Connecting at Conference

by Brockwell Bone, Director of Development

The American Association of Christian Counselors hold their World Conference every two years at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. This conference attracts pastors and Christian counselors from across the country, so you can understand the importance of our attendance in September. The L.I.F.E. Ministries booth was located in a prime location that received heavy traffic – and great interest.

The first year that L.I.F.E. attended this event, many people scanned our booth from a distance, quickly diverted their eyes, and walked by very fast. We were the only booth that addressed the issue at the time. Sexual addiction was still an unspoken problem in churches eight years ago. Now, we are one of the most heavily attended booths in the exhibit hall.

This year, rather than a skeleton staff, we had staff and volunteers travel from Florida, Wisconsin, and California to help out at the booth. And the crew was busy! Counselor and pastors would stop and ask questions about the materials, the ministry, and thanked us for the work that L.I.F.E. is doing. In addition, several of our already existing groups came by to share about the fruitful work of their L.I.F.E. support groups.

While there, Bob Hale and I traveled the eight rows of booths and connected with other ministries and organizations that could benefit from our resources. These organizations included residential treatment programs for sexual addiction, ministries for helping pastors with a range of difficulties, and troubled teen programs. We are following up with these contacts to help them integrate L.I.F.E.’s time-tested resources into their existing programs.

Our attendance at AACC’s World Conference creates a strain on the budget every two years as we do not recoup our costs at the conference. But the exposure and awareness pay off in the long run. If you agree that AACC’s World Conference was effective, and you are led to, please consider making a one-time donation to accelerate the recovery of L.I.F.E.’s expenses at www.freedomeveryday.org/aacc or by calling (866) 408-LIFE.