FamilyLife Celebrates 30 Years of Helping to Build Stronger Families

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 4, 2007—FamilyLife is starting the New Year by celebrating the completion of a major milestone-30 years in ministry. The organization is heading into 2007 with the same kinds of ambitious outreach efforts that have made it one of the nation's top family ministries, by hosting hundreds of Weekend to Remember marriage conferences across the country while maintaining a busy broadcast schedule for its radio programs, continuing efforts to help orphans around the world, and providing a myriad of helpful resources designed to help strengthen families.

Starting with just a handful of employees in 1976, FamilyLife now operates on a $44 million budget, employs a full-time staff of 480, and utilizes a network of more than 10,000 couples who serve as ministry volunteers. FamilyLife also produces six radio programs, including the award-winning FamilyLife Today which airs daily on 942 stations and reaches a weekly audience of 1.5 million.

Campus Crusade for Christ initially developed this ministry as a way to provide pre-marriage seminars for its staff members.  FamilyLife later opened its conferences to the public, using God's plan to help transform millions of marriages and families across America and around the world.

"My wife and I went to a conference because we thought it would be just good preventive medicine for our marriage and it was probably the largest dose of practical biblical application for marriage and family that I've ever been exposed to," said Steve Robinson, who attended his first Weekend to Remember conference 20 years ago. Robinson and his wife have become such enthusiastic FamilyLife supporters that they have offered scholarships to help other couples attend Weekend to Remember conferences, including their own children when they got married. "My kids aren't easily impressed, but they liked it so much they wanted to invite another young couple to go - which tells me a lot about the relevance of the conference."

During the past 30 years, some 1.5 million people have attended regional FamilyLife marriage and parenting conferences and even more have used FamilyLife resources like the HomeBuilders Couples Series and the Homebuilders Parenting Series. FamilyLife President Dennis Rainey has also written (or co-authored with his wife, Barbara) 18 books, including Building Your Mate's Self-Esteem, Moments Together for Couples, Parenting Today's Adolescent, and Staying Close.

"We've been so blessed in our ministry to be able to spend the past 30 years equipping husbands, wives, moms, and dads to build relationships and families around God's blueprints," said Rainey. "I'm convinced that FamilyLife's best years are yet to come!"

BRIEF HISTORY

• 1976-Campus Crusade for Christ creates Family Ministry
   
• 1980-Dennis Rainey named as director of Family Ministry
   
• 1986-Release of the popular HomeBuilders Couples Series
   
• 1992-Launch of the award-winning FamilyLife Today radio program
   
• 1994-Family Ministry becomes FamilyLife
   
• 2003-FamilyLife establishes Hope for Orphans
   
• 2006-FamilyLife celebrates 30 years of ministry
   

For more information about FamilyLife, including upcoming conferences, broadcast schedules, and various online resources available to help build strong homes, visit www.FamilyLife.com.

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