“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
God created all people for an eternal relationship with Himself. In each human heart, there is a void in our heart that may only be filled by knowing God through His son Jesus. Once you choose to follow Jesus, you have the amazing opportunity to invest in how you will spend your eternity! All followers of Jesus will go to Heaven. But how you invest your time, your talents, and your treasure will impact your eternal life as God promises more blessings to those who are faithful in this life. We named our ministry Hearts for Eternity to remind ourselves and everyone we speak with that our focus should remain on eternity rather than the temporary things of this world.
The Hearts for Eternity team includes a deep and diverse group of ministry leaders who share a passion for Jesus and the spiritual formation of His followers. God has guided our team in creating a special prayer retreat experience where we help Jesus followers learn to listen for the Lord’s voice. We believe one of the best ways you can prepare for Eternity is by learning to listen to the Lord as He speaks to you today!
Bryce is a graduate of Furman University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Asbury Theological Seminary with a Doctorate of Ministry degree in leadership. Over the past 20 years, he has served in a variety of executive roles including global pastor, discipleship pastor, executive pastor, and COO and CEO of large nonprofits. Bryce serves on various boards and partners with strategic global ministries which share his passion for all people to hear about the love of Jesus. He especially enjoys preaching on the topics of eternity, prayer, stewardship, and global missions.
Bryce grew up in St. Petersburg, FL. He came to know Jesus as a young child through the blessing of Christian parents and grandparents. He graduated from Furman University with a degree in accounting and worked for Ernst & Young as a CPA and audit manager for 12 years in SC, NC, and TX. When he was 22 years old, Bryce heard the Lord’s invitation to invest his life wisely so he would not have any regrets when he stands before the Lord for the final review of his life (Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:12).
He quit his job with Ernst & Young in NC, sold his car, and flew to Dallas, TX for seminary. Although he needed to rejoin Ernst & Young one year later in TX, God enabled Bryce to complete his Master of Theology degree with a focus on cross-cultural studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2004. He completed his Doctor of Ministry degree with a focus on Christian leadership at Asbury Theological Seminary in 2008. Bryce met his wife Vio during a mission trip to Romania in 2001. They were married three times in three months in 2002 (great story for later) and are now blessed with three children, AJ, Cayden, and Audrey Kate. Bryce enjoys playing tennis, pickleball, guitar, hiking, travel, grilling and smoking on the Green Egg, as well as all types of activities with his wife and kids.
Marcus currently provides executive leadership for a church ministry staff and Christian school in Texarkana, Arkansas. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, he came to faith in Christ at the age of 10 through a vacation bible school at Sevier Heights Baptist Church. At age 16, Marcus sensed God’s call on his life to pursue full time Christian service. This call led him to pursue his bachelor’s degree at William Jennings Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. He graduated from Bryan College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Education. Soon after graduating from Bryan College, God led Marcus to Dallas, Texas to pursue and complete his Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Currently, Marcus is in the last phase of completing his doctoral work in strategic leadership from Liberty University. Before working as an executive in church ministry staff, Marcus had the unique privilege of working as an executive in the corporate arena in the area of human resources and employee relations. Marcus married his beautiful and godly wife, Patricia, in May 2002. Marcus and Patricia are blessed with three children; Faith, Teela and Clyde.
Beth Laury is a second-career minister after leaving physical therapy/quality management at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to work full time for the Lord. Instead of helping restore the body’s ability to function, the Holy Spirit gave her a desire to help restore souls to our Creator.
Training leaders to make more disciples, Beth served as adult discipleship pastor for a metro-Atlanta Church for seven years. She cares deeply for the sick, the broken, and the imprisoned. She is passionate about journeying with people one-on-one or in groups as seekers grow into Christlikeness. Beth loves leading retreats and seminars to build up others to know and experience God. She often mentions that she has a “front row seat to Christ’s transformative work in people’s lives.”
Part of Beth’s own spiritual formation has come through Renovare Institute. Beth completed her Masters in Spiritual Formation and Direction at Richmond Graduate University in Summer 2023. Beth and husband Michael have two college-aged daughters. She loves reading, walking, cooking, and traveling.
David is originally from Greenville, South Carolina, and is a graduate of Furman University (BA Business Administration) and Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM).
At age 19 he received Christ as Savior through the influence of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a family that shared the Gospel and lived out their faith in a winsome way.
After graduation he worked in his family’s business before transitioning to seminary where he met his wife, Chamblee, also a graduate of Dallas Seminary (M.A. Christian Education).
Since 1997, David has served churches in Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina in a variety of pastoral roles such as Outreach & Assimilation, Discipleship, Community Life, and Executive Pastor. He and Chamblee are parents of four children and live in Greenville where they are engaged in discipleship ministry focused on creating relational environments and ministering in life-on-life, small group contexts. David also serves as a Board Member of Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries in Greenwood, South Carolina.
He enjoys reading, exercise, the outdoors, and time together with his family.
Lance Campbell serves as the senior pastor of Landmark Church in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. Lance and his wife Ilah are the proud parents of five daughters⎯Shelly, Joanna, Marina, Charity, and Zoe. Since the 1990s, Lance has traveled to over 30 countries on six continents to preach the Gospel and equip the Body of Christ. Lance’s passion is to stir revival by encouraging and training leaders and workers through revelation and insight into the Word of God.
He has spent the last 35 years preaching and pastoring; discipling young people; leading conferences; and traveling to the nations to preach, to train and encourage leaders, and to help coordinate various global aid and building projects.
Pastor N and his wife Ch. were school teachers in their North Africa nation for many years. A short time after they met Jesus as adults, they felt the call to start a church in their Muslim nation. The church quickly grew from 4 people to over 600. All were Muslim background new believers. Their church was persecuted and forced to close by the government in 2019. So they took their church online and continued to share their joy and faith in Jesus all over their nation.
Due to severe persecution and a desire to protect their teenage son, Pastor N and Ch. came to the US seeking asylum in 2022.
They continue to lead their North Africa church with four different online services each week, including a worship service, a prayer service, a Bible study, and a youth service. As part of our new online Arabic church partnership with MAN Ministries, Pastor N provides leadership and training for the pastors and church leaders in persecuted nations who follow up one on one with the Arabic people in those nations who attend the online worship service and desire to meet Jesus or to develop their faith.
Dean graduated from Cedarville College with a degree in criminal justice. His lifelong dream of making the world a better place by putting evil people in prison was coming to fruition. But God spoke to Dean’s heart his senior year, impressing on him that in order to make this world a better place, a person’s heart needed to be changed to follow Jesus. Instead of going to the FBI, he went to Columbia International University and graduated in 1998 with a Masters of Divinity in Missions. He desired to be an overseas missionary, but God kept Dean stateside, serving as a missions/evangelism pastor for the past 23 years. Additionally, Dean earned his Doctorate of Ministry in Evangelism from his alma mater in 2005.
Dean has served in 17 countries and 40 states teaching and sharing about the good news of Jesus. He has trained over 2000 Apartment Life missionaries in faith sharing and has taught evangelism training to thousands of Christ followers. His passion is sharing the love of Christ with others, and empowering Christians to each find their unique way of sharing their faith. He is married to Debra and has three grown sons and an awesome step son.
In his free time Dean enjoys hiking and playing golf, or at least chasing after a little white ball in the woods and streams.
Over the past 20 years, Doug has consistently used his gifts of compassion and service in a variety of ways to bring hope to people in need. As a trained Stephen Minister, Doug provides a caring ear and emotional support for other men dealing with major life challenges. He has led or been a part of multiple mission teams serving orphans and others living in poverty in Kenya, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic; and he has spent much time serving the homeless in Greater Atlanta. Doug recently became an ordained minister so that he may officiate weddings, baptisms, and memorial services.
Prior to joining Hearts for Eternity, Doug worked in sales and project management for an international healthcare company for 43 years; but God wooed Doug into early retirement so he could spend more time with his family and invest more time in ministry. As a result of personally experiencing the power of prayer as God healed him from cancer, Doug now trains other leaders on how to listen to the Lord in prayer. He also enjoys leading others to serve senior adults. When not serving others, Doug enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons and daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren.
For over 20 years Donna has served senior adults in independent, assisted living, and memory care homes. Her passion for serving the elderly comes from her close relationship with her own grandparents. The people she has served have ranged in age from their late 40’s to 100+ years. Many of them have had Dementia or Parkinson’s, as well as other emotional and/or physical disabilities. Donna uses her gifts of mercy and encouragement to create a joyful, loving, and comfortable environment for the residents she serves. Her activities include music as therapy, simple art projects, basic stretching, playing popular games, and educational, historic, and religious presentations.
Before pursuing her interest in working with the elderly, Donna worked in the corporate world in Houston, TX. Her primary career was in the oil, gas, & energy industry where she held positions such as project manager, systems engineer, business analyst, technical writer, and corporate trainer. She has traveled extensively within the U.S. and abroad. Donna has a business administration degree from Dekalb College and Broward College. She is also a graduate of the Institute of Hebraic & Christian Studies and a certified chaplain.
Ruth currently maintains a Christian Counseling Practice, teaches a women’s Bible study and a women’s Sunday school class, and speaks and teaches at retreats and events.
Having lived most of her life in Atlanta, Georgia, Ruth grew up in church and accepted Christ at the age of 12. She graduated from Duke University with a degree in business administration and worked in accounting until her children were born. Ruth is now widowed with three grown sons and ten grandchildren. Ruth gave her heart and life to missions at a mission conference in the 1980s. Because she had three young sons at home, she asked God how to begin her missions’ service. God nudged her to start a neighborhood women’s Bible study.
That study continues today. Ruth then pursued a masters’ degree in counseling at Luther Rice Seminary, graduating in 1992. She later added a unit of Chaplaincy Training at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital and has been a counselor for almost 30 years.
After spending time with family (especially her grandchildren), Ruth is most passionate about missions, and she loves to pray. She has served on numerous short-term teams all over the world and carries a special burden for the Middle East. Her heart for prayer is shared in several prayer groups.
In her home country of Romania, Vio served as a missionary to special needs orphans for many years prior to her marriage to Bryce. Each summer, Vio trained hundreds of volunteers to work in the various camps held for the orphans. The rest of the year she organized weekly discipleship meetings for the children who had committed their lives to Jesus. Vio continues to mentor many of these orphans, who are now young adults, via transatlantic phone calls and emails.
Vio graduated from a specialized art school in Romania in 1997. Since moving to the US in 2002, she has used her artistic training and creative gifts by serving in various ministries for the homeless and for global missions. She has also taught art and science to elementary students. Vio has also successfully raised three children who love Jesus. She greatly enjoys painting and all forms of art, cooking, singing, tennis, and pickleball. But her greatest passion continues to be serving orphans in Kenya and Romania.
As a young adult, Toni worked full time in the Louisiana Office of Special Educational Services, where she began developing a skill for drafting detailed written communication with clarity. State Department proofers affirmed her writing while also fine-tuning her grammar with tips on things like which vs. that. In her off hours, Toni had a burden to communicate biblical truth to other single women through weekly Bible studies. The burden to communicate truth—not error—led Toni to pursue a masters in biblical studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), where her writing topics shifted from parent conferences on special education to biblical theologies of John and Ecclesiastes.
Following seminary, Toni worked in missions’ administration for over 18 years, beginning at DTS, where she met Bryce, who needed someone to track his support funds as he did international summer missions work.
Later, Bryce and Toni served together at two Atlanta churches. Meanwhile, living in small apartments (including 10 years in a one-room garage apartment!) developed Toni’s knack for creatively organizing spaces. Also having a growing itch to decorate spaces, Toni became sole proprietor of Roomlifts by Antoinette, a part time one-day redecorating business. Communications and spaces; clarity, organization, and creativity—it finally occurred to Toni that she enjoys taking things that exist and making them better. [So, while she has you here…Tip #1: Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. Tip #2: Keep your collections together to make impact; scattered here and there just makes clutter.]
