Moving Towards Shalom Conference
After about 50+ hours of travel, I arrived late last night in Orlando, Florida for a child safety conference. I'll be here for the next week and a half, along with Courtney my Child Safety assistant and Lea the Student Wellness Team Lead, attending the Child Safety Protection Network's annual conference and training.
The theme of the conference this year is Moving Towards Shalom: A Holistic Approach to Safeguarding. In my last newsletter, I shared how difficult it can be sometimes to talk about my child safety ministry - both because of confidentiality requirements but also because of the difficult nature of what I do. This has been a hard school year full of many heartbreaking responses and hearing devastating stories. After a year like that - Shalom sounds like exactly what we, what I need in this moment. Shalom is a rich Biblical Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, welfare and tranquility.
Friends, will you join me in praying this week? I have included a couple of ways you can pray below.
Please pray that not only will I find shalom but that RVA would also find deep peace, harmony, wholeness, welfare and tranquility.
Jeff Hazard, one of RVA's Child Safety response team members will be covering for me while I'm away. Please pray that he has a quiet week without responses.
While at the conference, I've been asked to lead two workshops: Self-Injury and Internet and Technology Safety. These are two topics I am very passionate about and I'm excited to share with other missions and schools how to best support their children and youth in these areas. Please pray for me as I speak, that I would share clearly and effectively, providing practical tips for implementation.
From Monday to Wednesday I will be attending a Program Essentials training. Keeping children safe within organisations requires a broad understanding of the overarching principles of safeguarding. This three-day PET course is designed to equip the people responsible for organisational child safety with the knowledge, skills and resources to develop a comprehensive child safety programme. Then from Wednesday to Saturday, I will be attending the Child Safety Protection Network annual conference.
After the conference and a couple days of rest, Courtney and I will be flying back to Kenya on March 31st. Please pray for safety as we travel home.
Thank you for praying with me this week.