I wasn't raised in the church -- I didn't become a follower of Jesus until I was nineteen years old. That's why I've marveled at the myriad of benefits my kids have enjoyed as they grow up in our church community's circle of love and support. Recently my gut observations were vindicated as University of Iowa researchers recently discovered that church attendance has as much effect on a teen's GPA as whether the parents earned a college degree.

The study identifies several reasons church-going students do better in school:

• They have regular contact with adults from various generations who serve as role models.
• Their parents are more likely to communicate with their friends' parents.
• They develop friendships with peers who have similar norms and values.
• They're more likely to participate in extracurricular activities.

One reason I'm a stickler about regular church attendance is because I didn't get these advantages. As our boys enter the later teen years, attending church and youth group is staying first on our rapidly shrinking list of non-negotiables.

Our goals? By the time they leave our nest, their relationships with adults and peers at church will be so tight that they'll want to come back every chance they get. And hopefully down the road they'll look for a similar type of faith circle where they choose to settle, because they'll see that the blessings don't stop coming -- even once you're done getting graded.