Bob & Teresa Bednar
Bob and Teresa have been married since 1990 and have two boys, Collin and Andrew. For fifteen years they did marriage independent of God, but found in 2006 that there was a better way for marriage, one designed by God with Christ at the center. Since that time they have been committed to sharing God’s plan for marriage with others. The Bednars share God’s truth with those that the Lord puts in their life – from marriages in trial to teens navigating life.
Bob and Teresa are leaders at Calvary Omaha and serve in the marriage ministry there as both leaders and mentors of Heart Care. They also serve as leaders in the high school and middle school ministry. Bob oversees the middle school ministry at Calvary. Bob also teaches 4th and 5th graders, is a member of the tithe team, the church building project team and the church service team. Teresa also serves on the church service team and disciples youth through Bible study groups and book studies.
Bob is owner of InSearch, a recruiting firm for accounting, finance, office administration, manufacturing and engineering professionals. He started his recruiting career at an international recruiting firm, building a firm foundation to start and build his own company in 2000.
Prior to having children, Teresa worked in the marketing, advertising and public relations industry for an advertising and PR firm and for multiple in-house management positions, and then later freelance work. Embracing her desire to stay home, she set aside her professional career to raise her children. She home schooled the children during their middle school years and now both boys go to Millard North High School.
The Bednars agree that the Lord has made a huge impact on their lives. Without God’s intervention their story would look much different. They are so grateful for God’s grace and mercy in their marriage.
“God has used the trials in our marriage for so much more than we could have ever imagined. The Lord restored our marriage and gave us hearts to share God’s plan with other marriages, which continues today through Heart Care and day to day interaction with others. But it doesn’t stop there. From that blossomed a desire to share with youth that God has a plan and design for their future marriage, giving the youth a counter-cultural view on dating, purity and marriage. ”
When you talk to Bob about his marriage he is likely to tell you this….
“I think there are a lot of similarities between marriages and cars. Some are brand new & some are really old. Some are shiny, some are rusty, some are bright, and some are dull. Some are complicated, some are simple, some look good and some look banged up. I do know looks can be deceiving for both cars and marriages. What can I tell you about my marriage is it’s not new, it’s shiny, it’s bright, it’s complicated and it looks good. But if you could pull a CarFax report on my marriage, I think you’d see the words “Totaled” and “Salvaged”. Praise God for his redeeming Grace. The key word God does not want for your marriage is “Junked.”
The Bednar Family
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Bob Thune
Bob Thune is the lead pastor of Coram Deo Church, a gospel-centered missional church community in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2005, Bob gathered a core team of people to plant Coram Deo with the vision of making disciples and spurring gospel renewal in the city of Omaha. Since the beginning, Coram Deo has been involved in marriage ministry, seeking to build strong marriages and heal broken ones with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition to his work at Coram Deo, Bob serves the mission of God by coaching and training church planters through the Acts 29 Network.
Bob met Roger and Denise Friesen when they joined Coram Deo Church after a church merger in 2011. He has served as a marriage mentor and advisor since 2012. He has also assisted Roger and Denise in editing and revising the SOS Heart Care Workbook. Bob believes that healthy, gospel-saturated marriages are the glue that holds the fabric of families, churches, and society together.
In his spare time, you can find Bob on the basketball court, in the coffee shop with a philosophy book in hand, or on a date with his wife, Leigh. Above all, he takes hope in the fact that though he is a great sinner, Christ is a great Savior. Bob and Leigh have been married for 17 years and have four children — Parker, Sophie, Lewis, and Grace.
The Thune Family
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Clint & Jamie Veren
Clint is an ag loan officer and sells crop insurance at a local bank. He grew up near Marshalltown, Iowa, on a farm and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Ag Business. In his free time, Clint likes to be on the farm and enjoys playing an occasional game of golf. Jamie was an accountant for ten years until the birth of their first child in 2013. She happily enjoys staying at home now, the best job she ever had! Jamie grew up on a farm a couple miles away from where Roger and Denise currently live. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Business Administration. In her free time, Jamie enjoys working out, cooking and reading. They both love spending time with their son and each other!
Clint and Jamie met in 2010 and were married in November of 2011. Clint and Jamie came to SOS Marriage Care for premarital coaching in 2011. Their time with Roger and Denise proved to be the catalyst and foundation for their engagement and soon-to-be marriage. Clint and Jamie readily acknowledged and saw the importance of “saving” their marriage before it even started by laying down bitterness, anger, and forgiving those who had wronged them in the past. The baggage of past hurts was in tow to shipwreck their marriage before it had even started. Through God’s grace, He set them free and Roger and Denise gave them the tools to have a great marriage. Clint and Jamie are passionate about the ministry and marriage, and want to do all they can to help marriages not only heal and survive, but thrive the way God ordained.
The Verens
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Tim & Carla Raglin
Tim and Carla recently celebrated 30 years of marriage, for which they give 100% credit to God’s amazing grace and mercy. They have two wonderful daughters both married to Nebraska boys, and are proud grandparents of three beautiful children. They spent the first 25 years of their marriage as a Navy family, settling down here in Nebraska after completing Tim’s military career as a Naval Officer in 2006. They now call Nebraska “home” and have fully embraced the good life here in the Midwest. Tim’s “tent-making” job is with Raytheon Company where he serves as a Senior Project Manager. Carla is a “professional Grandma” and enjoys gardening and providing a wonderful home for the family.
They serve at Calvary Chapel West Omaha, where they focus on small group Bible Study and marriage ministry. The vision of the church is to make all believers Bible “self-feeders” so they can experience the power and freedom of a right relationship with the Lord in and through His Word. They were drawn to SOS Marriage Care’s ‘Heart Care’ ministry by that same philosophy, that is – God has the power to unlock hearts and change lives by simply knowing and then doing His will. They have witnessed the life-changing healing power of the ‘Heart Care’ approach first hand while acting as mentors for couples engaged in the coaching.
While there is no such thing as a perfect marriage or one without challenges, Tim and Carla’s marriage is a living testament to how rich God can make a relationship if two people are submitted to God first, then each other. They are passionate about the fight for marriages and family and believe that “By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.” (2 Peter 1:3)
The Raglins
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Tim & Lily Shanahan
Tim and Lily met through mutual friends at a new church plant in the Quad Cities, Iowa. Tim was fresh out of the Marines, and Lily was a newly minted intern for the pastor at their church. Tim knew all along that Lily was the girl he would spend the rest of his days on earth with, while Lily wasn’t at all convinced. After a few letters, flowers, a horrible movie, and dinner, she finally came around. Fast forward six months, and they were engaged to be married. Fast-forward another eleven months, and they were married, and on their way to Mexico for their honeymoon.
Tim and Lily were introduced to Heart Care and threw themselves into it, desperate for a change. They’d bought into the worldly lie that the purpose of marriage was to make them happy, and they saw their dreams and expectations in pieces all around them. They were reintroduced to the joy in Christ that was waiting for them as they worked together, as one, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever rather than to satisfy themselves, and their selfishness.
Tim works for a large senior care franchise network as a business consultant, and Lily stays home with their two young boys, Charlie, and Cohen. Tim enjoys competing with his neighbors in how green he can keep his lawn in the summer (still hasn’t won), and Lily loves putting crafts together for their boys, and decorating (and redecorating) their home. They are covenant members of Coram Deo Church in Omaha, NE, and are on mission to help restore marriages through Christ Jesus.
The Shanahan Family
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