From Michael & Susan Bradrick ...

And one of our wishes would be to extend our hospitality to each one of you who visits us here. We cannot offer you a cozy sitting room, something nice to drink, a warm smile, and a listening ear, but we pray your experience here will be the next best thing.

Let us share a little about the work God has been doing in our lives.

We were married in 1967—young, unprepared for marriage, and unbelieving. God’s wondrous salvation changed our lives forever in 1972, freeing us from the myth of humanism and illuminating our lives with the absolute truth of God’s Word. Praise Him!

Our rapidly growing desire to lead our then tiny son to Christ and prepare him for a life of useful service led us to search God’s Word for direction on child-training and family relationships. What we found transformed our entire view of individual & family living, and has, by God’s grace, been used by God to transform the lives of many with whom we have had the privilege of sharing these truths from God’s Word.

Soon God convicted us through Scripture to trust our omniscient, sovereign God with the planning of our family, to home educate our children despite opposition from the state, to avoid surrounding our children with contemporary youth culture by immersing them, instead, in a far richer, age-integrated social structure, and to return to more Biblical patterns of church form and function. (Articles on these topics and more will be coming soon in our article section.)

And as God has led us through by His Spirit through His Word, He has richly blessed us with the precious fruit consistent (though not continuous—we are all sinners) peace and joy in our home. In 1986 God enabled us to begin Family Discipleship Ministries in order to share this message with others on a larger scale. Seminars on the Biblical principles of child-training, workshops on many family and church related subjects, family retreats, and personal family discipleship have been wonderful ways have allowed us to see God’s truth reach and change families across the country over the past twenty plus years.

The Lord has now blessed us with nine children, four precious “children-in-law”, and twenty-two grandchildren—with three in the womb due in fall ‘08. We and our five children at home live in rural Western Washington. Together we aid Papa in his building remodeling & contracting business, as well as publishing a homeschool writing curriculum (www.UnderstandingWriting.com), operating a direct market farm (www.BradrickFamilyFarms.com), and ministering through Family Discipleship Ministries and Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington

Because many ask, here’s an update on our “punkins” . . .

Click on photos to enlarge

Andy

Our eldest son Andy married Emily in 1998, and the Lord has blessed them with seven precious children whom they are homeschooling as they diligently train them in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” They live in Minnesota where Andy pastors a small church and has a cabinet shop. Their home is a center of ministry to members of their church and to many others, as well. Their delightful punkins thrill our hearts with their servant’s spirits, their love of God’s Word, and their joyful singing.

Betsy

Our oldest daughter Betsy and Andy Barth married in 1995. They live in East Texas where Andy operates a dental lab out of his home. They now have twelve darling children: six birth children and six through international adoption. They, too, are homeschooling their children, raising them to love and serve the Lord. It is a delight to see all the children working together carrying out the daily tasks of a busy home and to hear them recite God’s Word and sing beautiful songs of praise to Him.

Katherine

Katherine currently heads the shipping and bookkeeping departments of both our ministry and our curriculum business and serves in the important role of Vendor & Vendor Hall Coordinator for the annual Christian Heritage Homeschool Conference. Her love of homemaking led her to study natural health and nutrition. She uses this knowledge as well as her gracious wisdom from God’s Word to aid and bless her family members and many others. And her special love for children and delightful story reading ability make her a favorite with the children in our local church and the many that visit our home.

Kristen

Kristen was married to Tim Craig of Spokane, WA in May 2006, and delightedly welcomed their son in March 07 and their daughter in April 08. Prior to marriage, Kristen enjoyed working in our family ministry, serving as publications & publicity coordinator for Christian Heritage, aiding us in exercising hospitality through our home, and designing and orchestrating the landscaping & gardens for our farm. She was also involved in producing some of the materials you will find in our online store. She now uses her many gifts as a precious helper to her husband.

Cecily

Cecily, has also studied health & nutrition and is skillful keeper at home, continually delighting us and others with her culinary artistry. She has a passion for God’s Word and for encouraging others in their relationship with Christ. God continually uses her perceptive Biblical insights and loving manner to minister to the women He brings her way. Presently she also fills various major roles in our family ministries and businesses including serving as Events Coordinator for Christian Heritage. She loves to garden & sew, and her fabulous cooking & bread making skills have opened opportunities for her to cater numerous events.

Amy Ellen

Amy Ellen keeps everyone ticking with her sumptuous cooking. And she diligently fills a vital secretarial role for our farm, businesses, and ministries, as well as serving as Volunteer Coordinator for Christian Heritage. Her organizational gifts and love for the Lord and for people are a wonderful asset to our home and family. God has used her gift in working with people to minister to her grandparents and others in need of physical help and/or encouragement. She has been blessed to assist for several weeks at a time in the homes of friends and family after the birth of their babies. And for the past two years she has daily cared in our home for the now 2-year-old son of dear school teacher neighbors.

Our grown daughters all love being at home and cherish Godly womanhood. They each desire to faithfully serve Christ as single women and to follow in their mother’s footsteps as devoted wives, mothers, and homemakers.

Peter

Peter threw his efforts into developing various farm enterprises after high school. In 2004, his heart to learn more about Godly leadership and ministering to people led him to serve as a Vision Forum intern for five months and return a year later as an assistant to Doug Phillips, president of that ministry, for a season of service, training, and discipleship. In August of 2006, Peter married Kelly Brown of North Carolina and they are currently making their home in San Antonio. Their precious son was born in July 2007 and their second child is due this fall.

Phillip

Phillip has an incredible work ethic, and energizes us with his joviality. He earned an AA in business and public policy degree, mainly by correspondence, through Chambers College in Greeley, Colorado. He also operated the Bradrick Family Farms pastured livestock production and direct marketing operation with his brother Stephen for two years. In addition, he served in 2005 as a Vision Forum intern and in 2006/07 in a six month long internship with a Christian businessman near Dallas, TX. Currently he is developing two businesses related to remodeling & home modification: MobilityMaster & MaintenanceMaster and is courting a wonderful young lady.

Stephen

Stephen (top right) has definitely stretched into his position as farm manager. But his special gifts lie in the areas of photography and graphics, two arts/disciplines that he is actively pursuing. He plans to use these skills for the glory of God through his various ministry and business enterprises. Last of the Bradrick home-school students (for this generation), he graduates in 2008.

God has done wonderful and marvelous things in our lives. His promises are true. The seeds He enabled us to plant in faith so many years ago have now begun to bear their beautiful fruit as evidence of His wisdom and faithfulness. We stand in awe of what He can do with a family as needy as ours. Truly He is a God of wonders. May He alone be glorified by our testimony of His amazing grace in our lives.

“O God, Thou hast taught me…
And I still declare Thy wondrous deeds.
And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Thy strength to this generation,
Thy power to all who are to come.
For Thy righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,
Thou who hast done great things.”
—Psalm 71:17-19

About Family Discipleship
Ministries, Inc.

Family Discipleship Ministries Inc. is a Christian, non-profit organization.

Our purpose is to exalt the supremacy of Jesus Christ in every area of life. We have a passion for the reformation of family – the bedrock of society, the fabric of the Church, the nurse-bed of future generations. We want to challenge fathers to shoulder their God given role as loving servant-leaders, turning their hearts to their children; to encourage wives to love their husbands and children; to urge parents to train up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord; and, to inspire children to turn their hearts toward their fathers.