This year the CHEF Conference (June 21-22, 2011) in St. Charles, Missouri was as wonderful as it ever has been. By the way, C.H.E.F. stands for Christian Home Educators Fellowship. We met at the spacious St. Charles, MO Convention Center. This was a very nice setting for the 1000+ people who attended.
Organization & Speakers:
The Jon and Candy Summers family and their support team did a superlative job of organizing it, promoting it, and staffing it. The speakers were both challenging and encouraging. We heard rousing presentations from Voddie Baucham, Reb and Beverly Bradley, John Dwyer, Douglas Phillips, Bill Potter, and Herb Titus. What a line up!
Curriculum Fair:
Besides that, there was a full exhibit hall with over fifty vendors. Our own family ministry, the Genevan Foundation for Cultural Renewal, had a booth at the conference where we sought to encourage the recovery of family discipleship and promote resources for family worship—Hymnals, Psalters, and instructional CD’s. Most of our church families were in attendance as well, so that it was a joy to run into dear friends throughout the conference.
Lots of Books!
For me one of the great blessings of a gathering like this is in being able to peruse the wares of all the book vendors. I picked up two helpful volumes on family discipleship: (1) Family Religion, by Matthew Henry (Christian Focus Publications), and (2) The Godly Home, by Richard Baxter (Crossway). Both are reprints from the Puritan era and contain a wealth of practical instruction. Here are a few thoughtful quotes on training children from Matthew Henry,
“Let parents and governors of families make conscience of instructing their children, and servants, in the forms of sound words…Tell them why you read the Bible with so much veneration…Tell them why you make conscience praying to God so solemnly every day…Tell them why you observe the Lord’s day, and make such a difference between that and other days…Especially tell them of their baptism…Tell them of the corruption of their nature, which needed cleansing; and of the grace of God in Christ, in which there is cleansing virtue.” (Matthew Henry, Family Religion, 92)
“It is good to have an interest in the prayers of those who are of the spiritual seed of Jacob, that seek God and know how to wrestle with him, and to improve that interest for ourselves and our children…A treasury of prayers laid up for our children may stand them in better stead than thousands of pieces of gold and silver laid up for them.” (Matthew Henry, Family Religion, 99)
This is good and earnest advice from a godly man. I thank God for the CHEF Conference and the abundant resources and wise speakers that are made available every year.
–Pastor Marcus Serven
Covenant Family Church is a conservative, Bible-believing, and elder-governed congregation located in Wentzville, MO which seeks to evangelize the lost and equip those who have been converted to walk worthy of their calling in Christ. 
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church continues to be vigorous in its defense and propagation of the historic Christian faith, particularly as it was articulated by the Protestant Reformers of the 16-17th centuries. 
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