Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Empowered To Connect Conference coming to Nashville, TN

Brentwood Baptist Church and Show Hope will be hosting the Empowered To Connect Conference September 14-15, 2012 in Brentwood, TN, just south of Nashville. Register by July 15th and save $10.

Dr. Karyn Purvis, Michael and Amy Monroe, and Dan and Terri Coley will equip families, churches, and professionals to bring hope and healing to children from hard places. This conference has changed many lives over the years and I've hear families say that they wish they had know this stuff before they dealt with sensory and attachment issues and didn't know what to do. If you are involved in any way with orphan care, adoption and caring for the least of these, then this is much needed information. Show Hope is passionate about sharing this training with you and has made the conference very affordable (only $50 per couple through July 15th and $60 after July 15th).

I would try to say more but I'll let Michael and Amy do it. They have written this letter to ministry leaders:
Dear Church Ministry Leader,

We want to invite you and others from your church ministry team to join us for an upcoming Empowered To Connect Conference hosted by Show Hope. You can find out more about the upcoming conference dates and locations at www.etcconference.org.

As leaders of a church adoption and foster care ministry for the past eight years, we’ve had the privilege to walk alongside hundreds of families as they travel the adoption and foster care journey. During this time we have learned so much and have witnessed more blessings than we can count. At the same time, however, we’ve come face to face with many of the challenging realities that adoptive and foster parents encounter. As adoptive parents ourselves, we have dealt with many of these same challenges, and we know just how difficult, and even painful, they can be. But we also know that although the adoption and foster care journey is not easy, it is worth it – and we also know there is hope and help for every child and every family!

This is why we are excited to be part of the Empowered To Connect Conference. The conference is ideal for anyone interested in adoption or foster care, and will be especially valuable for those involved as church adoption, foster care or global orphan care ministry leaders, whether volunteer or staff.

The Empowered To Connect Conference features the insights, experience and wisdom of Dr. Karyn Purvis, who is the Director of the TCU Institute of Child Development and co-author of the best-selling adoption book, The Connected Child. For more than a decade, she and her colleagues have been developing a more complete understanding of the unique challenges that adopted, foster and orphaned children face, as well as a wide array of tools and strategies to help parents and caregivers form lasting and healing connections with their children.

Over the years the families in our church ministry have benefited greatly from Dr. Purvis. The Empowered To Connect Conference provides us with a great way to share this same help and hope with you so that your families can benefit as well. During the conference, Dr. Purvis offers helpful presentations on a wide range of topics that are highly relevant to all adoptive and foster families. In addition, Amy and I share how our ministry has incorporated these principles and resources into the way we educate, support and equip parents. And throughout the conference we highlight the biblical principles that serve as the foundation for the approach and interventions that Dr. Purvis advocates.

We hope that you will make plans to join us for an Empowered To Connect Conference, and we pray that God will continue to bless you and your efforts to serve children and families in Jesus’ name.

In Him,

Michael & Amy Monroe