Committed, visionary leaders like the Byron and Francine Pirola will continue to pass the Catholic Church’s beliefs and values to the next generation. Their commitment has led them to serve in Catholic lay leadership roles at the parish, diocesan and national levels for more than three decades. The Pirola’s teach that “marriage is not just for life-long happiness, but a healthy marriage is central to the proclamation of the Gospel.” Through their work they’ve helped and continue to help countless couples have strong, loving relationships.

John McGee, Senior Director of Watermark Resources at Watermark Community Church is making a difference in the kingdom of God.

John established Watermark’s plan to provide a safety net for marriages in every stage. The church starts couples off strong with pre-marital prep, helps newlyweds establish good habits in the first years, enriches and strengthens marriages, and supports those struggling through highly regarded curriculum and community groups.

Agape Catholic Ministries, founded and led by French-born U.S. citizens Christian and Christine Meert, offers a Pre-Cana program that combines the convenience of online and on-demand access with the ability to build relationship with a role-model couple. Its curriculum is inspired by and closely follows Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Pastor, speaker, author and consultant Rob Rienow, DMin, has a heart for the Gospel and a passion for marriages and families. He feels called to share the message that God created marriage and the home as the bedrock of culture and civilization. Sadly, these concepts have lost traction in modern western culture.

Do you know what we need more than anything else to address these problems? We need more people who love Jesus Christ and who are willing to lay down their lives for Him.

The Rienows believe God created marriage for two main purposes. 1) To reflect God’s glory as a picture of the love between Christ and the church. 2) To raise godly children who will advance the kingdom of Christ to the next generation.

Whether engaged or newly married, young couples need a supportive community with authentic relationships. Ryan and Mary Rose Verret began working with engaged couples in their local parish to develop a better way to prepare them for a lasting marriage and reconnect them to their church family. The Verret’s created the Witness to Love program in 2012 for engaged couples to choose married mentors from their church to journey with them as they prepare for their married life together.

Get Married. Marriage is good for you. It’s good for children to be raised in two-parent homes, but marriage is also good for women AND men. This declaration is not just subjective or wishful thinking. Prominent social scientist Brad Wilcox, Ph.D., has analyzed data from thousands of Americans that backs up this claim. In fact, he’s found a happy marriage is the number one predictor of global life satisfaction for men and women across the country. Notably, people in stable, long-term marriages are the happiest in America. And their sense of well-being and purpose provides a strong defense against our country’s growing levels of loneliness and deaths of despair. 

Sometimes God allows hardship to awaken a desire that will change the trajectory of our lives. Such is the case with Julie Baumgardner, Senior Director of WinShape Marriage, whose response to the emotional trauma caused by her parents’ divorce was to devote her life’s work to supporting marriage and family flourishing.

WinShape offers more than 20 different marriage experiences. Retreats cover a variety of topics specifically designed to meet people where they are. The experiential learning process of the three-day weekend getaway is designed to strengthen couples in their marriage journey.

If you’ve listened to FamilyLife Today radio you’ve heard author, speaker and host Shelby Abbott’s intros.But you might not know he’s been hosting his own radio show/podcast for FamilyLife for more than a year. Shelby launched Real Life Loading in the fall of 2022 aimed at the 18-28-year-old demographic. He describes his role with FamilyLife as providing content that’s the precursor to their marriage and family audience. “If FamilyLife’s goal is to help families land the plane, so to speak, someone has to first build a runway. But even before that, the brush needs to be cleared out of the way. I’m clearing the brush. (metaphorically speaking)”

It's rare to find such sage advice from someone so young. Yet the message of 32-year-old speaker and author Ainsley Britain aligns with that of relationship leaders twice her age – albeit translated into modern vernacular that appeals to her audience of teens and young adults. Ainsley’s overall theme is to help people (mainly young women) find their identity in Christ so they can walk confidently forward in the purpose for which God created them.

What would inspire a single person to read a book about marriage when they are not even dating anyone? How about because it’s a gift from their mother? Pleasing his mother motivated author and speaker Michael Johnson to crack open a “marriage book” Christmas break his junior year of college – little imagining its future impact. What he found inside opened his eyes to common marriage pitfalls and became a treasure, not just for him and his future family, but for the thousands influenced by his ministry where he and his wife, Julie, help singles transform their dating practices.

Money problems in marriages have the potential to tear a couple apart. Unpaid bills, looming student debt, overspent credit cards … It’s no wonder money is one of the most often named reasons for marital discord. Dr. Art Ranier, author, financial counselor and founder of Christian Money Solutions offers Bible-based wisdom for couples, parents and church leaders about finances and stewardship

What if you found the cure for cancer? Wouldn’t you want to spread the news? Theologian and Theology of the Body Institute president Christopher West believes he has found the answer to the cancer plaguing our society and souls. The key is intimacy with God – not a sterile, head-knowledge belief, but a true relationship experienced in and through our physical bodies.

Have the events of the past couple years left you feeling anxious? Worried about your marriage or your family? Maybe you have a relationship question, and you just don’t know where to turn. 

These thoughts occurred to seasoned therapists and relationship experts Dr’s. Les and Leslie Parrott. Les and Leslie are a husband-and-wife team who share the same name and passion for helping others build healthy relationships. Les, a clinical psychologist and ordained Nazarene minister, is a professor of psychology at Northwest University. Leslie is a marriage and family therapist. They offer marriage and relationship help through their speaking engagements and their New York Times Best Selling books, with more than six million copies sold. 

Have you ever wanted to “Have a New Kid by Friday?” or a New Teenager, a New Husband, a New You? It’s likely you’ve run across one of these or other relationship-related titles written by prolific and beloved Christian psychologist, author and speaker Dr. Kevin Leman over the past several decades. Dr. Leman is recognized and respected worldwide for his practical and humorous approach to doing life.

If you’ve listened to Christian talk radio anytime in the past 35 years, it’s likely you’ve heard his voice. Pastor, author, and on-air announcer, Bob Lepine was the co-host of FamilyLife Today®, FamilyLife’s nationally syndicated radio program, for 28 years, just retiring in May 2021. Over the decades he’s interviewed leaders on a wide variety of marriage and family-related topics.

Did you know a divorce can cost more than $30,000? And that doesn’t even factor in the emotional cost to both the couple, their children and extended family. Preventing divorce and strengthening marriages impassions Richard Albertson, Founding President of Live the Life, a Florida faith-based non-profit.

Family – the strength of families is foundational to a society’s flourishing. Family also ranks as paramount to marriage educator and non-profit head Amy Gilford. So much so she joined her parents, Bill and Anne McKenna, founders of the Marriage & Relationship Education Center (MREC), in their work to improve their Carroll County community by strengthening and supporting families. 

You’ve met a new guy, and things are looking serious. Can you imagine telling your grandmother your relationship started because you “swiped right?” Or worse yet, your answer to your kids about how you met their father is that you picked his profile from an app because he was the one who had the highest income or looked cutest? (Interview with Jon Birger)

Passion for marriage and a desire to help couples start off on the right foot is the motivation behind Scott Kedersha’s life’s work as a pastor, author and mentor. He’s counseled couples, led…

The bride waited in the dressing room of the church on her wedding day. It was the happiest day of her life. Then a thought struck her — wasn’t every bride this happy on her…