How do we get there?

As the family ministry wave builds momentum, more and more church leaders are beginning to deliberate over how to lead their families to become Deuteronomy 6 families where discipleship takes place daily, “along the way?as you lie down, and as you rise up.”

In those efforts of deliberation, Lance Crowell, church ministries associate for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, said, “We just want to be there to help churches in any way that we can.”

Crowell invites church leaders as well as families to take advantage of the SBTC’s first Family Ministry Conference, May 7-8 at First Baptist Church of Keller. Breakout sessions are planned for couples, for single parents, for church leaders, for parents of both young children and of teens.

“We are also so very excited to provide a complete track designed explicitly for children and teens. The desire is to provide a family-friendly event to encourage and challenge every member of the family,” Crowell said.

The theme of the 2010 conference is “Great Commission Families: Transforming the Church One Family at a Time.”

Citing Matthew 28:19-20 as the theme passage, Crowell stated the conference objectives: “We want to help leaders and churches think through what it means for discipleship to take place in the home so families can then be on mission. We want them to think about this question for their families: ‘Are they being who they are called to be in the home and in the world, so they can be who they are supposed to be in the church?'”

Conference headliners include successful and experienced family ministry guides such as John Trent, Kurt Bruner and Ryan Rush. Presenters will impart the strategies they have implemented in order to flesh out the concept of family ministry and help attendees begin to plot their own courses. Well-known worship leader Dennis Jernigan will lead in family praise and worship.

Trent, who will bring the keynote address, is a prominent psychologist and popular conference speaker. With over 25 years of work devoted to the family, he is founder of the Center for Strong Families and strongfamilies.com, and the author of several best-selling books including “The Blessing,” and “The Language of Love.”

Formerly with Focus on the Family, Kurt Bruner is the pastor of spiritual formation at LakePointe Church in Rockwall and oversees Homepointe, a ministry that provides resources and ongoing accountability to teach and encourage discipleship in the home. He also works with Heritage Builders Association and the Center for Strong Families, and is the author of two resources for families: “Your Heritage” and “The Family Night Tool Chest.”

Pastor of Bannockburn Baptist Church in Austin, Ryan Rush presents “Home on Time” conferences based on his book with the same name, teaching families how to have control over their schedules and manage their priorities?in particular their walk with God. His church’s strategy called Faith Breakthroughs provides families with tools they need to “take ownership of God’s promises where they live,” according to Rush in his blog at ryanrush.com.

The cost of the Family Ministry Conference is $35 per person, or $40 per family. “An event like this is a great starting point,” Crowell said, “both for churches and for families.” For more information or to register, go to sbtexas.com/family or call Emily Gentiles in the SBTC office at 877-953-SBTC. For further help and resource suggestions, contact Lance Crowell at 877-953-SBTC.

Other valuable guides to help churches explore family ministry as recommended by speakers at the Connection Conference are:

? “Home-based Student Ministry: Leading a Student Ministry Focused on the Family” (Southern Baptists of Texas Convention 2009), by Ken Lasater. Lasater recounts his extensive research with parents whose children maintained a strong commitment to faith after leaving home. He then describes a discipleship strategy developed using his research in which the primary burden of discipling students is shifted from the student minister to the home. Student ministers would then encourage and equip parents to disciple their own teens, and focus primarily on providing meaningful ministry and leadership development opportunities for teens.

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