Earlier this month, I traveled to Decatur, GA with my stellar colleagues, Kyle and Mary, along with one of our lay leaders, Kim Wilkinson, to the 1st official Christian Educators Conference with CBF Global. The conference was designed for those working with children, youth, and young adults. Before the conference started, Mary, Kim, and I took part in a separate all-day training to be certified as Youth Mental Health First Aiders. The three of us are now certified in 26 countries around the world (whoa!). We learned so much about how to recognize and come alongside children and youth who are struggling with mental health issues. In our world today, this seems more important than ever. That night, the conference held a welcome reception, complete with live music by none other than our own Kyle Caudle. Did you know we have a celebrity among us?!
The conference was packed full of amazing workshops where we learned about safety and security for church buildings/properties, best practices for how to use children’s curriculum, how to use new technology for event planning (y’all know we ALWAYS say ‘we have so much happening in the life of our church!’). They talked about how worship can play a key role in racial justice, how to do more missions with youth, how to advocate for people in our community, and so much more. One of our main speakers for the conference was Zak Foster, the grandson of Skip Boyles! He even shared an amazing photo of a younger Skip with her parents. I also serve on the CBF Children’s Ministry Network leadership team, so we used this conference as an opportunity to gather children’s ministers from all over the country for connection, fellowship, and continued learning.
Our brains were happily exhausted from so many amazing opportunities to learn and grow with this conference. A bonus was being able to travel together in my minivan (shoutout to all minivan owners!) where we had great conversations and bonding experiences as colleagues (complete with stops for the best gas station snacks going and coming back) I am grateful to be part of a church family that values continuing education and provides the grace and space for staff and lay leadership to learn and continue to improve ways to minister to our community. Thank you all for your support of our staff and lay leadership. We are grateful for an amazing week of learning!
– Pastor Amy