A special conference on marriage and family for Asian Americans has drawn the attention of this expanding group in the Chinese churches in Bay Area.
Organized by the Christian-based outreach organization Ministries for English Speaking Asians (MESA) in collaboration with a number of big Chinese churches in Bay Area- Bay Area Chinese Bible Church, Chinese Independent Baptist Church (CIBC) and Christian Layman Church- the one-day event aims to strengthen couples in the Asian American community to tackle various common marriage and family issues. Married, engaged, or dating couples are all welcomed.
The conference is backed by many renowned Christian groups supporting Asian American ministries, such as Asian American Center, American Baptist Seminary of the West (ABSW) and Navigators Asian American Ministries.
The founding pastor of the Evergreen Baptist Church in San Gabriel Valley Cory Ishida is invited as the plenary speaker. Evergreen Baptist Church is one of the Asian American churches with mainly English-speaking congregation and a mixed community of Asian ethnic groups.
The conference consists of workshops with specific themes addressed by different speaker who has much expertise and experiences on that field.
Concerning the relationship between spouses, Art Hom, an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF Department of Psychiatry, will be speaking about the biblical roles of a husband and wife, the five basic needs of men and women in marriage and tie to basic personalities to understand how to best relate as spouses. Lay leaders from CIBC, Wing and Teresa Eng, will share their opinions as well. In another workshop called "Conflict Management," Pastor Jason Kim from CIBC will give tips to couples on how to resolve conflicts with the reference to the biblical teaching.
In terms of parenting, Reuel and Corinna Calica will help young parents to discover simple and practical ways for relating wisely to toddler and preschooler. Reuel is the senior pastor of the Faith Bible Church in Vallejo. Corinna is Adjunct Faculty/Assistant Director Children's Programs at Solano Community College.
Rev Louis Lee, general director of MESA and the chief coordinator of the conference, will speak on the theme "Helping Our Kids Become the Best Students."
Victor Quon will discuss the theme "Teen Spirituality," exploring how the so-called "Millennial Generation" experiences faith nowadays and how parents can guide with them in the journey. Victor Quon is the Executive Director of the Malachi 4.6 Network which was created to train, teach and mentor second generation Asians to empower them to impact their peers for Christ.
The conference is to be hosted at the Redwood Chapel, Castro Valley, on Feb. 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For registration details, please refer to the website: http://www.mesanetwork.org/.
