FamilyLife’s staff conference, held August 27-30, was a time of looking back and celebrating what God has done over the past 38 years and equipping and building up our staff for the coming years.
Thirty-four FamilyLife partners from ten countries also attended and were encouraged by the messages from Al Mohler, David Nassar, Dennis Rainey, and Ron Deal. They also enjoyed daily worship music, video skits by Acts of Renewal, a concert featuring Drew Cline (former lead singer of NewSong), a preview of the movie The Song, and a special luncheon with Dennis and Barbara Rainey.
Friday afternoon was free time for our international guests to tour downtown Little Rock and visit city landmarks such as the Heifer Village and Clinton Presidential Center. Friday evening, the international guests met up with the FamilyLife Global team at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse to enjoy a buffet and live show of the musical Oklahoma!
Saturday was a day devoted entirely to focusing on international ministry. Dave Sunde led a morning devotional, then guests gave ten-minute presentations about their ministries. After touring the FamilyLife headquarters, the guests attended breakout sessions on topics including HomeBuilders® ministry, radio, speaker training, and reaching out to pastors and churches.
International guests described the staff conference as an “inspiring, encouraging, and vision casting time” and said it was a good opportunity to network with other countries and learn what God is doing through other ministries.
International partners will ordinarily be invited to Little Rock every two years for the FamilyLife staff conference. Our next staff conference in summer of 2016 will celebrate 40 years of FamilyLife. It will once again be a time to encourage and equip our global partners for the labor they are doing on behalf of families worldwide.