Covered Bridge Family Ministries

Covered Bridge Family Ministries is pleased to have four men and their wives serving as ministry advisors. We appreciate their friendship and godly counsel.

He who walks with the wise grows wise. - Proverbs 13:20

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. - Proverbs 15:22

Richard and Kathleen Emmons

Richard and Kathleen Emmons have been joyfully married for 25 years. Richard enjoys writing, helping small businesses grow bigger through smarter marketing, and assisting in the launch of an innovative outdoor dynamic signage system. Kathleen loves being a homemaker, home educator, booking agent, and tour bus driver for their four daughters: Christina (21), Victoria (19), Natalie (17) and Stephanie (15). An unexpected benefit of 17 years of homeschooling has been an abundance of music: The Emmons Sisters perform their original bluegrass gospel music as often as they can. You can read about their happenings at www.emmonssisters.com. The Emmons family moved to Southern Oregon in 1998 to enjoy life in the country. They have been able to raise and show dairy goats, have a large garden, and enjoy daily walks in the woods. They are active at Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church, teaching, singing, and organizing Ultimate Frisbee games.

Ron and Leanne Strom

Ron and Leanne have two homeschooled daughters, Tianna, 17, and Ariel, 15.. Married in 1986, the Stroms moved to Oregon from places south in 1998. Ron holds a Political Science degree and is the commentary editor for WorldNetDaily.com. He also serves on the local Josephine County Budget Committee and the board of the Pregnancy Care Center of Grants Pass. Ron is an elder at Coram Deo Church, where he is blessed by seeing God use families to glorify Himself. The Stroms enjoy music and sing together as a four-part a cappella quartet. They also are involved in musical theatre in the Rogue Valley.

Dale and Nancy Meador
Pastor Dale Meador, publisher of www.ForGodsSake.Net, is founding pastor of Bear Creek Church in Medford, Oregon and Coram Deo Church in Grants Pass, Oregon. He has been married to the former Nancy Carroll since 1977 and together they are blessed to be the parents of two sons and a daughter, all homeschooled (their eldest is now a Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point). Pastor Dale holds a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary in California and was pastor for 13 years of a community church near San Diego. In addition to his ministry to the congregations at BCC and CDC, he speaks at retreats and conferences, teaches classes in public speaking, and contributes articles to other websites and to Christian periodicals such as Family Reformation and Homeschooling Today. He has preached or taught in Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and Israel. With Brian Phelps and Perry Atkinson, he hosts the The Dove Book Club, heard every other Friday morning at 8 am on www.thedove.us and KDOV 91.7 FM in Medford. Before he became a pastor in 1984, he worked as an offshore oilfield roustabout, fence builder, volunteer fireman, and ad agency gopher. He snowboards and plays racquetball, but isn’t very good at either.

John and Arden Sleadd

John Sleadd is founder of Covered Bridge Family Ministries, a support organization for Christian homeschool families, and pastor of Coram Deo Church. John and his wife Arden have five children, ages 11-21, and one grandson. John has been a public school teacher, church elder, worship leader, adult Sunday School teacher, and speaker at Christian camps and seminars. John is passionate about the discipleship of fathers to be servant leaders in their homes and in the church. The Sleadd family helps lead worship at Coram Deo, and have also produced an a cappella Christmas CD, O Come Let Us Adore Him.