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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 marria...

Over the last few weeks, I have seen God move in some exciting ways. First of all, I attended two seminars (Kansas Strengthening Families Summit & AMFM ) within two weeks. Each had different takes on the area of marriage and family, but each also pointed in a similar direction. For the last few days, I have been sharing with different leaders a vision for strengthening marriages at Hesston MB. I value these conversations because they help tweak what God has put on my heart. I look forward to sharing this direction with the Body of Christ and community of Hesston very soon. It has been a joy to see how God is working and how He is using my gifts and passions to accomplish kingdom work. I also shared several months ago about the "God idea" to write family devotions for Hide N Seek this year. I was starting to worry because the task is so enormous. However, last Friday, I made some great progress and now believe I will finish these devotions in time. They have bee...

Our final session was led by Jay & Laura Lafoon . They have described themselves as " edutainers ." They shared a lot of laughs in regards in our marriage. The focused on three points: motivate, innovate, and emulate. In talking about sex, they stressed the difference between willing & want to. Early in their marriage, many fights were over these terms and how she viewed them as the same and he didn't. According to him, willing equals obligation. Want to equals priority. Use the areas that couples fight about: money, sex, & family to teach truth. God has placed his thumbprint on us. God has a "to-do list" and our name is one of the lines to complete that item. As a couple if we hope to bring about change, we need to be ourselves. We need to vulnerable and transparent, not perfect. Think about this quote: "Every thought you have, every word you say, every action you make brings a degree of joy or pain to your spouse." Jay closed b...

On Day 3 (Thursday), the final day of AMFM , I was again able to attend 3 workshops. They were: Engaging the Church in Caring for Divorcees & Single Parent Families, Desire in Marriage, and Creating Events that Matter for Married Couples. Engaging the Church in Caring For Divorcees & Single Parent Families -The first workshop was very thought provoking regarding the church's view of divorced people. The presenter was Wes Butler. He started by sharing from several Scriptures: Genesis 16:13, John 4:29-30, Matthew 19:8, Psalm 68:5, James 1:27. He posed the question: Are single parents present-day widows & orphans? How should the church engage? He shared several thoughts. First, we must allow the broken & hurting in. See Proverbs 14:4. We must also be willing to get our hands and feet dirty. He stresses this is not just programs, but walking with people through difficult processes. We need to be incarnational -how can we help with finances, meals, other needs?H...

On Day 2 (Wednesday), we were able to attend 2 workshops because we had another general session in the afternoon. We were also able to watch a pre -screening of the movie, "Courageous." On Wednesday, I attended workshops on Tangible Tools for Couples in Crisis & Pastors-the Perfect Parents? Tangible Tools for Couples- Clint & Penny Bragg were the presenters of this workshop. They presented us with many free resources. The Bragg's started their presentation by sharing about their journey through crisis, divorce, and then reconciliation. Their presentation was based on the tools that they used personally and have continued to use with couples. If you have read my previous blog entry, this is used not as a first response, but as a couple works through reconciliation. They shared several handouts which included tips to reconcile relationships, beginning the healing process, roadblocks to reconciliation, 5 tangible tools, how to pray effectively for a marriage in ...

Day 2 was Wednesday and included hearing from Todd Wagner who is the lead pastor at Watermark Church, which was the host location of the conference. Wagner was answering the following question: What needs to change in the church to become agents of reconciliation? He asked what the greatest evil was in our culture. His belief is that the greatest evil today is the dead church. He went on to explain that there are 3 divine institutions and they are the family (Deuteronomy 6), government (Romans 13), and the church (1 Peter 2, Acts 2). He went on to explain that a dead church is led by weak or lazy men or by men who do not lead well. He shared from Malachi 1, Lamentations 2 about which he explained that the problems were the leaders. He then had us open to Proverbs 6:16-19 and read. He asked what do these have in common? Answer: they all break relationships. Relationships matter and we need to be about strengthening & helping relationships in our culture as the church. He of...

After the first general session, we could choose from many different workshops. We were able to attend 3 workshops on Tuesday. I attended the following workshops: Marriage Mentoring: 12 Conversations for Building Strong Marriages, Reconciling Troubled Marriages-Even with an Unwilling Spouse!, & Cultivating Sexually Healthy Families: Skills for 21st Century Parents. See highlights from each below. Marriage Mentoring -My first workshop was led by Ed & Rhonda Gray. They shared about a resource they have developed called 12 Conversations. They shared from their experiences in working with couples. Their belief is "it is wise to focus on nurturing strong marriages rather than waiting to repair damaged marriages." They also shared that there is power in stories and that mentor couples are more powerful than just sharing a book that might help a couple. They shared about how marriage mentoring comes from a good marriage not a perfect marriage. They also stressed the...

I had the privilege of attending the Association of Marriage and Family Ministry ( AMFM ) Conference in Dallas on June 20-23, 2011. The conference began on Monday night with Date Night Dallas featuring Tim Hawkins. I have seen Tim several times and he did not disappoint. It was nice to laugh after a 6 hour drive. The actual conference began on Tuesday morning. Our first general session speaker was Bishop Joseph Walker. He talked about the change needed in the culture and did that by sharing 5 points. His first point was that people need a clear vision . Our world need to see that relationships have a purpose. He shared the illustration about a quarterback and receiver. A quarterback is throwing where the receiver is to be not where he is currently. He shared that our culture is like the defensive back who tries to give a hard hit at line of scrimmage to throw the receiver off his timing. This hit keeps the receiver from reaching his purpose which is to catch the ball. He sa...