Join us to evaluate church partnerships, pray together, and cultivate individualized next steps. Attending earlier workshop by same title is recommended but not necessary.
(Toni Steere & Jenny Sheets, Legacy685)
Building Church Orphan Ministries
Building a Prevention, Intervention, and Restoration Culture in Your Church’s Ministry
You recognize a variety of issues in your community that are impacting child and family welfare. While foster care is a significant point of engagement, there are other upstream factors contributing to the vulnerability and instability of families, and downstream results that are in need of restoration and renewal. Join us for a conversation about how to strategically engage the continuum of issues – from prevention, intervention, and restoration. You’ll walk away with fresh ideas and a keener sense of clarity for how you can begin to build this culture in your church.
(Gabriel Forsyth, Mosaic Church)
Building Trauma-Informed and Resilience-Focused Kids and Student Ministry Teams
When foster and adoptive parents bring children into their families, they also bring them into their churches. Is your team prepared to provide safe, welcoming, and fun environments for all kids – regardless of their backgrounds and unique needs? Gain practical and proven ideas to create healthy environments where volunteers are empowered, kids can heal, and families feel welcome.
(Kim Botto, Found Village)
Church and State Partnerships in Foster Care: A More Than Enough Collaborative Workshop
Let’s be honest – whether you are a social worker, or a member of the faith community, you have at least some reservations about working with “the other side.” Learn from those who have seen great results from these vital partnerships and have lived to tell about it. Hear seasoned veterans talk about initial reservations, successes, and missteps – all of which will help you gain confidence as you move ahead for the sake of the kids.
CEU’s Available: 1 (Facilitated by: Shelly Radic, Project 1.27 Joined by: Lauri Currier, The CALL; Mischa Martin, Arkansas Department of Human Services; Chris Combs, Coalition of Care; & Margie Weaver, Hamilton County Job and Family Services)
Collaborating with Success (Coaching Table)
The needs of vulnerable kids and families are complex and we need a collaborative response to effectively serve foster youth and families in crisis. At this coaching table, we’ll touch on the collective impact model, forming regional partnerships, and collaboration between faith-based and secular organizations.
No sign-ups are required for the coaching tables. Limited seating will be first-come, first-served. Stay the hour or drop in throughout for questions, guidance, and discussion!
(Tiffany Loeffler, The Alliance: Defending the Cause of Kids & Families)
Discipleship and Foster Care
Even though foster care is not mentioned directly in the Bible, it is one of the greatest opportunities for churches in disciple-making. Come learn how a Biblical effort in your church can produce those who depend more on Jesus while also seeing transformation in communities. For child welfare practitioners, come learn how your efforts can partner with the church in a mutually benefiting relationship.
(Chris Campbell, 111 Project)
Effectively Engaging Churches: Four Principles to Help Your Organization’s Church Engagement Strategy Thrive
The impact of your ministry is largely dependent upon your capacity to form strategic partnerships with churches. You believe the Church is the answer to the problem your organization is trying to solve, but you’re struggling to get the ear of a busy pastor, navigate through the complicated structures of various church ministry departments, or are just having a hard time helping churches see how they can truly make an impact through the work you are doing. We get it. Of course, there are more than four ways to approach churches – and certainly more than four principles to consider. But based on our work with organizations all around the country, we believe if you at least start with these four you’ll see a shift – not only in how churches are responding to your organization but perhaps more importantly, how your organization is approaching them in the first place. As a result, doors will open, conversations will happen, partnerships will form, trust will build, and impact will be multiplied over time.
(Jason Johnson, CAFO and Tiffany Loeffler, The Alliance: Defending the Cause of Kids & Families)
Finding Families for Children: A More Than Enough Big Idea Workshop
There are more than enough families for the children in your community who need them. It’s just that they haven’t been found . . . yet. Come, see, and steal (uh, borrow) some of the best ideas in the country for finding foster, kinship, and adoptive families in your community. You’ll come away with practical steps learned from several leaders who are getting results in their own communities in innovative and surprising ways.
CEU’s Available: 1 (Facilitated by: Jason Weber, CAFO Joined by: Ian Anand Forber-Pratt, Children’s Emergency Relief International – CERI; Darren Washausen, Orphan Care Alliance; Sharen Ford, Focus on the Family; & Renaut van der Riet, Mosaic Church)
Five Things to Remember when Leading your Church towards Racial Reconciliation
When you sign up for orphan care, you might not realize it – but you are also signing up for racial reconciliation. Navigating that in today’s church culture can feel intimidating and overwhelming. Join Bishop Aaron Blake and Eric Porter as they discuss how churches can, and are, succeeding in becoming multiracial.
(Eric Porter, Backyard Orphans & Bishop Aaron Blake, Harvest Family Life Ministries)
Global Engagement: How Our Church Can Help, Not Hurt
The question is not should your church be engaged in global missions. The question is rather, “Where is your church excelling and where can you afford to make some shifts in your current approach to be more effective long term?” We will explore together: essential practices, developing an OVC care team, onboarding potential partners, assisting partners in improving quality of care, short-term missions, and healthy sponsorship practices and strategic partnerships. Come and receive a wide reproducible framework that can be contextualized to meet your church’s individual needs.
(Toni Steere & Jenny Sheets, Legacy685)
Going Digital (Coaching Table)
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many of us to do ministry in ways we had never expected (Zoom, Facebook Live, etc.). Now that we are back in person, how can we use some of these technologies to make our ministries reach further and deeper than ever before?
No sign-ups are required for the coaching tables. Limited seating will be first-come, first-served. Stay the hour or drop in throughout for questions, guidance, and discussion!
(Blaine Hamilton, Southeast Christian Church)
Going Upstream: Building Collaborative Efforts that Solve Problems Before They Happen
Join us if you are a church or nonprofit leader interested in moving your ministry initiative from reactive activity to sustained system-wide impact in your work of caring for vulnerable children and families. The discussion will focus on applying concepts, addressing barriers, and sharing ideas presented in the book Upstream by Dan Heath.
(Amber Knowles, Fostering Family)
Growing the Foster Care Ministry in Your Church: A More Than Enough Workshop
You want your church to have a thriving and effective foster care ministry, but it all seems a little overwhelming. You could use a little clarity about the next steps you should take. Whether you are just starting out, or have been at it for years, this workshop is created to give you that clarity. We’ll unpack six key pillars of what an “actively engaged church” in foster care looks like. You’ll walk away more connected with other leaders like you, more inspired to do the work God has called you to do, and more confident in what the next best steps are for your church’s foster care ministry.
(Facilitated by: Jason Weber & Jason Johnson, CAFO Joined by: Gabriel Forsyth, Mosaic Church; Carly Souza, Hope Church; Sarah Norris, True Vine Ministries; Bishop Aaron Blake, Harvest Family Life Ministries; Kondo Simfukwe, Mission Point Community Church; and Lesli Reece, Fostering Together)
How Can I Leverage Orphan & Stand Sunday to Grow My Ministry? (Coaching Table)
Have you thought about bringing Orphan Sunday or Stand Sunday to your church this year, but don’t know where to start? Our team leaders will give you practical steps and some of our tried and true ideas to push past the challenges and make a big impact this November for vulnerable children!
No sign-ups are required for the coaching tables. Limited seating will be first-come, first-served. Stay the hour or drop in throughout for questions, guidance, and discussion!
(Kody Krady & Ashley Phelan, CAFO)
How to Engage and Empower Struggling Families to Create Sustainable Change
If your church closed, would the community around you care or notice? We are living in a time where multiple factors are having an adverse impact on the financial, spiritual, emotional, and mental stability within the family unit. As a result, the church and supporting community organizations are seeing an overwhelming influx of families in need reaching out for assistance. The crisis of these families in need has exposed a gap in the usual systems of care. This often leaves families without the appropriate support system to effect lasting change and sustainable stability for their families. This one-hour conversation will focus on strategies to engage families through cultivating relationships centered in stabilizing and empowering families and individuals in need.
(Jeff & Frances Chaisson, Salty Church)
How to Start an Adoption/Foster Care Ministry in Your Church
This guided discussion is for anyone who wants to work on getting an adoption and foster care ministry started at your church. Regardless of church size or budget, this workshop is for you. Bring your questions! You will leave with steps to take to get something started in your very own church and community.
(Kasi Pruitt, Lakepointe Church)
How Your Church can Help Families Thrive After They Reunify
Over half of children in foster care eventually go home, but many of them end up re-entering care at some point. This type of “bouncing” wreaks havoc on kids and families. You’re probably asking, “What can be done about it? How can our church help prevent that from happening?” In this workshop, we’ll explore what factors increase the recidivism rate of children re-entering foster care and provide practical insights into how the Church can play a primary role in providing care and support for families after they have reunified.
(Christie Mac Segars & Chris Johnson, Lifeline Children’s Services)
Keeping Families Together: A More Than Enough Big Idea Workshop
If anyone should be GREAT at helping struggling families find restoration and reconciliation, it ought to be followers of Jesus. You believe this with all your heart – but could use a little help making it happen in your community. Come and learn from several leaders some of the best ideas going in the field of family preservation and reunification.
CEU’s Available: 1 (Facilitated by: Jason Weber, CAFO Joined by: Alejandra Castro, Back2Back; Chris Johnson, Lifeline Children’s Services; Amber Knowles, Fostering Family; Drake Bassett, Palmer Home for Children; and Ryan Mobley, Safe Families for Children)
Lift Them Up to Serve: Leading Volunteers Through a Trauma Focused Lens to Resilience
In this interactive workshop, we will assemble strategies for equipping volunteers to engage children and teens with a trauma-informed perspective. Join us!
(David and Jayne Schooler, Community Impact Center)
More Than Enough Together: A Pre-Summit Intensive for Local Foster Care Collaborators (Pre-Summit Intensive)
We will bring together some of the best minds in the country to focus on the five basic building blocks of local foster care collaboration: Communication, Fundraising, Church Engagement, Data and Technology, and Local Network Health. (Pre-registration required)
Date: Wednesday, September 15, 8:30am – 2:30pm
CEU’s Available: 5
Orphan Care as Part of a Church Discipleship Strategy
Mobilizing Christians into caring for orphans is first and foremost a discipleship issue. In the modern evangelical church, the mandate to care for orphans has been woefully under-communicated. Come consider together practical strategies for integrating care for orphans and vulnerable people into the discipleship strategy of the local church. We will discuss the critical issues in developing a discipleship strategy that addresses orphan care, as well as ways to implement it into personal, small group, and corporate discipleship.
(Rick Morton, Lifeline Children Services)
Re-emerging: A Hybrid Approach to Events & Resources
As organization or ministry leaders, we’ve likely all become experts at hosting online meetings, events, and support groups over the past year. Now that the world is re-opening to in-person opportunities, we’re faced with decisions of when and how to reintroduce certain events and programs. Join in as we discuss the benefits of a hybrid approach to services that will expand your reach and meet families right where they’re at.
(Tiffany Loeffler, The Alliance: Defending the Cause of Kids & Families)
Recruiting, Retaining, and Engaging Volunteers in Your Church’s Ministry
Join us for a discussion on the ins and outs of finding, on-boarding, managing, and leading volunteers in your ministry. We’ll problem-solve some of the constraints you’re navigating through now, and discuss principles like communicating clear expectations, providing on-ramping tools of training and ongoing support, building in accountability and growth measures, and celebrating successes along the way.
(Lisa Crider & Nicole Tabor, Fostering Together, North Point Ministries, Inc. )
ReFraming the Struggle: Finding Strength When Things Are Hard
Foster and adoptive parents face a unique set of challenges and circumstances that are most meaningfully understood and experienced through the lens of God’s truth. This session will help you “reframe” some thinking through those experiences along your journey in a helpful and sustaining way. We’ll explore how to handle our own perceived weaknesses, what to do when you feel like quitting, and how to more deeply understand the spiritual nature of the work we are doing. If you’ve ever found yourself alone with your own thoughts, fears, hopes, concerns, and anxieties along this journey of fostering and adopting, then this workshop is for you. You’ll be encouraged, inspired, and reinvigorated to take your next best steps forward.
(Jason Johnson, CAFO)
Reframing the Struggle: Finding Strength When Things Are Hard
Foster and adoptive parents face a unique set of challenges and circumstances that are most meaningfully understood and experienced through the lens of God’s truth. This session will help you “reframe” some thinking through those experiences along your journey in a helpful and sustaining way. We’ll explore how to handle our own perceived weaknesses, what to do when we feel like quitting, and how to more deeply understand the spiritual nature of the work we are doing. If you’ve ever found yourself alone with your own thoughts, fears, hopes, concerns, and anxieties along this journey of fostering and adopting, then this workshop is for you. You’ll be encouraged, inspired, and reinvigorated to take your next best steps forward.
CEU’s Available: 1 (Jason Johnson, CAFO)
Relational Advocacy: How to Effectively Use Our Collective Voices For The Children
How can we most effectively advocate for those involved in the child welfare system? Issues that these children and families experience often don’t receive the same attention publicly that other societal ills do. We have an opportunity and responsibility to change that. Join us for this creative discussion on specific ways to apply a paradigm called Relational Advocacy, focusing on personal connection within our closest relationships. It doesn’t require heading to Capitol Hill, but can instead become a transformational part of our daily lives. Leave with practical ways to effectively apply it for the children you serve!
(Paul Martin, For The Children (formerly Royal Family Kids))
Supporting Families: A More Than Enough Big Idea Workshop
If your community is like most, you are losing approximately 50% of the foster families you recruit within the first year. However, there are communities with a MUCH better retention rate for one simple reason: they are supporting their families incredibly well. If you want to know what is working and how to wrap around foster, kinship, adoptive, and biological families, this workshop is your next best step.
CEU’s Available: 1 (Facilitated by: Jason Johnson, CAFO Joined by: Nicole Taylor, Congregations for Kids (CFK); Pam Parish, Connections Homes; Johnna Stein, Promise686; & Lesli Reece, Fostering Together)
The More Than Enough Better Together Deep Dive
Join this interactive gathering of foster care leaders and advocates to explore, plan, problem-solve, and dream…together. Sit with the presenters you’ve heard through the week to talk through questions and discuss ways to make their ideas on Finding Families, Keeping Families Together, and Supporting Families fit in your communities.
(Facilitated by Jason Weber, CAFO & More Than Enough Leaders)
The Secret Sauce of Recruitment – Moving Stories, Tender Hearts, & Community Collaboration
There’s a foster crisis in America and most Christians don’t know how to help – or worse, don’t even know about it. How can ministries strengthen and communicate their recruitment efforts effectively and with excellence? Learn how to practically apply these proven tools to your efforts: moving stories, tender hearts, and community collaboration. Experience a live stage presentation of the “No More Orphans Experience” as an example of putting these tools to action.
(Jaime & Tami Kent, The No More Foundation)
Thriving in Adoption and Foster Care
Adoption and foster care are hard spaces. They come with both beauty and brutality. How do we thrive as Believers, and as local churches, stepping into these spaces? In this workshop, we will discuss what it looks like to practice spiritual disciplines, soul care, and regular rhythms of community, work, and rest that will enable us to thrive as we follow Jesus into the spaces of adoption and foster care.
CEUs Available: 1 (Renaut van der Riet, Mosaic Church)
What’s Next for our Church’s Ministry?
Join in on a discussion of strategies and principles to help you identify the next steps to take in your foster care, adoption, or global orphan care ministry.
(Steve Gillis, Patch our Planet)
When Short-Term Trips Aren’t Possible: Alternative Engagement Opportunities
For many organizations serving vulnerable children and families, short-term missions can serve as a means to connect your partners to what God is doing through your program. How do you maintain this connection when short-term mission trips aren’t possible or wise? What do you do to build relationships with partners when your program is not yet ready to receive STM teams in light of the global pandemic? This session is an interactive discussion with programs asking these questions and developing innovative solutions. Bring your queries and your experiences for the opportunity to learn together.
(Facilitated by: Laura Nzirimu, CAFO Joined by: Rebeka Corgan, One More Child; Mike Bowles, Back2Back; & Margaret Hoffer, Selamta Family Project)