After 13 exciting and life-shaping years at Focus on the Family, Candice and I are leaving to start a new chapter.
We’ve been richly blessed to be able to launch and grow the Boundless ministry over the last dozen years. It still seems like just yesterday that we were staying up late to land on the name and to figure out how in the world to paint the Boundless logo on a beach ball (see picture below from the Boundless launch party way back in 1998).
Over this time, we’ve been amazed by all the stories we’ve heard from you about how Boundless has shaped your walk with God and your path to marriage. It’s truly humbling to have played a role in so many of your lives. We’re going to miss hearing your stories on a regular basis.
We’re also going to miss the opportunity we’ve had to work closely with those who have made up the Boundless team during our tenure — especially the friendships we were able to grow with Ted Slater, Motte Brown, Mike Heath, Lisa Anderson, Suzanne Hadley Gosselin, John Thomas, Heather Koerner, Matt Kaufman, Jay Budziszewski and Dave Salkeld.
Turning 40 this summer stirred up a lot of questions for me and Candice about how we should spend the next season of our lives. We still feel a strong calling to serve people in their paths to marriage and family. But we now have a distinct sense that we should do more discipleship as a couple the way that our mentors did for us years ago.
And so we’re taking a step of faith and expanding our humble little FamilyMaking.com site as an umbrella for a variety of ministry efforts focused on helping people to grow closer to God on their path to marriage and starting a family. One of those efforts includes continued work with Motte Brown on Marry Well, the alternative relationship service we’re excited to see grow.
Before we get too deep into this venture, however, we’re planning to head back to the cottage up in Michigan where we first dreamed up the vision for Boundless (see “Goal-Setting and the Lake Effect“). We’re looking forward to a long overdue sabbatical — a chance to reflect on God’s goodness over the past dozen years and to then expectantly follow His lead into the next season of our lives.
We hope our new venture will still give us opportunities to plug into the great work Boundless has planned for the future. You guys are close to our hearts and will always be like family for us. Let’s all keep pressing forward together to embrace the full and abundant (boundless) life that God designed for us.