Shannon’s Blog

Hooking Up vs. Holding Out: Helping Singles Find a Healthy Sexual Balance (Part 6 of 7)   Questions to Explore in Pre-Marital Counseling As spiritual leaders, we must boldly take pre-marital counseling sessions into regions that may cause some discomfort, but the discomfort of an awkward pre-marital conversation is much…

Hooking Up vs. Holding Out: Helping Singles Find a Healthy Sexual Balance (Part 5 of 7) Forbidden Fruit vs. Not-So-Guilty Pleasures When teaching young people about boundaries in dating or courtship relationships, it’s easy to focus on all the things they shouldn’t do.  NO touching below the neck… NO getting…

Hooking Up vs. Holding Out: Helping Singles Find a Healthy Sexual Balance (Part 4 of 7) Striking a Healthy Balance The purpose of marriage is to reflect to the world Christ’s unwavering commitment to His (unfaithful) bride, the Church.  Therefore we want to encourage both men and women to reflect…

Hooking Up vs. Holding Out: Helping Singles Find a Healthy Sexual Balance (Part 3 of 7)   Although I believe wholeheartedly in the inerrancy of scripture, I must say that I’m often tempted to interject a parenthetical phrase into Hosea 4:6.  Its meaning would be clearer if we were to…

Hooking Up vs. Holding Out: Helping Singles Find a Healthy Sexual Balance (Part 2 of 7) When the Pendulum Swings to the Left If anyone had asked me in the sixth grade if I wanted to remain a virgin until marriage, I would have said, “Of course I do!” In…

Hooking Up vs. Holding Out: Helping Singles Find a Healthy Sexual Balance (Part 1 of 7)   (This article originally appeared in Enrichment Journal, 03/2011) I’ll never forget the day one of my best childhood friends got a new swing set for her birthday. Why? Because the scar on my…

[vimeo 38689735 w=500 h=281]

My dear friend and ministry colleague Susie Shellenberger (founder and former editor of Focus on the Family’s Brio Magazine) recently started a NEW magazine for young women called Susie. Like Brio, Susie Magazine assumes its reader is smart, world-conscious, creative and passionate about making an impact. There are loads of…

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me! I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And if…

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me!   I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And…

Thanks for checking out our blog!  Unfortunately, WordPress was recently hacked, and we lost vast amounts of information from the blog, which we’re currently working to rebuild.  Thanks for your patience (and prayers) as we labor to bring many months’ worth of posts back to life!

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me! I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And if…

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me! I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And if…

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me! I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And if…

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me!   I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And…

In this blog series, I’m giving you a “sneak peek” into my “Reader Mailbag” – sharing actual questions I’ve received from (and answers I’ve shared with) folks who struggle over “Real Relationship” issues – just like you and me! I hope the series is both eye-opening and edifying!  And if…