About Us
Tour our acreage
At Stake Ministries is located on 80 beautiful acres that provide for peace and the feeling that one has escaped from the pressures of the world. Enjoy a stroll on the miles of trails that connect our facility, prayer stations, ponds, woods and prairie.
Tour our ministry center
Our ministry center building has many private spaces and modern comforts needed for your stay with us. Each counseling room is sized for meetings with just one person or the entire family. We have multiple restrooms, a full kitchen, prayer room, 24 person meeting room and a variety of screened or open air patios and porches.
Who We Are
Norm Jennings
Norm has a burden for the way that broken relationships and divorce damages our youth and families. God used this burden as a call into ministry and for the founding of At Stake Ministries. As a blessed husband and father, he seeks to pour into others that desire those same blessings. He has a masters degree in Pastoral Counseling from Liberty University Theological Seminary and counselor training through Caring for the Heart Ministries.
Jennifer Jennings
God has created within Jen a heart for women struggling in marriage as well as single moms. As a wife and mother she has experienced her share of struggles. She is often teamed up with her husband Norm when counseling couples. She loves serving others, and God uses that all the time in her role as our Administrative Manager. Jen manages the scheduling, paperwork and all other thing you may need while with us at At Stake Ministries.
Julie Pounds
In January 2015 Julie joined At Stake Ministries with a deep love for Jesus and people. She has extensive prior experience in working with youth and families. God has blessed Julie with the gift of scriptural recall and insight that is very soothing and healing to the youth, women and couples that she works with. She received a degree in Christian Counseling from Liberty University and has received intensive counseling training through Caring for the Heart Ministries.
Tyler McFadden
Tyler joined At Stake Ministries in September 2020 as our newest relationship coach. He holds a deep burden for youth and adults that struggle to find purpose and meaning in this life. He understands that we are all uniquely made, but believes we were all designed to be in healthy relationships and strong community with one another. His experience as a coach, mentor, husband, and father of four wildly active kids has given him a passion for guiding people towards “the abundant life” that Jesus talks about in John 10:10. He has received counselor training through Caring for the Heart Ministries.
How we got started
At Stake Ministries is rooted in our deep burden over the brokenness of relationships in the United States and all the associated damage. We grieve over the increasing rate of divorce, fatherlessness and devaluation of life from conception through end of life. We are called to minister in a proactive way that guides people into God’s design for life-giving relationships.
At Stake Ministries was born out of brokenness, not perfection. Norm and Jen co-owned a small business, had three children and from the outside it would have appeared that they had “the American dream”. The demands of running a business, parenting children, being involved in church and community soon had them following separate schedules and a division began to take root in their marriage. This impacted their relationship at home, at work and began to deeply impact their three children.
God began to use others to help them realize the need for counsel. Christian radio, sermons at church, and Christian friends who spoke truthfully and lovingly into their lives were all a part of showing them that they wanted more for their marriage and family. They decided to attend a three-day intensive counseling experience, geared toward bringing wholeness and healing into their marriage. During this intensive, the Holy Spirit, through the counselor, revealed what the true issues were and how they could come together and love each other in spite of them. They were able to identify the pains from the past, obtain freedom, break strongholds and find restoration in their marriage.
After restoring their marriage and elevating it to heights they had never experienced, the Lord began to stir within them the desire to help others find healing and restoration in their relationships as well. Thus, the birth of At Stake Ministries. While our journey has not always been easy, we are grateful for how God is using it for His glory in order to minister to others.
Testimonials
What’s behind our name?
As workers in a vineyard for several years we saw firsthand vines that produced high quality and high quantity fruits as well as those that shriveled up and died. Vines exist to bear fruit. They are most fruitful when they have been carefully tended… watered, nourished, pruned, and protected from disease, weeds, birds, etc. Throughout the life of the vine one of the keys to keeping the vine healthy is the stake that supports it. The vine is tied securely to the stake until it is strong enough to stand on its own. Without the stake, the vine falls to the ground to be trampled, mowed over, blown away, overcome by weeds, or to rot. If it does happen to live, it will become hardened and crooked and not in a position to produce fruit for which it is capable.
At Stake Ministries seeks to be a support to others much like the stake is to the vine…
Our Mission
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener…” – John 15:1
At Stake Ministries exists to glorify God by encouraging and supporting a deeper understanding of God’s immeasurable love for all and His design for marriage and family relationships.
“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…” – John 15:2
We assist individuals and couples in finding renewal and restoration in relationships by helping them find freedom from weights and barriers of the past.
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.” – John 15:4
In the context of loving accountability we provide practical tools for continued nourishment and growth of healthy relationships both with God and with others.