Why a Family Conference?

Michael Leahy, CEO & Founder of BraveHearts describes his experience in learning about the “birds and the bees”.

The inspiration for the BraveHearts Family Conference was born out of a childhood experience Michael had that he discovered many years later is common to us all, in one way, shape or form. It was “the talk” – that clumsy, awkward attempt by adults to try to explain the facts of life about sex to unwitting and always embarrassed pre-teens. This is his recollection of that experience.

 The Talk

“Sometime in my middle school years, I remember my dad sweeping me off to an evening assembly back at my school with no real explanation as to why. Once there, I found myself surrounded by dozens of his equally surprised classmates with their parents sitting toward the back of the classroom. What followed next was something resembling a lecture led by two priest’s and a nun that centered around an explanation of the human reproduction system. It was their best effort at trying to give the parents a hand in talking to their kids about sex, but in actuality it came across more like an evening class on anatomy.”

“I faintly remember my dad asking me on the short 5 minute drive home if I had any questions about what I had just heard, to which I’m sure I answered a terse “No, I’m fine.” I do, however, remember that the subject of sex was never brought up by my dad or anyone in my family again. Nor was it talked about by adults in my school. Or in my church. Or anywhere else, for that matter.”

A Different Kind of Sex Education

“But amongst my peers and classmates, it was a nearly constant topic of sometimes public but mostly private discussion. Whether it came from hearing the coarse language or dirty jokes that were often shared, or from seeing pictures of naked women on the playing cards or in the magazines that someone occasionally brought to the playground, we were getting an education about sex all right. Just not the kind that our parents or teachers ever imagined.”

“For us, sex was far more intriguing and exciting and dangerous than the lifeless anatomy or the emotionless mechanics of human reproduction they were describing. In the end, we were all convinced we’d stumbled onto something amazing that demanded to be explored. And we were equally convinced that the adults in our live, especially our parents, just didn’t get it.”

“Looking back now as adults and parents, we know better. Yet we also seem strangely compelled, either by fear or ignorance or just plain apathy, to repeat the sins of our parent’s silent generation. The BraveHearts Family Conference is our bold attempt at breaking the chains of our generational sexual sins once and for all.”

 Starting Lifelong Conversations About Sex, Love, & Relationships

The simple goal of the BraveHearts Family Conference is to be a starting point for parents, pastors and ministry leaders to engage in an open, honest, lifelong dialogue about sex, love and relationships with those they love and lead. In essence, we want to be the catalyst for helping families discover and discuss how biblical principles of personal purity and sexual integrity apply to many of the real life issues we face today, from struggling with sexual temptation and our sexual identity to trying to build intimacy and authenticity into our relationships.

The BraveHearts Family Conference gets everyone in the same room to put everyone on the same page when it comes to understanding God’s design for sex, love and relationships. It doesn’t blush at God’s intent to create us as sexual beings. And it tackles the tough issues we face as Christ followers operating in a sexually broken and increasingly pornographic world. We’ll break the ice and help you start and continue the conversation about sex with those you love and lead.

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