BAGS

Helping Your Kids Lighten The Load

by Chris Sasser

Do you want your kids to grow up to be emotionally, mentally, relationally, and spiritually healthy?

We do too!

More and more kids today are struggling to live into this dream. As they go through life, they encounter people and situations that lead them to pack and carry some enormous emotional baggage that holds them back from living in the grace and freedom that Christ provides.

Parents are in a unique position to help their kids “lighten the load” along the way.

This book helps parents become more aware of:

  • the specific bags kids tend to pack as they grow up,

  • how these bags tend to get packed, and

  • the long-lasting negative impacts they can have.

    BAGS also offers practical strategies parents can employ to leverage their influence and prevent some of these bags from getting packed in the first place. The hope is that we can lead our kids into a more stable and healthy future.

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Parenthood remains the ‘greatest single preserve of the amateur,’ which means that failure, to varying degrees, is the norm, not the exception. My dear friend and teammate Chris Sasser’s book BAGS is a call for all of us as parents to stop making parenthood harder by pretending it’s not hard. BAGS provides powerful, practical handles designed to help every parent lighten the load our children undoubtedly carry through life. BAGS is thoughtful, insightful, helpful and a must-read for us parents in the wild!

— Stuart Hall, Communicator, Author, Director of Orange Student Leadership and 
INFLUNSR

About “Sass”

Chris Sasser (a.k.a. “Sass”) is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Port City Community Church in Wilmington, NC. He has served in full-time ministry since 1993, working with children’s, middle school, high school, college, and parent ministries. He has a passion for equipping and encouraging parents and leaders to help the next generation walk with God. Chris shares thoughts and ideas at www.equipandencourage.com and loves to share with students, leaders, and parents. Chris is married to Karin and they have two children, CJ and Kylie. Chris is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and has done some graduate work at Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.

What People Are Saying

“I can think of few people whose wisdom about family ministry I respect more than Chris Sasser. From the first conversation we had about Bags years ago, I just knew he was onto something. I have watched Chris as a parent, as a pastor, and as a colleague, and I’m thrilled that his hope-filled, eye-opening, can-do wisdom is now available to lighten the load of parents, young people, and those who lead them!”

Mark DeVries, Author of Sustainable Youth Ministry and founder of Ministry Architects

“Our kids carry around lots of baggage, most of which they didn’t ask for or even take on themselves. Often the emotional, social and spiritual baggage that weighs them down can feel like an unbearable burden. With the multiple voices coming at them from all sides and the expectations they must constantly navigate, they wonder who understands. In Chris Sasser’s Bags: Helping Your Kids Lighten the Load we not only can begin to see more clearly what our kids need but also take proactive steps to help relieve the load. Author Chris Sasser has given us the tools and awareness we need to lighten the strain. BAGS brings years of experience and training coupled with the deep care of a lifelong pastor caring for families. This is a great book! I not only highly recommend it for you, but to read with others, sharing ideas and prayer for the kids we love.” 

Chap Clark, PhD 
Pastor, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (ret.)
Author, Hurt 2.0: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers

The concepts in this book are not just theories of how things should be but are tested in the trenches of real life with students and families. “Sass” brings experience and thoughtfulness, strategy and grace to helping us consider the influence of the everyday on the future of a generation.

Mike Ashcraft
Pastor, Port City Community Church
Author, My One Word: Change Your Life with Just One Word