When describing this ministry the words that come to mind are “grassroots”, “nothing we ever imagined”, and “completely from God”, and, while a difficult trial wasn’t the main catalyst for wanting to help the brokenhearted through RNR, it isn’t lost on us that this ministry has its roots in some of our own brokenhearted difficulties and personal growth. Looking back we can see where God was weaving the foundation for this in many ways. Elements of the ministry were being set in place long before it became a thought for us.

“If your church were to be gone tomorrow would your city miss it?” (author unknown). This started deeply stirring Alfred’s heart in May 2018 after reading the quote during a leadership training course he was participating in. With sincere reflection he began asking God what that kind of impact could look like. Later that year we experienced the difficult loss of our much loved sister-in-law. To honor her memory Bailey applied for a Nutritional Therapy program, something they dreamed of doing together. After graduating the Lord unexpectedly led her to pursue education in nutritional support of cancer clients. She began to dream of developing a personal retreat to help newly diagnosed patients find freedom from fear and navigate the vast array of treatment options available. Both Alfred and Bailey grew to love this idea and the opportunity it could bring to help people process their spiritual health while addressing their physical health. We talked and planned together, however, even after finding a beautiful waterfront property for a retreat location and spending much time in prayer, the Lord did not open the door to make it a reality.

Despite being slightly discouraged we kept praying for direction and in the fall of 2021, during a very busy season, Alfred found himself with some alone time tending to a noisy grain dryer at work. Over the hum of the motors and fans he praised and prayed, asking God if He could make a way for this personal retreat to come together. In that time He felt God impress something on him. He calls it a download...nothing audible but very clearly he felt Him say - take the idea of a personal retreat and partner it with the Church. It made sense. Why not use the body of believers who have God given gifts and have gone through difficult times themselves to expand the reach and use those gifts and lessons to meet the brokenhearted in communities across the nation with the hope of the gospel? It’s no surprise that scripture matches up with this perfectly as seen in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 and Ephesians 2:10. So, with a handful of directives from Alfred’s time with the Lord that day, we set out to see what this could look like.

After many conversations, prayer and fasting in the fall of 2022 we shared the vision with our friend, Pat Linnell, who was familiar with both stepping into ministry and starting a non-profit outreach from the ground up. His exact words were, “Dude, you can’t let that vision die. You’ve got to see it through.” We couldn’t ignore it. In November, God used a family we had recently become acquainted with who expressed support of the ministry to show us that He was beginning to bend the hearts of men to help propel us financially into this ministry. Fully aware that God was up to something far bigger than we could fathom, that December we shared in our family Christmas card that Alfred would be leaving his job to start Rooted. Nourished. Renewed. and we have seen God direct us and provide every step since.