Children’s Ministry Leadership Training Retreat 2021
Ridge Haven Conference & Retreat Center
APRIL 20-22, 2021
The Children’s Ministry Leaders at your church (pastors, children’s ministry staff, volunteers in leadership roles, nursery coordinators.), are invited to CDM’s annual Children’s Ministry Leadership Retreat at the Ridge Haven Retreat Center at Brevard in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Come join a community of leaders of the PCA, who are passionate about reaching the next generation for Christ!
Meet CDM’s Children’s Ministry Team. With decades of experience in churches of all sizes, the team can relate to the specific struggles in your church—and help develop practical strategies to enhance your ministry to children.
- Nursery
- Equipping Parents
- Kids and Technology
- Engaging Disability
- Theology and Catechism
- Recruiting,Training, & Celebrating Volunteers…..and much more!
On Tuesday, you’ll have an opportunity to sign up for individual appointments with exhibitors.
Cost: $315/person (includes lodging and food)
Covid Precautions: Please see Ridge Haven’s website with updated Covid guidelines. We will have a pre-screening arrival form to be completed (as well as Ridge Haven’s standard waiver that everyone will sign). Ridge Haven follows the mandates from the State of North Carolina. They are currently in Phase 2.5, which means that masks are required when you can’t be socially distanced.
Conference Details
Registration:
Cost: $315/person
(includes registration, lodging in a shared room, and 6 meals).
If you need a private room, the additional cost is $135; there are a limited number so register early!
Things to know when registering:
- You will need to choose your 3 workshops. Affinity Group, and you may choose an optional Wednesday afternoon Lab.
- Priority rooming assignments (types of rooms) will be based on the order that you register. For example, those who register first will get first priority on rooming choices. There are rooms with 2 double beds, and rooms with bunk beds. Register early!
- If you have a roommate preference, please be sure to indicate that when registering. Your roommate choice MUST register within the week you register and include your name in order to be assigned to the same room.
- If you would prefer a private room, there is an additional $135 cost. (There are limited single rooms available.)
- You will receive an email 3 weeks prior to the conference with the list of other retreat attendees in order to share rides from the airport.
- You will have an opportunity to indicate if you have medically necessary dietary restrictions.
If you have registration questions, please contact Kathy at kwargo@pcanet.org or 678-825-1132.
A limited number of partial scholarships are available. Please email Kathy Wargo kwargo@pcanet.org for a Request for Scholarship form.
Keynote Speaker:
TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER!
Workshop Speakers:
TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER!
Bethany Belue works for the PCA Committee on Discipleship Ministry as the Established and Certification Coordinator. Before coming to CDM, she worked in Children’s Ministry for 9 yearsat 2 large PCA churches as the Children’s Director, Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City and Oak Mountain Presbyterian in Birmingham. She currently lives in Mobile, AL with her husband Dustin.
Jimmy Brock has been involved in children’s ministry since he was a child himself, serving churches in Virginia, California, Missouri, and Georgia as a Sunday school teacher, camp counselor, camp director, nursery coordinator, and most recently Pastor of Family Ministry. He is now the Church Planting Pastor for Resurrection Community Church in Virginia Beach, VA.
Stephen Estock is Coordinator for the PCA Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM). A former USAF officer, he has been in pastoral ministry for 20 years, serving churches in Montgomery, AL and St. Louis, MO. Stephen has also been an adjunct professor at Birmingham Theological and Covenant Theological Seminaries. His Ph.D. is in education, with an emphasis on competency-based learning and leadership training. He and his wife, Susan, have three children and live in Atlanta, GA.
Sue Jakes is mother of four, grandmother of 11, and lives in Atlanta, GA where she serves as Children’s Ministry Coordinator for the Presbyterian Church in America’s Committee on Discipleship Ministries. She has served as director of children’s ministry at Covenant PCA in Fayetteville, GA and is now serving as children’s director at Westminster PCA in Atlanta. She has been teaching children, youth, and women’s groups in the church for over thirty-five years. Sue is co‑author of “Heart of the Home,” a Bible Study ministry for moms and Teach Me To Worship, CDM’s children’s church online curriculum.
Sherry Kendrick has served as the Children’s Director of Covenant Church of Naples in Naples, FL for nine years. She has a degree in elementary education from East Tennessee State University and over 30 years of experience in children’s ministry as well as homeschool, private school and public school education. She loves children’s curriculums and tends to collect them. Sherry was married to her pastor husband, Mike, for 36 years serving in both small and large churches. As a widow, she continues to serve the church and has three grown children and one grandchild.
Becky Sinclair is the former Children’s Director at Clemson Presbyterian Church in Clemson, SC. She has a passion for teaching children God’s Word and encouraging memorization of Scripture. She loves to encourage those involved in children’s ministry as well as parents in the discipleship of children. Her hobbies include spending time with her husband, David, and their adult children and grandchildren, reading, and knitting.
B.A. Snider has more than 20 years’ experience as a children’s director in PCA churches ranging in size from 200 to 4,000 but finds her passion is the same no matter how many children she’s serving or teaching about Jesus. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee and taught college until the Lord called her to seminary and full-time ministry. She graduated with a master’s degree in Christian Education from Columbia International University. Speaking at conferences, consulting with leadership, and training teachers brought her to Great Commission Publications in 2014 as the Children’s Ministry Consultant and Marketing Director.
Laney Stayton – In one way or another, children’s ministry has been a part of Laney’s life – starting as the child of a pastor and missionary, then through volunteering at her local church as a young adult, and now as a mom of two with another one on the way. After taking a quick detour as a certified shorthand reporter in Texas, the Lord called her to serve as the children’s ministry director of North Shore Fellowship in Chattanooga, TN. She has always had a love for children and desire to help them grow in their understanding of God through His Word, and she loves the opportunity her current role gives to welcome multi-generations to do the same.
Lisa Updike is the Director of Children’s Ministries at Covenant in Harrisonburg, VA. Her ministry experience includes teaching, special education, leading children’s choirs, and curriculum writing. She has also spearheaded children’s programs in several churches. She and her husband, Kevin have been married since 1989 and are blessed with 4 children, 3 of whom joined their family through adoption.
WORKSHOP SESSIONS
TO BE ANNOUNCED
Location:
Ridge Haven Conference & Retreat Center
215 Ridge Haven Road
Brevard, NC 28712
828-862-3916
Conference Schedule:
Tuesday, APRIL 20, 2021
2:00-4:00 pm: Check–In
4:00 pm: Introductions and Instructions you don’t want to miss!
4:30-5:30 pm: Workshop #1
6:00 pm: Dinner
7:30-9:00 pm: Plenary Session 1
9:00-10:00 pm: Dessert Social
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
8:00 am: Breakfast
9:00-10:00 am: Plenary Session 2
10:15-11:15 am: Workshop #2
11:30 am-12:30 pm: Church Size Affinity Groups
12:30 pm: Lunch
1:00-6:00 pm: FREE TIME (organized activity options/individual appointments/Exhibits Open)
1:30-3:00 pm: Two ELECTIVES/LABS offered
6:00 pm: Dinner
7:00-9:00 pm: Worship Service and Celebration
9:00-10:00 pm: Celebration Dessert
Thursday, April 22, 2021
8:00 am: Breakfast
9:15-10:15 am: Workshop #3
10:30-12:00 pm: Plenary Session 3
12:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm: Departure
It’s a curvy and mountainous ride to Ridge Haven, but once you’re there it’s beautiful!
Here are some things to note about transportation:
- Best airports:
- Greenville-Spartanburg (GSP) – About 1-1/2 hours from Ridge Haven
- Asheville (AVL) – About 1 hour from Ridge Haven
- Charlotte (CLT) – About 2-1/2 hours from Ridge Haven
- Atlanta (ATL) – About 4 hours from Ridge Haven
- There are no hotel shuttles and no Uber from airports to Ridge Haven.
- Even though it may say 25 miles, it will take you a lot longer than you think because of the mountain roads.
Directions to Ridge Haven: Click on this link and print out directions ahead of time…you will want to have a hard copy of them in case you lose cell service in the mountains.