately. Larry has true authority and experience that many will learn from. Buy numerous copies of this book, practice the principles and, whatever your ministry is, it will be multiplied into many future generations. Give this book away to faithful men and women now.
Jim Orred
Youth With A Mission, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Larry Kreider is a spiritual father! In his book The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers , he not only extends a call to those who have a heart to train and establish others, but shares practical wisdom that helps one generation establish the next. This book provides how-to blueprints and challenges all of us need to move beyond our dysfunctional and abusive relationships of the past to become models of relationship building for a new generation. The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers will help you to develop a new lifestyle—after all, we are always influencing someone.
Dr. Chuck D. Pierce
President, Glory of Zion International Ministries President, Global Spheres, Inc.
Larry Kreider has identified the key issue in the Church world today: Will the Church become a parenting force to impart health to a broken world? The implications of the spirit of fathering affect every area of personal and corporate spiritual life. There is an urgent call today for relationships that provide healthy spiritual nurture and authority. God is calling us to actively give ourselves to both being spiritually fathered as well as becoming spiritual fathers. Larry Kreider not only teaches on spiritual fathering, he is a spiritual father—and through his words, the Lord calls us to maturity.
Dr. Robert Stearns
Founder and Executive Director, Eagles’ Wings
The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers is much more than a road map showing how we who are mature Christians must nurture the newer generations. It is all of that, but it is also an awesome word for cutting-edge leadership in today’s Church. I, for one, want to be the kind of fatherly leader that Larry Kreider urges us to be.
C. Peter Wagner
Vice President, Global Spheres, Inc.
What a great book! It’s down to earth, practical, understandable and applicable to mentoring emerging leaders today—it’s authentic. Larry Kreider is a father in the Church today. He writes out of who he is and the practical experience he has gained over the years. This book is a must for those who are mentoring or discipling others.
Barbara J. Yoder
Senior Pastor, Shekinah International Apostolic Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan

© 2008, 2014 Larry Kreider
Published by Chosen Books 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 chosenbooks.com
Chosen Books is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Chosen edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-6839-6
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patents and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Other versions used are:
KJV — King James Version. Authorized King James Version.
NKJV —Scripture taken from the New King James Version . Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
TLB —Scripture quotations marked ( TLB ) are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
To my wife, LaVerne, to my family and to everyone who reads this book and becomes a spiritual mother or father. May you find great joy in fulfilling your call from God.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Floyd McClung
A Note from the Author
Part I: Understanding the Importance of Spiritual Mothering and Fathering

1. Calling All Believers
Key: Everyone is called to be a spiritual mother or father.

2. Making a Spiritual Investment
Key: Spiritual children are our inheritance.

3. Becoming a Spiritual Family
Key: Spiritual parenting involves family-type relationships as a way of life.

4. Growing to Spiritual Parenthood
Key: There are three stages of growth for every believer.
Part II: Becoming a Spiritual Mother or Father

5. Looking for a Spiritual Parent Relationship
Key: If you do not have a spiritual parent, begin by becoming one.

6. Finding Security in the Father’s Love
Key: Only God can meet your need for a father’s love.

7. Healing the Past
Key: God can heal past wounds and restore His people for service.

8. Expanding the Number of Spiritual Parents
Key: Multiple spiritual parents produce multiple spiritual parents.
Part III: Practical Insights for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers

9. Copying the Jesus Model
Key: You need to initiate and build a relationship and then release your spiritual daughter or son.

10. Developing as a Spiritual Parent
Key: You need to develop the kind of spiritual parenting relationship your spiritual son or daughter needs.

11. Making Decisions as a Spiritual Parent
Key: You should help your spiritual daughter or son make wise decisions.

12. Avoiding Pitfalls
Key: You must trust God and be wise in all your relationships.

13. Releasing Your Spiritual Children
Key: When the time is right, you need to let your spiritual daughters and sons fly!

14. Answering Your Call to Spiritual Parenthood
Key: God has called you, so what are you waiting for?
A Final Challenge
Epilogue: The Progression of Impartation
Endnotes
About the Author
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special thanks goes to Karen Ruiz and Lou Ann Good, who do superb jobs as my writing assistant, and editor, respectively.
Thank you to those who gave valuable insight to this book: Sarah Sauder, Peter Bunton, Steve Prokopchak and Ron Myer.
And thanks to the entire Regal team. It is a joy to work with you!
FOREWORD
I have waited a long time for this book. There is not another one like it anywhere. The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers blends sound teaching on how to develop each member of the church for ministry, with spiritual fathering and mothering at every level of the Church, all the while honoring the role of the senior pastor. Larry Kreider does this in the context of “every member” ministry in small groups. What pastor wouldn’t want every member of his or her church engaged in using his or her spiritual gifts for effective ministry? Because The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers addresses such an important subject, it should be required reading for the staff and small-group leaders of every local church.
The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers addresses many of the leadership issues pastors face in discipling church members and raising up emerging leaders, and it does so from a firm foundation of biblical truth. What we don’t need is another book on spiritual leadership filled with anecdotes but void of scriptural principle. This book avoids that temptation. Larry combines encouraging, down-to-earth, helpful illustrations in every chapter, and he does th