On March 31, the Wisconsin Conference Family Ministries department sponsored "A Growing Marriage Conference," by Gary Chapman, which was promoted and marketed by 13 pastors of other Christian denominations and Moody Bible Institute.
As a result, more than 600 participants crowded into the Mitby Theatre on the Madison Area Technical College campus for Chapman's presentations; at least 400 were not Seventh-day Adventists. When the program began, Chapman's associate interviewed Abraham Swamidass about the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its sponsorship of the event. The audience responded with thunderous applause, loud and long.
The story of this breakthrough ministry began in 1995. After reading the compelling book, The Five Love Languages, by Chapman, Abraham (a pastor) was inspired to invite the author to hold a seminar in his community of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Chapman came, and the event was a huge success.
When Abraham (currently Wisconsin Conference Family Ministries director) relocated to Madison, Wisconsin, he joined Madison Marriage Task Force (MMTF), an interdenominational group of pastors existing to foster family life growth. MMTF had earlier sponsored John Trent, an associate to Gary Smalley, to present a marriage weekend in Madison with some success. In September 2005, they asked Abraham to contact Chapman to see if he would come to Madison. Chapman remembered Abraham and their great experience in Windsor, and he persuaded Moody Bible Institute, his sponsoring organization, to include Madison on the 2007 schedule, to the delight of MMTF.
Abraham's three goals in sponsoring the enrichment weekend were to: (1) personally network with other Christian leaders in the common pursuit of uplifting family life ministry in the Christian Community; (2) communicate with other faith groups that Seventh-day Adventists believe in marriage and family very strongly; and (3) create an opportunity for Seventh-day Adventist members to network with people of other faith groups and build friendships in their community.
When asked if he succeeded in these goals, Abraham responded, "Oh yes, resoundingly! We were a little nervous last week. Our contract required that we have 200 couples signed up, and we only had 100 who had called our Conference headquarters to register. I called Dr. Chapman's organization and discovered that they had more than 400 people register through their website! ‘Fear not, Pastor Swamidass,' they said, ‘The Lord is with you.'"
Robert and Sherry Sa came from Jefferson, Wisconsin. Sherry stated, "We're not perfect. We need more improvement to become a better husband and wife. We need to become better examples for our children; we need to work on our marriage."
Robert continued, "I need to love her better. ... The Holy Spirit touched me in areas that I needed to hear. It has been 11 years since our last marriage retreat. That has been way too long."
The Seventh-day Adventist Church shares a common goal with other Christian groups—the enhancement of marriage and families. Chapman conducted a tremendous seminar in Madison. It was a wonderful day for Jesus and family!
James Fox is the Wisconsin Conference communication director.
