Annual Report 2009-2010 - Graduate School of Education and ...

The Boone Center for the FamilyThe Boone Center for the Family (BCFF) fosters the development of healthy relationships through a variety of initiatives andevents. Key outreach this year included Relationship Week from October 5 through 9, the sixth annual Savvy Chic fashionshow fundraiser on November 12, the first “A Night for the Family” on March 1, and the second annual Family of Faith NetworkConference from June 10 through 12. Relationship Week, A Night for the Family, and the Family of Faith Network Conference alltook place at the Malibu campus. SavvyChic was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel.Coordinated as a part of the Family Relationship IQ Project and the new Pepperdine Dating Initiative, Relationship Weekincluded presentations on forming healthy dating relationships, healthy sexuality, God’s relational creation, and celebratinggender differences. The programs focused on students’ development of a positive self-image, understanding of each other, andability to be a supportive partner to their significant other.SavvyChic followed in November, honoring mothers with the theme “Mothers and Others: Celebrating Women Who Shape OurLives.” Developed by the Friends of the Family League, the event promotes elements that enrich a woman’s life: family-centeredvalues, healthy habits that enhance the beauty within, and a strong sense of self that can be confidently projected through styleand fashion.A Night for the Family encouraged the 65 attendees to consider the personal legacy they are leaving to future generations,and to celebrate the creative programming conducted by BCFF. Pepperdine University President Andrew Benton, Dean Weber,and BCFF’s namesake, Pat and Shirley Boone, were in attendance. The new chairs of the BCFF Advisory Board, Dr. Bill andStephanie Beazley, were also introduced.The program continued with a presentation on the Relationship IQ Initiative, which informs students on relationship issues andequips them to develop and maintain healthy relationships, and on BCFF’s Fatherhood Initiative. Jack Hardcastle, presidentof the National Association of Family Ministries, talked about his organization’s partnership with BCFF to maximize the numberof individuals who can be reached through a combined effort, and Grant Goodvin, founder of the Family Legacy ConsultantGroup, shared how the BCFF’s foray into the arena of family business succession was going to be a tremendous asset in thisdeveloping field. The evening concluded with Rabbi Eliyahu Fink giving an address on effective parenting. Fink recognizedBCFF’s contribution to fathering literature as important and vital to families, and stated that the true test of effective parentingis best measured by grown children emulating their parents with their grandchildren.The theme for this year’s Family of Faith Network Conference was “Sacred Households: Building Authentic Faith in Families”The forum, designed for church leaders such as ministers and lay leaders responsible for strengthening families through thelocal church, equipped the 130 attendees with new techniques, disciplines, and rituals designed to set families on the path todeveloping faith. In addition, attendees heard from leaders in the fields of family and marriage ministry, including Mark Holmen,leader of the Faith@Home movement, and Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love. Setting the theme and tone for the conference,both speakers shared the importance of authentic faith as a prerequisite for parents passing on faith through the generations.Other speakers included Ron Deal, president of As for Me and My House Ministries, parent ministry of Successful Stepfamilies,who spoke on addressing the needs of the growing stepfamily population; Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, founder of Love and RespectMinistries, who, along with his daughter, Joy Eggerichs, shared “The Four Wills of God for Marriage and Singles;” Joneal Kirby,director of the women’s mentoring ministry, Heart to Home, who emphasized the importance of following the edict in Titus2 that older women mentor younger women; and Michael Sytsma, president of Building Intimate Marriages and a licensedtherapist who shared insight into “Cultivating Sexually Healthy Churches.”Each workshop was both a presentation of material from a leading expert and a discussion among the leaders and ministersin the audience. Topics included the theology of sex, the needs of the growing population of singles in the church, being afamily in the “fishbowl” of ministry, experiencing humility in marriage and family, and applying current research to the churchand family ministry. Two speakers received especially glowing comments: Norm Wright, for his presentation of his work on griefthrough the family life cycle; and Susan Giboney (BA ’62), who gave presentations on grandparenting and spiritual developmentin families.Under the leadership of BCFF executive director Dr. Ken Canfield, and with the support of members of the BCFF AdvisoryBoard, faculty and staff from Pepperdine University and GSEP, and many partners in ministry, the conferencegathered the best speakers, ministers, lay leaders, and congregants seeking to infuse their churches andministries with the finest programming and resources available.p [ 17 ]