By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

Lomax Assembly of God will host its free Life Beyond the Hurt conference on Feb. 25 from 3-6 p.m.

The conference is for victims of sexual abuse or for people who want to learn how to support those who have been victims.

“If you’re out there, we would love to minister to you and share with you how a relationship with God can bring healing and newness to your life,” the Rev. Jeff Calhoun said. “If you know of someone, we want you to come on their behalf … We hope to give you tools to be able to communicate to them to bring healing to their life.”

Samantha Smith, National Certified Counselor and instructor of counseling at Southeastern Bible College, will share her professional knowledge of how to deal with the effects of sexual abuse.

“We knew that there are professionals out there who are trained to help deal with the mental and emotional [impacts of abuse], so we wanted to bring someone in,” Calhoun said.

The program will also include a testimony from a member of the church who has experienced sexual abuse, gone through counseling and now shares her story with others to encourage them.

“The biggest thing we could hope to get out of this is to just help somebody no longer be a victim of something that happened to them … but help them overcome these things and enjoy the remainder of their life,” Calhoun said.

The conference will be divided into three, one-hour segments and will end with a question and answer session with Smith.

From Feb. 26 through the end of April, the church will have a weekly class on Sundays at 5 p.m. that will cover the same topics.

For more information, visit the church’s Facebook page or call 205-755-9587.