Stephen Adams – Mr. Adams attended the Wild at Heart Boot Camp in February 2007 and the Advanced Boot Camp in May 2008. These events were led by John Eldredge and the Ransomed Heart team. He has earned a B.S. in Management Information Systems, a M.A. in Biblical Studies and is a certified Project Management Professional. He has seventeen years in information technology consulting and works as a Senior Project Manager for the Microsoft Corporation. Mr. Adams is the founder of CounterPoint. He married his college sweetheart almost nineteen years ago and they reside in St Charles, MO with their three boys.

Rick Johnson – Mr. Johnson facilitated the Wild at Heart: Band of Brothers class three times for Destiny Church in St Louis. He has worked for twenty-five year as a carpenter with the last eleven years as a business owner and general contractor in the St Louis Metro region. Mr. Johnson resides in Waterloo, IL with his wife of twenty-nine years and has four grown children and five grandchildren.

Dean Hodge – Mr. Hodge attended the Wild at Heart Boot Camp in February 2007 and the Advanced Boot Camp in May 2008. These events were led by John Eldredge and the Ransomed Heart team. He also participated in a Kansas City-area Boot Camp in June 2008. Mr. Hodge has earned an M.S. in Administration, a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Management. Mr. Hodge teaches computer science, communications, and business classes at Maryville University; he has previously taught at ITT Technical Institute, in a corporate setting, and in the United States Navy. He is pursuing a career change and is currently a full-time student. He has been married for four years and makes his home in St Charles, Mo.

Substantial support also comes additional local men representing a number of churches.  All these men live with the same mission of carrying the powerful message of Ransomed Heart to others.

I attended Basic Boot Camp in 2007 and on the flight to Denver my buddy asked what was I expecting. I truthfully did not know what was ahead.  After learning that there was such a thing as “Boot Camp” I went out and bought the Epic DVD to see if John could speak as well as he could write. He could.  So I attended "on faith," as some would say.

First, the warfare going in was brutal.  There were so many things that stood between me and Boot Camp.  I travel for work and my wife did not like the idea of me going away for a personal event.  Because of the secrets in my heart, my wife did not realize the import of this matter…neither did I honestly. She admitted months later that had she known the changes that were in store for my heart she would have signed me up personally!

I learned real quick that I lived with my true heart buried deep. Oh I looked just fine on the outside.  Hardworking, faithful to church and family, a friendly guy, successful in my career, etc.  Yet God laid open areas in my heart long ignored but with repercussions felt throughout my existence.

I learned that my negative behaviors resulted from deep wounds in my heart.  My life was consumed in battling (and losing out) my behaviors and trying to bear up under the ensuing guilt and shame.  I felt so alone in these struggles and had long since realized that "church" was not a safe place.   I was the walking wounded.

I also discovered and confronted the lie that I lived under.  It said I was not good enough for God.  I was not qualified and not of significance to Him bcuz I continually failed to be holy.  I struggled with recurring sins and accepted this lie as truth and took on that huge burden of guilt and condemnation.

There were areas that directly impacted the relationship with my wife and we continue to walk through those repercussions as God takes our 'good' marriage to an even better level.

The Advanced Boot Camp in 2008 had a different feel.  My wife warned me that I better not come home with any secrets to reveal.  It was more of a threat...with a smile! But there were no hidden bombs to defuse bcuz of my commitment to total honesty.

God used ABC to bring another area in my heart to light.  This deep need for "approval" that can only come from God and yet I had been looking to men.  I was caught up in "performance Christianity"...trying to garner the favor of God and man.  I feet that ABC completed the Ransomed Heart picture and furthered the journey in the restoration of my heart.

With each of these things revealed in my heart I began a new life.  It's not been a cakewalk but there exists a freedom that I have never known.  There are still tough times and daily decisions to make as I confront God's gracious work in my heart but I am life is eternally changed because of the Wild at Heart Boot Camp.

~S