Author speaks, Celina Record

Author Bruner urges audiences to ‘Love Your Family’ Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Feb 12, 2016 Kurt Bruner is genuinely concerned about the state of modern marriages and families – so much so that he’s made strengthening them the crux of his work. For years Bruner, former vice president with the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family, worked alongside its founder James Dobson, with whom he co-authored a trio of novels in addition to the more than 20 nonfiction tomes he has penned on his own. After parting ways with Focus on the Family, in 2007 Bruner signed on as pastor of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall where he leads a ministry called HomePointe that works to bolster matrimonial and familial bonds. On Sunday he will serve as the guest speaker during services at First Baptist Church Celina, at 841 N. Preston Road, where a special family-centric Valentine’s Day program will be presented to church members and the public. The Celina Record recently caught up with Bruner to discuss this weekend’s lecture, gather his recollections about working with Dobson and learn why he frets so much about family life. Celina Record: What will be the topic of your speech at First Baptist Church Celina? Is it specific to Valentine's Day? Kurt Bruner: The theme of the weekend is “Love Your Family,” with an obvious connection to Valentine's Day. I will talk about why and how marriage and family depict God's love like nothing else in life can. CR: How do you feel the message will apply to or impact congregation members? KB: I hope what I present will inspire and equip the members of First Baptist to become more intentional about nurturing a strong marriage and engaging with their kids in a fun, focused manner. CR: How large is the congregation at Lake Pointe Church? KB: Lake Pointe Church has an average weekly attendance of about 12,000 on five campuses. CR: Explain HomePointe. What is a “God-honoring home” and how can people incorporate that into their lives? KB: In short ... it is about modeling the heroic self-sacrifice with one another that Christ demonstrated when he "humbled himself" and "gave himself for others" as described in Ephesians chapter 5. CR: What is an “intentional family”? KB: An intentional family is the opposite of a passive family. It is characterized by couples investing time/energy in creating a stronger marriage, parents creating meaningful points of connection with their children and grandparents proactively engaging with the next generation. CR: What are your thoughts on the state of today's marriages and families? KB: I have worked with families for three decades and have never been more concerned about the pressures they face, including a growing feeling of marginalization as a lower and lower percentage of society embraces the self-sacrifice required to make marriage and parenthood work. There are fewer getting married, more ending marriages, fewer having kids, fewer investing in their kids/grandkids than ever before in our history. And yet, marriage and parenthood are the foundation of a healthy and happy culture. I seek to celebrate families and challenge them to lean into the greatest, most rewarding (if difficult) honor in life: to be someone's husband, wife, parent or grandparent. CR: In regard to your work with Focus on the Family: What was the most rewarding aspect of it? Was it difficult for you to leave that position? How was the work different than what you do currently? KB: The most rewarding aspect was the opportunity to serve millions of families by creating highly practical tools to help them become intentional at home. While it is always difficult to leave a role you enjoy with an organization you love, it has been an honor partnering with hundreds of local church leaders as they try to create a culture of intentional families at the local level. CR: What was it like working with James Dobson? KB: It remains one of the greatest honors of my life working with and learning from the foremost authority on the family of our generation. He set a standard for excellence mixed with common sense wisdom with his team that continues to form my approach to family ministry today. We remain friends and recently co-authored a series of dystopian novels depicting life in the year 2042, in light of current demographic and cultural trends. The three-book trilogy titles are “Fatherless,” “Childless” and “Godless.” CR: Your book “Why God Isn't Nice” was recently published. Describe what it is about and how it's different from your previous books? KB: “Why God Isn't Nice” gets painfully honest about aspects of God [that] I/we may not like, but need. It is difficult to help our children fall in love with a God we struggle to love ourselves. I hope this book will help people confront the hard questions and come out the other side trusting what I call God's “awful goodness.” CR: Are you working on any new nonfiction books or novels? Is there any subject matter you would like to tackle in the future? KB: Nothing in process. I work with an organization that serves persecuted Christians worldwide, many of whom suffer unimaginable horrors due to the rise of radical Islam throughout the world (i.e. ISIS, Boko Haram, etc.). That keeps me too busy to write at the moment. Follow the Celina Record on Twitter @celinarecord.