First Presbyterian Church Fort Dodge

At the tail end of June, Sara and I drove to a marriage conference in Dallas. The conference was led by a Christian marriage and family therapist named Dr. Corey Allan. I heard about this conference from listening to his weekly podcast, entitled Sexy Marriage Radio.

Don’t let that title scare you off! His work focuses on providing real-life solutions and teaching about day-to-day marriage and family challenges. He blends his clinical background with his Christian worldview and the content is super helpful for people in any stage of married life.

The conference was incredible. At times it brought Sara and me outside of our comfort zones as the topics of each seminar got personal or invited us to have conversations we normally don’t create enough space to have. Perhaps most significant for us, the conference provided a venue for us to intentionally develop and deepen our marriage.

Our family lives have possibly the greatest impact on life, don’t they? Nothing shapes us more than our relationships with our spouse, our parents, or our children. We can be successful at work or with friends, but if our family life is struggling, everything else feels out of place.

And how much time do we spend investing in our family relationships? There are so many other elements of life that require our attention before we focus on our families or marriages. One of the most important aspects of life often gets the least amount of intentional focus. How often does our marriage feel like it’s on autopilot?

Coming home from this conference, I’ve decided to work on creating some resources for families in our church. My hope is that within the 12-18 months, we can provide a weekend marriage retreat for people within our church. In the meantime, check the resources side of our weekly sermon insert. On that page, Sara and I list resources like books, websites, and podcasts that not only relate to the topics covered in the sermon, but we also provide links to a variety of tools for daily Christian living.

Also, if you would be interested in participating in events for marriage enrichment, please let me know. I’d love to have a team of people helping to envision exciting ideas for future events and also have a better understanding of what would be the most beneficial to families.

Blessings,

Austin D. Hill