March 17, 2010

Cornerstone University will host the 9th annual English as a Second Language (ESL) Ministry Conference on Saturday, April 17 with featured speaker Dr. Joe Stowell, president of Cornerstone.

The annual event held on the Grand Rapids campus is attended by more than 150 people from across the state.

“Part of our outreach to the community is to offer this annual conference to equip our local churches to reach out to their neighbors who do not speak English as their first language," said Dr. Michael  Pasquale, director of the TESOL program at Cornerstone. 

Serge and Ledia Bonhomme, a Haitian couple, attended their first conference in 2003 to help learn how they could minister to refugees and new immigrants at their local church in Grand Rapids.

"They had a heart for reaching their fellow Haitians," said Pasquale.

Ledia went on to earn her masters degree in TESOL from Cornerstone in 2008 and now serves in Georgia using an ESL outreach program.

"I hope we have many attend with a heart for refugees and immigrants who we can give tools to be effective in their ministries," said Pasquale.

The conference will offer two workshop tracks: teaching methodology and how church ESL programs can be more effective.

The focus of this year’s day-long conference is “Building Lives That Matter.”

Cost is $50 per person and $60 after April 1, $30 for students and $35 after April 1. Register now.