– Our Story –
It Did Not Begin With a Church
Our story did not begin with a church. In many ways, it began with a series of unexpected changes that forced us to reevaluate our lives, our priorities, and eventually, our relationship with God.
In the years leading up to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, we began to feel the effects of a changing economy. At the time, we owned a small family hardwood flooring business. My husband also worked as a paramedic, balancing a career in emergency medicine with the responsibilities of helping run our family business. Service had always been an important part of his life, and in addition to his work as a paramedic, he volunteered with the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Small-business ownership, public service, and volunteerism were already deeply woven into our lives.
As the housing market began to decline, so did our sales. To help relieve some of the financial pressure, I took a position with a large homebuilder, managing a design gallery. We were beginning to feel some relief when the company suddenly closed its doors, and I was laid off. Not long afterward, we made the difficult decision to close our flooring business.
I expanded my job search and eventually found an opportunity with another large homebuilder. To make that transition possible, my husband retired from his position as a paramedic, and we relocated. After settling into our new home, he eventually returned to work as a paramedic.
But the economic downturn continued. Within a year, the company I was working for also closed, and I found myself laid off once more. Like so many others during that period, we were hit very hard financially.
I was forty-three, and my husband was fifty-two when we found ourselves at a crossroads. Feeling discouraged—and frankly, lost—we made an unusual decision: we went back to college and pursued master’s degrees.
Growth
It may seem like an unusual response to a difficult season, but we had always believed in growth. Our family motto came from something we once saw on a church marquee:
“Where growth ends, decay begins.”
Those words stayed with us. We knew we couldn’t simply remain where we were. We needed to keep moving forward, keep learning, and keep growing.
I already held a bachelor’s degree in journalism and design, but I wanted to expand my creative and professional skills. For my master’s work, I focused on Liberal Arts. My husband held a bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance, and he continued his education with a master’s degree focused on business. We embraced the opportunity to grow, learn, and reinvent ourselves.
During that time, we developed and launched a community lifestyle publication. It brought together many of the skills and experiences we had developed throughout our lives—writing, design, business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. For me, it was a new way to fulfill my passion for design. Instead of designing rooms, I was designing pages. My husband used his knowledge and experience to help small businesses with their advertising and marketing.
Around that same time, our family was growing, too. We welcomed our first grandchild.
Seeing Potential
The publication connected us more deeply with our community. We were living in a small town that had experienced years of decline, but we saw something different.
We saw potential.
We wanted to be part of making a difference. We didn’t just want to report on the community—we wanted to be part of it.
I volunteered with the local arts council. My husband became involved with a local rescue organization. Together, we participated in community and economic development efforts. We had a vision of a thriving Main Street filled with small businesses, restaurants, shops, and people.
Eventually, we took what little savings we had and invested in the smallest building on Main Street. It was more than a business investment. It was our way of putting our own resources behind the community we believed in.
As our publication grew, so did our circle of influence. We continued to volunteer, participate in community events and initiatives, and look for ways to help our community grow. We had never been the kind of people to sit quietly on the sidelines.
Service was not something we talked about. It was simply something we did.
Then Everything Changed
Ironically, we had never been a particularly “churchy” family. We came from different religious backgrounds, but we had developed very little faith in organized religion. In fact, we were pretty opposed to the idea of church in general.
We believed in God, but we had little interest in religion. For the most part, we were focused on building a life—working, raising our family, growing our business, serving our community, and simply moving forward.
Then everything changed.
I suffered a stroke. I was only forty-eight years old. The stroke left portions of the left side of my body permanently numb, and we began to reevaluate our lives and the direction we were headed.
We had no idea that another life-altering event was just around the corner.
The Rescue
The following year, while visiting family, our lives were changed again in a matter of seconds. We were involved in a devastating boating accident.
We were in a small fishing boat when two much larger boats raced past us, creating an enormous wake. The force of the wake threw us from our boat and into the water. Then our own boat circled back toward us.
I was struck in the back of the head by the bow, knocking me unconscious. As the boat continued over me, my hair became entangled in the propeller shaft. The propeller struck my head repeatedly, and blood began appearing on the surface of the water.
My husband immediately dove beneath the surface to find me. My ponytail was trapped in the propeller shaft, and I was unconscious beneath the water. He managed to stop the propeller by forcing part of my torn dress into it. Then, using his pocketknife, he cut my hair free.
He brought me to the surface and began rescue breathing while holding me up and treading water. Another boater eventually stopped to help, and together they pulled me onto the deck of another boat.
My husband called for a flight team to meet us at a nearby dock, and I was airlifted to a trauma center. I was rushed directly into emergency surgery.
I had six large lacerations across the back of my head, and the propeller blade had shaved away a quarter-sized section of my skull. I had drowned, and my lungs and stomach were filled with brackish water. I had lost a significant amount of blood, and the damage to my head was extensive. The surgery was complicated and delicate, taking hours to reconstruct my scalp.
I survived the surgery and was moved to intensive care for close monitoring.
Meanwhile, my husband—who had suffered severe cuts to his hand during the rescue and needed stitches himself—arrived at the emergency room soaking wet, barefoot, and with his bloody hand wrapped in a towel. After treating his injuries, the hospital gave him scrubs to wear and led him to the surgical waiting room.
When he was finally allowed to see me, I was unconscious, connected to a ventilator and cardiac monitor. The first few days were touch-and-go. My condition continued to deteriorate, and my organs were beginning to fail.
He knew what was happening. His years of experience and training as a paramedic allowed him to read the monitors, understand what the numbers meant, recognize how the medications were affecting my body, and know when something needed to change. He advocated for me and never left my side.
Years later, he would describe it simply: “It was the save of his life.”
He had spent much of his career rescuing others, but this was different. This time, he was rescuing the person he loved most. He didn’t know it then, but years later he would help build an organization devoted to rescuing others.
Why Was I Spared?
I went through a tremendous amount of mental and spiritual processing during that time. Why had this happened? Why was I spared… again?
The year before, I had suffered a stroke. Now, I had survived a traumatic brain injury. I experienced memory loss, confusion, the loss of my sense of smell, and the physical and emotional effects of surviving something I probably should not have survived.
Why was I spared? It began to feel as though God was knocking me in the head. Twice. But why? I would ponder that question for several more years.
Life continued. Our family continued to grow. We welcomed three more grandchildren, and then the world changed again.
What Had We Missed?
The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns forced many people to slow down and reevaluate their lives. It did that for us. Suddenly, we had these little humans in our lives who needed protecting. They needed us to make a better world for them to live in.
We began looking at things differently. We wanted to improve. We wanted to be better. And we began asking ourselves a difficult question: What had we missed all these years?
We had been so busy doing—working, parenting, struggling, seeking success, growing our businesses, improving ourselves, trying to build a life. But somewhere along the way, we had missed something. God. We had never really worked on that God thing.
Our View of Church
We saw other people involved in religion and often assumed it was some form of indoctrination. We believed in God, but we had developed a very different perspective on church.
Church, to us, was a place you went to fall asleep—not simply in the literal sense, but figuratively—to stop questioning, to accept what you were told, and to fall into familiar patterns of thought.
At the time, our perception was shaped by many of the things that can make people hesitant to get involved: the fear of judgment, feelings of guilt or inadequacy, the sense that you had to fit a certain mold, and the concern that what was preached didn’t always match what was practiced.
Fear also played a significant role in how we had come to understand religion. Between us, we had been exposed to different Christian traditions throughout our lives, but one message seemed to follow us: “You should be afraid of God.”
We associated faith with rules, expectations, guilt, and the fear of getting something wrong. Rather than seeing God as someone with whom we could have a genuine relationship, we had come to see Him through the lens of fear.
To us, church could feel like a place where people simply went through the motions without necessarily finding a genuine connection with God. We believed in God, but we weren’t convinced that church was where we would find Him.
Come and See
Then one day, we received an invitation to simply “come and see”—an in-home Bible study with some new friends. I gave my usual response: “Umm… maybe another time.” But, much to my surprise, my husband said: “Yes, we’ll be there.”
Wait. What just happened?
Long story short, we went. Eventually, we took a class that required several weekends—and many hours—to complete. And we loved it.
We finally understood what it meant to have a relationship with God. We weren’t afraid. We weren’t confused. We were filled with pure joy. The religious baggage we had carried for so long—the healthy dose of fear served with a side of guilt—began to heal.
We were energized. We wanted to learn more. And we wanted to do more. So, we did.
We took more classes and attended seminars, eager to continue learning and growing in our understanding of God and His Word.
A God Thing
How ironic that the words that moved us and lit a fire within us so many years ago—”Where growth ends, decay begins”—were found on a church marquee, a place we never imagined would have any lasting presence in our lives.
Now, looking back, we could finally recognize the source of those words for what it truly was—a God thing.
The Meaning Behind Steelecroft
The name Steelecroft carries meaning that reflects both our faith and our heritage.
Steel represents the sword of the Spirit described in Ephesians 6:17—the Word of God.
“…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Croft is my maiden name and carries another part of our story. The word croft refers to a small farm or piece of agricultural land. I come from a long line of farmers, making the land, agriculture, and cultivation an important part of my family’s heritage.
Together, the name Steelecroft represents two things deeply woven into who we are: the Word and the land. One speaks to the foundation of our faith. The other speaks to our roots, our heritage, and the importance of cultivation and growth. Together, they reflect what Steelecroft is meant to be.
The Word of God is our foundation. From that foundation, faith grows. And from that growth comes a life of service.
Our vision reflects that belief. We are building a fellowship and ministry where people can gather, learn, worship, work, grow, serve others, and deepen their relationship with God.
In many ways, the name itself reflects the ministry we are building.
Who We Are
Steelecroft is a nondenominational evangelical Christian church and ministry.
When we say church, we are not referring to a building. We mean the fellowship of believers—the people who gather together to study God’s Word, worship, learn, serve, and grow in faith.
We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us not only to believe, but to live out our faith—to care for people, meet needs, bring hope into difficult places, and serve others.
At Steelecroft, we provide opportunities for people to explore and deepen their relationship with God through in-home Bible studies, seminars, fellowship, and discipleship. As faith grows, it should change the way we live and the way we respond to the needs around us.
So our faith reaches beyond the fellowship.
We serve communities facing hardship, including areas affected by poverty, substance abuse, addiction, and disaster. We seek to meet people where they are, offering practical assistance, encouragement, compassion, and hope.
Our vision also includes education and places where people can learn, work, worship, and grow together. We are developing a one-room Christian school and farm operation, along with an outdoor chapel and Christian retreat.
And when crisis strikes, we serve there, too.
Through Premier Search and Rescue, an operational ministry of Steelecroft, trained volunteers provide search and rescue, disaster response, and recovery support alongside emergency response agencies.
These are not separate pieces of who we are. They are different expressions of the same calling: To bring people closer to God and serve those in need.
We know what it means to need comfort. We know what it means to begin again. We know what it means to be helped when we could not help ourselves. And we believe that is part of what God asks us to do for others. As Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, God is “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort,” who comforts us in our troubles so that we may be able to comfort others.
We believe God can use every part of our story—the difficult seasons, the unexpected turns, the rescues, the questions, the healing, and the growth—to equip us to serve someone else.
We began with questions, uncertainty, and a need for something stronger than ourselves. We needed God. And through His Word, God provided the answers.
Allowing God’s Word to take root in our lives brought us peace, stability, assurance, and unimaginable joy. We grew in faith. We grew in understanding. We grew in our ability to recognize God’s work in our lives and respond to the needs of others.
That growth did not erase the hard seasons, but it gave them purpose.
The places where we had been wounded became places where we could offer compassion. The help we had received became something we could extend to others. The comfort God had given us became comfort we could share.
When the Word takes root, faith grows. And when faith grows, it bears good fruit.
THE WORD. ROOTED.
This is Steelecroft.