this assumption in mind, what I offered parents were many appeals but few clear instructions, a multitude of assumptions but no comprehensive plan. I was wrong. I was wrong about the solution to the dilemma. Emotional appeals from the pulpit may drive parents to engage in a few external practices for a week or two, but such responses will never lead to lasting transformation. What parents need is neither guilt nor gimmickry but a deeper rootedness in the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus