Convention Program - Christian Homeschool Association of ...

Our Guest Speakers
Phil Downer
Phil Downer serves as President of Discipleship Network of America (DNA). DNA is a nationwide
network of people committed to following Christ’s life of winning and discipling others
to become disciple makers. The spiritual reproductive ministry of DNA flows out of the lives of
people focused on Christ in their work, marriage, family, neighborhood and church.
A popular speaker at men’s events, Phil also speaks at couples’ events with Susy, his wife of 37
years, and at family conferences with his six children. He is the author of Eternal Impact: Investing
in the Lives of Others, A Father’s Reward – Raising Your Children to Walk in the Truth,
Optimize Your Marriage, and Brave, Strong, and Tender – a book that details how this Viet Nam
veteran learned to transfer his leadership from the battlefield to his home, his law practice, and
eventually to running a nationwide ministry. He and Susy are coauthors with David and Teresa
Ferguson of Unlimited Partnership: Building Intimacy & Teamwork Into Your Marriage. Phil is
also the editor and coauthor of Effective Men’s Ministry, published by Zondervan.
A former machine gunner who served in Viet Nam with the United States Marine Corps in 1967 and 1968, Phil received a Bachelor
of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law in
1975. Phil was a successful lawyer before being led to Christ and discipled by fellow professionals. He left his position as senior partner
of a 50-attorney law firm, with offices in Atlanta, Washington, Dallas, and San Diego, to serve as President of CBMC for a decade.
Phil is on the Steering Committee of the National Coalition of Men’s Ministries, a former elder of his church, and a member of CBMC.
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Andrew Pudewa
Andrew Pudewa is the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a homeschooling father
of seven. Presenting throughout North America, he addresses issues relating to teaching, writing,
thinking, spelling, and music with clarity and insight, practical experience and humor. His
seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have
equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills. He and his beautiful,
heroic wife Robin currently teach their three youngest children at home in Atascadero, California
Hal & Melanie Young
Fresh from a state tax audit to prove that yes, they’re all ours, Hal and Melanie Young
are parents of eight children. They have homeschooled through seven high-risk pregnancies,
three re-locations, two decades, and 181 degrees of longitude. They spent half
of that time serving on the board of NCHE (North Carolinians for Home Education).
Hal and Melanie have published articles with Homeschooling Today, Homeschool Digest,
the N.C. Family Policy Council, the John Locke Foundation, and the Heartland
Institute and are the authors of Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating
Boys, a new release from Great Waters Press. The Youngs live in noisy familial
bliss in Smithfield, North Carolina.