When Steve and I started Boundless 28 years ago, we were 28 years old. It’s hard to believe that Boundless has been around for half our lifetimes. We couldn’t have guessed how long it would last or imagined what it would become.
We had been married just over two years when Focus asked us to launch something for college students. We were eager to help other young adults get married — that was our original inspiration. But we also wanted to encourage them to be intentional in every area of life. We thought it was better to do things on purpose than to drift.
But not just any things.
Best things over good things
The list of things you can do is endless. The voices telling you what you should do have massive platforms. How can you know what to prioritize? Where can you look for wise counsel? Boundless was never meant to be the source of wisdom, but a faithful guide pointing you to true wisdom.
The way to know what things to do on purpose is to know God’s Word. As Moses said, “…it is no empty word for you, but your very life…” (Deuteronomy 32:47). The way to know God’s will is to know His Word, to be daily reading it, studying it, and obeying it. Add to that hearing the Word preached faithfully every Lord’s Day, surrounded by a family of fellow believers. These are the means God has provided for “boundless” living.
As Christians, we’re called to bear fruit that lasts. For some, that will include physical fruitfulness in marriage, but whatever your marital status, every believer is called to spiritual fruitfulness in the context of a faithful local church. Hearing the Word preached, serving in the body, walking in fellowship with other believers — this is the path to maturity.
Maturity in mind
My advice as Boundless nears its final days is to be more intentional in your real-life friendships, in your local church, serving your family and friends, and growing in the grace of the Lord. The pull of the world is strong. To resist, you’ll need thick relationships with other believers — peers and mentors, pastors and parents.
When we started Boundless, we were the mentees. Somewhere along the way we became mentors to believers younger than us. We’re thankful for every opportunity we’ve had to encourage young men and women to embrace adult responsibility, pursue spiritual maturity, and yes, prioritize getting married and having babies.
We have many single friends who hope to get married but haven’t yet found their way to the altar. The challenges facing singles in 1998, when Boundless started, haven’t gone away. If anything, thanks to smartphones and social media, they’ve gotten bigger. But that’s no reason to give up hope.
The One who created marriage is all-powerful, all-wise and all-good. He’s still bringing godly men and women together in marriage. You have every reason to pray boldly. Jesus said,
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing….You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:4-5, 16).
This passage ties into our encouragement to pray boldly. For marriage, yes, but not merely that. The overarching goal of the Christian life is Christ himself, and being united to Him so that all of your life will glorify God and be fruitful.
Watching for fruit
Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.” When we started Boundless, we didn’t know what it would become. At its conclusion, we marvel at God’s kindness and faithfulness to Boundless, give thanks for its fruitfulness, rejoice in the ministry He’s done through it, and praise God for the encouragement we’ve received hearing about how it has helped people.
I met a man two weeks ago who said Boundless changed his life. He said he used to read J. Budziszewski’s columns and hated them. But he kept coming back for more. “I couldn’t stop reading them,” he said. “They challenged me and showed me I needed to change the way I was living.” Those articles were one of the things God used to save him.
Last September a woman introduced herself to me at a conference and thanked me for the years of encouragement from Boundless. As she walked away, her mom said, “Please pray for her.” She’s been single longer than she thought she’d be and still hopes to get married. We have every reason to keep praying.
The call remains: Be fruitful and bear fruit in every good work — works prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. Think of the stories you’ll hear in heaven, of growth that God gave from seeds you’ve sown.
As Boundless draws to a close, I urge every one of you to be fruitful, be intentional, be faithful in your friendships and in your work, seek to be conformed to the image of Christ. In all your efforts, trust God to produce the fruit from your labors. He is faithful and He will do it. In light of all this, go — be boundless.
Copyright 2026 Candice Watters. All rights reserved.
