DEAF MARRIAGE CONFERENCE / RETREAT - 2010Hello Readers: The 2nd Annual Deaf Marriage Conference / Retreat held in Ridgecrest, NC on April 23-25, 2010 was a great SUCCESS! There were 39 married couples from various states, including NC, SC, TN, GA, VA, FL, MD, MI, CT, and Canada attending this year. Originally, 43 couples were expected to attend, but 4 couples did not show up.
Upon arrival on Friday, April 23 at 3pm, we got our registrations and checked in to the hotel. At 4:30pm, we met in the auditorium for introductions / greetings. Each couple introduced themselves by giving their names, the states they live and how many years they are married.
The theme for this year was “Love in Any Language at Any Age” which includes 5 topics: What is the Language of Love,? Living the Language of Love, Internal Boundaries: Limits created by Love, External Boundaries: How to say NO with a smile, and Marriage Mentoring. Our keynote speakers and workshop teachers were: Dr. Jerry Seale of Tennessee, Pastor Kent & Denise Oviatt of North Carolina, and Lenny & Sherry West of Kentucky.
On Friday, April 23, the first workshop topic: What is the Language of Love? was presented by Dr. Seale from 7:30pm - 8:30pm. After about 30 minutes break with snack / drinks, we met for the second topic: Internal Boundaries presented by Pastor Oviatt.
After the workshops, some couples watched the movie, “Facing the Giant” which was very good, while the other couples enjoyed the fellowship with snacks and drinks.
 On Saturday, April 24 from 8:30am to 9:30am, Pastor Oviatt presented a workshop on “External Boundaries: how to say “NO!” with a smile.” After 30 minutes break, the next workshop on “Living the Language of Love” was presented by Dr. Seale. Following his presentation with 30 minutes break, another workshop on “Marriage Mentoring” was presented by Lenny and Sherry West.
After lunch, there was a question / answer session relating to previous presentations. We had a lot of good discussions during the session.
We were invited for dinner from 5pm to 8pm at the Bradshaw’s home which is about a 20 minutes drive from the hotel, along with some games. We had a great enjoyable time of fellowship and fun! The Bradshaws and their helpers did a great job serving the food for us.
We returned to the hotel and we continued with various games and some couples watched the movie “Blind Side.”
On Sunday, April 25 from 8:30-10:30am, there was a panel discussion with 4 couples and a moderator. There were 15 interesting questions written by the audience with no names on the papers and each person on the panel answered or discussed each question.
After the panel discussion, we had a renewal of vows service from 11am to 12pm. Each couple made vows at the  altar and the husbands presented to their wives a beautiful rose. That was a wonderful service and every couple was involved!
The committee members (Dawn, Larry Barnes, and Billy Sistrunk) did a terrific job making this event a success! They are a great team!
Our next and 3rd Deaf Marriage Conference / Retreat will be held in Ridgecrest, NC again on April 1-3, 2011. Our keynote speakers will be Gary Chapman, author of “5 Love Languages” and many other books, Deaf Pastor Tim Bender of KY and two other possible workshop teachers. The theme for next year will be announced later.
Please save those dates and plan to join us next year, Lord willing. Do not miss this great opportunity!!!
If you have any questions, contact me either by VP at (860) 866-1325 or email at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
In His service,
Job and Bukola Ayantola, Deaf Marriage Coordinators
|
