Conference Materials Coming Together

The Theme of our conference is "Imago Dei", which is Latin for the Image of God (see below).

Here is the conference logo (designed by our team member Chad Martin):

Here are the shirts and pens (staples for any conference of course):

Uganda Workshop Main Session Talks

I have the privilege of being the Conference Speaker when we travel to Uganda to host:
Imago Dei: Marriage & Family Conference 2011

Please pray for wisdom, clarity, responsiveness and healing. For Scripture tells us that we are all cracked "Eikons" (the Greek for God's likeness from Gen. 1:26-27), needing and wanting to be restored to reveal and heal.

Here are the main session titles and descriptions:

MAIN SESSION 1: We are the Imago Dei
Genesis 1:26-27 says that we are made in the image of God. However, the Bible tells us that each one of us has chosen to go our own way, and thus, fracturing God's intended purpose for us to reflect His image. God's desire is to restore us to the Imago Dei.

MAIN SESSION 2: The Source of the Imago Dei
1 John 4:8 says that God is love. Scripture also says that we are able to love because God first loved us. It is clear, as Jesus himself says, that without being connecting to God, our source, we can do nothing.

MAIN SESSION 3: Living in the Imago Dei
In his letter to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, the apostle Paul wrote the key to fulfilling God's intention of restoring His image so that we might be healed. Using the metaphor of clothes, we are to actively take off the old, and put on the new.

MAIN SESSION 4: Living Out the Imago Dei
Only when consent and partner with God's work of restoration within us are we able to represent His image. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are now ambassadors—literally God's representatives—to our families, our communities, our countries and the whole world.

My Uganda Trip Letter

What’s the best wedding present you have either given or received? A coffee maker, grill utensil set, a four-slice toaster, or KitchenAide® mixer? Or, was it a Waterford® crystal picture frame, vase, or fruit bowl? And maybe, for the abundantly fortunate, airline tickets to an exotic location with white sandy beaches...

As wonderful as an all-inclusive backpack picnic set is, the best wedding gift a couple could ever receive is support, care, and preparation for a lasting marriage. That is, relational equipment for a continual wed-ding.

This truth is why I pastor marrieds/engaged couples at my church, and why I'm compelled to travel half way around the world to Uganda this summer. This East African country has been war-torn for nearly three decades (You may have learned about this from the documentary Invisible Children). As a result, families have been broken and lives have been dramatically altered. But there is hope. With God, there is always hope!

Beginning in 2005, Children of the Nations (COTN) established a ministry in Uganda to rebuild and restore the lives of Ugandan families, with the vision of "Raising children who transform nations." COTN is a strategic partner of my church. And in In 2010, pastor James Okalo Ekwang, COTN country director, approached Flood with the request of bringing a team over to train and lead a marriage & family conference. What's providential about this invitation is that Flood has always valued training and equipping people through conferences and leadership communities. In fact, in Flood's ten year history, we've successfully led a six-week premarital conference for eight of those years. It's just in our DNA.

That's why in August of 2011, a team of fifteen of us will be traveling to "the Pearl of Africa" to host a conference, train leaders, and receive the gift of family from our brothers & sisters in Uganda. Our purpose is to strengthen marriages and families by teaching biblical principles to an invited group in Lira, Uganda, through: A) organizing and running a conference for married couples, engaged couples, and single mothers (about 100 couples, 100 widows, and many children). B) Equipping local counselors to better deal with family issues through training and a developed curriculum. C) Training local leaders to lead future conferences and enrichment. D) Offer counseling to couples, single parents, and children through skilled therapists on our team.

We are excited about this amazing opportunity to learn, teach, and grow. But even more vital is going to be the experience of tasting what the apostle James calls pure religion: "… and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you" (James 1:27). The root of religion means connecting what's been disconnected. Though being a part of Jesus' healing of the world is crucial, we know that something inside of us will be restored as well.

Fifteen of us are traveling to Uganda in a few months, representing a mass of others. Will you be a part of this team that brings hope and healing to God's beloved? Here's how you can be an integral part:

• COMMIT to praying (interceding for our team)
• GIVE financially
• SEND this to someone who might be interested in supporting this trip
• SUBSCRIBE to this Blog for updates, news and memories

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Thank you, I've raised all my support!!!





PRAY FOR...
- Our trip planning: Our team has some key meetings ahead in which we are planning the conference, training, and counseling sessions.
- Team unity: of mind, heart and spirit.
- Logistics in Uganda: That our meeting space would accommodate the amount of people.
- Protection: Against attacks of the mind (doubt, anxiety, fear, etc.)

Thanks for partnering with me on this journey,

Scott

Conference Theme

The theme of the conference is Imago Dei. Genesis 1:26-27 says that God, who exists in perfect loving community, created us in His image, male and female. We also learn that when God created the heavens and the earth, that everything was good, except for one thing—for the human being to be alone. This is when the first marriage took place, and "the two became one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). God made two out of the one, and brought them back together in union to experience and reflect His nature of expansive love. This truth not only guides us, but compels us to help families grow stronger. That is, 

my marriage is also my mission: to receive, reflect and restore God's love.

What about orphans and widows? We are also serving many single parents and children. James 1:27 says, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress..." Single parenting is difficult in any culture and often carries a stigma. The beauty of Imago Dei is that each person everywhere has intrinsic value, worth and purpose—and that is the hope we will proclaim!