Travel Devotionals and Top Family Destinations that Deepen Faith in God - Taylor Johnson

Are you looking for a feel-good, faith-filled flick to watch with your family this weekend? Well, you've come to the right place because Angel Studios is full of movies just like that. Check out The Last Rodeo starring Neil McDonagh. The Griffin Gang saw this PG film in the theater and we had a great chat afterwards talking about the redemption theme we learned from this compelling story. To save his grandson's life, a retired rodeo star enters a high-stakes bull riding competition. Along the way, he confronts his past, discovers faith, and proves that true courage lies in family. You can view the trailer, get a sneak peek, or watch the entire movie by going to angel.com forward slash tina g. If you aren't a member of the guild yet, sign up first. Just go to angel.com forward slash tina g, join the Angel Guild family, and watch this inspiring film with your family and friends. We need more of these uplifting movies in households across America. I love that Angel has so many options for our kids, and with the summer approaching and travel happening, Angel is loaded with excellent media for your family to choose from. Taylor Johnson is a Christian parenting blogger at growingkidsforthekingdom.com and the founder of growingkingdomhearts.org, a global children's resource library equipping ministry leaders and parents to disciple the next generation. Her calling was shaped at a college missions conference where the Lord stirred her heart to become a mother in Christ to the children of the nations, a calling she first lived out with her own children and now pours into others. Today, through writing, local outreach, and global children's ministry resources, Taylor equips moms around the world to disciple their children with the life-transforming love of Jesus. This is the counterculture mom show. I'm your host, Tina Griffin. Travel is the topic of the week. I'm with Taylor Johnson, director of growing kids for the kingdom. Taylor, you're helping equip kids around the country. How are you doing and the globe? Thank you. Thanks for having me, Tina. It's great to be here. Absolutely. So you are the resource-driven episode of the four episodes here this week on travel. And I love how God put all of you together for this series because we are going to be talking a lot about resources and what you're doing around the globe, but also getting travel in the mix. Can you tell us a little bit about your family? How many kids, where do you live? How do you like doing life? Absolutely. So I live in Houston area, Houston, Texas, and I've been married to my wonderful husband for 22 years. He's my encourager and just so much support from him. And then my two kids, my daughter is 16. She's a junior in high school and my son is 14. They've grown up so quickly. That's what I said a couple of times this week on the travel series. It's like, do people travel with their kids? Do they not? You must because time flies. And those are the memories that I remember the most, not the mundane, normal routine. It's remember the time when we went to and then fill in the blank. So you have a 16 year old, a 14 year old. So we absolutely know each other pretty much inside and out with this episode. I've got four kids, 17 down to 12. We have a 16 year, almost 16 year old, and we have a 14 year old. So this is going to be an interesting wild episode here taping. What prompted you to start the website growingkidsforthekingdom.com and what resources do you share on that website for Christian parents? Yeah, so if you had told me that I was going to have a website back 12, 15 years ago when I was a young adult, I would have told you you were crazy. I had no intention of starting a website, but you know, whenever you surrender your life to God and you say, God, whatever you want from me, I'm going to do, life can be an adventure. So it started when my daughter was three and I was wanting to teach her the letters of the alphabet to character traits instead of just A is for apple, B is for ball. And so I was looking for a curriculum and I couldn't find anything exactly like what I was wanting, but these ideas kept flooding in my brain, just these different ideas. And so I felt like the Lord just said, write them down and do it with her. So I did and I called it a heart like Jesus from A to Z and put different character traits for each letter of the alphabet. And it was so amazing, Tina, just how she grew in her love for the Lord through, we told stories about Jesus for each character trait and how he exemplifies each character trait. And so she learned to have a heart like Jesus and a heart for Jesus and not just to be good because mommy said so, but because she wanted to be like Jesus. And so that was beautiful. And there were different character traits or Bible verses that we put to each character trait. So she learned 30 Bible verses when she was three through these tunes that we put to them and helped her to be able to remember them. That is so cool. Can we find that today for parents with young kids? Is that available on your website? Yes, it is on growingkidsforthekingdom.com. That is so cool. Okay. So before you go further on that, hold that thought, let's take everybody there right now. And that once again is growingkidsforthekingdom.com. Where can we find on your website? If we navigate to it, where can we get that information first? Sure. So you would go to the store page and then it's at the top there, the top, there's a few versions. I have just the Bible verses. If you want to just teach your kids Bible verses to tunes, children tend to pick up verses a lot more easily through tunes. And so we have that available that you can find. And then I have a version, that one there is the on-the-go version. So if you're a busy mom and you don't have time to sit down as much with your kids and teach them lessons, this one has an MP3 audio that you can play in the car when you're on the go. And then there's parent pages for the application. And then the third one- I love it. Yes. This third one is a Heart Like Jesus A-Z Children's Family Discipleship Curriculum. So that goes more in detail? Yes. That's more of a homeschool curriculum, a Bible homeschool curriculum. This is fantastic. Okay. So since this is the travel series, this looks like it'd be super simple to download, play, and do together as a family while you're driving from point A to point B. Have you done that before with your own curriculum? Absolutely. Yeah. I love doing audio things with my kids, anything on audio. And I think it's really good for their brain to be able to use their imagination and not stare at a screen. And so, yes, when they were older is when I created the audio. So they didn't do it on the audio, but actually their voices are on it, which is fun for the puppet shows. Okay. Tell us more about the puppet show business. Where do we find that? Is that also on your website? So on the audio version, it's an audio version of the puppet show. But in the actual curriculum, there is a puppet show. You can use puppets with the script to go through that. And it just helps the kids apply what they're learning. If they're learning about being attentive, it's about a mom and her child and the child listening when the mom calls her things like that. So it just makes it fun and engaging for littles. Just fantastic. Okay. You were about to say a couple more things that you have for resources that you share on your website for Christian parents. And once again, that is growingkidsforthekingdom.com. What other resources did you want to highlight for us, especially ones that we can use while traveling with our kids this summer? Yeah. So I have three different tabs. I have a resource tab where I review different Bibles. And you can see there's parent resources, but then there's also by age. You can look at picture Bibles, devotionals, Christian books, Christian movies, so that you are able to find some great resources out there for your kids. This is phenomenal. Okay. So I'm learning more while taping you on exactly what you do. This is hilarious. So you go through and you basically check out a lot of different resources for parents who are busy that can't do maybe the research on their own. And you come up with your top credible resources. So parents can click on your resource tabs, get toddler preschool resources. You have picture Bibles, devotionals, music, books, movies, gifts. You have elementary resources, teen, family devotionals, holiday resources. So basically you take thousands of them out there, you research and come up with your hit list that you say are the best for certain reasons. Exactly. And since my kids have grown up through this website, I've been able to try a lot with them through the ages. What a phenomenal idea. I wish I would have known about you about a decade ago. Okay. So this is great. We're going to talk more about this at the end of the episode, because I do want to get back to travel. But I love the fact that if parents are wanting godly fun things to do while traveling across the country this summer or overseas, check out growingkidsforthekingdom.com and get your hands on some phenomenal resources that will be enlightening, encouraging, and growing your family closer to God while you travel. Fantastic that you did this. Unbelievable. Okay. You wrote an article highlighting family vacation destinations that are not only fun, but also encourage your children's faith to grow. Tell us more about those. Yeah, so I highlighted five different ones on this blog, and we've been to several of them. We went to the Museum of the Bible in D.C., which is a great one to pair if you want to go to D.C. anyway. And it was created by the Green family who started Hobby Lobby, and their heart was just to share how much the Bible has impacted our world through the generations. And so it's a fun one for your kids to go through the different exhibits. You learn about the history of the Bible. You can go through stories of the Bible. And there's a fun one where you get to sit, and there's a wraparound screen, and you feel like you're flying over D.C., and you zoom in on scriptures throughout the city. Okay, so Taylor, to jump in the mix to read your fantastic blog about your faith-filled family vacations, people can go to your website, growingkidsforthekingdom.com. Fastest way to get it is search vacations in the upper right corner, and you will come up with her blog immediately, Faith-Filled Family Vacations. Tell us more about what you wrote right here and the different spots besides Washington, D.C., with the Museum of the Bible. Yes, so there's five different ones, and the next one that we went to as a family after the Museum of the Bible was the Creation Museum, and that also paired with the Ark. The Creation Museum, there we go. Yes. Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham, and his heart is to help us understand how God's Word is consistent with science. It doesn't contradict, and so throughout the museum, he shares information about that. It's very engaging for even young ones, lots of large animated dinosaurs and creatures and going through stories in the Bible as well. And then you have to do that in one day. Yeah, and I noticed a couple of spots too that you have on here are just fantastic. The Ark Encounter, if they're going to the Creation Museum, they have to check out the Ark Encounter. Our kids love this. So you wrote in detail what your kids thought about it and the different highlights and features of the Ark Encounter on your blog. Absolutely, yes. When did you take the kids? What was a good age for you? They were 11 and 13 when we went, but even younger, I think they would love it. I could have done it earlier. Oh yeah, and the wild thing was when we first parked the car and got out of the vehicle and started walking towards the Ark, because it is a life-size Ark, my husband and I both, I have to say my husband too because he's a guy, we both started literally tearing up. It showed us the magnificence of the whole story. It just came to life for me. And the fact that Noah spent over 120 years, I think it was, literally building the Ark and it was huge. Absolutely. It's supposed to be the largest timber structure in the world. Unbelievable. And we love Ken Ham to pieces. Actually, he was one of my first victims on this program. That's pretty funny, but he's doing great, great work out there for a lot of families. So travel week this week, take him to the Creation Museum, take him to the Ark. They're back to back. And then of course, once again, your blog, I just want to rattle off a couple more spots that you did highlight on this. Your blog features the following, Dollywood Theme Park. We were there. It was fantastic. We live about two hours south of there here in Tennessee. You have the Great Passion Play Holy Land Tour, Bible Museum, and Christ of the Ozark Statue. Fantastic. The Bible Walk. Once again, Museum of the Bible is here. The Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter, all on this link of the faith-filled family vacation options. We're going to make sure that link so you can't get lost is surrounding this episode at counterculturemom.com. But check out growingkidsforthekingdom.com. That website is loaded. More with Taylor right after this. 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Try it risk-free and feel the difference. Taylor, during commercial break, you rattled off a bunch of different things you're doing for resources for parents. Parents, grab what Taylor is talking about right now that fits your age range of kids in the home. So you have them. So when you're traveling this summer, you have great resources, fun bonding experiences with your kids as you're literally doing the trek across the country. So Taylor, we're going back to your fantastic website, growingkidsforthekingdom.com. Tell us where can we find those other fantastic resources you wanted to highlight for parents? Sure. So under the store page where you find the Heart Like Jesus curriculum, there are other devotionals that you can do with your kids. So if you scroll down, there you go. There's character calendars, which are by month where you're focusing on character, and you learn a different character trait each month. And so it's similar to Heart Like Jesus, but it's a character trait per month. So that's a fun one to do with your kids. So a quick question on that. This is probably how your brain works. Do you do different character traits according to the time of the year and the month that you're talking about? Absolutely. Yes. So I'm going to take a stab at it. Is December your character trait of sharing and giving to others? Generous. Yes, I believe so. Okay. Tell us, just rip through a couple of other months and what character traits you highlight for parents to teach their kids. Well, February is the month of love. So learning to have a loving heart and Thanksgiving for November is thankful heart. I believe January is responsible heart. I like how you think. I'm type A already, but you totally lined up for type A people that want to also keep their kids organized and no chaos. What are some other resources you have on this fantastic site? Well, there's a sibling devotional, and that's something I created because I realized I was struggling with my kids in their middle years with getting along. And so this will help them learn to love each other, give step-by-step ideas where they're working together with a reward chart to love each other well, and then they can get a reward at the end, but they're learning steps of forgiveness and sharing and things like that. Okay. I have said this every single episode this week on travel and I didn't expect it. I wish I would have seriously known about you a decade of 15 years ago. I'm not kidding. Now, loving your siblings devotional is a must. Honestly, it's great for every adult to learn how to love our siblings. It says best for ages six to 12. I don't care. All four of my kids are pretty much older than that range. I want them to read this or me read it to them and we all talk about it together. It's never too late people. What other resources would you like to highlight for us? So on there as well, I have an armor of God devotional for different ages. And so that's one you could look at. And then vacation, family vacation devotional, which you can take on vacation is perfect for that because the idea is to focus on God while you're on vacation. Talking about the beautiful scenery you've seen and how you've seen God in that, and then also working on character and also ways you can share God's love while on vacation too. This is just fantastic. Okay. So once again, keeping God first while on vacation, a family vacation devotional. Tell us a little bit more about what's in that. I think that's so key because sometimes we go on vacation or most times people can scrap because they're in tight quarters, argue about where they want to go eat, argue about what they want to do. For the most part, we've had very fun vacations in the Griffin household, but there are streaks that pop up on our vacation that I just mentioned. So how does your resource help us keep God first? Well, I created it to be very simple since it is vacation. It's not long, but there's three different days that you go through. So they're just very simple, a scripture and a Bible verse to focus on God for that day. One of them is focused on just how we see God through creation, through the different things we saw on vacation. What can we learn about God through that? Then the second one is about character and how are we doing with our character? Because as you mentioned, siblings can get in fights when they're in the car for six hours staring at each other, right? So just working on our character and even as parents, I know it can be hard. I was just going to say mom and dad as well. It's like, come on, driving two more hours. I'm like, yes, let's get this show on the road. We want to get there. Every day in Nigeria, Christians are hunted, villages burned, families torn apart. 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I've interviewed countless experts on the show that confirm my research. Besides harmful 5G radiation, we are constantly bombarded with EMF exposure from Wi-Fi routers, smartphones, laptops, smart appliances, all contributing to massive sleep issues, headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, brain fog, heart palpitations, and even increased cancer risk. I've been using two waveguard devices for over six years. I have the key home, which gives me whole home protection, and the key shield when I'm on the go. Waveguard uses depolarization technology to significantly reduce EMF radiation without blocking your Wi-Fi or cell signal. Protect your family now. Use CODETINA at checkout to save 20% off all devices at waveguard.com. That's waveguard.com, CODETINA. How has God used the that you started to bring more kids to faith in Christ, and how has that ministry impacted your family? Now, this is the third website, and I'm just going to say the name of the website to go to, everybody, is lighthousecommunityoutreach.org. That's lighthousecommunityoutreach.org. Tell us more about what you're doing here and how we can become a part of what you're working on. This organization is like a neighborhood kids club where we go to a mobile home community, and we have several churches that partner with us to help us. What we're doing is basically bringing church to children that a lot of them do not go to church. They actually call it church. They run out, like, it's church time, or, Mom, can I go to church? We've been doing this ministry now for 12 years, and we have seen kids come through our program as teenagers and going to church camps with our partner churches and growing to know the Lord and follow the Lord. We've even had, you know, teens that grew up and are young adults now that have interned with us and have a heart to do the same thing, which is beautiful. And so, we're in our second round now of teenagers, investing in them, discipling them, and my kids have just been doing it with me the whole time. My son was in diapers when we started, and now he's 14, and he comes and serves weekly and gets to know the boys, and so, it's great. And so, how you can get involved, I mean, first of all, if that's something that's on your heart, feel free to contact me, and I'm happy to help you with resources to start a Neighborhood Kids Club. It's a great ministry to do with families, to do with your family. And then if you would like to donate, we can always use more funds to send kids to church camps, and we do backpack drives, we do gifts for the kids at Christmas, and we also are praying through starting a second location. Right underneath these episodes, you will see all of the resource links that are clickable. They're hyperlinks. They're easy for busy parents. Click on it. It takes you to all the websites, for example, Taylor, that you rattled off today. Fantastic work that you're doing. Lighthousecommunityoutreach.org. Phenomenal. Also, the main one besides growingkidsforthekingdom.com that we want you to go to and check out once again is growingkingdomhearts.org, the one you just mentioned. But to get all the resources for your fantastic upcoming travel adventure with your kids this summer, just go to growingkidsforthekingdom.com, and you'll see on the store tab, the Keeping God First While On Vacation, a family vacation devotional. I think that is key, along with all the rest of the resources you rattled off. You're doing fantastic work. Thank you for being our homerun episode with a ton of great stuff that we can grab at our fingertips here while we literally grow deeper with God as we travel and see his creation this summer. Everyone out there, watch all four episodes this week. They are insightful, fantastic from travel tips on where you can go, what you should pack, packing lists galore, and also devotionals you want to take with to grow deeper with God with your kids. Let's do this, everybody. counterculturemom.com. Thank you, so much for jumping in the mix this week. You rock. Thanks for having me, Tina.