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Daddy And Daughter from D6 Conference on Vimeo .

The D6 Conference ended with Rob Rienow . He is the family pastor at Wheaton Bible Church. Our small group has used his Visionary Parenting curriculum. I thoroughly enjoyed Rob's teaching last year at D6 and especially his theology of family. He walked us through several Scriptures related to family. Here are only a few quotes from him: Reclaim the connection between the great commission and world evangelization . He shared that until about 100 years ago churches had a theology of family that included living our faith at home. It was not until the 1900's that we began to outsource the spiritual training of our kids to the church. For a full list of verses that he shared, visit his website at www.visionaryparenting.com.

Carey Casey is CEO of National Center for Fathering in Kansas City. He was a dynamic speaker with several interesting connections including President Obama, Tom Landry, and playing football in high school on the team the Titans played for championship game in the movie, Remember the Titans. Casey started by saying, "We have a fathering crisis." He shared many statistics that show we need to do something to help fathers in America. He shared 3 things of Effective Fathering: Loving-Fathers need to love their wives and their children. John 15:9 Coach-Dads need to be involved in the life of their kids. Help them as they make choices in life. Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Model. Our lives should speak to our children. We need to "be a sermon." John 5:19 He challenged us to encourage a child who does not have a father (James 1:27) and enlist and challenge other fathers (Proverbs 27:17).

How does a D6 Model look in different sized churches? This is the question that Ryan Rush and Jon Cannon spoke about during their session. Some of the stats shared were that 94% of the churches in the United States are 500 members or less. And 59% are 100 members or less. Jon Cannon speaking of his smaller church shared about all of their Sunday School classes are studying the same topic from children through adults. He shared about how they implement D6 in worship by allowing kids to see mom/dad worship rather than being separated from them all of them time in worship. Ryan Rush shared a little about his larger church and how they changed their church culture. His acronym was HOME: Healthy Homes Ongoing Obedience Meaningful Milestones Engaging Everyone Here are a few other quotes they shared: "Don't forget your call!" (Skit Guys) "D6 is not a program but instead the DNA." "Look into existing ministries with D6 glasses." "We should be redisco...

Doug Fields was answering the question, "How can I do it all?" I was looking forward to hearing Doug as I had heard him at Youth Specialties about 10 years ago. He also wrote one of my favorite books in youth ministry, Purpose Driven Youth Ministry. The anticipation was worth it as Doug Fields hit a home run with his talk on balancing family and ministry. His talk was titled, Focus on your own d____ family (I have not censored him. This is how it was on the screen.) He started by saying the leadership is primarily example. See 1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Corinthians 11, and 1 Thessalonians 2:7. He explained that in the Bible the image of a spiritual leader is not a CEO or manager but instead of a good father or mother. Someone worthy of imitation. What happens when church or family collide? He said that most often we choose the path of least resistance which means we sacrifice our family for ministry. He reminded us that: Ministry Never Stops! He posed the question: Are we mo...

The first speaker for Day 2 of the D6 Conference was Dr. Kevin Leman . I have to admit that I have not read any of his books because it seems they focus on behavior management rather than changing the heart. His words at the conference made me want to pick up one of his books. He started by saying, "Marriage is in trouble!" He shared the statistic that only 1/1052 marriages end in divorce if a couple prays together 4 times a week. Here are a few quotes that he shared during his keynote: Parents need to be a healthy authority. False praise is destructive. Instead be an encourager. God is not authoritarian. Rules without relationship leads to rebellion (quote by Josh McDowell). Let reality be the teacher. Fighting with our kids is an act of cooperation. We are in charge not them. We should respond rather than react. Train up a child (Proverbs). It is not instant. Also, we need to remember that it is the way God would have them go not us as parents. We should not use wa...

Jim Burns was the last speaker on Day 1 of the D6 Conference. He shared about a quote in his office which says, "When you reach the family, you reach the world." According to Burns , the purpose of the church is to mentor parents. As he talked about Deuteronomy 6:4-9, he shared how this would have been the first verse that Jesus heard being raised Jewish. Deuteronomy 6 does three things: shows fidelity to God, shows how to transmit faith, and gives us a constant reminder. Burns shared we needed to make 3 paradigm shifts: Discipleship begins in the home. We, in the church, are to be facilitators. We must resource them. Must teach parents to be become students of culture. Our job is to set the pace. We need to lead with integrity & authenticity and with margin. He also had 3 questions we needed to ask ourselves in ministry. Do I like the person I am becoming? Is the work of God I'm doing destroying the work of God in me? Am I only giving my family the emotional s...