Families are close to God’s heart. In fact, they were His idea in the first place. From the beginning, when God created man, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone” so He created woman as a “help-meet, suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). The family is central to God’s plan for His children and is considered a fundamental building block of societies. 

Christian marriage experts Dr’s Les (clinical psychologist) and Leslie Parrot (certified family therapist) – share a vision for building stronger, life-long marriages that are the heart and backbone of families by equipping a band of more than a million marriage mentors who walk alongside less experienced couples. Research reveals that marriage mentoring is one of the best things we can do to cut the divorce rate and improve marriages Marriage Mentoring - Connecting couples to build better marriages. (www.marriagementoring.com)

The Marriage Connect program at Pole Creek is founded on the process of having a seasoned and experienced couple (nobody said anything about having a perfect marriage) come alongside a less experienced couple (nobody said anything about a troubled marriage) to help show them the way (have fun with them; be transparent and do life with them; and love on them like an extended family!!).

Maximize – this has been the focus of the Pole Creek Program.

Marriages that are doing well need mentors, too. We would like to see every church building up marriage relationships as a regular practice. Couples that are doing well have the potential of doing great.

Ask any couple who is sailing along pretty well in their marriage what is keeping them from getting to the next level and they will state their desire for 1) better communication or 2) more time together. Getting intentional in a mentoring relationship can help reveal some ways to improve an already good marriage.

The Pole Creek model is typically made of up 3-4 active couples per each leader couple. This creates a sense of intimacy and community among the groups that fosters rapid building of trust and transparency. The type and timing of meetings are driven by the members of each group and could vary from formal, video guided studies to more open topic networking. Some groups do routine retreats and others keep it local again based on where folks are in their overall circumstances (babies, jobs, kids with complicated sports schedules, etc). The beautiful thing is that there are no hardwired rules or operating models, beyond keeping God at the center!!! 

“We didn’t really know what to expect, but knew we wanted a group we could really dig in with. It is so encouraging to know that we aren’t the only couple that struggles with stupid stuff and to now have people to pray, cry and laugh with us through it.”

“If I could express the profound significance of being part of a marriage mentor group, it would be this: The trust and love I share with each couple and their families, forged through the bond of doing life together, is deeper than any friendship I’ve ever experienced. It’s a God-ordained community that stands by you in the tough times and rejoices with you in the good times—truly a family that strengthens and uplifts you through every season.”

If you are interested in joining a group, please contact the church office by phone 828-667-4053 ext 2 or email and we will tell you more this easy, fun and life changing program.

Are You Marriage Connect leader material?

• Is God the center of your marriage?
• Are you able to laugh and learn from your mistakes?
• Are you invested in growing your own marriage?
• Are you willing to share some of your time to help another couple?
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Certification is available through the Marriage Mentor Academy and Pole Creek pays for it. It’s a simple and fun way for couples to learn how to help other couples – on your own computer anywhere, anytime. The Course is divided into eight, 25 minute sessions. Do it over a weekend or over several weeks.

We also have many resources available to support the journey, including the collection of materials (e.g couple studies, event ideas, discussion books, etc). The leaders themselves are a great network of support for the overall program, as well as mentors for each other.

“When we were first asked to be leaders, we literally laughed at the thought of our marriage being an exemplar, and then we cried because we knew how unperfect our marriage was. But as God always does, He opened our heart to the understanding that it wasn’t about our marriage, but simply about our willingness to share our less than perfect marriage with these younger couples through a God centered lens. It was about encouragement and grace and commitment. I’m so glad we did as this has been one of the biggest, unexpected blessings of our entire marriage.”  

If you are interested in becoming a leader, please contact the church office by phone 828-667-4053 ext 2 or email and we will tell you more this easy, fun and life changing program.