Richard Ross at D62012

Richard Ross

The D6 movement begins with a believer standing alone in an inner circle. The movement invites that believer to experience an awakening to much more of who Christ is. Such an awakening to the majesty of the Son leads to deep adoration, a desire to abide in Christ, and living to display His glory. In the next circle out, the believer joins the Spirit in awakening a spouse to the glory of God in the face of Christ. With hearts intertwined, they begin abiding in Christ in entirely new ways—because of their awakening. In the next circle out, the couple joins the Spirit in awakening their children to the glory of Christ. They guide the entire family to abide in Christ—together and individually—because of this awakening. In the next circle out, the family goes where Christ already is—locally and globally—and they do what He is doing. They invite his Spirit to live through them to bring Christ’s kingdom on earth for the glory of God. 

Four concentric circles

Me – My Spouse - My Family - God’s Kingdom

1.Me

      ·      The king who stands above all things invites you to abide in Him through all things

      ·      If you think walking with God is good, wait till you experience abiding in Him

      ·      He wants us to have absolute intimacy with him.

2.  My Spouse

     ·    In the Bible we consistently see the parallel of the relationship to the church with that of a marital relationship. It’s almost as if God is saying, “I want to be one with you in a way that transcends the physical relationship of a marriage”.

    ·      Spouses sharing an awakening with one another will build a strong relationship

    ·      Sitting side by side with your spouse in prayer and deciding that my branch will be intertwined with my spouse and we will tell the king he is wonderful together

3. My Family

      ·      Faith at home practices led by spiritually lethargic parents lead to spiritually lethargic children

      ·      The transparency of mom and dad. Kids seeing that mom and dad are honoring to Jesus is as valuable as in home spiritual practices.

      ·      Leading your children to adore Jesus

4. God’s Kingdom

      ·      Actions and behavior are important but the spiritual presence is precedent.

      ·      Families go where Christ already is –and does what He is doing locally and globally

      ·      Families willing to do dramatic things for his greatness, 

Pete Wilson at D6 2012

Pete Wilson

Conference Focus - What’s the connection between Abiding in Christ and family ministry or equipping parents?

We can have the best strategy on the planet, but if we as leaders are not Abiding in the True Vine, are we producing authentic fruit? If the parents we serve are not Abiding in Christ, what will the next generation of the church look like?  Join Pastor Pete Wilson as he walks us through John 15:4-5 and lays a strong foundation for the family ministry conversation. 

"Evidently Pete Wilson’s kids are imperfect too" is what was tweeted just after the opening.  He opened with a story of his son that eventually led to him peeing in the pool. Hilarious, and transparent!

"When in the Bible did God give anyone an easy task?" 

In this room, we have thousands of people with a calling with massive implications. The temptation is to focus on wrong things. What matters most is not what accomplish, what matters most is who you become. We have been called to abide in Him.

Matthew 16  “What should profit a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul”

 Pete shared on of his favorite stories, which is the story of Joshua.   

Passing faith from generation to generation.

Me size solution vs God size obedience

Exodus 33

Moses was addicted to doing for God than being with God

Joshua stayed in the tent with God… he abided

Whether you are a leader, a pastor, or a lay person you must find quiet time.

During the quiet time:

Don’t run to your to do list

Don’t run to the next amazing idea you have

We all need to learn to sit in silence and listen to God speak; initially this will be awkward uncomfortable silence

A few questions to reflect on.

1. Where does my sense of security come from?

2. Do I spend more time thinking about God or making my ministry better?

3. What do I sacrifice to make my ministry better?

4. After worship am I thankful that God is God, or more concerned with how many bodies were in the room?

As a final thought, Pete read a passage from Matthew 11 and I loved his closing thought. “Its almost as if He knew there would be a bunch of us chasing after something other than Him” We need to remember to abide in Him. The same God of the universe that gave you this calling is going to equip you to fulfill it.

Doug Fields at D6 2012

Doug Fields (DougFields.com) has been a pastor to teenagers and ministry leader for over 30 years, serving at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA for the last 20 years. Currently Doug is the Executive Director of HomeWord’s Center for Youth & Family at Azusa Pacific University, he’s on the leadership team of Youth Specialties, and he’s the volunteer youth pastor at a start-up church in Southern CA.

"The three sunlamps that burned my vision". Doug shared a story of looking into a sunlamp as a kid and having his vision compromised.



1. The importance of numbers

• the idea that bigger is better
• realizing that week to week you must "feed the beast"
• numbers feeds our insecurity
• It's so easy to speak in statistics

2. The pace of life

• ministry becomes less of a marathon and more of a sprint
• created a longing for isolation

3. The constant comparison 

• a pitfall of ministry
• comparison of ministry practices, congregation sizes etc.
• comparing everything you know about yourself to everything you don't know about another

How do we turn off the light and refocus the vision, and clearly live. 

 John 11 "Unwrap him and let him live" 

Three ways to turn off the sunlamps...

1. Bigger isn't better, better is better.

• what if you went on a numbers detox? Maybe find another way to gage effectiveness. 

2. Hurry is the enemy of depth

• realizing this about the pace of life. 
• finding depth in people, self and Jesus
• you can't rush relationships, discipleship or love

2. Comparison quenches peace

• realizing that God made a masterpiece
• stop comparing and start abiding
• quit being impressed by the business of others
• realize everything and everyone looks better from a distance

If you have been blinded by the ministry machine, please take action. You must find a way to turn off the blinding sunlamp to regain your vision. 

Are you excited about the future and condition of your soul?

Mark McPeak at D6 2012

Mark McPeak 

Mark is Vice President of Brentwood Communications near Nashville, Tennessee. His career has been providential blend of ministry and the marketplace. He has more than 15 years of marketplace experience, many of those as a senior leader. Mark’s expertise is marketing, market research, and business strategy consulting. Mark spent nearly 7 years with Michigan-based RDA Group, a top market research and consulting firm where he worked with Fortune 50 clients. He worked for Thomas Nelson Publishers and has served as an independent consultant and strategist to many major firms.

Grace in the Empty Spaces grew out of Mark’s passion for the church. Believing the gospel is meant to transform individuals so they genuinely reflect Christ and draw others to Him – Mark first wrote a simple one-another study for his church more than 15 years ago.

Mark now lives in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee with his wife of 29 years, Sandra, and their youngest son Matthew, a senior in high school. They have two other adult children, Amy and Andrew. Mark and Sandra lead a youth life group at the Donelson Fellowship where they have attended since 1982.

Below are notes from Mark's talk at D6 Conference 2012.

As people can change, it can create empty spaces in their marriage. Pain and bitterness (among other things) can get into the empty spaces. 

How about you?

If you think of a scale and one side is really good, and the other is not good. Where would you find your marriage? 

Keep in mind, the chldren's home, often resembles the parent's home.

Mark was asked, do you want to be happily married? Or do you want to be right? Which lead to a question that led to another question. "What do you want, what do you really want?"

• Mark's conclusion. He wanted her to be crazy about him on her own.
• One hour of someone giving you what they wan to give you is worth more than months of getting it through manipulation. 

When you are angry you may be

• The dramatic one
• the one who detaches
• the one who blows up verbally
• the emotional one
• the arguer 
• the manipulator

Knowing how you resound to anger, and dealing with it in a Godly way is important.  The old statement of "that's just how I am is not relevant".  Hardwiring is no excuse for not being transformed by the grace of God.  

Ephesians 5 

Our marriages should be a picture of the unconditional love that Christ has for His church

2 Corinthians 11:2-3

We have an enemy who's desire it is to destroy us starting with our relationships. 

1 Colossians 3:1-3 God cares a lot about what we want. God desires to change us from the inside out, which changes the desires of our heart. 

What Mark learned:

• Sometimes it is possible not to know what we really want
• When we don't know want, all our efforts may be for nothing. 
• Some things are worth wanting - worth humbling yourself to be in a position to receive them
• If you want your wife to be crazy about you, you have to be willing to be the man she is crazy about. 

When we fill the empty spaces of our marriages with the things that come from God's grace, we will be able to build a marriage as described by God's word.

Fred Luter at D6 2012

Fred Luter - Discipling the Non-Traditional Family

Senior Pastor Fred Luter Jr. began his career as – what he fondly refers to – a street preacher. Before he was called to the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church (New Orleans, LA) in 1986, Luter spent his time preaching on different street corners in the “Lower Nine” area where he grew up. Having received his call to the ministry three years earlier, the members of FABC elected him pastor even though he had no pastoral experience. “I love preaching and teaching. It’s a passion and God has given me a gift.”

Our kids can never be what they've never seen.

Deuteronomy 6

As a man who came from a strong family history of divorce, Fred asked God to please help him break the cycle of divorce. Thirty two years later he has seen that happen. Fred says after 32 years they are "stuck like chuck"! After becoming a pastor he passion is ministry to men, to help them lead there families. Now if you come to any of his services, 47 - 48% of the congregation are men. 

Challenging men with Bible study, and taking the role of the Word of God in their life and in their home. 

If you save the man, the man will save his family.

If families, lives and homes are going to change, these three things must be in place. 

1. The word of God must be evident in your heart Deut. 6:5-6

• the heart affects the whole body 
• Is it obvious to your spouse and children that the word of God is in your heart?
• Can someone see an improvement in your heart because of the Word of God?

2. The word of God must be evident in your home

• How many of us take the time to teach our kids the importance of the Word of God in their lives?
• Talking about the word of God should be as natural as any other conversation in your house
• Your children should hear about God for the first time in your home

3. The word of God must be evident in our habits

• We cannot isolate our children! But we can insulate them with the word of God
• Your actions and habits speak volumes much louder to your children than your words.

Sean McDowell at D6 2012

Sean McDowell

One of the top Apologists in the United States...with some mad ping pong skills

Conference Focus - Is Pornography really a big problem with our kids and teens?

Pornography is more accessible, accepted, and aggressive than ever before. It is a HUGE problem for young people, including Christian teens. Studies show that viewing porn affects how we view ourselves, other people, and God. It even physically changes the structure of the brain and hurts our ability to develop loving, lasting relationships. This session will provide insight, hope, and direction for how to avoid the snare of pornography and to help our kids and teens discern and navigate in our complicated culture.

Pornography teaches us scripts about sexuality, scripts are the dramaturgical approach to interaction, the role we perform in relation to a particular audience..

In GodQuest, authors Sean McDowell and Stan Jantz present six 'signposts' that will guide you along your spiritual journey. The signposts include truths and compelling evidence on the topics of God, creation, the Bible, the identity of Jesus, the problem of suffering, and the path to heaven. GodQuest will help you explore the truth of Christianity in a way that is intriguing, relevant, and easy to understand.








The script of porn:

1. Sex is best experienced outside of a loving relationship
2. All women want sex from men
3. Women like all acts men perform or demand
4. Any woman who does not at first realize this can be  persuaded with a little force

The bonding mechanism God has place in our bodies becomes disabled by pornography.

Three myths heard of pornography

1. "It doesn't affect me"

• Pornography teaches us scripts about sexuality, scripts are the dramaturgical approach to interaction, the role we perform in relation to a particular audience..

2. "I'll quit later"

• Many counselors say that sexual addiction is the hardest addiction to overcome. An addiction is something that fills a void of what a relationship should fill.

3. "I'm not hurting anyone"

• the links to sexual trafficking and pornography are devastating 

If you want to help parents fight this battle, equip parents and equip them early. 

Sean McDowell's powerpoint presentation of his talk at D6 is available at seanmcdowell.org

Opportunities to love.

Decided to read on my last flight, got all cozy with my book and green tea and sure enough... Lady with a 1 year old sits next to me. God thought the reading was silly evidently. Her FIRST time on a plane, she was terrified and I quickly learned that today was her 17th birthday. I spent the next 1.5 hours playing with baby, letting her know people would survive even if he made noise and he ended up asleep in my lap. She needed a friendly face.. Today was her birthday and her family had forgotten piled with nasty looks from people in the plane as she looked for a seat. She told me I was the only one who didn't look mean. :( thank you Jesus for opportunities to love...

Wall of prayer

I am so excited to be heading to Dallas in a few days for the D6 Conference! I have never been to this conference, so have no idea what to expect. As with any training or ministry endeavor, there are things that are a must; registrants of course are key, logistics, publicity, and of course the message being delivered.

For the past two years I have been growing and developing a network of area leaders that simply want to share with one another, pray for one another, and have fellowship as we work towards a common goal. That has also resulted in an area ministry training that I am loving to watch mature and multiply. This year, before the training I decided to have a team build a prayer wall, basically taking all the elements listed above and pray over them until the event concluded, hence the wall of prayer around the event. I believe in prayer, and have watched this make something so simple become life changing.

I began thinking of ways I could prepare for D6 as a part of the social media team. Naturally praying about what to ask during interviews and my personal role there. As I did this I thought there might be some in the network who would love to join in. 

I am sure there are people praying for D6, but here is what a few of my networking friends have stepped up to do. And may I say this list makes my heart happy to see support across the ministry world. 

topics of prayer & those praying for them

All travel involved 

Pastor Peter Stow and team @ Father's House Vacaville, CA

Logistics of event 

Heidi Hensley (me!) and team @ Quail Lakes Baptist Stockton, CA

Teaching & Sessions 

 Pastor Joey Macias and team @ Christian Worship Center Manteca, CA

Networking & Community 

Pamela Carey and team @ Progressive Community Church Stockton, CA

Exhibitors 

Ted Atkins and team @ Crossroads Church Manteca, CA

 Publicity

Carol Ann Upton and team @ Discovery Free Will Baptist Stockton, CA

Social Media
Chris Jones and team @ The Element Huntsville, Alabama

Can't wait to see everyone there! Feel free to have your teams join in with anything listed above. I will be starting the blog and tweets on Wednesday morning, so make sure to follow along @heidimhensley.  

D6 2012

I am looking forward to attending this year's D6 conference. I have attended several Children's Ministry Conferences, but this is one of my first Family Ministry conference adventures.

I will be participating as part of the blogging and social media team with a few of my twitter pals, and a few more I look forward to meeting. During the sessions I will be:

•  live tweeting/updates, on twitter and cmconnect. be sure to follow along with me at @heidimhensley for twitter and use #d62012 to reply and ask questions. For cmconnect, you can connect with my profile here
• writing a blog entry for each main session, as well as a summary of each day with highlights
• posting some interviews of both speakers and attendees
• and for my kids, a random fact of the day! This could be my favorite part

I would love your help with the interviews! I plan to interview both attendees and speakers, just to mix it up a bit. With this in mind, I am wondering what you would ask. Please send me questions you might have as you see the feed come through. 

As a Children & Family Ministry Director, I am thrilled at the chance to dive into this conference and can't wait to share what God shows me. 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, and getting to know a few more members of the kidmin and fammin family.