2004 National Uniting Church and Family
Conference to be in St. Louis August 12-14
By Jim Day
The 2004 National Center for Family-Integrated Churches (NCFIC) Uniting Church & Family Conference, will be held August 12-14, 2004 here in St. Louis at the Radisson-Clayton Hotel, 7750 Carondelet Avenue in Clayton, MO.
This year’s conference will feature an incredible team of teachers, dedicated to encouraging family-affirming and family-integrated local assemblies, which
| prepare men for leadership and active participation in the home as well as the Church. The conference is designed for anyone who shares a passion for uniting the local church with the family. Church shepherds, elders, and deacons are especially encouraged to attend, but all individuals and families are welcome. It is important to note, however, that anyone wishing to attend must pre-register either online at www.visionforumministries.org or by calling (210) 340-5250 ext. 270, or by emailing brian@visionforum.org. Applications will not be taken at the door. |  |
The conference will attempt to diagnose the problem of unbiblical practices and philosophies which weaken fathers and promote disunity between the generations. The conference will also offer a vision for the future, and practical solutions for biblically implementing wise options for developing family-friendly practices within the local body, and for training families who will be loyal to their local assemblies.
Throughout the two-day meeting, concurrent workshops will be held with certain foundational topics from past conferences, along with brand new topics that will build on the foundations established in previous conferences. Conference/workshop speakers will include:
Douglas W. Phillips, Esq.
Doug Phillips is the director of Vision Forum Ministries, a discipleship and training ministry that emphasizes Christian apologetics, worldview training, multi-generational faithfulness, and creative solutions whereby fathers can play a maximum role in family discipleship. A constitutional attorney, Doug served with the Home School Legal Defense Association for six years. He serves as adjunct professor of Professor of Apologetics for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), and co-authored the book, Weapons of Our Warfare with ICR's President, Dr. John Morris. A strong advocate of mentorship, Doug has taught from his home, intensive college-level, independent courses on apologetics, law, theology, and government, to home school students and graduates.
Scott Brown
Scott T. Brown is a pastor, business man, church leader and elder at Trinity Baptist Church in Wake Forest, NC. He graduated from California State University in Fullerton, with a degree in history and received a M. Div from Talbot School of Theology. He gives most of his time to church reformation, church planting, building up the Body of Christ and strengthening the family through his local church, along with other business activities.
Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
R.C. Sproul, Jr. is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary and Grove City College. R.C. is the Editor of Tabletalk Magazine, a pastor of Saint Peter Presbyterian Church, and the Director of the Highlands Study Center. He has written or edited seven books and contributed to several others, his latest being Eternity in Our Hearts. R.C. has also served as a contributing columnist for World Magazine and the Covenant Syndicate. At the Highlands Study Center, R.C. teaches the Community Bible Study, most of the Highlands academy classes, the resident students, and serves as editor of Every Thought Captive.
William Einwechter
William Einwechter (Th.M.) is an ordained minister and an elder at Immanuel Free Reformed Church in Ephrata, PA. He is vice president of the National Reform Association and editor of The Christian Statesman. He is also the author of Ethics and God’s Law, English Bible Translations, and A Conquering Faith, and the editor of the book, Explicitly Christian Politics. His essays and articles have appeared in the Chalcedon Report, The Christian Statesman, and Patriarch.
Jeff Pollard
By God’s grace Jeff Pollard was converted to Jesus Christ from a career in rock music in the early 80s. Though religious from his youth, his true conversion at 30 brought him to understand and then to preach God’s sovereign grace. God’s Spirit and Word awakened him to his responsibilities as husband and father, as well as to God’s vision for families. Jeff is an elder of Mt. Zion Bible Church, Pensacola, FL, the home of Chapel Library. He is the editor of the Free Grace Broadcaster and author of Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America and Do You Know Jesus Christ?
Mark Holden
Mark Holden is a veteran home-educating father, pastor, speaker, and leader. Mark has been involved in home school support leadership for many years, including serving as the Loving Education At Home (LEAH) convention coordination in New York State. He is currently the Director for The Association for the Restoration of the Church and Home, Inc., an organization that serves to bring biblical restoration to the church and home. Having been involved in pastoral ministry for many years, including five years directing a family Bible camp, Mark is currently commissioned as a church-planting teaching elder by The Lighthouse Church in Wampsville, NY, a family-integrated church that works at discipling parents in their appointed role as child-trainers. Mark’s teaching role extends across New York as he leads in the role of discipling a new generation of church leaders. He speaks frequently on the subject of biblical family roles and church-home issues.
Don Hart, Esq.
Don Hart is a devoted husband, father, attorney, and faithful board member for Vision Forum Ministries. He is an elder, alongside his father, at North Gabriel Christian Assembly, who has been blessed to have been raised in a Christian home by a faithful father and mother who were true to God, Church, and home. Don is grieved by the ongoing and systematic destruction of families, which is so prevalent in today’s Church and home, and desires to see the Church return the biblical foundations which it was established on.
Workshops
The conference will address several main themes including:
1. Promoting Unity Between the Local Church and the Family, By Returning to Sola Scriptura;
2. Equipping Men for Leadership at Home and in the Church.
3. Building Family-Friendly Local Churches which are Multi-Generationally Minded; and
4. Withstanding New Moral and Legal Attacks Against the Local Church from the Present Homosexual, Feminist and Anti-Family Agenda. Specific topics will include: What the Bible says about how to prepare and ordain men for church leadership; If, when and how to leave a local church; Important considerations for the first three years in the life of a local church; How should families and the local church treat teenagers; The role of Christian women in a family-friendly local church, and much more.
The conference will also address a host of legal issues which are important for local assemblies, including why churches should never incorporate (as well as the practical financial and legal options for non 501c3 churches), the local churches' responsibilities concerning issues of medical freedom, hate crimes legislation, abortion through birth control, freedom, and much more.
Cost
The price of admission is $95 per person. Children 12 and under are $60 per person. The cost includes admission to each keynote or workshop message, and delicious sit-down lunches on Friday and Saturday prepared by the Radisson Hotel.
Registration
Check-in begins at 3 p.m. on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at the Radisson with the first session beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom. Please note that you must pre-register online before the conference. The conference will not be taking applications at the door. To register or for more information, please visit http://www.visionforumministries.org/sections/events/ncfic/, or contact Brian at (210) 340-5250 ext. 270, or email to brian@visionforum.org.
About Vision Forum
Ministries
For those not familiar with Vision Forum Ministries, Vision Forum is designed to communicate a vision for the restoration of the Christian family and the rebuilding of culture for the glory of God. It is a discipleship and training ministry that emphasizes Christian apologetics, worldview training, multi-generational faithfulness, and creative solutions, whereby fathers can play a maximum role in family discipleship. To this end, Vision Forum offers annual conferences such as Father/Son and Father/Daughter Discipleship Retreats, the Faith and Freedom Tour, and the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy.
The mission of Vision Forum Ministries involves preserving our covenant with God through biblical patriarchy, and multigenerational faithfulness by: turning the hearts of fathers to their families; proclaiming the nobility and glory of motherhood; reviving the doctrine of “Women and Children First;” embracing the blessing of children and the sanctity of human life; building a culture of virtuous boyhood and girlhood; reinforcing godly masculinity and femininity; understanding family culture as religion externalized; teaching history as the providence of God; developing a biblical worldview through pre-suppositional thinking; training character by Hebrew discipleship and home education; communicating the applicability of the Law of God; addressing the ethical issues of the 21st Century; preparing men to stand in the gates; and encouraging unity between church and home.
For more information regarding Vision Forum visit their website at www.visionforumministries.org.