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Joshua Harris is no longer a Christian. Sad news for the homeschool community.

Joshua Harris is the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and is the adult child of well known homeschool speaker. His father, Gregg Harris, is often considered one of the founders of the modern homeschool movement. A former homeschool speaker, Joshua Harris was an outspoken evangelical pastor of a megachurch. He made a recent major announcement.

He has renounced his book.
He has renounced his marriage of 20 years.
He has renounced his faith and his values.

In his own words, he explains it this way. "By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian."

 Now is a good time to explain what Christianity is. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." Romans 10: 9-10.

Christianity is not being a homeschooler, or having parents who are Christian, or living in a Christian nation or attending a Christian church.

Joshua Harris says, "I am not a Christian," and I believe him.

Here is what you need to know:

We can't control our children's salvation—neither in the short term, nor in the long run. All adults make their own decisions, even decisions about faith.

Perfect parenting can't product perfect results. God Himself is the perfect parent with children (Adam and Eve) that were fallen.

A perfect environment can't produce perfect results. I'm reminded that Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world (before the fall), and their child was a murderer.

Homeschooling can't save our children. We can't save our children. We can only control our own beliefs, values, and behavior. We can only control if we are confessing that Jesus is Lord with our own mouth and believing in our own heart that God raised Him from the dead. We can't force our child to both say AND believe those things.

Homeschooling doesn't save our children, but it can allow us to live without regret.

Homeschooling allows us to do our very best to model and teach and show and explain what it means to be saved. But homeschooling itself does not save. None of us is immune from the possibility that one day our child will leave his or her faith. 

Read The Perfect Launch Formula for Raising Happy Adults: How to Successfully Launch Adult Children (or Die Trying)

We can only control our part of the Perfect Launch Formula. We can give our children the tools and information they need to make healthy, wholesome choices for the rest of their lives. We can provide the wisdom and discernment they need to make choices we can't even imagine right now. Yet, we can't control their future.

I encourage you to pray for your children, knowing that their decision on salvation is up to them. I encourage you to pray that your witness will be strong. I encourage you to pray for all parents of children who have lost their faith.