Timothy Geist is a pastor with Robert Sargent at Bible Baptist Church in Oak Harbor, Washington, a sister church. He was a career Naval officer before he surrendered to and was ordained a pastor.  In late 2020, he completed and his church published his book, Parenting AAA:  God’s Goals and Guidelines for Generational Spiritual Reproduction.  I hope you get it.  It’s a good book on parenting, and every parent needs scriptural help.

You will enjoy Geist’s book, whether you are a church leader or member, written in a style that digs deep but communicates in an understandable and practical manner.  He bases everything on the Bible and takes and proves all of his points from scripture.  Triple A sounds like a ranch or an auto insurance company, but it is the main outline of his book:  Authority, Associations, and Appropriation.  In his preface, he presents a helpful chart that summarizes the book nicely, providing scripture to buttress each point.  It allows you to own the entire content of his book with the easy-to-remember outline.

Someone could ruin a book on parenting by missing the point or the main points.  Geist doesn’t do that.  As I’m reading, I’m nodding my head and saying, “He’s got it right.”  My assessment is coming from someone who did not do as good a job as he did, and I wish I had.  It’s painful in that way, but a good kind of hurt that could prepare to aid others.

Geist does not skip any aspect of parenting.  Very often parenting books deal very well with one or two aspects and leave out others.  His book will help you if you aren’t yet a parent, are one of small children, or your kids are teenagers.  He doesn’t avoid the difficult topics in accomplishing this task.  He has the advantage of his children being old enough and his having seen success with them.  He has practiced what he preached.

Each main point in the book divides nicely into full and practical doctrine and practice.  Under authority, he writes on rules, relationship, and reason, giving a means of accomplishment, all fleshed out from and starting with the Bible.  He deals with the pitfalls that very often cause the failings for a parent.

As an example of the power and usefulness of the book, regarding relationship, which deals with a parent developing a relationship with his children, he emphasizes time, talk, and touch.  Those might seem like no-brainers, and they might be on paper, but every parent needs that emphasis.  He shows the scriptural nature of all of those means to a genuine, godly relationship of a parent with his child.

Geist has married, adult children, who wed godly spouses.  That didn’t just happen.  He followed the biblical doctrine and practice laid out in his book.  There is a right way and he explains it.  He divides all associations into people and things and spends sufficient time on each of those to deal with friends, heroes, music, television and movies, and education.  These are all tough subjects and he’s got a section on all of them as they relate to parenting.

Nobody will probably get everything right when it comes to parenting.  Geist comes as close as I’ve seen anybody.  You should take advantage of what he’s offering and buy a copy for you and others that you know.