Encouraging Families
Join us for our next Family Conference
Fri 20–Sat 21 June 2025 (Matariki Weekend)
Matariki Conference
A short mid-year conference for Encouraging Current and Prospective Homeschooling Families
All families welcome!
20–21 June 2025
Starts 9am Friday, finishes 5pm Saturday
Beulah Acres Christian Events Centre, Cheltenham
RegisterFamily Conference
A Conference for Encouraging Current and Prospective Homeschooling Families
All families welcome!
Thu 8 – Sun 11 January 2026
Foxton Bible Camp
RegisterYouth Conference
Equipping young people with a Biblical mindset
For young people aged 14-25
Sun 11 – Wed 14 January 2025
Beulah Acres Christian Events Centre, Cheltenham
Register2025 Conference Theme
—James 1:2–4
Our theme for our 2025 Family Conference is: “Count It All Joy.” It can be easy to get discouraged as we face difficulties in life and see the challenges our culture is facing. God’s desire for us as believers is that we lift our eyes off of ourselves and our circumstances and look to Him. Instead of just enduring the trials of life, Christ actually calls us to count these tests as joy!
How can we be joyful in the midst of hardship and why should we count these trials as joy? Because God wants to conform us into the image of Christ through the temporal suffering we are going through. We are able to experience joy even in our affliction, because we know He is doing an eternal work in our lives! II Corinthians 4:17 says: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” God shapes us more into the image of His Son as we respond rightly to the irritations and tests we face in life by counting them all joy, through His divine enablement.
Jesus told His disciples in John 16:33 that in the world they would have tribulation. But then He tells them what their response should be: “but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
As believers, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Even in the midst of persecution, rejection, and trials, we can rejoice because Christ has overcome the world and He dwells in us!
We trust your family will be encouraged and challenged at the 2025 Family Conferences through the engaging messages and meaningful fellowship to look to the Lord and experience His super-abounding joy even in the midst of trials!
Family discipleship and
Encouragement for the whole Family
The purpose of our Family Conferences is for encouraging current, veteran and prospective home-schooling families to come along and fellowship with like-minded people who desire to train their children in a Biblical worldview.
Our conferences are focused on family discipleship and character building in a way that is designed to help encourage parents in their journey.
Find out moreSpeakers
Each year we are blessed to hear from speakers who encourage us in our walk with christ and our commission to train our children. These are some of the speakers we have had at previous conferences, check back soon for details on what’s coming up!
Gabriel Cleator
Pastor (online speaker)
Gabriel (or Gabe) is passionate about living all of life for his saviour, something that he communicates with contagious enthusiasm. He exhorts both young and old to walk closely with Jesus Christ in a way that is clear and animated. Gabe and his wife Sara reside in Big Sandy, Texas, where they are involved in ministries to families.
John Huffman
Pastor (online speaker)
As a boy, John developed a love for the Character Sketches series. Through these volumes, the Lord instilled into John a deep interest in the animal kingdom and in Biblical and historical biographies. As a pastor, John especially enjoys preaching through the biographies of the Bible. He and his wife, Katie, have one daughter, Ruth. John and Katie publish a monthly biographical sketch, the “Mighty Men Herald.” John had the privilege of helping Dan Pinkerton do research for the Idaho Wildlife Museum. This research has turned into the book which he and Dan co-authored, “Legacy of Character.” (See idahowm.org.) John and Katie are currently helping Christian families preserve their own personal stories of God’s goodness for coming generations. “The father to the children shall make known thy truth” (Isaiah 38:19).
David York
Pastor (online speaker)
A faithful pastor, husband, and father. David York is passionate about using Biblical principles to bring forth God-honouring fruit. He is married to Brenda, his high school sweetheart, and together, they have eight children. God took him through a journey of training from the University of Michigan, to Dallas Theological Seminary and Trinity Divinity School. Today, Pastor York lives in Wisconsin where he pastors a church and loves being a grandpa to 14 grandchildren.
Aaron Baker
Pastor (online speaker)
Aaron Baker’s vision is to lay a foundation of Godly music that will stand the test of generations. He appreciates his rich ancestry of dedicated church workers and his love of music from an early age. Aaron has been on faculty at three Bible colleges and holds degrees both in theology and sacred music. He has ministered on mission trips in various countries, including Africa, China, Belarus, the Philippines, Mexico, and Jamaica. Currently, Aaron and his wife and their six children enjoy singing, conducting Bible Clubs, visiting national parks, and serving in their local church. He is the producer of multiple albums, continues his teaching through Baker Music Studio, and serves as Assistant Pastor at Central Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS.