September 7, 2025 — Episode #86

Jerry and Becky Drace tackle characteristic number ten in their teenage years series: teens are in the prime of their physical health, which makes it an ideal season to build a strong work ethic. The question of the day — should teenagers have jobs? — gets a resounding yes from both hosts.

Becky reflects candidly on how her own overprotective upbringing kept her from ever holding a job before marriage, and how that left her unprepared for financial responsibility early on. The couple traces their own children’s first jobs — babysitting a child with autism, lifeguarding, teaching karate — and how those experiences built responsibility and money management skills that carried into adulthood. They share national statistics on teen employment, discuss teaching kids to tithe and save from their very first paycheck, and recount a cautionary story about young professional athletes who suddenly receive large salaries without financial training. The episode wraps with encouragement to prioritize mission trips as a way to build gratitude and perspective in teens, alongside the usual plug for the Hope for the Home Study Bible.

Topics discussed:

• Whether teenagers should work during the school year
• National statistics on teen employment
• Teaching tithing and financial responsibility from a first paycheck
• Family stories of first jobs: babysitting, lifeguarding, karate instruction, yard work
• The risks of sudden wealth without financial training, illustrated by a professional sports anecdote
• Encouraging mission trips to build gratitude and perspective
• Hope for the Home Study Bible offer

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August 31, 2025 — Episode #85

Content note: closes with a reference to a real, recent school shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota in which children were killed and injured.

Broadcasting from a Union University campus buzzing with returning students, Jerry and Becky Drace turn to the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:33) to make their point for the week: teenagers are often misunderstood and underestimated by the adults around them, even though they’re frequently capable of far more than given credit for.

The couple shares personal stories of the risks and freedoms their own parents allowed (and, in Becky’s case, didn’t allow) them as teens, and how those experiences shaped their adult confidence and work ethic. They talk through the importance of letting kids attempt things and fail safely, discerning each child’s individual strengths rather than pushing them toward a parent’s preferred path, and staying involved enough to know a teen’s friends, teachers, and influences without becoming intrusive or controlling. Scripture references include 1 Samuel 17 and reflections on the Apostle Peter’s zealous, up-and-down faith. They close with a somber reminder — prompted by a recent school shooting in Minneapolis — to never take for granted the chance to tell your children you love them before they leave the house each day.

Topics discussed:

• 1 Samuel 17 and David’s confrontation with Goliath as a picture of an underestimated teenager
• Letting teens try, fail, and learn without discouragement
• Becky’s own overprotected upbringing and its effects into early adulthood
• Grandparents raising grandchildren
• Discerning and encouraging each child’s individual strengths and interests
• Recognizing healthy versus unhealthy friendships
• The zealous, excitable nature of teenagers and how to channel it
• A recent school shooting as a reminder to cherish time with your children

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August 24, 2025 — Episode #84

Content note: briefly references a real local quadruple-murder case and touches on the emergence of sexual identity questions among teens, both discussed in general terms rather than graphic detail.

Continuing their series on the teenage years, Jerry and Becky Drace dig into the mid-teen years (13–18), using a “boot camp” analogy: kids raised in godly homes still need real training before they’re sent into a “war zone” of peer influences that don’t share their values. They touch on how identity questions, including sexual identity, often surface during this period, and why parents shouldn’t be afraid to have those conversations first.

The couple lays out practical guidance on enforcing consequences that match the offense, citing a well-known parenting book on setting healthy boundaries with teenagers, and revisiting the earlier local criminal case as a reminder of what unchecked rebellion can lead to. They discuss real scenarios families face — speeding tickets, curfews, even a teen’s overnight stay in jail after a DUI — and the importance of letting natural consequences play out rather than always rescuing a child. The episode closes on the late teen years (17–18), warning against “delayed adolescence” rebellion and urging parents to guide grown children toward independence rather than clinging to them past age 18.

Topics discussed:

• The “boot camp” analogy for preparing kids before they face outside influences
• Sexual identity questions emerging during the mid-teen years
• Monitoring media, phones, and technology exposure at home
• Matching consequences to the severity of a rule violation
• A well-known Christian parenting resource on setting family boundaries
• Handling real consequences like speeding tickets and DUIs
• Late-teen rebellion and “delayed adolescence”
• Letting adult children make their own decisions without parental interference

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August 17, 2025 — Episode #83

Content note: includes discussion of a real, recent quadruple-murder case in the hosts’ hometown (the arrest took place near their broadcast location), referenced as a cautionary example rather than described in graphic detail.

Jerry and Becky Drace continue their ongoing series on the distinct stages of teenage development, focusing this week on the early teen years (ages 9–13) and opening the door into the mid-teen years (13–15). Their central theme: teenagers need a “strong guide” in the home — not a rigid or harsh one, but a consistent, loving presence that sets boundaries before temptations arrive.

Working from Proverbs 22:8 (“He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow”), the Draces use a recent, sobering local news story — a young man with a long history of gang involvement and incarceration who was arrested near their studio after a quadruple homicide — to illustrate how small, unaddressed choices compound over years into devastating consequences. They pivot to practical advice: helping preteens and early teens put their feelings into words, maintaining daily family devotions and morning Scripture readings, and recognizing that a nine-to-thirteen-year-old is undergoing rapid mental and emotional change that parents shouldn’t underestimate. They close with reflections on their own grandchildren’s growing maturity and a reminder that consistency, not harshness, is what “strong” parenting really means.

Topics discussed:

• Proverbs 22:8 and the concept of “sowing iniquity”
• A local criminal case used as a cautionary illustration of long-term consequences
• The difference between “strong” parenting and harsh or rigid parenting
• Characteristics of the early teen years (ages 9–13)
• Helping preteens verbalize their emotions and feelings
• Daily family devotions and morning Scripture routines
• Recognizing rapid mental and emotional growth in preteens
• Hope for the Home Study Bible offer

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August 10, 2025 — Episode #82

Jerry and Becky Drace continue their series on the teenage years, this week zeroing in on the hardest part of parenting a teen: discipline. Recorded on their 56th wedding anniversary, the couple gets candid about what “the rod and rebuke” really means — and what it doesn’t.

Working from Proverbs 29:15 (“The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother”), Jerry and Becky unpack the difference between physical and verbal correction, and why neither should ever come from anger. Becky shares that she believes a parent should never strike a child’s face or hit hard enough to bruise, and that the real key to discipline is refusing to act hastily — taking a breath and reassessing before responding. Both agree the goal isn’t punishment for its own sake but correction rooted in love, pointing to how Jesus rebuked his own disciples (contrasting Judas’s lack of repentance with Peter’s) and reflecting on Jesus’s own home life as one of several siblings raised, likely as a single mother, by Mary. They also discuss the danger of setting family rules and then failing to enforce them consistently, and the role local churches can play in mentoring teens and children who aren’t getting guidance at home. Becky recalls a moment from her own parenting when she had to discipline their daughter Rebecca for both a bad-name incident and for trying to pad her pants against a spanking. Jerry closes with a story about a teenage boy at a youth conference who said he had no rules at home — and admitted, when pressed, that he didn’t think his parents loved him.

Topics discussed:

• Proverbs 29:15 and what “the rod and rebuke” actually means
• Physical vs. verbal discipline, and where each crosses a line
• Why discipline should never be delivered in anger
• Consistency in setting and enforcing family boundaries
• Jesus’s disciplining of his disciples (Judas vs. Peter)
• Jesus’s family life and Mary’s likely single parenthood
• The local church’s role in mentoring under-parented kids
• A teenager’s realization that “no rules” meant “no love”

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August 3, 2025 — Episode #81

Content note: this episode includes a story describing severe parental drug impairment and neglect of a young child, along with references to underage drinking and a DUI arrest.

Jerry and Becky turn to the third characteristic of the teenage years — that teens face new temptations they haven’t yet learned to overcome — sharing Becky’s own story of resisting peer pressure to drink as a teenager.

Becky recalls the night she was pressured to drink with friends after high school football games and the promise to herself that shaped the rest of her life, while Jerry reflects on a childhood friend whose difficult home life didn’t determine his character because he modeled himself after another family’s example. They discuss a memory of visiting a home where a mother was severely impaired by drug use while a baby crawled unsupervised nearby, and use it to talk about how alcohol and other substances function as gateway temptations for teens exposed to pornography, social media, and peer pressure. They also address how parents should respond when a teenager is caught breaking rules or arrested for DUI, warning against “rescuing” teens from consequences and sharing a lighter story about a driving ticket handled without parental bailout.

Topics discussed:

• Resisting peer pressure around underage drinking
• How childhood environment does not have to determine character
• Alcohol and drugs as gateway temptations for teens
• Effects of severe parental drug use on young children
• Responding to a teenager’s DUI or arrest without “rescuing” them
• The danger of enabling teenagers to avoid consequences
• Setting an example for children through consistent daily faith practices

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July 27, 2025 — Episode #80

Jerry and Becky begin walking through a list of core “characteristics of the teenage years,” starting with the idea that every child is born with a sin nature and that rebellion shows up in varying degrees.

Drawing on Job 20:11 and Jeremiah 22:21, they discuss how sin doesn’t suddenly appear at age thirteen but is present from infancy, and they emphasize that children can understand and choose faith long before any specific “right age.” They share the personal story of their son’s decision as a young boy to trust Christ and their daughter’s own profession of faith soon after, along with a story about a single mother who had to firmly discipline her rebellious teenage son by removing everything from his room until his attitude changed. They stress that parents who have done their best should not blame themselves if a child still walks away, and that consistency, not harshness, is what breaks a child’s will without breaking their spirit.

Topics discussed:

• Sin nature present from infancy, not just in the teen years
• Helping children understand and choose faith personally
• Story of a son and daughter’s individual professions of faith
• Degrees of rebellion in teenagers
• Disciplining a strong-willed teenager with consistency
• Encouragement for parents who feel they’ve “failed”
• The role of daily family devotions in shaping children

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July 20, 2025 — Episode #79

Content note: this episode discusses teen suicide, including a specific account of a young man’s death, along with statistics linking parental divorce to increased suicide risk.

Jerry and Becky continue their series on raising teenagers with a hard look at how a parent’s divorce can affect a teen’s mental health, including a sharp rise in teen suicide rates tied to family breakdown.

They cite a statistic on the dramatic increase in teen suicide rates and note that parental divorce and feeling unloved at home are among the strongest predictors, sharing an account of a young man whose friend discovered he had taken his own life despite appearing fine outwardly. They discuss warning signs parents should watch for — changes in grades, isolation, sudden shifts in appearance or friend groups — and the importance of staying alert rather than assuming a struggling teen is “just going through a phase,” along with reflections on respecting older generations and passing down daily Scripture and prayer traditions.

Topics discussed:

• Statistics linking parental divorce to rising teen suicide rates
• Warning signs of teen depression and emotional distress
• The importance of parental attentiveness to sudden behavior changes
• Passing down daily Scripture reading and family prayer traditions
• Teaching respect for older generations
• Blended-family sensitivity when a parent remarries
• Encouragement for parents doing their best despite a child’s struggles

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July 13, 2025 — Episode #78

Jerry and Becky launch a new multi-week series on raising teenagers, opening with sobering statistics on how divorce affects fathers’ relationships with their children in the years that follow.

They share family moments from a recent week spent with their grandchildren, reflect on how the Hope for the Home conference ministry grew out of a conversation with a well-known family ministry leader, and cite statistics showing that over half of divorced children have no contact with their fathers within the first year and nearly a quarter have none after five years. They discuss why boys without engaged fathers are more likely to drop out of school or struggle emotionally, why girls growing up without fathers face higher rates of early pregnancy, and the importance of finding qualified Christian, school, or church resources to help kids navigate a parent’s divorce.

Topics discussed:

• Launching a new series on raising teenagers
• Statistics on fathers’ contact with children after divorce
• Effects of father absence on boys and girls
• Origins of the Hope for the Home conference ministry
• Blending families after remarriage with children involved
• Finding qualified Christian or school counseling resources
• Encouraging grandparents and single parents raising teens

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July 6, 2025 — Episode #77

Content note: this episode discusses gender-transition medical procedures for minors in explicit detail, along with references to suicide-risk arguments used in medical counseling. The hosts present a strongly conservative religious and political viewpoint on a recent Supreme Court ruling.

Jerry and Becky pause their planned lineup to react to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Tennessee’s law banning gender-transition medical treatments for minors, framing it as a matter of parental authority and protecting children.

They walk through the case’s background, describe several categories of gender-transition surgeries performed on minors, and cite statistics on the rise of gender-dysphoria treatments and surgeries nationally, arguing that suicide-risk warnings used by some medical providers to persuade parents are manipulative rather than medically sound. They encourage parents to have direct, Scripture-grounded conversations with children who express confusion about gender identity, citing Genesis 5:2 and Psalm 139, and argue that television and media normalize transgender identity to children without parental pushback. They close by praising Tennessee’s stance and noting that dozens of other states have adopted similar bans.

Topics discussed:

• Supreme Court ruling on Tennessee’s law on gender-transition treatment for minors
• Categories and risks of gender-transition surgeries for minors
• National statistics on gender-dysphoria treatments and surgeries
• Suicide-risk arguments used to persuade parents, and pushback against them
• Talking to children about gender identity from a biblical perspective
• Media and television’s normalization of transgender identity
• Parental authority versus school and medical influence
• Girls’ and boys’ sports eligibility debates

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