Large pieces of paper covered the meeting room walls in sketches and love stories at the conclusion of the Mississippi Baptist African American Marriage Retreat.
Each layer of pages started with the words “I love when my spouse…” followed by admiring statements such as, “prays for me,” “travels with me,” “sees me off to work,” “offers to help me” and “tells me how proud she is of me.”
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The April 24–25 retreat at Lake Tiak-O’Khata was led by Brian Crawford, lead pastor of City Light Church, Vicksburg, and president of Mission Mississippi. He was joined by his wife, Candi, a licensed professional counselor.
Although the Crawfords often minister to other couples through such events, they emphasize their deepest experience comes from their own marriage and walk with Christ. After 23 years of marriage, the couple refers to themselves “not as the experts, but as fellow practitioners.”
“One of the reasons why marriage matters so deeply to us is because we have seen marriages crumbling all around us,” said Brian Crawford. “We have seen marriages crumbling openly and we have seen marriages crumbling very quietly to the point where you are just living together because you understand that to be the right thing to do.”
From years of Bible study and content collected for conferences, the Crawfords composed a workbook titled “Reflect/Refresh: A Marriage Journey.” This retreat was the first time the workbook was utilized.
The spiral book includes fill-in-the-blank notes, journaling exercises, group activities, commitment scorecards, and a post-journey link for accountability with other participants.
The post-journey link will assist participants in following through with their commitments for six months after the retreat.
“The whole purpose of this post-journey opportunity is to create accountability in this room and continue to sharpen one another and push one another on to greater works as it relates to our marriages,” affirmed Brian Crawford.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lindsey Carraway and originally published by the Baptist Record.
