Mark Hamby

We can’t have every “favorite” speaker back every year. This is because A) it could grow old and B) we have some absolutely incredible NEW speakers to introduce to you that we know you are going to LOVE…and we have to free-up speaking times for them. (Such as Dr. Stephen Guffanti, Carol Barnier and Attorney David Gibbs…to name just a few)

All of that to say, we LOVED having MARK HAMBY with us last year, and are super-excited to have Mark back with us for this year’s convention. He’s even got a couple brand-new seminar-sessions that are going to really be incredible!

Mark has a B.S in Education (SUNY Geneseo, NY), a M.S. in Administration (Pensacola Christian College), M. Div (Master of Divinity, Baptist Bible Seminary), Th. M. (Master of Theology, BBS), Master Studies in Counseling at Philadelphia Biblical University, and is a Doctoral candidate (Denver Seminar).

Mark Hamby is the founder and president of Cornerstone Family Ministries and Lamplighter Publishing. Having had a distaste for reading during his childhood, Mark would have been an unlikely candidate to develop a passionate love for literature. He was in his early twenties when someone introduced him to his first inspiring biography from which he discovered for the first time someone he aspired to be like. As he devoured several biographies per week, his appetite for great literature quickly grew. His desire for quality books was insatiable. As a school administrator, he was determined to provide this same inspirational influence for his students, and even more importantly, for their parents. He carefully selected gripping, powerful literature that taught life-changing truths.

Today, the beauty of a Lamplighter book is that character is not only taught, but is demonstrated through the lives of children and adults whose character is tested through the storms of life. Today, parents are often frustrated with the lack of character exhibited in the lives of their children. Faced with perceived failure, they easily succumb to the temptation to control rather than influence. Lamplighter books can help. Parents and teachers can relax as the story does the teaching. Children enjoy the stories without feeling like they’re being forced to hear another lecture.

Planned sessions with Mark Hamby for this year’s convention include:

The Great Awakening: The Mind, The Media, and a Child’s Morals
We are entering a new Dark Age-one more subtle-more insidious. A culture sedated by sounds and images that deaden our senses-and rob us of who we are created to be. “We are amusing ourselves… to death.” But in the midst of darkness, the embers of endurance glow, as they light the way to proven character. And in the final chapter, one discovers the light of hope, that breathe new life, new motivations, and a new determination. With every word, with every page, with every story of hope, we defy the darkness. And a new story of redemption begins. Join Mark as he exposes the damaging effects on the brain, the conscience, and a child’s moral and spiritual development, that certain kinds of media, literature, and family life have on a child.

The Education of a Child – The Wisdom of Fenelon
Working with parents and teachers over the past twenty-eight years, Mark will present what he believes is the most helpful and inspirational information of our day concerning the education of a child. Gleaning from a 17th-century gem, The Education of a Child from The Wisdom of Fenelon, Mark will present a “radical reversal” of our traditional approach to a biblical education. Commissioned to educate King Louis XIV incorrigible grandson to become the next king of France, Francois Fenelon wrote and then lived one of the greatest educational treatises ever written. In fact, in 1802, nearly 150 years later, Fenelon’s work was still revered as the most extraordinary educational work on record. Parenting based on gentleness, mentoring, joy, and patience will be among just a few of the highlights of this seminar. Through simple but forgotten common sense ideas, parents and teachers will gain an understanding that unlocks the heart and opens the mind-”When the level of fear decreases, the level of reasoning increases.”

I Will Not Let You Go!
Based on the manipulative life of Jacob, his rival relationship with his brother, the lack of relationship between his mother and father, and his constant marital conflicts, the stage is set for a life of deception-self-deception. Believing that holding on to a better inheritance, more children, a better wife, and a better job, will bring fulfillment, Jacob learns the hard way that he was holding on to all the wrong things in life. Join our journey with Jacob as we find unconditional acceptance in all the right places; but be prepared to fight because once you’ve found what you are looking for, you will need to hold on for you life! This seminar is based on Mark’s two years of research for his thesis and will cover sibling rivalry, marital conflict, parenting insights, and much more!

Raise Them Up, Don’t Crush Them Down
One only has to listen to discover the heart of a child. Our goal as parents and teachers is to reach the heart, rather than simply realign behavior. Too often, we depend on rules as the primary enforcer of behavior. Rules can change behavior, but they can’t change the heart. When parents and teachers begin to discern the difference between character flaws and purposeful disobedience, they will implement a gentler approach to reaching and understanding their children. As a result, children will more willingly admit their faults and seek help from those they love. Children need to hear the beating of our hearts rather than the beating of our voices. Join Mark as he relates his experience as a shepherd and the important lesson that you don’t become a shepherd just because you own sheep.

Building Character: One Story at a Time
It has been said that you will be the same five years from now as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read! Inspiring literature that models unwavering character can be one of the catalysts that awakens a child’s drive to first think differently and then act accordingly. “Without biblical thinking, there is short term obedience and long term frustration.” Through an inspiring, informative, and dramatized lecture, Mark will make you laugh and cry as he “demonstrates” the power of character-based literature. This will be followed by an in depth look at the ancient steps of character development from early childhood through adulthood. In conclusion, an annotated bibliography for preschoolers through adults will introduce powerful, life-changing Christian literature from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. This life-transforming session will lay the foundation for children to live a creative, skillful, and godly life.