FamilyLife Offers Blueprint for Solid Marriage, Avenue for Serving in Ministry
by Randall Murphree
September 21, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Forty-seven states will host 151 FamilyLife Marriage Conferences in 2007. The hotel-based conferences grew out of a 1976 Campus Crusade for Christ pre-marriage seminar the ministry provided for its staff members. "There was overwhelming response," said Jeff Walchshauser, FamilyLife spokesman. "The staff wanted to come back and they wanted to bring their friends." Married staff began asking for their own seminar, then pastors and community leaders asked for the same. Campus Crusade opened the FamilyLife conference to the public in 1978.
"We call it the Weekend to Remember Conference," Walchshauser said. "This conference not only helps people strengthen their marriage, but it also is very clear about sharing the Gospel. We see a lot of people come to Christ through the conference."
Recruiting New Staff
As manager of new staff resources, Walchshauser is part of a seven-member team which works to recruit missionary staff, find those whom God is calling to FamilyLife, and then prepare them for serving. FamilyLife finds many full-time staff members through the conferences.
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Jeff Walchshauser is manager of new staff resources at FamilyLife ministries in Little Rock, Arkansas. Jeff is pictured above with his wife Anjanette and their daughters Anika (left) and Beth |
Each Weekend to Remember includes a staff opportunities meeting. At those meetings, interested couples may complete an interest card. Walchshauser's team then begins the process of contacting candidates, interviewing them by telephone and checking references. Next, FamilyLife brings candidates to Little Rock for a four-day ministry preview. During that time, a decision is made whether to invite the couple to join the staff. It's a thorough process designed to assure that the couple and ministry leaders are all persuaded that God is orchestrating the partnership.
"From there, we give them some training," Walchshauser said, "basic theological training, some ministry skills training and how to raise support." New staffers usually have to develop a hundred percent of their financial support -- income to cover everything from benefits to utility bills.
About half of the Little Rock staff are paid a salary -- for example, those with highly skilled and specialized positions and those who work in the broadcasting arm of the ministry. But many ministry personnel who are called to FamilyLife are on the track where they raise their own support.
Scott and Edna Edwards of Locust Fork, Alabama, filled out an interest card online, were invited to a ministry preview in Little Rock, and are now planning to work full-time with FamilyLife.
"Scott and Edna are in that process right now," Walchshauser said. "They're in the middle of what we call initial ministry partner development. When they finish raising their support, they'll report here to Little Rock and begin their assignment here."
With advice and input from FamilyLife leaders, the Edwadses set their financial goals to cover what they will need. Scott and Edna and their three children -- Adam,14; Harrison, 9; and McKayla, 7 -- will be moving from their home in Blount County near Locust Fork, Alabama.
For the Edwardses, the call to FamilyLife was not easy -- but it was certain. The family has been active in Union Chapel Baptist Church, where Edna grew up, was baptized, and married Scott. So they're having to dig up some pretty deep roots.
Read about the Edwards family in Part 2 of this series on Friday, Sept. 22
More FamilyLife Outreach
In addition to the Weekend to Remember conferences, Walchshauser said FamilyLife's True Connection Resources have far-reaching impact on families who use the materials. One of the unique products is the Resurrection Egg, a hands-on tool to help kids grasp the concept of the resurrection of Christ. Other creative resources help parents teach biblical truths to their children.
FamilyLife's broadcasting outlets have more than 9.1 million listeners a week. The radio shows include the 30-minute "FamilyLife Today," "FamilyLife This Week" and "Real FamilyLife," a 90-second segment hosted by FamilyLife president Dennis Rainey.
Hope for Orphans is a FamilyLife outreach designed to encourage and enable churches to establish ministries to orphans. Their vision is to see 1,000 churches do this by the year 2010.
The bottom line for everything FamilyLife does is to bring people to Jesus Christ, a goal that is true to the purpose of Campus Crusade for Christ and the late Dr. Bill Bright, who founded the ministry in 1951.
"What's the purpose of helping people with their marriage if they don't know the Creator of marriage and family?" Walchshauser asked. "That is the key part to everything that we do."
Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. For more information on FamilyLife, call 1-800-358-6329 or e-mail newstaff@familylife.com.
