General Sessions

Friday 9:00 am - All Relationships are Intentional - David Powlison

Wise counseling is the skillful art of building two constructive relationships simultaneously. The first relationship is obvious. It is what happens when two persons are working well together. The second relationship is decisive. It is what happens when a person and the Savior of the world are working well together.

Friday 11:00 am - Union with Christ Means Relating to Him - Elyse Fitzpatrick

Since humanity's fall and banishment from Eden people have been searching for deep relationship but frequently experience isolation and alienation instead. In taking our nature to Himself and uniting Himself with us, Jesus Christ has forever transformed our relationships--not only with God our Father, but also with one another. Because we are one with Christ even now and because in our relationship with Him we have are both forgiven and justified, we can enter into relationship with one another as transparent servants who can both love and be loved.

Friday 7:00 pm - The Trinity is Relationship - Tim Lane

Christians believe in the Trinity. God is Three and One. One God, Three Persons. But how many move beyond the mystery to the practical, life-changing relevance of an interpersonal God who created us to be in relationship with him and one another?

Saturday 9:00 am - Jesus Gets Personal - Ed Welch

“Fix your thoughts on Jesus” (Heb.3:1). No matter the topic, this is where we want to land. What does this relational core look like in the life of Jesus? Scripture brings together some of his teachings in places like the Sermon on the Mount, but when the Gospel writers had to condense Jesus’ life so it didn’t fill up all the world’s libraries, they were drawn especially to his personal interactions with people. How was the incarnate God intensely personal in his dealings with his people?

Saturday 1:30 pm - The Spirit Creates Relationships - Winston Smith

After Jesus ascended, God didn’t just leave us with stories of what Jesus’ life had been like.  Jesus actually assured us that his departure would be a blessing—and encouraged his disciples with the news that his Spirit would come to them and dwell with them. This same promise that Jesus gave to his disciples is a promise for us today. The Spirit is with us and helps us. And the ministry of the Spirit is greatly needed within our relationships if we are going to relate to others as Jesus did (and does). This session will consider the many practical implications of the Spirit’s activity in our relationships.

Saturday 3:00 pm - Discussing Relationships in Community - Faculty Panel

Sunday 11:00 am - How to Do Friendship in the Church - Ed Welch

There are so many images that we can reflect as we care for one another – prophet, priest, king, servant, shepherd, and many others. They are all in Scripture, and they all have their place. As we end the conference we will choose the image of friend as a way to both summarize where we have been and set a course for where we are going.

Thursday 9:30 am Pre-Conference Options

Marriage Matters: Extraordinary Change Through Orindary Moments - Winston Smith

Often the same frustrations, heartaches, and problems of marriage show up so consistently that they just become the ordinary moments of our lives. We can easily come to believe that this is just how marriage is and we don’t even hope for growth. But with God’s help, these moments can become opportunities for extraordinary change. As we begin to understand God’s purposes for challenging moments, we learn to connect to and apply the love of Christ with wisdom and power. This pre-conference is based on Smith’s book, Marriage Matters.

Found in Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union with Christ - Elyse Fitzpatrick

In this pre-conference seminar, we will discover the comforts found in the fact that God became man so that He could live the life we should have lived, die the death that was due us and then rise again in our place. He has taken our nature to himself and because of this eternal union we will never be alone. He experienced our weaknesses firsthand but that's not all. We're also in union with Him as our a faithful husband. He has forever united himself to us and given us the gift of His loving relationship. No matter what your present circumstance, you are not alone. The incarnation and our betrothal to Him are promises we can rely on. 

Thursday 2:30 pm Pre-Conference Options

How the Church Can Respond to Sexual Abuse - Julie Lowe

​In a broken world, none of us are immune to the tragic stories of childhood sexual abuse.  Headlines frequently feature cases of abuse within religious organizations that are supposed to protect the innocent.  Sadly, many have unknowingly contributed to the problem, either through a naïve denial or by a failure to pursue training that would identify ways to identify perpetly Irators and how to effectively respond.  The goal of this seminar is to better understand the way children are targeted, preyed upon and groomed by predators.  It will also analyze the impact this has on children, families and the Church.

CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet - Mike Emlet

Do you ever struggle to apply Scripture to your life? Do you sometimes read a portion of the Bible and wonder what in the world it has to do with you or the people in your life? Do you gravitate toward “tried and true” passages and shy away from unfamiliar ones? Do you long to use Scripture more winsomely in the lives of others? This pre-conference will equip you with the tools to dig into any passage of Scripture more deeply and to discover rich connections between the passage and the good news of Jesus Christ. It will encourage you in practical ways to live into the biblical Story and to help others do the same in a gospel-centered way.

Friday 2:30 pm Breakout Options

How Can Talking about Yourself Help Someone Else? - David Powlison

How can you talk about yourself in a way that is loving, helpful, right, and constructive? You reveal crucial aspects of who you are, what you believe, and what you value in every conversation—whether you want to or not. Other people are helped when you intently, personally, and wisely engage with them. We know this experientially. The people who most influence us for good share themselves, not just their ideas or advice. We also know this biblically. For example, Jesus, Paul, and David are intentionally self-revealing. The impact of their love and their words is intimately connected to their honesty. God enters into relationship with us by “self-disclosure.” It sounds a bit stuffy to speak of it as “his self-revelation in word and deed.” What it means is that God shows who he is, what he is like, how he thinks, what he does, how he feels, what his purposes are, what he loves and hates, what he wills. 

Developing Relationships in a Texting World - Julie Lowe

Children and teens are growing up in a society that changes at rapid speed, especially when it comes to technology. Kids are looking for connection, belonging and intimacy, and finding it via technology. Younger and younger children feel the need to have phones, websites and Facebook pages in order to fit in. Unfortunately, the best technology can do is offer a counterfeit form of intimacy.  This workshop is designed to help adults model and re-define godly relationships for kids growing up in a pseudo-relationship world.  We will provide information and tools that will help parents, youth workers, and counselors guide youth into living wisely and making good choices about their use of technology and within their relationships. 

A Practical Guide to Dating Wisely - Alasdair Groves

Dating is a big deal in our culture and in our churches. People have strong feelings about whether or not people should date and how they should go about it. And the fact remains that choosing who to marry is a difficult and often stressful task. We need help in order to wisely think about how to choose a life partner. How do you make godly choices about who to pursue, when to pursue, how to pursue, and how to discern if you should get married or break up? Though overwhelming, these challenges are enormous opportunities for growth through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, as well as a chance to deeply bless a potential spouse. In contrast to our radically self-centered dating culture, wisdom calls us to a responsible, servant-hearted love for those to whom we are attracted and a core commitment to obeying and trusting Jesus when deciding on a spouse.  

Essential Counselor Qualities: Love and Faithfulness - Monica Kim

A biblical counselor’s character strengths are vital to establishing a good counseling relationship, and a good relationship is at the core of excellent counseling. In this first workshop, we will examine two vital character qualities for a counselor: love and faithfulness. We will explore their deeper meaning, how each impacts the counseling relationship and methods, and how counselors can intentionally pursue growth in these areas.

​Cultivating Relationships and Spiritual Growth in Your Small Group - Mike Emlet

Small groups. Growth groups. Mini-churches. Community groups. Cell groups. Accountability groups. Home groups. Missional communities. Mini-flocks. No matter what you call them, most churches of any size highlight the importance of meeting together in smaller communities within the local church. But how necessary are small groups? What are their purpose(s)? What makes a good group? How does spiritual formation happen in the context of a small group? This session will explore these questions to equip leaders, as well as group participants, to be more faithful and effective small group members. 

Saturday 10:45 am Breakout Options

Practicing Forgiveness - Tim Lane

No one does relationships perfectly. In fact, every day we fail to love those around us, and others fail to love us, too. Hurtful words, avoidance, defensiveness or ungodly conflict can easily characterize how we relate and how we respond when we are hurt. So how do we repair a relationship when sin and brokenness has marred it? One significant way we move toward restored relationship is by asking for and granting forgiveness. Doing so is critical for honest and edifying relationships. This workshop is both for the formal counselor who aims to help other people grow in asking and granting forgiveness, as well as for those who personally want to mature in this area.

Can Men and Women Really be Friends? - Cecelia Bernhardt

In 21st century American culture we live, work and interact with members of the opposite sex.  Have you ever wondered how to relate with one another in these contexts?  Should we be distant and maintain a surface level of interaction to avoid any danger inherent in cross-gender friendships? Or should we insist that friendships with the opposite sex are perfectly safe and take offense at any hesitation or question from others? Can we trust the other person? Can we trust ourselves? In other words, can men and women really be friends? This workshop will consider how to answer the age old question in a timely, refreshing and God-centered way. 

Slowing Things Down: How to Listen Well - Ed Welch

This “relational core” of counseling and face-to-face ministry is so important, but it can be hard to clearly identify. And when it gets hard to identity we might wrongly summarize our topic as “I should be nicer when I talk to people.” That could be true, but it is not what we are examining. An aid available to us is the distinction – common in counseling – between content and process. To date, biblical counseling tends to be heavy on content and has ignored process. This breakout session will use this neglected category as a tool to evaluate and enhance our public and private ministry.

Essential Counselor Qualities: Humility and Spritiual Maturity - Monica Kim

A biblical counselor’s character strengths are vital to establishing a good counseling relationship, and a good relationship is at the core of excellent counseling. In this second workshop, we will examine two more vital character qualities for a counselor: humility and spiritual maturity. We will explore their deeper meaning, how each impacts the counseling relationship and methods, and how counselors can intentionally pursue growth in these areas.

Building Bridges with Your Children - Julie Lowe

By and large, parents have less influence over the lives of their children than media, culture and their peer relationships do.  Kids are bombarded with a host of influences and pressures at every turn. This workshop will look at why godly, healthy, relationships with your children are so important, how those influences shape children’s lives, and what parents and other adults can do to foster deeper, meaningful relationships with children. This workshop will help parents (as well as  adults who work with children and teens) learn how to wisely  instruct and guide their children.

Saturday 7:00 pm Breakout Options

Helper or Friend? Navigating Multiple Roles in a Ministry Relationship - Aaron Sironi

A dual relationship is having both an intimate counseling relationship and another type of relationship with a counselee. For the Christian/pastoral counselor, dual relationships are often unavoidable because of shared contexts (e.g., being members of the same church). However, many counselors and pastors have either steered clear of them or unwittingly mishandled their inherent complexities. This workshop will explore the complexities involved while bringing biblical clarity and vision in an area of counseling that has been wrought with confusion, discomfort, and fear of litigation.

Redeeming Accountability: When sinners walk together  - Alasdair Groves

While “accountability” is a familiar word in most churches, it is a loaded term and people’s experiences vary. For some it captures the joy of intimate friendship, love that is simultaneously gentle and firm, and faithful support in the midst of trials. For others, it has simply been a group of people awkwardly forced together for rote recitation of the same sins and struggles week after week. This session will discuss the benefits and pitfalls of accountability relationships as part of the broader framework of submitting ourselves to each other in community. This framework will then lead to practical steps we can take to enjoy the fruit of accountability in its best sense, where it fosters hope, humility, faith, and repentance. 

​Cultivating Relationships and Spiritual Growth in Your Small Group - Mike Emlet

Small groups. Growth groups. Mini-churches. Community groups. Cell groups. Accountability groups. Home groups. Missional communities. Mini-flocks. No matter what you call them, most churches of any size highlight the importance of meeting together in smaller communities within the local church. But how necessary are small groups? What are their purpose(s)? What makes a good group? How does spiritual formation happen in the context of a small group? This session will explore these questions to equip leaders, as well as group participants, to be more faithful and effective small group members. 

God: Our Ever-Present Help - Jeremy Lelek

Drawing from Romans 8:26-39 this workshop will offer rich wisdom essential to the counseling endeavor. This wisdom will highlight the perpetual work of the Trinity in the life of the believer during times of mental, emotional, and relational suffering. It will emphasize the active nature of God’s relational faithfulness as understood from this glorious text.

Conflict: from Avoidance to Engagement - Cecelia Berhardt

Conflict.  The very word can make us uncomfortable; it is something most of us tend to avoid.  Is it possible to have conflict in our closest relationships, even while producing the fruit of the Spirit?  Can joy, peace, patience and faithfulness be the products of confrontation? This workshop will focus on how to approach conflict with an attitude of humility and compassion.  In so doing, we aim to engage in a process that will result in the deep, honest and grace-filled relationships that are meant to define us as members of the body of Christ.  

Sunday 9:15 am Breakout Options

Building Bridges with Children - Julie Lowe

By and large, parents have less influence over the lives of their children than media, culture and their peer relationships do.  Kids are bombarded with a host of influences and pressures at every turn. This workshop will look at why godly, healthy, relationships with your children are so important, how those influences shape children’s lives, and what parents and other adults can do to foster deeper, meaningful relationships with children. This workshop will help parents (as well as  adults who work with children and teens) learn how to wisely  instruct and guide their children.

Hunting for the Good in Others - Aaron Sironi

If we were created to hear the praise and commendation of our Father and in fact “the world rings with praise,” why are our hearts so small, our eyes so nearsighted, and our mouths so stingy in praising others? Failing to affirm others is most often rooted in my heart. How is growing in esteeming (not flattering) others a fruit of soul-health, that which gives others a foretaste of heaven, and something to be desired?” This workshop will apply treasuring God’s handiwork in others to the family, friendships, and counseling ministry.

Band of Brothers: Cultivating Male Friendships - Mike Emlet

Why do men often struggle to have deeply satisfying friendships with other men? In reality, although men vary in their interests and gifts, all men desire and are called to have significant relationships with other men. This session will explore the personal and cultural barriers to godly male friendships and suggest practical ways to build strong relationships between men. (Disclaimer: no drum beating or ESPN viewing will occur in the context of this session).

​Conflict: from Avoidance to Engagement - Cecelia Berhardt

Conflict.  The very word can make us uncomfortable; it is something most of us tend to avoid.  Is it possible to have conflict in our closest relationships, even while producing the fruit of the Spirit?  Can joy, peace, patience and faithfulness be the products of confrontation? This workshop will focus on how to approach conflict with an attitude of humility and compassion.  In so doing, we aim to engage in a process that will result in the deep, honest and grace-filled relationships that are meant to define us as members of the body of Christ.  

Practicing Forgiveness - Tim Lane

No one does relationships perfectly. In fact, every day we fail to love those around us, and others fail to love us, too. Hurtful words, avoidance, defensiveness or ungodly conflict can easily characterize how we relate and how we respond when we are hurt. So how do we repair a relationship when sin and brokenness has marred it? One significant way we move toward restored relationship is by asking for and granting forgiveness. Doing so is critical for honest and edifying relationships. This workshop is both for the formal counselor who aims to help other people grow in asking and granting forgiveness, as well as for those who personally want to mature in this area.

This year our conference will be held in the Frisco Convention Center just twenty minutes from Dallas, Texas.

Embassy Suites Hotel, Convention Center & Spa
7600 John Q. Hammons Drive
Frisco, TX 75034 map
(972) 712-7200

Our headquarter hotel is the Frisco Embassy Suites, which is adjacent to the Frisco Convention Center where the conference will be held. For the discounted rate of $159 per night, attendees can reserve suites for 4-6 guests, which includes a hot, made-to-order breakfast.

Conference Rate: $159/night (up to 6 guests)
Rate Available: October 9th - October 13th

Rooms are limited. To take advantage of this discounted rate, reserve your rooms today.

​Reserve

Flying

The city of Frisco is conveniently located just a short drive from two major airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International and Dallas Love Field. Discounted shuttle service will be available to and from the airport. Please check back here for more information this summer.

Driving

If you are driving to the conference this year, use the following address in your GPS:

7600 John Q. Hammons Drive
Frisco, TX 75034 map

What to eat

Embassy Suites guests will enjoy a hot, made-to-order breakfast each morning with their hotel reservation. For other dining options throughout the day, there are many options within walking distance of the Convention Center.

Local attractions

If you’re looking to fill in any down time in the conference schedule, Frisco is a great place to be. Feel free to explore between sessions!

Frisco Convention and Visitor’s Bureau

​Register Now

Online registration is credit card only. If you would like to use an alternate form of payment, please contact CCEF Customer Service at 1 (800) 318-2186.

Refunds will be processed for a $35 administrative fee through October 1st after which no refunds will be given. In the event that a registrant cannot attend the conference, his or her registration can be transferred to another person.