We are committed to help you prepare for a strong, intimate, loving marriage that lasts a lifetime. Pre-registration is required. Click here to download the Preparing for Marriage application. Click here to pay your registration fee online.

Here are the specifics of our upcoming classes:

Fall 2012:

• Dates: Saturdays, Oct. 13 and 27 @ 8:15am
• Location: Room E105
• Dates: Sundays, Oct. 14, 21, Nov. 4, 11 @ 11am
• Location: Room E214
• Contact: Jill Hoekstra at 480-824-7238 or jhoekstra@sbcaz.org

Winter 2013:

• Dates: Saturdays, Jan. 19 and Feb. 9 @ 8:15am
• Location: Room E105
• Dates: Sundays, Jan. 20, 27, Feb. 3, 10 @ 11am
• Location: Room E214
• Contact: Jill Hoekstra at 480-824-7238 or jhoekstra@sbcaz.org

Spring 2013:

• Dates: Saturdays, Apr. 13 and May 4 @ 8:15am
• Location: Room E105
• Dates: Sundays, Apr. 14, 21, 28, May 5 @ 11am
• Location: Room E214
• Contact: Jill Hoekstra at 480-824-7238 or jhoekstra@sbcaz.org

This has profound meaning when we consider that only the things we do for Christ, while here on earth, will last into eternity. It’s not a Pollyanna or unrealistic attempt at life, but it does take work and commitment to gain that focus with any consistency. And it doesn’t take being a Billy Graham, George Műller or Mother Teressa to have a high EPQ. God can improve ours with prayer and the desire to be the best that He created us to be. It will color every action of our waking hours.

Many have Christ so real in their daily doings that their actions and words are consistent no matter the obstructions in their day. For me though, and I suspect a lot of others, it’s easy to see my words and actions reflect the world view instead of those that bring joy to Jesus. I need all the help I can get to see my actions growing in godliness, such that He increases and I decrease.

EPQ is vital to our relationships. It won’t restore the pink haze of courtship, but it will certainly prevent despair in difficult times – and most importantly of all, it will keep us connected to the source of Power that created the universe and Who gives us life and purpose.

God designed us, so much of what we become is as a result of His working in and through our relationships while still here on earth. We are called by Jesus, and reminded by John, Peter and Paul, that our calling is to love God and to love one another as ourselves – and yet, we often are more caught up in the busy-ness or self-centered things of life, and fail to keep our EPQ high.

Our Eternal Perspective, if well cared for, and prayed for, will bring a joy-filled anticipation – looking forward to how God will work in “this situation” or “that one”. As we increasingly long for it, and He is faithful to change us, we’ll find that more and more of our day we know and trust His presence. Applied to our blind spots, our hidden sin, our fears, we see each fresh victory with unbounded joy and peace in our heart.

Consider the last disagreement you had with your spouse. We all have them, so it’s a case of the “normals” for us all. Whether the issue was resolved or not, did the process in that disagreement bring glory to God? How about the last time you had a decision to make—where there wasn’t a disagreement, just the need to choose an action— did the process bring glory to Christ?

Note: I did not ask if the process “felt good”, because the “stuff” of marriage does not always feel good – sometimes it’s just downright hard. The process though, can bring glory to Christ !

Did you treat your spouse with respect, honoring each other, giving validation to them in the process and showing love to one another as we are told, in the Great Commandment.

“And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:35:39

Our closest neighbor is, of course, our spouse. When we both lay aside our personal agendas and commit the process, and the outcome, to the central focus of bringing glory to our Savior, frustration, anger and bitterness are cut off, and the right solution comes soon. When either of us holds onto our personal agenda, God is cut off, and we’re stuck with the ensuing power struggle OR one of us withdraws in defeat. Who wins? Certainly not our marriage, and sadly, neither does our relationship with God.

Our EP Quotient is truly crucial to the vitality of our life and our marriage, and yet we seemingly ignore it when we do not keep a focus on our day that is upward. Can you imagine what political campaigns would be like if they were created with a high EPQ? Or on the freeway, if more drivers had a high EPQ?

It starts with you and me. We can ask God daily to increase our EPQ, and we can, in our fellowship groups or accountability groups, ASK others to point out to us when they perceive that our EPQ is falling short. If we’re truly interested in becoming the man or woman that God created us to be, then practically speaking, such vulnerability with our spouse is probably the most effective avenue. No one here on earth knows us better, and has a greater vested interest in our becoming someone who chooses to be all that God intended.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore,,,” Jeremiah 29:11-14a

Our prayer for you is that you’ll be real and vulnerable with your spouse – that you will ask one another first how emotionally safe each feels with the other (using a scale of 1-10), and then if the number is below 9 or 8, ask what you can do to make it safer. (Sure, ask even IF it’s an 8 or 9.) Talk about what it will take, and work on being truly safe with each other.

The risk may be high, but the reward of living out 1 Peter 2:20 will sustain us in it. Safety doesn’t happen overnight, but in the meantime each can prayerfully ask God to guide his or her own thinking to a higher EPQ. When one has arrived at a level they feel safe enough to take the plunge – they could ask to be lovingly and gently reminded when their spouse believes their EP Quotient is faltering.

The one being reminded should hear it with grace, no argument, no excuses or defensiveness. Thank your spouse for their observation, take it as information only, and talk to the Lord about their comment; seek instruction, and if need be, reproof – as we learn to hunger for and eagerly seek for newer levels of godliness in ourselves and raise our EPQ.