John McGee will be speaking at D6

This week (September 21-23) is the D6 Conference in Dallas. I am excited to be going along with my lead pastor and a leader in one of our ministries. We head out tomorrow afternoon to drive down to Dallas. This summer, I had the opportunity to attend the AMFM conference in Dallas as well and heard John McGee speak. Those attending D6 are in for a treat when John shares about his heart & vision for strengthening marriages. I was able to interview John McGee via email. Here are my questions and his answers below.

1. Briefly share about yourself, family, and ministry at Watermark.

Pam and I have been married 16 years and have 4 kids. I have been the director of Marriage Ministry at Watermark for last 9 years. It is not a role I signed up for, but is now one I don’t want to relinquish. I am really grateful to have a front row seat for all the life change that is happening in marriages at our church and in our community.

2. What can the church do to help strengthen marriages?

You don’t have enough space on your blog for all my thoughts, but here are a couple. 1. There is a real opportunity for the church with marriage preparation. Couples are more skittish about getting married than our parents were. When people are unsure about decisions today they instinctively look for more information. I think this may be the best time ever for the church to be in the marriage preparation business. 2 Invest in newlyweds. Some studies will show that couples are more likely to divorce in year 1 than any other. Rather than waiting for couples to struggle you can match them with mentor couples, place them in small groups to support each other, and give them good content. We call it playing offense before defense.

3. What are some examples of how you have done this?

Our strategy is basically to prepare nearly weds, invest in newly weds, and enrich those who are married. We have distinct programs and strategies for each one. You can find out more at http://dallasmarriage.org/

4. What is the biggest obstacle to marriage ministry in the church?

That is a great question. Generally on a platform at a conference blame will be cast on the Sr. Pastor and perhaps the fact the he doesn’t have a good marriage. That might be true occasionally but more than anything I think the church simply doesn’t have a vision for what could happen through marriages. I hope that as more and more churches invest in marriages and have great stories to tell, other churches will follow. The thought of hiring a full time youth pastor in a church in the 50’s was probably met with a lot of resistance and now it is consistently one of the first few hires of any church. I hope the same will happen in the way we think about marriage ministry as the church wakes up to what could happen and how this might be the best way to live out John 13:34-35.

5. What encouragement can you give to church leaders interested in starting a focused marriage ministry?

Create an all-encompassing vision but only implement one thing at a time. Pick the area that is an overlap of the competencies you have in your church and the needs of your community and church. When you are doing that one well move on to the next.

A special thanks to John McGee for taking the time to answer my questions. If you are unable to attend the D6 conference, bookmark this blog and return daily Sept. 21-23 for quotes, updates, and reflections. Also, you can view several of the sessions live by going to www.d6conference.com/live