Mark has a non-religious background which helped his conversion later in life (mid-50s). He was already a successful custom home builder and his wife was a successful realtor. Around 2008 the economy tanked and he started looking elsewhere.  He eventually found his faith and one influence was at a Toastmasters meeting when a person shared briefly their faith. Those two people were put together and the rest is history. Mark shares the struggles of being happily married for 35 years and then coming home with his proclamation of being a Christian. There are challenges with that but Mark did a wonderful job of keeping his marriage together and a warm relationship with his adult children.  This is something that most Christians that “grow up on the pew” fail to consider. This also speaks to the importance of a local church family and the invaluable necessity of attendance for encouragement!