Speaker: Mark Tennant, CEO, Arrow Child & Family Foundation.
 

Mark Tennant’s unique journey of helping kids and strengthening families began as an 11-year-old child when he was removed from an abusive home and became a foster child himself. Eventually, Mark was placed in the Christian foster home of Bill and Joan Mack. It was the Mack’s spiritual influence and their commitment to love Mark unconditionally that sparked Mark’s own faith. 

Coming to understand there was a calling on his life, Mark earned a Pastoral Degree from Oral Roberts University. After graduation, he worked for several years in both church and child and family service administration until his calling became clear. In 1992, Mark founded Arrow Child & Family Ministries to help other abused and neglected children find foster families like his, so their lives could also be transformed. 

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, with offices in Maryland, Pennsylvania and California, Arrow serves nearly 4,000 children and families each year through foster care, adoption and a wide range of social services and specialized education. Arrow also established “Freedom Place” in Texas, a rehabilitative center for victims of child sex trafficking, and “Casa de Ester,” a girls’ home in Honduras. 

The heart of Arrow is rooted in Psalm 127:3-4, which Mark quotes frequently as the inspiration behind the work they do: “Children are a gift from the Lord…like arrows in the hand of a warrior so are the children of one’s youth.” 

Mark lives in the Houston, Texas area with his wife Kristy and three children.