Adults who teach, work with and minister to children met at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center this summer to learn a few things of their own.
Approximately 475 day-care, preschool and Mother’s Day Out directors, teachers and committee members attended the 30th annual Children’s Weekday Education (CWE) Summer Leadership Training Retreat June 7 and 8.
“The theme this year was an American Expedition. We thought that was important considering all that’s happened in our nation,” program director Jim Swedenburg said.
Rob Morrow from LifeWay Christian Stores was the weekend’s guest speaker addressing the topic of children’s issues and trends.
“What we tried to do was to provide teaching experience for teachers of preschoolers from birth through five-year-olds, and … we provided a conference on safety, security, teaching skills, general weekday education administration skills, family and discipline,” Swedenburg said.
Receiving certification
The Department of Human Resources of Alabama requires two hours of training in each of these areas. Participants could receive up to 10 hours of DHR-approved training in all required areas.
Participants, who traveled from all over the southeast to be a part of this retreat, could choose to participate in eight sessions from numerous options. There was also a director’s reception and listening sessions, and everyone was invited to attend the bonus night owl session.
Conference speaker Terri Hunnicutt said the most important piece of information she learned was that there are a lot of people who find it important to teach young children that God made them and loves them.
“We’re a ministry, and that makes a difference in what children [learn at] our preschool,” said Hunnicutt, preschool director at Valley View Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa. “It was wonderful to be among all those other people who felt the same way.”
Jennifer Bain, children’s librarian at the Trussville Public Library and a conference leader, said the support of the other participants in exchanging information and ideas made the retreat an enjoyable experience.
Good communication
Debbie Barton, director of the Mother’s Day Out program at First Baptist Church, Decatur, spoke at the conference and agreed that sharing information with other directors was probably the most important reason to attend.
“I enjoy the conference every year,” Barton added. “And as I tell many of the people who attend my seminar, it’s not the kind of conference where you can remember everything you’ve been told — even though you’d like to — and so we always try to encourage everyone to come year after year because you take away something new every year.”
Barton said she has some staff members who have been to as many as six or seven CWE conferences and some that were attending for the first time this year. But she added that everyone comes away with good thoughts and motivation.
“We take the summer off in our program, and so a lot of them will come back with a renewed commitment to what they’re actually trying to accomplish with the children, and that’s a good feeling,” she said.
“This was probably one of our best conferences ever,” Swedenburg said. “The attendance throughout the workshop was about even in every session. We’ve never had that before. … We accomplished our mission.”
The retreat was sponsored by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
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