Marty Machowski
New Growth Press, 2011, 328 pp., $29.99
Old Story New: New Testament is a book of 10-minute devotions for families with children in preschooler through junior high ages. It contains 72 weeks’ worth of devotions, with each week including five days of devotions. Each day’s devotion includes instruction for parents, interactive questions and creative ideas to go along with the day’s assigned Scripture passage. Each devotion also ends with excellently written “Talk About It” and “Pray About It” sections. Whether for your own personal family or the families to whom you minister, this is a well-written book; I would highly recommend it. It also comes highly recommended by one of my families in my ministry. When I said I would be reading and reviewing this book, this is what they wrote me: “The Caldwell family is on week 55 out of week 72 in this book. This is the best one we have come across as each week, each story, points toward the gospel…” I have picked up many different family devotions through the years, and this one by far, in my personal opinion, is one of the best.
—Dan Istvanik, Jr. High Youth Pastor, Mansfield, Ohio
Old Story New: New Testament is an excellent resource for families of any variety. These faith talks are simple, intentional and usable for a child of any age. Youth workers would do well to keep a copy of this resource handy to give parents an idea of how they can begin engaging their children in spiritual conversations.
—Andrew Hedges is an author (Creative Bible Lessons: Nehemiah, Creative Bible Lessons: Essential Theology, Creative Bible Lessons: The Trinity)family pastor and youth worker who shares his life and experiences at FaithAwakening.com. He serves God and others with his wife and 3 daughters in Dayton, Ohio. Follow him on Twitter. Friend him on Facebook.
Old Story New is an excellent New Testament family devotion. For my family, including a 4-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old, finding a devotion that can keep all of them interested and engaged can be a challenge. With some family devotions, lessons sometimes can be too simple and therefore uninteresting to older children, while other devotionals go in the opposite direction and make devotion time feel too much like a theology class, losing younger children in the process. Old Story New does a great job of giving you a devotional series that can be customized depending on your needs. Each lesson starts with passage of Scripture to be read aloud (I let my 9-year-old read), then some questions to be asked and finally a short paragraph that can shed some light on the passage of Scripture that was read. Many of the lessons offer suggestions designed to get the most out of your children depending on their age. I found many of these suggestions super helpful and right on the money. Old Story New is exactly what I was looking for in a family devotion. It’s fun, easy to use and full of biblical truths designed to draw your family closer to each other and closer to the Lord.
—Danny Cruz is a lover of Christ, husband and father of three little girls. He is a native New Yorker and currently serves as youth coordinator for Living Waters Fellowship in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
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