SBTC Family First Aid helps families with spiritual development of children

With recent statistics showing that about 80 percent of churches have plateaued or are declining, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention hopes to counteract that crisis with a conference for church leaders and parents.

The SBTC will host the Family First Aid 2013 Conference Feb. 15 and 16, at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Cedar Hill.

“The next generation is leaving the church at an ever increasing rate,” observed Lance Crowell, SBTC church ministries associate. “To turn the tide on this we must help our families understand what it looks like to see spiritual development and growth.”

“As we look at the struggles and decline in many churches today, most of the time people do not consider the state of the family,” Crowell said. And yet, statistically, the family inside the church looks no different than the family outside the church, he added.

“The Family First Aid event has been crafted to help church leaders develop and hone solutions for their families, as well as encourage parents to live and lead God-honoring lives and homes,” Crowell said.

The conference is divided into two tracks. One focuses on church leadership and will especially be useful for church staff and volunteers while the other addresses parenting.

Topics for the parenting conference include discipline, time management, family ministry and troubled teens. The leadership conference will address security in an unsecure world, church and family responsibilities and training Sunday School teachers among other topics.

Karen Kennemur, assistant professor of childhood education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, will address the topic of the new absent parent at the parenting conference.

Kennemur explained that the new absent parent is a parent who may be in the same room with a child but is distracted by some form of technology such as a smart phone.

“We’re so entrenched in technology that we are losing quality time with our kids and family,” Kennemur said.

Kennemur will also speak of the positive aspects of technology in the home.

She said that technology is not evil, but parents must make sure that they engage with their children more than they do with technology.

“Quality time with children is quantity time for them,” Kennemur said. “They want more than five minutes.”

Other keynote speakers David Thomas and Sissy Goff co-wrote “Raising Boys and Girls: The Art of Understanding Their Differences.”

Brian Haynes, pastor of Bay Area First Baptist Church in League City, will also speak at the conference. Haynes is the creator of the Legacy Milestones strategy that links the church and the home to equip future generations.

Haynes has also authored several books on family ministry, including “Shift: What it Takes to Finally Reach Parents Today” and “The Legacy Path: Discover Intentional Spiritual Parenting.”

Other speakers include Jim Dempsey of First Baptist Church Keller, Keri Meek of Hillcrest Baptist Church, Ken Lasater of SBTC, and other leaders.

Breakout sessions during the parenting conference will be led Chris Taylor of Ministry Safe as well as preschool, children’s and student ministry leaders from local churches and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The leadership conference begins Friday, Feb. 15 at 9 a.m. and concludes at 2 p.m. The parenting conference is from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets for either track cost $10 for individuals and $15 for couples attending the parenting conference when purchased by February 1. More information about the event and housing is available at sbtexas.com/family.