You can sign up all of your teachers by emailing me their email addresses: josh@joshhunt.com

Prominent Minister And Wife Touch Lives With Marriage and Family Ministry

Helping to curb the divorce rate in America and strengthen the family is the goal of Marriage and Family Matters. Through hands on, interactive marriage/family conferences, a strong web presence, materials to strengthen marriages, and other proven methods, MFM seeks to help others move beyond what has become the norm for today’s society. While the family goes further from the values that shaped our nation, J.B. Collingsworth, and his wife Shugie are helping families with words of challenge and encouragement. The Collingsworths have a planned strategy and keen insight for how churches can help reduce the divorce rate starting at the grass roots level. “Divorce and family break up is rampant. The church functions because of the family unit, and we must have a plan that truly works”, Collingsworth said. He is former Assistant Pastor at the First Baptist Church/Orlando, who with his wife, launched this new marriage and family ministry after serving for thirteen at the mega church--First Baptist of Orlando.

Dr. Walt Larimore, Vice President of Focus on the Family spoke at the launching of MARRIAGE & FAMILY MATTERS in Orlando, Florida in 2002. Dr. James Dobson sent greetings to the Collingsworths, and asked Walt to convey this message: “JB AND SHUGIE---WELCOME TO THE FIGHT FOR THE FAMILY !”.

Collingsworth and his wife, Shugie, moved to the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex after launching MARRIAGE AND FAMILY MATTERS. This ministry is an endeavor aimed at helping individuals, churches, and secular organizations fight the escalating divorce rate and decline of the family unit by providing Biblical answers for issues affecting modern couples. They not only go in to speak, they meet with the staff and their spouses and challenge them to have strong marriages, and meet with local pastors to share the approach with them and show them how it can be done.

The Collingsworths have become one of the most influential duos in the arena of couples ministry and are widely recognized for the development of one of the finest and most comprehensive preparation for marriage classes available. As in-demand leaders of marriage and family conferences throughout the United States they have ministered to several thousand couples, and have amassed an extensive network of resources. From pre-marriage training to marriages in crisis, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY MATTERS (MFM) will make resources – in all media formats available to those in the business of helping couples build and maintain stronger marriages.

Working alongside churches of all denominations, Collingsworth contends that many churches lack proper tools and resources to adequately prepare couples for marriage, and are not equipped to meet couples at their point of need when in crisis mode---two of the most important issues in building and maintaining a strong marriage. “Counseling helps, but there are also other compelling avenues than can be taken to ensure lasting marriages”, he says. Mr. and Mrs. Collingsworth are helping pastors and churches to design plans for their own communities so they can truly make a difference.

MFM has an exhaustive web presence under development as well as printed material, plans for the lobbying of legislatures to enact laws requiring pre-marriage training, as well as conferences, seminars, and consultations with churches across the U.S. MFM has incredible support from their National Advisory Board…

THE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY MATTERS NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD INCLUDES:
Mr. and Mrs. Michael W. (Debbie) Smith, Singer, Songwriter, and Pastor, Nashville, Tennessee
Congressman and Mrs. J.C. (Frankie) Watts, Norman, Oklahoma
Mr. and Mrs., Bobby (Ann) Clampett, PGA Tour Pro; Announcer for CBS Sports, Cary, North Carolina
Dr. and Mrs. Walt (Barb) Larimore, Vice President, Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Co.
Dr. and Mrs. Dennis (Lauree) Swanberg, TV Host/ Author/Motivational Speaker, Monroe, Louisiana
Mr. and Mrs. Orel (Jamie) Hershiser, Retired MLB; Pitching Coach, Texas Rangers, Orlando, Florida
Mr. and Mrs. Tom (Melissa) Lehman, PGA Tour Player, Scottsdale, Arizona
Mr. and Mrs. Mark (Laura) Price, NBA-Retired, Atlanta, Georgia
Mr. and Mrs. John (Cindy) Trent, President, Strong Families; Author, Scottsdale, Arizona
Mr. and Mrs. Paul (Regina) Stankowski, PGA Tour Player, Flower Mound, Texas
Mr. and Mrs. Howard (Bev) Dayton, President, Crown Ministries, Gainesville, Georgia
Mr. Mark (April) DeMoss, President, The DeMoss Group, Atlanta, Georgia
Mr. and Mrs. Josh (Dottie) McDowell, Author/Speaker, Dallas, Texas
Mr. and Mrs. Lee (Bev) Janzen, PGA Tour Player, Orlando, Florida
Dr. and Mrs. Ken (Paula) Hemphill, President, Southwestern Baptist Seminary, Ft. Worth, Texas
Dr. and Mrs. James (Carolyn) Draper, President of Lifeway Christian Resources, Nashville, Tennessee

NOTE OF INTEREST: Many remember Mr. Collingsworth as the man who helped lead PGA golfer Payne Stewart to faith in Christ, and preached his memorial service which was viewed around the world, touching millions of lives and seeing many come to faith in Christ.

Contact: Public Relations Coordinator--817.498.6222
Marriage and Family Matters
13901 Midway Road, Suite 201 # 301
Dallas, Texas 75244-4388
lori@marriageandfamilymatters.org

It Ain't Rocket Science!

I love rockets.

That is why when Perry Greene of Twickenham Church of Christ contacted me several months ago about doing a conference in Huntsville, AL my immediate reaction was, "only if I can stay over and tour the space and rocket center."

I had been in Huntsville earlier at Whitesburg Baptist and it whetted my appetite to go back and visit Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center. I have been to the Smithsonian Space and Rocket Center. Tim Turner of Ocala, Florida took me to the Kennedy Space Center. I have even been to the space museum in Alamogordo, New Mexico and the Alien Museum in Roswell, New Mexico. (Did I really mention Roswell's Alien museum and the Smithsonian in the same paragraph?)

As expected, we had a blast at the Rocket Center. (Think about that last sentence; you might find yourself smiling.)

Standing at the base of a Saturn V Rocket--they have two at Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center--one standing up and one laying horizontal like a fallen tree and looking into the base of those five huge engines--I was amazed at their size. I think I could easily fit my 6'3" frame into any one of them. I wondered what if felt like for Wernher von Braun to watch that rocket go up. The German defector was the real mastermind behind space travel. It was back in 1950 that the Huntsville Newspaper quoted Dr. von Braun as saying that "Rocket flights to the moon were possible."

I thought about the first time that rocket went off. They test individual parts and check and double check all the systems. But, there is always that first time. The first time complicated mathematical formulas known as rocket science explodes in a fiery canon that will eventually propel men into space--and to the moon.

I look at that rocket and think, "How in the world do they figure all this out? Why does the first stage boost the rocket to 35.8 nautical miles? Why not 35 miles or 40 miles? How do they know it has to burn for 2 minutes 40 seconds to do that? They know the exact latitude and longitude when this first stage will release and fall into the Atlantic ocean after burning fuel at a rate of 29,522 pounds per second. How in the cat hair do they figure all that out?"

I remembered talk of how carefully they had to calculate the entry into earth's atmosphere. Too sharp a descent and the crew would burn up; not sharp enough and the craft would bounce off the atmosphere like a rock skipping on water. Sounds reasonable. Just how much like a rock skipping on water is a spacecraft entering the earth?

I am amazed by rocket science and reminded that I am grateful that Sunday School work is not rocket science. Where as rocket science in unspeakably complicated, Sunday School is very simple.

My dream is to see the word-wide, "capital C" Church double in the next 20 years. How are we going to do it? It is not rocket science. We are going to do it by giving the ministry to laymen who are using their gifts to grow their groups to double their classes every two years or less. How do they do that? Five steps, none of them rocket science:

Teach a halfway decent lesson each and every week, nothing less will do. You don't have to be Charles Stanley, but it does have to be halfway decent.

Invite every member and every prospect to every fellowship every month. Do what Levi did, hold a great banquet.

Give Friday nights to Jesus for an informal time of Diet Coke, coffee cake and card playing. Be obedient to the command of God to "offer hospitality without grumbling."

Encourage the group toward ministry. It is not doing the work of 10 men; it is getting 10 men in the work. (Part of the "men" could be women!)

Reproduce. At the end of the day, it is not about going from 10 to 20 so much as it is about going from one group to two.

Simple. Not rocket science. Simple.

In order to get teachers to do this, pastors and staff must lead by example. There are other things we do to cast a clear and compelling vision, but leading by example is the most important part. Pastors, Ministers of Education, and Ministers of Music (am I dreaming?) must be involved in doubling groups if we expect to convince the masses that it is a wonderful way to live and an effective way to reach people.

I heard recently the story of one Sunday School teacher who had an incredibly effective ministry. His name was Walt. Walt had a sixth grade education.

Walt wanted to teach a Sunday School class. When he approached the Sunday School superintendent, he was told there were no openings. (I know this story sounds unbelievable, but it really is true.) Walt insisted, so the Sunday School superintendent told him, "Anybody you find is yours."

Walt went out into the community and found a boy playing marbles. "How would you like to attend Sunday School?" The boy was not interested. Anything that had the word school in it was bad news.

So, the teacher played marbles with him. (His version of giving Friday nights to Jesus.)

They played for a long time, and the teacher whipped the boy at every single game. He recalls, "By then I would have followed him anywhere." This illustrates the irresistible nature of simple love.

Walt picked up thirteen boys in the community for his Sunday School class. Nine of them were from broken homes. Eleven of the thirteen are now in full time vocational work. One of them is Howard Hendricks. You see some of his books and videos in the column to the right, as well as some of the works of Howard Hendricks disciple, Bruce Wilkinson.

It ain't rocket science, friend. It's marbles. Marbles and Diet Coke, and table games and a love that is very simple, earthy, pedestrian. If we love them, they will come, and they will come to love our Lord.

Howard Hendricks says this about his Sunday School teacher, Walt: "I can't tell you much of what Walt said to us, but I can tell you everything about him...because he loved me for Christ's sake. He loved me more than my parents did. He used to take us hiking. I used to love those times. I am sure we made his bad heart worse, but he would run all over the woods with us because he cared."

Simple. It is not rocket science.

How much do I love this NEW book? Well, I have it on order with Amazon but I found it at a Barnes and Noble on the road. I couldn't resist. I will find someone to give the other copy to. Much of the information I got on loneliness comes from this book. You will love this book!

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