Growing Marriages is a ministry birthed from seeing too many of our friends and fellow brother and sisters in Christ enter marriage with little or no premarital training or education. We were saddened to witness some of these couples seemingly ignore some obvious incompatibilities in their relationship. They didn’t seem to be willing to honestly and objectively examine their relationship in the euphoria of “newfound love”. Consequently, many of them struggled in marriage, and some even divorced.
My wife Sharon and I have had a burden for marriages and parenting since the mid-1990s, but every time we got serious about starting a ministry, we would have an argument and then think to ourselves, “who are we to be involved with marriage ministry when we keep having conflicts?” After about a decade of this self-doubt, we realized this was just the enemy of our souls, Satan, and his minions, whispering lies to us to keep us from acting.
We came to realize the importance of marriage ministry and that our conflicts didn’t disqualify us, but rather qualified us through our persistent commitment to each other and learning better communication and conflict resolution techniques. We came to realize that conflict—when handled biblically with humility, honor, and respect—actually increased our love and intimacy with each other. Conflict can actually be the gateway to greater intimacy!
It was the summer of 2005 when we launched Growing Marriages after spending a year training and getting certified as PREPARE/ENRICH facilitators. We focused primarily on premarital couples in the beginning. We attended a 20-somethings ministry called “The Edge” in the Chicago suburbs which later became The Edge Church in 2010. We mentored many couples in that ministry/church and in 2010 our pastor asked us to start a parenting ministry as well. But that’s another story.
After mentoring many couples and training new mentors, we found ourselves involved in some crisis mentoring to repair damaged marriages. We witnessed some of the most amazing marriage restorations as well as some of the most heartbreaking outcomes. Those who found success and renewed love were willing to do the hard things required to transform their lives and marriages. Those who chose the path that led to divorce and heartbreak did not. Though that sounds simplistic, our willingness to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit through obedience to His Word and doing the hard things is at the core of marriage renewal.
We’ve been married since December of 1983 and have 3 amazing adult children who now have spouses of their own. We also have 7 amazing grandchildren. We relocated to Colorado Springs in November 2018 to be closer to two of our kids and three grandkids. We’re hoping our youngest and her family will eventually call Colorado Springs home as well. We joined Mountain Springs Church and became part of the Ignite! marriage ministry as a coaching couple. We create content and are presenters for some of the workshops as well. We have also done some premarital marriage mentoring since being in The Springs. For those in the Colorado Springs area, we can do Marriage Mentoring although we give priority to Mountain Springs Church members first. Or you can find a local mentoring couple through some nationwide networks we have featured on our Marriage Mentoring page.
May God bless you on your marriage journey!
Russ & Sharon Peterson
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