Speakers & Seminars
Sherry Schumann
Sherry Schumann is the Director of the Christian Grandparenting Network and has the privilege of helping grandparents leave a legacy of faith in Jesus to their grandchildren and the generations following them. She is an author, blogger, and frequent speaker. She and her husband, Sammy, live in rural South Carolina, have three married sons and seven grandchildren.
Seminars offered by Sherry
As grandparents, many of us have bought the cultural lie that we are inconsequential in the lives of our children and grandchildren. This lie tells us to retire to “leisureville.” It tells us that, if we want a relationship with our grandchildren, we need to provide expensive presents and fancy trips. Nothing, however, is further from the Truth.
Join Sherry Schumann as she digs into Scripture and uncovers what the Bible says about our role as grandparents. Discover what it means to leave a Gospel shaped Legacy. Learn practical ways to share your faith stories with your grandchildren, offer them the gift of the spoken blessing, and commit yourselves as prayer warriors interceding regularly on their behalf.
Scripture tells us, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Why, then, do so many believers feel as though their prayers are powerless and ineffective?
Join Sherry Schumann for a one-or-two-day retreat as she digs into God’s Word and examines ways to step up our prayer life, thereby unleashing the power or prayer. This retreat features sis 45-minute sessions, which include the following topics: Intimacy with the Savior, Intimacy with the Holy Spirit, Hindrances to Our Approach to Prayer, Hindrances to the Work of Prayer, Intercessory Prayer and Prayers of Thanksgiving and Adoration. This retreat can be customized to fit your time frame.
Grab your Bible and favorite jammies and join us for a grandmother’s overnight. Whether your grandchildren call you Grandma, Gram or Nana, you’ll enjoy engaging with other grandmothers as you explore God’s call for this season of life.
Signature features of a Grandma’s Gathering include an intimate setting limited to a maximum of twenty-five attendees, Scripture based teaching, engaging discussions, heartfelt connections, devoted times of prayer, and snacks galore!
Sherry Schumann currently offers three Grandma’s Gatherings from which you can choose: Creating a Legacy for Your Grandchildren, Unleashing the Power of Prayer, and Shepherding Your Grandchildren According to Psalm 23.
David, the Shepherd-King, penned the twenty-third psalm approximately 1000 years before our Savior’s birth. Despite its age, this beloved psalm is as pertinent and timely today as it was 3000 years ago.
Join Sherry Schumann for this one-or-two-day conference as she digs into Psalm 23, verse-by-verse. Look at King David’s words through a shepherd’s eyes. Learn about the work of a shepherd, the characteristics of sheep, the unique relationship between a shepherd and his sheep, and how this relationship serves as a metaphor for our own relationship with God. Carry this metaphor one-step further and discover godly ways to shepherd your grandchildren and lead them to Christ.This conference can be customized to fit your time frame.
Josh Mulvihill
Dr. Josh Mulvihill is the Executive Director of Church and Family Ministry at Renewanation, served as a pastor for nearly 20 years, has a PhD in Family Ministry, serves as the Chairmen on the board of Awana, is the author or editor of ten books on parenting and grandparenting including Biblical Grandparenting, Discipling Your Grandchildren, and Grandparenting and is in high demand as a speaker.
Seminars offered by Josh
The Biblical Grandparenting Seminar includes four sessions, one workshop, and a Q&A panel. Your church can host the seminar to help grandparents capture a biblical vision for their God-designed role, learn practical strategies to strengthen family relationships, study key Scriptural principles about how to disciple a grandchild, and discuss common challenges many grandparents face. It is designed to encourage and equip grandparents to pass on a legacy of faith in Christ to future generations. It is available in two different formats, an in-person seven hour conference or an on-demand digital download that equips you to teach grandparents.
The topics for the seminar include:
- Vision: What’s the Big Deal About Grandparenting?
- Influence: Rejecting the Cultural Messages About Grandparenting
- Foundation: Understanding the Biblical Role of Grandparenting
- Application: Discipling Grandchildren: 8 Biblical Methods Every Grandparent Can Do
- Obstacles: Q&A Panel.
- Blessing & Commitment: Becoming an Intentional Christian Grandparent
Dr. Mulvihill regularly speaks on worldview and apologetic as a single seminar, half day, or full day conference. In these seminars, participants learn what worldview is, why it matters and how to help a child or grandchild develop a biblical worldview by teaching four foundational biblical truths. Participants will learn to identify strong cultural messages that threaten to distort and destroy faith in Christ. These seminars will help individuals gain confidence and equip them to have intentional conversations so that children and grandchildren develop a deep, lasting, and culture transforming faith.
Seminar options include:
- 4 Reasons Why Every Child Needs to Develop a Biblical Worldview
- Navigating Culture with a Biblical Worldview
- How to Help Children Understand and Defend Their Faith
Janine McNally
Originally a high school teacher in her native Australia, Janine McNally has partnered with her husband for many years of pastoral ministry. Janine graduated with a Master of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Grace School of Theology. She passionately believes in reaching kids for Jesus and enlightening leaders, parents, and grandparents about Generation Alpha. Janine and Gary were married in 1995 and live in Panama City, Florida. They are the parents of three grown children: Hannah (married to Kevin), Jonathan, and Jami, and grandparents to Garyson, Hunter, and Emerson. She led Equipping Fireflies, a non-profit dedicated to providing gospel-centered resources for children, and is the author of When You See Fireflies: Equipping Leaders and Parents to Minister Effectively to Generation Alpha. Janine joined the Renewanation team in 2025 and speaks, writes, and provides leadership to the blogs at familyministry.org and christiangrandparenting.com.
Seminars offered by Janine
Most parents desire to nurture faith in their children yet confess to feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. Providing parents with resources is only a part of the job. A more complete and effective strategy involves much more. To truly partner with them, we must first earn their trust and then equip and train them to disciple their children. They need encouragement and support, and then we need to engage them as a family. This session will provide practical suggestions to successfully navigate each of these key components of an effective ministry.
To reach Generation Alpha, we must adapt our teaching style to be more active, interactive, and learner-centric. The old linear monologue approach will not engage this highly visual and diverse group. How can we be more prescriptive and less descriptive? How can we facilitate doing and experiencing by using questions, stories, serving, and fun to become more relevant and effective? It’s facilitating instead of lecturing, active instead of passive learning, and stimulating their inquisitive minds rather than spoon-feeding. With their limited attention spans, we must teach them well. This new generation doesn’t respond well to old teaching methods. How can we adapt to better meet their needs?
How can we increase family engagement by encouraging parents with support and equipping them with resources? Make the most of every opportunity by celebrating milestones and prioritizing family events. You will leave this breakout with practical suggestions that you can immediately apply so that you are not just relying on those take-home pages that end up scattered in the church hallway or email newsletters that are never read. Desperate parents are frustrated and fearful, ill-equipped and unprepared, and looking for help from the church. The church is beginning to acknowledge the need to collaborate with parents; however, research shows that current efforts are inadequate. We must find a way to support them when they feel overwhelmed, anxious, fearful, or unsure about navigating their children’s challenges.
The final years a child spends in grade school might be the most critical. The preteen years are a “magical age” as the brain becomes malleable again and undergoes a significant transformation in preparation for adulthood. Monumental developmental shifts are taking place as they transition from concrete to abstract thinking and decide what information is necessary and what can be eliminated. This is the age when the questions begin. How can we minister to this age group so their cognitive “pruning” doesn’t involve their relationship with God?
We have assumed that children leave the church when they enter college, but statistics show that it is much earlier. The preteen and middle school years are especially critical because these are the years when the questions begin. The first fourteen years of life are a time of great receptivity, but the preteen years might actually be the most receptive of all and might be the last chance to curb this ebbing tide of unbelief.
It just might be the most critical time of our lives for influence. If you were to look at a scan of a two or three-year-old’s brain and compare it to an 11-year-old’s; the scans will look very similar. A toddler is beginning to learn while a preteen is transitioning to their teen years.
Family ministry is the goal, but are we succeeding? Parents are desperate for help from the church or others. They know that the primary responsibility of discipling their kids is theirs, but a lack of knowledge, time, or spiritual understanding leaves them fearful and overwhelmed. How can we help equip, encourage, and support them in their role? Without the family’s backing, children have little hope of succeeding either in life or spiritually. We need the help of the parents, and they need us. How do we build that critical connection with families which is essential to the long-lasting success of the kids in our families and ministries?
Generation Z has aged out, and Gen Alpha is now our ministry, but do we know them? Born into a world of ever-changing technology, a worldwide pandemic, and dysfunctional families, they have unique needs that have never been seen in previous cohorts. Who are they, and how can we effectively minister to them? We can’t hope to reach them if we don’t first seek first to understand them. The biggest mistake we can make is to keep repeating the same programs year after year with no adjustment for our unique audience.
Research tells us that families feel that the church has lost its relevance. They have lost their trust in an institution that has become known for its politics and abuse, and many no longer believe in God, as evidenced by their dwindling attendance. How can we reverse these frightening statistics? We are losing families at an unthinkable rate. How is it possible that they think that the church is irrelevant, untrustworthy, and unnecessary? We must do something!
How do we cater to Alpha’s constant engagement with technology? Is there a way to incorporate a healthy balance in our home or ministry? Pretending it’s going away is naive. Technology is here to stay, and we must equip our children and their families to engage with social media and YouTube from a biblical perspective. Technology surrounds us, and we must incorporate it into our ministry, engage with our kids, and help them create a healthy balance.
Who is Generation Alpha, and how are they unique from previous generations? Where do you want your child or grandchild to be in 20 years, and how can we parent/grandparent so that the ultimate goal of knowing Jesus is reached? Most parents/grandparents tend towards being either “tigers” or “helicopters” out of fear for their child’s future. What are the warning signs and consequences of each, and how can we exchange our fear for trust?
It’s easy to lose sight of our priority amid unrelenting tasks and responsibilities. We must keep the gospel central and ensure our presentation is clear, concise, and consistent. How well-trained are you, leaders? Are they prepared to share their faith?
Paul and Diana Miller
Throughout 50+ years of marriage, Paul and Diana have gained unique experiences as university, elementary and early childhood educators and as Bible teachers to senior adults and children. The Millers have three adult children and spouses as well as 11 grandchildren. Since 2013, they have been deeply involved with CGN’s GrandCamp ministry as participants, speakers, and coaches, and are now serving as GrandCamp Coordinators. The Millers’ books, A Guide to Great Grandparenting and A Parents’ Guide to Great GrandPartnering, describe why grandparents and parents can benefit from positive adult-to-adult relationships and explain how to build and maintain them in the context of “The Family Trinity.”
Seminars offered by the Millers
This concept describes the relationships, roles, and responsibilities in three-generation families. A new Family Trinity begins when a couple becomes parents and is complete when their children have children. The family enjoys great benefits when God is at its center and everyone seeks to follow His will. A family that understands the Trinity can maximize its love for and ministry to others while minimizing conflict and other issues.
The Family Trinity concept shows that parents should instruct their children what to do and how to do it and may apply discipline to ensure they learn. As their offspring mature toward and into adulthood, wise parents change to coaching them by asking questions, making suggestions, and standing aside without discipline. Wise grandparents teach their grandchildren by modeling God-honoring wisdom and behavior while respecting the parents’ instructional goals.
Some grandparents understandably but mistakenly focus primarily on the grandchildren. Instead, they best help the family by having a mature adult-to-adult relationship with the parents that supports their efforts without undermining or contradiction. As a simple example, thoughtful grandparents show respect for the parents when they initiate their phone calls by asking them how they are doing before inquiring about the grandchildren.
This concept identifies four possible categories of relationships between grandparents and parents. The best situations are created when grandparents fully release the parents to be independent adults and the parents fully embrace their independence. Difficulties arise when grandparents do not release their adult children and/or when adult children choose to remain dependent. Families who understand this matrix are more likely to enjoy positive relationships while avoiding conflicts.
Some grandparents mistakenly believe it’s suitable for them to inundate their grandchildren with gifts even though doing so can harm the parents’ relationships with the grandchildren. Rather, it’s far better when the grandparents are thoughtfully generous instead of selfishly lavish. Other conflicts can be avoided when grandparents don’t break the parents’ rules when they’re baby-sitting and when parents don’t exhaust the grandparents’ goodwill and energy by requesting their help too frequently.
Parents and grandparents who have God-driven adult-to-adult relationships can cooperate in helping the grandchildren become Christ-following adults. The two generations will benefit from clear communications about the parents’ goals for their children, their teaching strategies, their other challenges, and their expectations about how the grandparents can help. Likewise, parents should respect the grandparents’ needs to conserve time and energy for non-family activities.
Although the word “boundaries” may suggest that conflict exists, establishing mutually agreed-upon expectations always promotes harmonious and productive relationships. Our guidance can help both generations create and operate within loving limits and thus avoid imposition, misunderstanding and other uncomfortable outcomes. For example, wise grandparents avoid making the parents look ungenerous by asking for and honoring their requests for the gifts they want their children to receive.
Adult children and their parents are wise when they build mutually beneficial relationships between them before grandchildren arrive. Doing so leads to smoother transitions into helpful grandparent-parent relationships. Of course, their relationships must continue growing and deepening, eventually preparing both of them for the “role-reversal” stage when grandparents need their adult children to assist them in many different ways
All families face the possibility of encountering one or more of the “Destructive ‘D’ Factors,” such as disability, disease, deployment, death, and divorce.
Many grandparents are challenged (and rewarded with great blessings) by adapting to unfamiliar situations, such as when their adult children marry someone from a different background, adopt a child, or have a child with special needs. These events give grandparents wonderful opportunities to show extra grace and understanding, as well as love, patience, flexibility and generosity. We know from personal experience that the end results are amazing!
