ARPA staff spent Friday and Saturday last week at the annual Manning Networking Conference in Ottawa. Executive Director Mark Penninga says it’s an annual opportunity for networking. “The thing with relationships is that they take time to build,” Penninga says. “And by going year after year, we show [other conservatives] that we’re here to stay, and that an explicitly Christian perspective on these issues in the public square is something that they need to consider.”

Penninga says there’s also a need to expand that relationship-building beyond the generally conservative base that is represented at the Manning Conference. “One thing that we’re actively looking into this year is trying to get into the Progress Summit, which is the large networking conference for the organizations and leaders on the left. We figure if ARPA’s work has a place on the conservative side of the political spectrum, it has just as much of a place on the other side. They need to hear it just as much.”