WHAT IS SHAPING YOUR FAMILY TODAY?
For many young people, the primary shaping influences are culture, media, education, and peers and often the unbiblical messages imbedded in these influences go undetected for long seasons allowing doubt, confusion, and disbelief to grow. Learn how to shape your family through a Christ-centered marriage, biblical parenting and grandparenting, and a Scripture-saturated home.
The Gospel Shaped Family conference is designed to equip families to raise children and grandchildren with a deep, lasting, culture-transforming faith. God designed families to shape the next generation with the gospel, give them a biblical view of life, and be the primary means to help children and grandchildren mature in Christ.
- Learn to apply the gospel to your marriage, parenting, and grandparenting.
- Build confidence to have key conversations with your family about critical topics from a biblical perspective.
- Receive resources to help you teach the core truths of the Christian faith.
- Learn practical ways you can replace culture’s influence with biblical truth.
- Glean ideas to help your children or grandchildren mature in faith.
- Interact with a talented lineup of pastors, speakers, and family ministry experts.
- Learn how to lead family devotions.
- Connect with other parents and grandparents for encouragement and support.
- Gain vision to be an intentional parent or grandparent and impact the faith of your family for eternity.
How Does the Gospel Help Solve our Marriage Struggles?
The gospel is full of life-giving hope and life-changing help as we face struggles in our marriages. Rather than feeling hopeless and helpless in seeing our spouse’s failures – and our own, our eyes are drawn to the limitless, unfailing love that God has for us through Jesus Christ. We already are loved by God, and therefore we are able to love our spouses on our best days and on our worst days. We’ll explore practical applications in marriage to this memorable verse: “We love because He first loved us.”
Compassionate Gospel Parenting
Nothing encourages our children in the midst of their failures more than a forgiving, compassionate, loving response from mom or dad. But finding grace for such a response in the midst of a conflict is easier said than done. Most of us parents thought we were patient, until God dropped a few kids into our lives to show us how impatient we can be. It is in remembering God’s compassionate and forgiving response to us that the grace we need is found. God isn’t up in heaven shaking his fist at our parenting failures, he is actively cheering us on. Instead of holding his example over our heads, he compares his love and compassion to the way dads here on earth love their kids. Find fresh grace for your parenting as we explore the message of Psalm 103 – a treasure trove of encouragement for parents and message of grace for the soul.
Grandparents: Building a Gospel Legacy Worth Outliving You
One of the most overlooked source of spiritual influence in children’s lives is a grandparent. How do we recapture the Biblical mandate for grandparents in our day and move beyond being “good” grandparents to intentional Gospel-shaped grandparents who leave a legacy worth outliving them for generations to come?
Schedule:
Friday, Oct 1st
6:30pm Doors open – Registration
7:00pm Welcome & Worship
7:15pm Kickoff: State of the Family; Cavin Harper
7:45pm Session 1: How the Gospel Helps Solve Our Marriage Struggles; Larry McCall
8:45pm Session Ends
Saturday, Oct 2nd
8:30am Doors open – Resource Area
9:00am Worship
9:15am Session 2: Compassionate Gospel Parenting; Marty Machowski
10:00am Breakout 1:
Discipline: Parenting From Law to Grace; Marty Machowski
Allies or Adversaries: A Practical Guide to Strengthen the Parent
and Adult Children Relationship; Cavin Harper
Examining Our Hindrances to Prayer; Deborah Haddix and Sherry Schumann
11:00am Session 3: Grandparents: Building a Gospel Legacy; Cavin Harper
11:45am Breakout 2:
The Power Of Spoken Blessing; Cavin Harper
From Generation to Generation; Deborah Haddix
How Does the Gospel Shape Sexual Intimacy in Marriage?; Larry McCall
Sharing the Jesus Within Us; Sherry Schumann
12:30pm Wrap Up and Blessing
12:45pm Conference ends
Main Sessions:
How the Gospel Helps Solve Our Marriage Struggles
Larry McCall
The gospel is full of life-giving hope and life-changing help as we face struggles in our marriages. Rather than feeling hopeless and helpless in seeing our spouse’s failures—and our own—our eyes are drawn to the limitless, unfailing love that God has for us through Jesus Christ. We are already loved by God, and therefore we are able to love our spouses on our best days and on our worst days. We’ll explore practical applications of this memorable verse in marriage: “We love because He first loved us.”
Compassionate Gospel Parenting
Marty Machowski
Nothing encourages our children in the midst of their failures more than a forgiving, compassionate, loving response from mom or dad. But finding grace for such a response in the midst of a conflict is easier said than done. Most of us parents thought we were patient, until God dropped a few kids into our lives to show us how impatient we can be. It is in remembering God’s compassionate and forgiving response to us that the grace we need is found. God isn’t up in heaven shaking his fist at our parenting failures—he is actively cheering us on. Instead of holding his example over our heads, he compares his love and compassion to the way dads here on earth love their kids. Find fresh grace for your parenting as we explore the message of Psalm 103—a treasure trove of encouragement for parents and message of grace for the soul.
Grandparents: Building a Gospel Legacy
Cavin Harper
Grandparents are one of the most overlooked sources of spiritual influence in children’s lives. How do we recapture the biblical mandate for grandparents in our day and move beyond being “good” grandparents to intentional Gospel-shaped grandparents who leave a legacy worth outliving them for generations to come?
Breakout 1:
Discipline: Parenting From Law to Grace
Marty Machowski
When your toddler reaches for a cup of hot coffee on the table, you bring the law to bear by saying “No!” Then you use your physical strength, if needed, to block any persistent attempts. But it doesn’t work so well to order your teens around with the same “No!” You also can’t restrain a teen intent on disobedience like a toddler who insists on doing wrong. Somewhere along the line, your authority must give way to influence, your commands to conversation, and application of the Law to an introduction of the gospel. Knowing how to make this transition is one of the most important lessons parents will ever learn.
Allies or Adversaries: A Practical Guide to Strengthen the Parent and Adult Children Relationship
Cavin Harper
One of the most frequent concerns expressed by grandparents centers around their relationships with their adult children. We all want a strong ally relationship with our adult children, but often our children can feel more like adversaries than allies. What do we do when we are faced with an adversarial situation, and how do we maintain a strong ally relationship when we’ve been blessed with it? This workshop unpacks some practical, biblical principles to address both questions.
Examining Our Hindrances to Prayer
Deborah Haddix and Sherry Schumann
Scripture tells us, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Why, then, do so many believers feel as though their prayers are powerless and ineffective?
Join Deborah Haddix and Sherry Schumann as they delve into God’s Word and examine the hindrances, we encounter in our prayer life. During the first half of the workshop, Deborah invites the attendees to evaluate honestly the obstacles they encounter as they approach prayer. During the second half, Sherry challenges everyone to examine tough topics such as pride and unforgiveness, which hinder the work of prayer. Both workshops are deeply grounded in God’s Word and offer practical solutions for the stumbling blocks we encounter in our daily prayer life.
Breakout 2:
The Power Of Spoken Blessing
Cavin Harper
One of the most overlooked yet powerful tools God has given to us to help the next generation succeed in life and understand God’s purpose for them is the spoken blessing. This session unpacks the what, why and how of this powerful tool can be one of the most impactful tools in a grandparent’s toolbox.
From Generation to Generation
Deborah Haddix
The Bible is clear that our God is the God of many generations, and that He clearly prefers to work within this framework. Yet many of us live our days from moment to moment, parenting and grandparenting without much thought ever given to this fact.
Come join Deborah for this enlightening session on the importance of embracing a generational mindset in all your relationships. We will search out biblical examples, weave in some informing self-assessment, and discuss practical application – for the good of our families.
How Does the Gospel Shape Sexual Intimacy in Marriage?
Larry McCall
In this seminar, we will see what God says in his word about his beautiful purposes for sexual intimacy in marriage. We will talk openly about the difficulties that arise because of sin—the sins that we’ve committed and the sins that have been committed against us. And we’ll explore how the gospel helps make sexual intimacy wonderful again.
Sharing the Jesus Within Us
Sherry Schumann
Do you fret about the what, when, where and how to share your legacy of faith? In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore interesting and fun ways to share the “Jesus within” you. We’ll discuss ideas for sharing the Gospel message, our salvation stories, stories of answered prayer, life’s lessons and family heritage. become mighty prayer warriors themselves.
Speakers:
Larry McCall, Director of Walking Like Jesus Ministries, is an ill-deserving sinner saved by God’s amazing grace through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Larry was gripped by God’s saving grace at an early age and had the privilege of being discipled by his Christian parents and by other mentors in his home church. In 1975 Larry married Gladine, his sweetheart since high school days. They have three married children and six much-loved grandchildren. Larry also has had the joy of serving on the pastoral team of Christ’s Covenant Church of Winona Lake, Indiana, since 1981. He is energized by serving Christ followers through writing, teaching, and preaching, and helping them see in clear, practical, gospel-centered ways how to pursue Christ and reflect him in daily life. Larry is the author of Walking Like Jesus Did, Loving Your Wife as Christ Loved the Church, and Gospel-Centered Grandparenting.
Marty Machowski serves as the Executive Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for 30 years. He is the author of The Ology, a systematic theology for children, Long Story Short, Ten- Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God, The Gospel Story Sunday School Curriculum and the companion Gospel Story Children’s Bible. Marty is currently writing a devotional for parents to encourage them in the midst of parenting, entitled Parenting First Aid scheduled to be released in Fall 2018. Marty enjoys writing “study fiction,” a genre he developed that combines Bible study with engaging fiction. Dragon Seed, a novel for teens, and Prepare Him Room, an Advent devotional for families combine these two elements. He and his wife, Lois, and their six children reside in the West Chester Pennsylvania area.
Cavin Harper is the Founder and President of the Christian Grandparenting Network and the author of Courageous Grandparenting, Living Your Will, and Wayfinder. He and his wife, Diane, are the creators of GrandCamps. Cavin & Diane were married in 1969 and have two daughters and nine grandchildren. Their home is in Colorado Springs. Courageous Grandparenting challenges grandparents to sense the urgency of these turbulent times, participate in their grandchildren's worlds, and maximize opportunities to credibly, creatively engage them.
Sherry Schumann A masterful story-teller and prayer warrior, Sherry Schumann serves as senior writer for the Legacy Coalition and national prayer co-coordinator for Christian Grandparenting Network. Her first novel, The Christmas Bracelet, is an “ashes to beauty” holiday tale. Sherry’s life in rural South Carolina is simple and beautiful. She’s been married to her soul mate for thirty-four years. Her heart soars when the voices of their three sons, three daughters-in-love and three grandchildren fill their home.
Deborah Haddix is an author, speaker, and board certified advanced Christian life coach whose passion is to empower women to embrace God’s design for their life. Deborah’s desire is to encourage and equip Christian women to live more joyful and abundant lives in a world turned upside down. She writes, speaks, blogs, and coaches on topics of specific interest to today's busy woman.
One of the topics closest to her heart is Journaling for the Soul. After years of personal struggle with the discipline of journaling, Deborah finally stumbled on some exciting ways to incorporate this valuable discipline into her “grandma” role. And in more recent years, she has discovered the joys of putting a creative spin on her journaling as she uses it as a tool for soul care. Deborah loves sharing what she has learned about Journaling for the Soul through easy-to-navigate resources and engaging events. Two of her books Praying with Purpose: Helping Equip Your Grandchildren to Stand Fast in the Faith and Soul Nourishment: Satisfying Our Deep Longing for God share several creative journaling techniques.
Deborah and her husband, Don, live in Ohio and have been married forty-one years. They have three grown, married children and eleven grandchildren.
