My amazing wife and I have four kids. Needless to say, our lives are busy. A growing church and a growing family makes things pretty hectic for us. I have to consistently remind myself that my family is my first area of responsibility. My greatest ministry role is not being the lead pastor at Mountain View. My greatest ministry role is in being a dad. My kids are ages 14, 10, 6 and 4. Two boys and two girls. Each of them are different and unique in their own way. Since my kids were young, Steph and I made the commitment that we would spend time with each of them individually on a consistent basis. In the Morris household, we call them date days.

My oldest son Christian, (who thinks he’s to cool for date days now) is far different from me. I’m into sports and action. He is “artsy” and likes to chill. My favorite thing to do is go to a Diamondbacks game, he does not like baseball (I’m sure God will forgive him). However, my son loves music and he loves art. So on our date days, we go grab an In and Out burger (his favorite place) and we go to a concert together. Typically, I’m the oldest guy in the crowd. The music is way to loud and I can’t understand what is coming out of that guys mouth on stage (I can’t believe I sound just like my mother). My son however, loves it. So, I’ve learned to love it. We go to art shows, concerts and sometimes, just hang out together. The most important thing is that we spend valuable time together and that he knows that I’m taking an interest in what he is interested in.

Now my daughters. I grew up with 3 brothers, so when the doctor told Steph and I that our second child was a girl, I argued with him for about 30 minutes. He even printed out the picture and showed me and I still argued with him for another 15 minutes! I had no idea what I was going to do with a girl. Then when Stephanie got pregnant again, we found out we were having another girl. That’s right, back to back girls. I thought I needed an examination because something had to be wrong with me. I quickly learned that I’m going to have to live with this “girl” thing and try to figure out how to raise girls. My girls are now 10 and 6 and I’ll tell you what, I love having girls. Our date days are so much fun. Lacey (10) is the extraverted, outgoing one. We have a blast together. We go  to her favorite place to eat, Panda Express, then we head off for a day (and believe me, when I say a day, it is a day) of shopping at the mall. As crazy as this sounds, Lacey is the one that loves to go to baseball games with her dad. Sweeeeeet!

My other daughter, Aubrey (6) she is our “miss priss.” She loves being pampered. On our date days, we go to her favorite joint, Johnny Rockets and then we have off to every shoe story in the entire East Valley. She loves trying on shoes and she loves to get her nails done.  Our date day consists of trying on 10,000 pair of shoes (yes, I do try them on for her) and going to the salon for a pedicure (I do not get my nails done. I love my daughter but that crosses the line!).

My youngest son Steven (4) is my warrior. He loves to wrestle and fight. We do a lot of outdoor stuff together. Well, as much as a four year old can do. He loves to fish and play in the mud. So……. we do. Steven loves McDonalds. So, nearly every Saturday morning Steven and I go to breakfast for pancakes and sausage at McDonalds. He comes in our room at about 6:15 a.m. on Saturdays and starts tapping me on the nose saying, “daddy let’s go get pancakes and sausage.” We have a blast together.

I guess my point is, a healthy pastor, is one who is doing his best to have a healthy family. Take an interest in the interest of your kids. Resist the temptation to mold them into your image, let them enjoy and be who God created them to be and then learn to like what they like!