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Boone Center Hosts First Family of Faith Network Conference

The Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology Boone Center for the Family (BCFF) will host its first Family of Faith Network Conference, from June 18 to 20 in Malibu, California. The conference aims to provide an opportunity to share ideas, applications, and strategies conducive to promoting healthy relationships, and a setting for the personal renewal and reflection that allows relationships to prosper.

"Our goal is to help both church leaders and community leaders think about a process by which churches can provide services and help to meet the growing needs of families," says Ken Canfield, executive director of BCFF, of the inaugural event.

The Boone Center was established in 1996 through the inspiration and foundation of M. Norvel and Helen Young and endowed by Pat and Shirley Boone in 2006. Under the direction of Canfield, the Center has become an active, vital extension of Pepperdine's Christian mission. BCFF offers practical seminars on marriage enrichment and parenting, and trains church representatives, professionals, and lay leaders who reach wider audiences in their communities how to provide guidance to encourage positive interpersonal relationships.

All of the sessions in the June 18-20 conference, both general and workshops, will integrate biblically-based teaching, weaving together the themes of ministry common to households, families, and the church in order to strengthen each of those entities. Click here for a full schedule.

"We've brought together thought leaders from across the country who have a history of providing leadership, services, and creative programming in this growing field of family ministry," says Canfield. "We'll explore topics such as the economic downturn, as well as the general complexity that we find in the lives of singles – those who delay marriage. What is the faith community doing to help those non-married individuals in their development and to what extent are there opportunities in the faith community for those individuals to serve?"

The conference will feature keynote speaker Mark A. Holmen, author of Faith Begins at Home - The Family Makeover with Christ at the Center. Holmen serves as the senior pastor of Ventura Missionary Church in Ventura, California, and has developed and implemented a model for becoming a Faith at Home-focused church that is gaining national and international acclaim through the Willow Creek Association, The Barna Group, and Focus on the Family.

Another notable speaker in the lineup is Marvin Charles, who will deliver his speech, "Strengthening the Low-Income Family from the Urban Perspective." Charles, along with his wife, Jeanette, are founders of Divine Alternatives for Dads Service in Seattle, Washington, an organization that helps men who are disconnected from their children discover the gift of fathering.

The seminar will also feature Emerson Eggerichs, who will give his talk, "God's Work to the Church on Marriage: Love and Respect." Eggerichs launched Love and Respect Ministries in August 1999 to serve husbands and wives. He was awarded this master of divinity from Dubuque Seminary and later earned is Ph.D. from Michigan State University in child and family ecology. Emerson also served as senior pastor for East Lansing Trinity Church from 1980 to 1999.

Canfield says he hopes participants walk away armed with new knowledge to bring home to their families and communities. "I just believe that the integration of faith in the family sector and the positive contribution that faith can make is being missed and must be addressed as we think about the health and the future of the community," Canfield says.

For more information or to register for the Family of Faith Network Conference, visit The Family of Faith Network Conference Web site.