Are you a student struggling to find your voice in the debate about human sexuality and gender? Are you a parent or youth leader who could use some support and resources in these conversations with kids?
You’re not alone!
The culture surrounding these topics can be confusing and frustrating to navigate in 2024.
But we have GOOD NEWS!
Our God, the Creator of sex and gender, provides clarity through His active & living Word!
We know there’s a lot of confusion when talking about God and sex with other Christians, individuals of the LGBTQ community, or those who have different sexual ethics. Because we have God's truth and hope in Jesus, we can speak boldly and unafraid! (2 Corinthians 3:12)
Firmly Planted Family is pleased to partner with CanaVox to host By Design,
a conference to equip teens, parents and youth leaders.
Meet CanaVox
CanaVox organizes reading groups around the world to study the truth about marriage, relationships and sexual integrity. Reading groups draw on natural law, social science, history, economics, philosophy and psychology to help participants articulate challenging truths with clarity, conviction and compassion.
Think of CanaVox as the why behind what God says.
This will be a one-day intensive that will help you to deepen your own biblical and theological foundations regarding sex, marriage, and identity—broadening your apologetics for affirming God’s amazing design.
By Design will offer foundational human design and relationships principles from a natural law perspective. The conference will make the case for biblical truth by arguing primarily from God’s World which reinforces God’s Word. The content will draw heavily from CanaVox curriculum.
Through general and break out sessions, teens will be equipped to engage in the conversation and encouraged to live out biblical truths in a world and society making every attempt to push them the other way.
This conference has been thoughtfully designed for 6th-12th graders. Morning sessions will be foundational and age appropriate for middle and high school students. Afternoon sessions and breakout sessions will contain more mature ideas designed for High Schoolers and parents are encouraged to use discretion.
Speaking Team
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Katy Faust
Speaker | Author | CanaVox JV Outreach and Content Advisor
Katy is the mother of four amazing teens. With her spare moments, she enjoys date nights with the mister, coffee, and maybe too much social media. Asian Studies and Political Science earned her a Fulbright Scholarship in Taiwan, where she became fluent in Mandarin Chinese. This experience eventually led her to work for the largest Chinese adoption agency in the U.S. In late 2012, she began writing about how marriage benefits children, which led to her working with CanaVox to her founding of the children’s rights organization Them Before Us.
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April Readlinger
CanaVox Executive Director
As Executive Director of CanaVox, April is responsible for managing all aspects of CanaVox’s reading group program, as well as creating and implementing new opportunities to move our organization into the future. Prior to joining CanaVox in September 2014, April worked as an attorney in New York, where she focused on International Litigation. A native of New Jersey, she earned a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Communications from Boston University, where she also developed an unrelenting passion for the Red Sox. After earning her law degree at Tulane Law School, April spent eight years working in the federal courts in New Orleans before moving back to the Northeast. She currently resides in central New Jersey with her husband, her three children and one crazy yellow lab named Winnie.
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Heather Schumacher
CanaVox Oregon State Leader
Heather and her Mr. Incredible have four children. When she’s not facilitating and admiring the diverse interests of her growing kids, she is belting out Broadway show tunes, playing games with friends, losing her voice cheering on Oregon Duck Football, or curled up with a good book. Heather is a night owl, but she is learning to be an early bird so she can join her husband for morning coffee.
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Molly Friesen
CanaVox Montana State Leader
Molly is a native Montanan, so one of her greatest joys is sharing her love of the Big Sky Country with her husband Jay and their four children. You can often catch her with a camera in hand, photographing the beauty of the mountains and sky. Molly has degrees from Hillsdale College and Westminster Theological Seminary, and has worked for a nonprofit that taught conflict resolution skills to lawyers, pastors, and laypeople around the world.
THE SCHEDULE
By Design morning sessions will cover the topics of love, friendship, marriage and sex through plenary sessions. We welcome all parents and students to join us in the morning! Afternoon sessions will be geared toward High School students and will cover identity, same-sex attraction, and transgenderism. Generous Q&A will be offered throughout the conference. While presenters will not share explicit content, they will answer student questions honestly, thus afternoon sessions will be more suited for older teens.
March 9, 2024
9a Doors Open
9:30a Welcome/Worship
10a Session 1: The Seven Loves followed by Q&A | Katy Faust
10:45a Break
11:10a Session 2 : Marriage followed by Q&A | Katy Faust
12p Lunch Break
1p Game
1:40p Breakout Sessions
1) Same-sex attraction
2) Hook-up Culture
3) Transgender Identity
4) Parent + Youth Leader Session
2:40p Break
3p Session 3: Identity/LGBTQ Labels followed by Q&A | Katy Faust
3:45p Closing
4p Event Ends
TICKET PRICES
Ticket Only: $20
Ticket + Chik Fil A Sandwich Meal: $34
Ticket + Chik Fil A Market Salad: $34
If you’ve been asked questions about God and sex, marriage, or identity and you just didn’t know what to say… This conference is for you!
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BREAK OUT SESSIONS
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In this session, we will look at the debate about the causes of same-sex attraction: are “gays born that way?” Students learn why the “born that way” slogan is unsupported by science, and study stronger scientific, though complex, hypotheses for causes of same-sex attraction.
We will also consider the topic of sexual identity. What defines a human person? We invite students to think about whether we should define ourselves according to our sexual feelings.
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Students learn what hook up culture is about, and how it’s widespread acceptance has hurt society, especially women and children. We also explain the “economics of sex” (using economic models) so that students can understand how the demand and supply of sex has changed historically over the decades.
In particular, we discuss how feminism, contraception, and pornography drastically changed the price of sex. We conclude with how important it is for women and men to “price themselves high” and refuse to settle for cheap sex.
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Students will talk about what does “trans” mean? What is “gender dysphoria”? We discuss how gender confusion can be the result of trauma, other underlying psychological struggles, and/or social contagion.
We also examine the major medical risks that chest binding, hormonal, and surgical treatments entail for young people and adults. The ultimate message is that all of our body parts serve necessary and irreplaceable functions.
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This session will be an opportunity for parents and youth leaders to discuss how they can become better equipped to handle conversations on all of the topics that will be discussed in the main sessions and the breakout sessions.
Resources and suggestions will be provided to help you become the “expert” for your kids and students.
FAQs
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This event is thoughtfully designed for 6th-12 graders. No children 10 and under, please.
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Absolutely! When you purchase a ticket, you have the option to add a meal from Chik Fil A and we’ll serve it up during the break. If you prefer to bring your own lunch or jump in the car and grab something on your own—feel free! Keep in mind our lunch break is one hour.
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There’s a fantastic hotel right next door to us, actually! Book your stay using this link for the special Firmly Planted Friends and Family rate.
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We really don’t want finances to hold anyone back from attending the By Design conference! If you need assistance in that area, please let us know using this form and we’ll do what we can to help you get tickets!
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Heck yes! There’s an option to sponsor a parent + their teen to attend this event on our ticket page right here.