Last summer our staff took a retreat to calendar, plan, and pray for the coming year. We knew that we would be doing a marriage sermon series in February that we would want to end with a one-day marriage conference. And we even had a plan for who would come do that.
Until last month.
Harrison and I went to a week-long marriage retreat for pastors and their wives in January. While there, we met Charles and Darlene Queener who were our small group leaders when we had breakout sessions. I instantly knew this is who we needed to have come to OneLife, if at all possible, because of one attribute I saw in them – honesty! Here was an older couple who has been through it all, and they weren’t afraid to be honest about it. No frills, no fluff.
So I’m excited more than I can say that they will be bringing this no frills, no fluff approach to OneLife, and spending a day investing in the lives of OneLifers next weekend. Check out their “official” bio here to get a glimpse of what I mean:
Charles and Darlene grew up in East Tennessee, where they were high school sweethearts, and have been married almost 47 years since then with two adult children and four grandchildren.
Charles retired from the FBI in December of 1993, after serving 28 1/2 years with duty stations in Washington, D.C., New Haven, Connecticut, New York, New York and Jacksonville, Florida. At the time of his retirement he was a Supervisory Special Agent. Retirement didn’t last long, however! The day after his retirement, Charles and Darlene entered into full-time ministry where they have worked at churches in Florida and North Carolina.
Darlene is a trained volunteer hospital chaplain, a Stephen Ministry Leader, and for 12 years attended Bible Study Fellowship where she was a Group Leader, Class Administrator and Assistant Teaching Leader. Charles and Darlene are accredited Intimate Life Ministry (ILM) Trainers and over the past 17 years have presented workshops, seminars, and conferences in 21 states and England.
In their ministry, Charles and Darlene claim the promise of Isaiah 58:11-12: “The Lord will guide you always, He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Their ministry is committed to building, rebuilding and restoring relationships.
I’m telling ya…you don’t want to miss this day! Plus you get a free lunch, free date-night childcare, and a chance to win some pretty cool prizes. What are you waiting for? Go register! http://onelifeknox.smartevents.com/marriage
