Our Story
“Pull a thread in my story and feel the tremor half a world and two millenia away.”
― Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories
The Turkey Years:
Why We "Get" Ministry
We met in our teens at Northwestern University and were involved in Cru. Looking for an adventure and something meaningful to do with our lives, we got on a plane bound for a country we'd never visited. 10 years later, with 3 kids and a WHOLE LOT OF LIFE later, we left Istanbul and Cru and moved to another city we'd never been to.
What we brought home, besides a love for lamb and baklava and a secret language, was experience. We learned about team conflict, leadership inadequacy, trauma, assault, religious persecution/murder, cross-cultural ministry and teams, being married under stress, raising third culture kids, and staying sane. The last by a thin thread of grace.
The Seattle Years:
Why We "Get" Church
We picked out a house on Craigslist and moved to an unknown city to follow a dream: study under Dr. Dan Allender at the The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Soon, we were juggling multiple part-time jobs, 2 grad programs, and 3 kids under 7. One day at a park, Beth saw a sign for a church plant and on our first Sunday, a woman named Jessica rocked our youngest to sleep. And so, it was decided. We joined the Acts 29 church plant in which Chris eventually became an elder and was ordained. Three years later, after graduation, we made plans to relocate and start a ministry, with that woman named Jess and her husband.
In Seattle, we helped merge the church with an older, dwindling congregation and develop a new group of leaders outside of the original planting team. But mostly, we healed. And, we left having launched a new way of doing men's ministry.
The Colorado Years:
Why We "Get" Counseling
We moved with our friends, co-founders of Restoration Project, but in those early days of building a new ministry, we all needed to pay the bills. Greg and Jess built Xcelerate Business Solutions and we started Restoration Counseling Center. It started with Chris and then grew. And grew. Our vision was to be a ministry-hearted business, as fiercely loyal to our ministry friends as our counseling colleagues.
And what we've seen is that no one likes to do this work alone. We've learned that some people are amazing counselors even if they don't have amazing letters behind their name. And we've learned that our hybrid experience is unique and needed. We get you. And so now, we're hoping to help you help others.
And the Rest:
Why We Do What We Do
Along the way, Beth built a community response to human trafficking. We started our county's Demand Reduction School for men charged with buying sex. We started to see what youth deal with firsthand, through our work and then, because we were raising them!
So, we started parenting out loud. Wrote a few books. Designed a parenting conference. Beth started a podcast and then a mother-daughter retreat. Restoration Project grew. And grew.
The pattern? We start things. We create. We see gaps and spend evenings and weekends thinking of how we could fill them. For you.
So when you started asking us for help. For direction. For coaching. Well, we started creating.
The rest is here for you to discover.
