Strengths & Story Co.

04/07/2026

06/04/2022

“CliftonStrengths has been eye opening in the best ways ever, today I finished part two of the training but the work has just begun. It’s like I’m playing Xbox and just unlocked a rare achievement. I’ve been aware of my top five strengths but to see it and validate it in writing has been just … out of this world, to say the least.”

This was feedback from one of our most recent workshops. There was a definite shift during the workshop and we felt the participants truly began to appreciate and understand their natural talents.

05/02/2022

We are excited to announce a 4 week class we will be offering called Strengths & Story. Using the assessment, you will explore your natural talents, gain self awareness, and energize your work and personal relationships.

The link to sign up goes live this week. For now, save your Tuesday nights in June. We’re hosting these classes in a unique historic location with an ocean view. Invite your friends, family, and co-workers! Watch our stories for more information and message us with any questions.

01/02/2021

Lisa and I worked through the Year Compass booklet last year and it was a helpful guide to reflect and dream about the future. Despite the chaos of the year 2020, it's amazing what we were able to accomplish because we started it with reflection and focus. The Year Compass booklet is FREE and this year it has an extended version with a pandemic supplement, where there is a focus on three specific areas: confronting the loss of control, taking stock of the profoundly changed daily life, and assessing the health of your social circle. We're working through our own now and highly recommend checking this out! If you’re looking for individual, couples coaching, or pastoral care to add to your 2021 reflection and planning, send us a direct message for more details. If purchase a coaching package this month, we are offering a free session with any package you purchase.
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Jeff Myers

05/15/2020

Falling love is easy but choosing love when life gets hard is the good stuff. Today we celebrate 26 years of choosing love.
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10/21/2019

Growth is never easy and easy never grows you. Last night we launched HOPE Labs in our living room and it was a beautiful sight to see this dream of ours come alive! It was humbling to listen as stories were shared vulnerably and quickly created connection in our newly formed cohort. We believe God handpicked each of the 11 couples for this season! It is an honor to spend the next 5 months with people who have chosen a path of emotional and spiritual growth.

10/14/2019

“Connection is why we're here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.” - Brené Brown
I woke up with an incredible amount of excitement and joy thinking and praying about how I get to pursue my passion and calling. In 6 days, Lisa and I will launch HOPE Labs for couples where we will be implementing leadership and relationship coaching, group work using my training in Dr. John Townsend's growth model, and healthy emotional and spiritual discipleship. This cohort will be similar to what we provided at RHF when we pastored people into deeper healing and growth. It was truly my most proud work as a pastor. This is work I’m grateful and privileged to continue through Crafted for Connection. If you are interested in joining as a prayer partner and willing to commit to praying for us and for the couples the full 5 months, please email us at [email protected].

10/09/2019

Several years ago I had my appendix taken out. I hadn’t been feeling well for a day or so but when it really hit my temperature went from normal to 102 in about an hour. So I went to the emergency room. Like you do. I was incredibly sick.

I’m grateful for signals my body gave me that let me know it was time for medical attention. Mental, emotional, and spiritual health issues are often not as obvious. People who are healthy physically, emotionally, spiritually and otherwise are vastly more more effective than those who aren’t. The same is true with marriage or parenting or friendships. Healthy people function better in virtually all environments. When my appendix was about to burst I went to a surgeon to have it taken out. But if people are struggling with the emotional weight of things like feeling unlovable, never good enough or relationship struggles, they often just wait and hope they’ll go away. If that doesn’t happen they learn to cope or worse, they try and outrun the problem, but they won’t go away.

Don’t be afraid to reach out for help to gain skills to help you process what’s going on inside. When you recognize there is a problem you can then begin to address it and heal from it. Lisa and I have created HOPE Labs to support and provide tools. Our first series of HOPE Labs is specific to couples; married, engaged, or seriously dating and we start in just a couple of weeks on October 20th. We are closing registration soon to begin the introductions and prep work. DM is or email [email protected] for more information!
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10/02/2019

“This is the normative Christian experience.” That’s how .john_townsend ended each of our day long sessions that made up his leadership coaching program. It was a group of men and women who not only went deep with one another into things of life that keep us stuck or hold us back from breakthrough. We learned how to connect in that depth. That connection, I learned, is how God designed us to collaborate with Him to bring about healing and growth in each other’s lives. I had virtually zero awareness of these dynamics in my life but I knew things weren’t working. I struggled professionally, felt isolated in ministry, lacked real connection with my wife, and simply wasn’t growing and I couldn’t figure out why. I learned how to look at the bad fruit growing in my life and trace it back to the brokenness and lack of relational nutrients in the soil of my life. I had never experienced this kind of connection or healing so this woke me up to the need I had for both. As a pastor, I could see this has huge implications for the Church so I went through Dr. Townsend’s training to learn how to facilitate cohorts of men and women seeking healing and wholeness. Lisa and I have designed Hope Labs to give others this same experience of authentic community, tools to utilize daily in life and leadership, and the healing God so desires for us to have. It’s being Church as the Church was intended and designed to be. We are making this accessible to the local Church no matter where you worship. Our first series of HOPE Labs is specific to couples; married, engaged, or seriously dating and we start in just a few weeks on October 20th. We have 4 spots left so DM us or email [email protected] for more information!
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10/01/2019

One and one is one.
“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."
It’s interesting to consider this passage is by looking at the math God uses when talking about two becoming one. One plus one equals two… every time but one times one equals one! The reason this is important is because when the equation is multiplicative it underscores how important it is that we bring our best, healthiest selves to the relationship. In Genesis this scene took place before any brokenness had entered the picture so the “one” of Adam and the “one” of Eve were whole and complete. When looking at it in this light it’s easy to admit none of us is a whole number. Even though we are made new through Jesus there is still residual brokenness each of us deals with. The Bible writer, Paul calls it "the flesh”. It’s the sin ‘muscle memory’ we carry around with us as a result of our own rebellion against God and the broken world we live in. Here’s the point. 1x1 =1 but if each of us brings our broken selves to the relationship as is then we get an equation that looks more like .75 x .75 = .56. That’s the math behind the phrase “hurt people hurt people”. Nobody wants that. In order to grow in our relationships we need to address the parts of us that are not whole and work through them. The closer each partner is to “1” the better the relationship will be. Thankfully we are not left to this process on our own. The Holy Spirit is at work shaping us into the image of Jesus, the perfect “1” This is what Hope Labs are all about: We facilitate space where God works to get us all closer to closer to ‘1’.

09/25/2019

This is what I look like on the inside when a well meaning person pulls out one of these Christian clichés and blasts a hurting friend with it. “You just need more faith”, “Everything happens for a reason” or “All things work together for good.” There are others but you get the idea; they’re the things we say to make ourselves feel helpful. Good intentions need good skills though. This reminds me of why the first episode of American Idol every season was so cringeworthy. People without the skills were trying to become pop stars on good intentions alone. The result was always a train wreck of rejection and embarrassment. Here’s the point: People who are hurting don’t need your bumper sticker advice -even if it’s true and Biblical. There may be a time for truth but first they need you. They need you to tune into what they are feeling and be present. Feelings are meant to be soothed, not solved and we soothe through connection. Those clichés may be true but when they are spoken without empathy they disconnect us from each other. Now the friend you’re trying to help feels hurt and alone. Connect before you correct so the person you care about knows you are with them in the midst of what they are going through.