Ten years ago, Dan and I had the privilege of doing our very first all-day Marriage Conference. It was in the spring of 2012. It was at the church we were attending. This is where we started our 16-week dance ministry small group.
For our weekly class, we teach a lesson on a principle we have learned in ballroom dancing and how it illustrates what a Godly marriage should look like. We then teach couples basic ballroom dance steps.
For the marriage conference, we take those 16 lessons and put them into a one-day event. We add dance lessons in the mix along with lunch and dinner. Then as a finale, we have a cake reception with a playlist of romantic music for the attendees to practice the steps they learned that day.
What Dan and I liked about the one-day conference is many more can attend a one-day event versus a 16-week class. This especially works well for young married couples.
We have to say, with this being our very first marriage conference, it was a success. We had lots of positive feedback. It was a lot of fun and you could tell the couples attending really enjoyed the day.
What impacted me personally was the day after the conference. The next morning, Dan and I were attending our weekly Sunday school marriage enrichment class. Many couples in Sunday School class attended the conference. One of the leaders in the class began to share about her and her husband’s conference experience. Her name was Shirley. Shirley and her husband had been married for over 50 years. She passionately spoke about making it a priority to have fun in your marriage. “Don’t wait to have fun!” Shirley and her husband loved being able to dance together at the conference. Shirley began to cry and more was spoken on the importance of doing fun activities as a husband and wife. The tears and emotion in her words brought many in the room to tears, including me. I knew we had touched on something. We speak on many marriage-building principles during the conference. I was not expecting that having fun in your marriage would be a strong message of the day. But yes, this would keep your marriage close. It would help you in all other aspects of your marriage.
For a married couple, it is easy to put your relationship on auto-pilot. It is easy to drift apart and do your own thing. You can easily forget about doing fun things together!! Doing fun activities in your marriage takes time. It takes effort.
For Dan and I, this was a pivotal point in our dance ministry. I felt the words of Shirley pierce my heart that day. Dan and I both felt the drive to continue with ‘Dance With Me Ministries.’ Each year that we teach a new class, we stand back and watch couples laughing together and enjoying getting away from the seriousness of life. It brings us joy to watch couples having fun.
We will begin a new 8-week ‘Dance With Me Ministries’ class in the fall of 2022. This is for any married couple who would like to add some fun to their marriage. This class will be Sunday evening from 6-8 p.m. We will meet at Isaac Newton Christian Academy gymnasium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
How about bringing some closeness to your marriage and to the God that created it.
Please send an e-mail to dancewithmeministries@gmail.com with any questions you may have or to sign up for this year’s DWMM class.
Come dance with us!
Dance With Me Ministries 