Love Languages author speaks at ministry conference April 30

Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the best-selling The Five Love Languages, will be the keynote speaker for Connect!, the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries’ regional conference held at Lipscomb University April 30-May 1.

 

Chapman will lead off the conference on Friday, April 30, at 7 p.m. in Collins Alumni Auditorium with a special “date night” talk designed for married and dating couples. Chapman, a Platinum Book Award winner from the Evangelical Publishers Association, will challenge listeners to connect with their spouse, enrich their marriage and learn how to be successful in all relationships.

 

Tickets for Chapman’s speech are $20 for an individual and $35 for a couple.

 

 

The Connect! conference will continue on Saturday, May 1, with an all-day slate of classes designed for marriage and family ministers and anyone interested in encouraging and strengthening marriages and families in their congregations.

 

The registration fee for the Saturday workshops costs $50 per individual and $95 per couple. Workshops take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Burton Health Sciences Center and continental breakfast and lunch are included. To attend both the Friday and Saturday events, is $70 per individual and $130 per couple.

 

 

Connect! is sponsored by the Caroline Cross Chair in Family and Consumer Sciences and is produced by Lipscomb’s senior family relations majors and the Lipscomb Conference on Family Wellness.

 

 

 

In 1992, Chapman’s second book The Five Love Languages, was published. Five million copies later, The Five Love Languages has been an innovative tool for helping couples express heartfelt commitment for almost two decades. It has been translated into over 36 languages and spawned additional books by Chapman on the love languages for children, teenagers, singles, apology and more. Chapman has written 27 other books and five video series. Millions of marriages have been influenced by the powerful message found in Chapman's best-selling book.

 

Couples and individuals will walk away from the Friday “date night” event enriched and inspired in their role as a friend, spouse and/or parent.

 

 

 

Three workshops on Saturday will explore marriage ministry, led by Eric and Jennifer Garcia; family ministry, led by Jeff Thibault; and step-family ministry, led by Gordon and Carri Taylor. The workshops will explore:

Eric & Jennifer Garcia are the co-founders of the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries (AMFM). They served for seven years as lay leaders on the marriage ministry team at Scottsdale Bible Church. Eric and Jennifer are the authors and trainers of the Couple-to-Couple Marriage Mentoring™ model and the Marriage Matrix™. They published the first of its kind Marriage and Family Resource Guide in 2009, providing churches with a tool for accessing quality resources and relevant ministries. They speak nationally on marriage and family ministry, conduct marriage enrichment seminars/workshops and consult churches and other organizations on how to build effective, proactive and sustainable ministries to strengthen marriages and families.

 

Gordon & Carri Taylor are co-founders of Opportunities Unlimited. The Taylors' stepfamily journey began in 1986. Gordon brought three sons to the marriage and Carri brought two daughters. The Taylors have been involved in starting, leading, and maintaining stepfamily groups since 1988. They speak nationally on stepfamily development and other related topics. Gordon is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a clinical member of the Stepfamily Association of America, where he is recognized for his professional and personal expertise with step couples and stepfamily dynamics. Carri is a certified communications trainer and executive/personal coach who has guided hundreds of individuals and couples through the process of discovering hidden talents, skills and capabilities.

 

Jeff Thibault is the minister of marriage and family at North Bible Church in Phoenix, Ariz. He has served on the Christ in Young Life staff for 20 years, starting while in high school, as both an area and metro director in Arizona and California. Jeff spent two years, and continues to work with Dr. John Trent’s StrongFamilies, to help churches around the country equip parents to be more intentional about passing their faith on to their children.