Our Personal Story

My father was a Depression-era, World War II, career military man. He was a good man, but he only knew how to use fear and intimidation to get his four boys to behave. The truth is that he needed us to behave, precisely because he couldn’t behave himself if we didn’t.

Our son, Casey, came out of the womb with boxing gloves on, ready to argue. For the first few years of his life, I tried to change him. To my shame, I resented him because he wasn’t the son I expected. I pushed and pushed him, until this still, small voice began whispering to me. “What if I created Casey this way and you’re frustrating my purposes? What if instead of trying to change him, you need to change?” Ouch.

This set about the transformation of an intense, Type-A, driven Freak Dad into the calm, immovable rock my son desperately needed. It also precipitated a decision that changed our lives forever.

Having an intense child with special needs gave us a glimpse into a new world. We noticed that these kids and their parents were very misunderstood. So we made the decision to open our home to intense children. A decade later, we had trained over 1,500 of the most challenging children in the world to control their emotions and be responsible for their choices. As our reputation for transforming families grew, parents flew in from all over North America and Europe to attend our Camps.

Today, Casey travels with me across the country. We have spoken in 800 churches and schools, training over 200,000 parents, teachers, students and ministry leaders. Learning to be calm saved my marriage and family. It’s our mission to help others experience the grace and mercy of God in their relationships.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8