For those of you who missed #CCEF2023, or this year’s Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation Conference, below are summaries of the main sessions. This year’s theme was “Trauma: How God’s Light Breaks into Our Deepest Darkness.” I hope these summaries will be a blessing to you. The conference audio is now available for purchase here.
Ed Welch – General Session 1 – When Death Intrudes
“There is no dark corner in human experience where Christ has not gone—both on His way to the cross and on His way to finding you.” – Ed Welch
Julie Lowe and Darby Strickland – General Session 2 – The Experience of Trauma
“While the experience of trauma says you are alone, that things will not get better, that you are engulfed in darkness, we must keep in front of us that Jesus knows what it is like and he is with us. He is the light. And so we grieve, but we grieve with hope.” – Darby Strickland and Julie Lowe
Darby Strickland – General Session 3 – Vigilance and the Invitation to Vulnerability
“There is something to see, something more significant than the reality of terror on every side: a God who loves us and is more protective and powerful than any scary thing.” – Darby Strickland
Mike Emlet – General Session 4 – Trauma and the Body
“In helping traumatized individuals, we don’t want to care well for the soul but ignore the body. Nor do we want to care well for the body but ignore the soul. As we see in scripture, body and soul are inextricably linked. And so our approach to sufferers must be wholistic.” – Mike Emlet
Julie Lowe – General Session 5 – Growing in Hope
“The wrong hope will inform how you think about your circumstances and it will leave you in pieces. Or Christ your real hope will find you in pieces and move you toward an unmovable peace.” – Julie Lowe
Ed Welch – General Session 6 – The Church as a Place of Healing
“How can your church be a place of healing?… One of the pleasures of living in God’s house is that there is no such thing as being stagnant. How do you want to grow?” – Ed Welch
Alasdair Groves – General Session 7 – Trauma Will Not Have the Last Word
“A day is coming for us when there will not even be a doubt… not even a wondering if the love of Jesus for you is more deep and high and wide and long than you can possibly fathom.” – Alasdair Groves
