General Session Links

Join General Sessions 15-min early to enjoy inspiring videos and updates of children served worldwide.

Wednesday, September 15: 3:00pm - 4:00pm

Cross Worship | Jason Weber, CAFO, Emcee | Diego Fuller, Speaker and Artist, Emcee | Jedd Medefind, CAFO

WED GENERAL SESSION

Wednesday, September 15: 7:30pm - 9:00pm

Cross Worship | Brian Fikkert, The Chalmers Center | Paris Goodyear, Speaker, Author and Clinician and Steven Curtis Chapman

WED GENERAL SESSION

Thursday, September 16: 8:30am - 9:00am

Matt Redman, Worship Leader and Songwriter | Kondo Simfukwe, Pastor, Mission Point Communty Church

THURS GENERAL SESSION

Thursday, September 16: 7:00pm - 8:45pm

Cross Worship | Jedd Medefind, CAFO | Johnna Murray, Palmer Home Family Care | DJ Jordan, Pinkston Public Relations Lea Wright, Hope for the Fatherless | Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule | Kevan Chandler, We Carry Kevan and Matt Redman, Worship Leader and Songwriter

THURS GENERAL SESSION

Friday, September 17: 11:00am - 12:30pm

Cross Worship | Beth Guckenberger, Back2Back | Bishop Blake, Pastor, Greater Faith Community Church Jedd Medefind, CAFO

In the book, The Great Divorce, CS Lewis’ imaginative portrait of hell contains no horns or pitchforks. Rather, what gives the netherworld such horror is the utter separation. Its residents are eternally divided from their Creator and one another. Unable to bear with others, they move continually further apart.

This fanciful image reveals a fundamental truth. The nature of evil is to sunder. It divides humans from their Maker… severs people from one another… and ultimately leaves us estranged even from ourselves. Separated. Alone. Without.

Indeed, there is nothing worse. The deepest suffering is not physical pain, but isolation — a soul with recourse to no other.

Little wonder COVID has left us deeply off-kilter and ill-at-ease. COVID has eroded human togetherness like nothing before. Amid all the losses of 2020, the heaviest were those that kept us from being with those we love. Perhaps more than we yet know, our souls languish without hugs and handshakes, shared worship and shared meals, times to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. To the degree that we found ways to still do these things, we yet could thrive amidst struggle. To the degree we did not, we began to shrivel.

Without fellowship, humans wither. A century ago, careful observers noticed that when orphanages failed to provide babies with intimate connection, children became sick and died, even when all their physical needs were met. In contrast, studies show that when a child experiences tender care and connection, they are far more likely to thrive all throughout life — even in the face of great adversity.

This need never disappears. One landmark 2015 review found that for adults, the regular experience of loneliness shortens life expectancy as much as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Even in old age, people with vibrant relationships remain measurably stronger, while those without fellowship decline far more rapidly, both physically and cognitively.

Seeing all this, we begin to grasp why Scripture places such powerful emphasis on being with. Near. Close. Intimate. In the Garden, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening (Gen. 3:8). In Jesus, He became flesh and made his dwelling with us (John 1:14). In the end, He will again live with His people (Rev. 21:3).

Perhaps it is no exaggeration to suggest the word WITH is an axis upon which all Scripture turns.

This begins with our understanding of God himself. For the Christian, blazing at the very center of all reality is the Trinity: the eternal fellowship of Father with Son with Holy Spirit.

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FAMILIES OVERCOMING ADVERSITY SUPPORTIVE CHURCHES AND COMMUNITIES

Children and families in your local community are in need of your help, but loving your neighbor isn’t something you have to do alone. An entire network of people who care are ready to serve with you and help meet needs for vulnerable kids and families through CarePortal.

Stop by our booth located by the CAFO bookstore to learn how CarePortal can expand your outreach with the simple click of a button!

100,000+ children served nationwide by local churches through CarePortal 3,000+ active church response teams $33M+ economic impact preventing costly, devastating outcomes