Pastoral Care

I recently attended the 7th annual Smart Marriage conference in Reno, Nevada. The conference brought together a wide variety of people from different occupations, faith groups, and philosophies. Familiar names appeared on the program, such as Gary Smalley, Les and Leslie Parrott, John Gray (Men are From Mars; Women are From Venus), Howard Markman, Scott Stanley, and Wade Horn (Assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services agency, for children and families). There was a estimated 2000 people who gathered in Reno for the conference, attending workshops and seminars about marriage education and enrichment, stepfamilies, marriage legislation, research, marriage mentoring, etc. Of course, I did not agree with everything I heard at this conference, On the other hand, I was struck with two obvious components.

First of all, it was exciting to see so many people who are in support of strengthening marriages in our nation. Much of this conference was designed to teach people how to teach others basic marriage skills. The fact that this conference has grown to this size in 7 years is testimony to the fact that there are many people who see the value of marriage and family. The impetus for this conference was the concern of so many about the current divorce rate in our nation and the subsequent harm that children of divorced parents experience. The message is that we now know what makes for a good marriage and people can actually learn these skills.

The second observation is that this conference drew significantly from the Christian community. In some workshops, I heard as much Christian talk as I have at other Christian gatherings. Christians were well represented on the platform and among those who presented workshops. In other words, many Christians saw an opportunity in this conference to share their testimony in a setting that does not happen very often. These Christians have done their homework and are recognized as qualified experts to share their material. It was exciting to see. To learn more about the conference, visit: www.smartmarriages.com.

Evan Horner
Pastoral Care Ministries