From April 2018, we started planning for the "IGNITE" Marriage Transformation Conference, which was the fifth conference hosted by the LiftingHands Network and also a continuation of the 2017 "Healing the Hurt in Your Marriages" Conference. Therefore, we thought it won’t be that difficult to hold the IGNITE Conference. But that was not the case. First of all, the church in Kaohsiung which we have prior experience co-organizing such event was unable to assist because they were running a school of their own. We eventually found Fengshan Living Spring Bread of Life Church, which also had a burden towards ministry related to marriage. Churches from Taipei that had been the most supportive in the past also had difficulty co-organizing with us. God provided Grace Baptist Church which was willing to let us use their facility.  Due to all these situations and not having a set place to have the Conference, the publicity for the event was delayed. Our staff  went from one regional prayer meeting to another, attending a total of 45 large and small meetings. One more snag that we ran into was the organization that had usually provided free conference’s video recording & post production assistance could not help this year. We didn’t want to give up the production of DVD. Our co-worker, Joyce, introduced a young and energetic company, Eternal Film Production. With all these obstacles, many friends were trying to be kind, saying that maybe this meant that Lifting Hands Network was not to host such a Conference.

        Thank God! "IGNITE” Marriage Transformation Conference was held as scheduled, and had a great impact on all the participants! A total of 215 people registered in Taipei, and 147 people registered in Kaohsiung, totaling 362 people. Although the total number of people enrolled was 170 fewer than the "Healing the Pain in Marriages" Conference, the number of people who participated in the evening session, "Effective Help for Needy People" were two hundred people more than the previous year. The total number of counties and cities that participated in the Conference was 15 (Ilan County, Hualien County, Taitung City, Keelung City, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu City, Zhubei City, Nantou County, Miaoli County, Tainan City, Chiayi County, Kaohsiung City, Pingtung City), the highest in history. IGNITE is a course designed for couples to interact. We had hoped that every county and city in Taiwan will host such a conference. We believe God heard our prayers as He brought people from so many different counties and cities to attend.

        Every day during the Conference, Jane would hear such positive comments from attendees and pastors: "Thank you for doing this for the churches." Many pastors told us that they liked "IGNITE", and that it was practical and deep. They were very happy that they came. One person said, “Originally I was hesitant, not expecting too much, because I have participated in quite a lot of marriage courses... but this was one of the best.” Some pastors thanked us for coming to the Prayer Council to let them know about the Conference. Finally, one more positive comment from another pastor: "Thank you for calling me specifically and telling me that I can participate in this course." A sister who had spent a great amount of money for marriage counseling and did not experience any great improvement, thanked Rex as she asked many questions during the Conference and found the information to be extremely helpful.

        Maybe you are concerned regarding the financing of the conference since we charged such a low fee with such a low enrollment. Were we able to break even? I would like to thank the 41 participants of the Conference for accepting the invitation to become donors. Each of them was willing to donate US$200 a year to support Lifting Hands Network. We also took up an evening offering. Thus, I am joyous and grateful to report that we came out even.

        By the way, I would like to share some good news. Originally, due to the low purchase rate of male readers in Taiwan, we had planned to stop publication of "For Men Only". After the two Conferences in the North and South, we received commitment from individuals to purchase a set number of this. Thus, we are no longer considering dropping this publication. In fact, we are in the process of signing a new contract. Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving:

1. In Taitung on 7/13 the "Walk out of Grief" Workshop will be held, followed by the “Group Crisis Intervention” Course on 9/2-3.

2. On 10/26 in Shulin county of New Taipei City we will host the “Walk out of Grief” Workshop.

3. In March and April, three “Group Crisis Interventions” Courses held in Kaohsiung, Taipei and Shulin were all well received. The participants said that this course was really important and would recommend friends to participate.

4. Several pastors in Hsinchu City are interested in co-organizing the “Walk out of Grief” Workshop.

Prayer Request:

1. The post production of the "IGNITE" DVD will go smoothly and be published as scheduled.

2. The translation of the whole year curriculum of "IGNITE" will go successful.

3. For each church that launched "IGNITE", the marriage of brothers and sisters in Christ will improve, and non-Christian couples in the church community will walk into the church to attend the course.

4. The proofreading and refinement of "Take Your Life Back: How to Stop Letting the Past and Other People Control You" will continue smoothly. Every translation error will be modified.

5. May God raise more county and city prayer meetings that are willing to co-organize the “Walk out of Grief” Workshop and the “Group Crisis Intervention” course.