Our church is using Love and Respect Seminars to facilitate a new ministry that provides help to husbands and wives for improving their marriage relationship. To prepare for launching the seminar, we hosted a trial run with several couples who represented a cross-section of our church. We met in homes to facilitate interaction and to watch the Love and Respect Seminar DVD by Emerson and Sarah Eggerichs.
For our next series of sessions, we are meeting in two homes with ten couples. Bill and Jenny Johnson, GARBC chaplain and wife, are one of the host couples. Bill recently returned from Iraq and has made the seminar available to soldiers from his battalion.
We present the seminar in five segments, one segment per each consecutive Friday evening (date night), from 6:30 p.m. until the participants are ready to leave. After watching the ninety-minute video, we enjoy refreshments and discuss the video’s content. We ask couples to attend without their children, making exceptions for nursing infants. For the final seminar we meet at a local hotel for dinner and viewing of the DVD, which includes a strong gospel presentation. We ask each couple to consider spending the night at the hotel if their budget allows, as this is a nice way to cap the whole seminar. We hope to increasingly reach into our community with marriage helps that include a clear presentation of the gospel.
Stan and Jan Lightfoot, Pastor and wife
Rustic Hills Baptist Church
Colorado Springs, Colorado
