The New Beginnings SDA church sponsored its second annual Marriage
Connections retreat held this year at the Embassy Suites conference room
April 3-5. The guest presenters were Pastor Buford ("Buddy") and Carmen
Griffith, Directors of the Family Life Department of the Southwestern
Union in Texas. Both having Master's degrees in counseling, this is their
second consecutive year as presenters for the Marriage Connections
weekend retreat. Twenty-five couples attended from a good cross section
of a variety of geographical locations (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan) and a
variety of cultures and a variety of religious backgrounds. The program
concluded Sunday at 11:00 a.m. with a re-marriage commitment service.
The attached picture is of the couples who attended the
conference as well as the presenters.
We invite those who attended the conference to blog their
experience.
We are eagerly looking forward to another Marriage Connections
next year and invite you to check back at this website periodically for
more information as it becomes available. If you wish to inquire about
Marriage Connections via phone, you can give your contact information to
the web-master or call 517.896-7842, and one of our host couples will get
back in touch with you.
Robert Benson
Elsena & I were greatly blessed by attending the Marriage Connections retreat wknd at Livonia's Embassy Suites hotel sponsored by the S Lyon SDA church!!! I owe a debt of gratitude to our presenters, Buddy & Carmen Griffith, who were outstanding presenter, facilitators, and counselors. A debt of gratitude also is owed our host couples: Dean & Sue Gruelke, Cal & Ruthie Stewart. David & Serena also sat on the planning committee for this event (along with Gruelkes & Stewarts), and Serena is the one who designed all our brochures. Thank also goes to the church board and church family who support this program with their funds, energies, and prayers. And a thank you also is due to Gail Micheff, the MI Conference of SDA churchs Family Life Director, who despite being in charge of Family Programming for Adventist churches across MI, not only is a big supporter of Marriage Connections but also made time to pray for each attending couple by name. And the deepest gratitude is owed to God who not only put it on the hearts of people to have such a weekend, but provided the necessary finances and softened the hearts of couples so they could be more closely be knit to one another and hopefully to God. Thank you all for making this retreat weekend a success!!!
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