We invite you to join us for a life-changing weekend at DoubleTree Suites Lexington Hotel, near Lexington KY. This couples retreat experience will take place on February 14th & 15th, 2025. The cost for this 2-day all-inclusive couples retreat is $500.00. This fee is nonrefundable unless an additional couple is ascertained. The $500.00 covers lodging, parking, retreat materials and meals. RSVP by January 3, 2025. Please be sure to fill out this form in its entirety.
We hope this get-a-way will achieve your goal of a fulfilling, lasting, happy, and healthy marriage. A healthy marriage is about two people working together, as ONE UNIT, and on the SAME TEAM. We’ll discover what it means to understand the risks on the road to lasting love, team up to handle conflicts, enjoy each other and stay the course.
What’s In Store For You and Your Spouse During This Couples Get-Away?
We’ve planned a night of love and fun, powerful break-out sessions, inspirational guest speakers, and many opportunities for reconnection, reinvigoration, and marital bonding. Without the usual distractions of the daily hustle and bustle, kids, and cell phones, this time will allow us to learn about ourselves and our spouses once again.
You will be fellowshipping with other couples who are doing exactly what you are doing, while improving your love for the long haul. This will be an occasion of fun and relaxation while spending intentional time with the one you love.
Most marriages are far from being perfect, but rather in a progressive stage. This means that we are ever-changing and growing together. Married folks may be sprinting, jogging, or barely stumbling ahead, but through God’s grace and your commitment, your marriage will keep moving forward. God will get each of us where we supposed to be, it is a process.
Vision
To re-establish a bond of communication and to cultivate closeness with our spouse and with God. This retreat will inspire married couples to become more connected. No phones, No kids, and plenty of love and fun. This retreat is a financial investment that is worth the price and time. We will focus on this season within our marriage. Sex is good! Sex is God’s idea, it is a gift from God to us married folks (Genesis 1: 26-28 and 2: 24).
Mission
Marriage is our most important long-term commitment in life. We must take time and be continually committed to investing in our relationship as a married couple.
THESE TWO DAYS WILL energize our relationship with one another and create a greater bond.
THIS GET-AWAY WILL allow us to enjoy quiet moments together and experience a faith-infused environment cultivating closeness and enhance our communication.
THIS RETREAT WILL equip us with skills to transition through marital seasons and help us to overcome past hurts, and challenges of today and tomorrow’s issues/challenges.
THIS TIME TO OURSELVES WILL strengthen the Body, Soul, and Spirit of our marriage.
PLANNING TEAM
HOSTS DEACON LARRY & EVANGELIST JACQUELINE B. WILLIAMS
FOUNDER, CEO & 2025 RETREAT HOSTS
“We believe in reaching the lost through the means of teaching, and strengthening the saved.”
Through the ministry Evangelist Williams endeavors to assist churches to carry out the command of Christ as stated in Matthew 28: 18- 20, commonly called “The Great Commission”. She believes in reaching the lost through the means of teaching, and strengthening the saved. Becoming Free Out-Reach Ministry offers workshops, Bible study, revivals, retreats, worship services, and leadership seminars. In the year of 2025, the ministry will host its third couples retreat, “Re-Affirming Our Love” in Lexington, Kentucky, which will be one of many to come.
In the year of 2026, the Ministry will prayerfully open a Damascus Center, which will be a center that houses the reentry, diversion, new life, and healing programs. Such services would include employment, wellness, and a 40-day journey to experience a personal wholistic transformation (i.e. – body, soul/mind, and spirit).
PASTOR SAM & FIRST LADY JOANNE WILSON
2025 RETREAT PLANNING TEAM COUPLE & SPEAKERS
“God has blessed us with a fruitful marriage and we definitely want to encourage other couples and show how God is the GLUE in all marriages!”
Pastor Samuel Wilson and First Lady Joanne Wilson are the pastor team at Hope Temple Church of God in Christ, Inc. located in Radcliff, Kentucky. Pastor Samuel and First Lady Joanne Wilson are a dynamic couple dedicated to strengthening marriages through faith, service, and leadership.
Pastor Wilson, a retired Command Sergeant Major with 30 years of military service, now serves as the Senior Pastor of Hope Temple Church of God in Christ in Radcliff, Kentucky. His mission is to equip, empower, and evangelize through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
First Lady Joanne Wilson is a woman of deep faith and conviction, encouraging believers to trust in God’s sovereignty, even in challenging times. Her wisdom and spiritual insight inspire couples to keep Christ at the center of their relationships.
Together, the Wilsons have built a legacy of faith, family, and service, making them powerful voices for strong, Christ-centered marriages.
PASTOR RICHARD & FIRST LADY SARAH GAINES
2025 RETREAT PLANNING TEAM COUPLE & SPEAKERS
“The people of God deserve an experience which is nothing less than the VERY best!”
Pastor Richard Gaines and his wife, Sarah, have faithfully served as the Senior Pastor and First Lady of Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, since 1996. Under their leadership, the church has experienced significant growth, expanding its ministries and facilities to better serve both the congregation and the broader community.
Pastor Gaines, a native of Tyler, Texas, holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Stephen F. Austin State University. After nearly a decade in corporate America, he answered his call to ministry, earning a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was licensed to preach at First Baptist Church of Chesterfield, Missouri, and later ordained by First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, Kentucky.
Sarah Gaines, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, is a graduate of Howard University and the University of Kentucky. Together, the Gaineses have one son, Micah Richard, who is also a preacher and gifted musician.
Their enduring partnership and commitment to faith have been instrumental in fostering a thriving church community, making them exemplary leaders in both marriage and ministry.
CURTIS & DR. WANDAJEAN JONES
2025 RETREAT PLANNING TEAM COUPLE
“We believe that marriages need real work & happy to work with this meaningful retreat team to bring a great experience to couples from across the U.S.”
Curtis and WandaJean met in church. He was the organist to all of her songs. He followed WandaJean to Arizona and they spontaneously eloped in Maricopa County. For the past 25 years they have been married and enjoying life together. To their union, they have 6 amazing sons and 1 fearless daughter.
One of Curtis’ consistent priorities is to teach and lead his family through a lifestyle of Financial Freedom. He is a builder who has architected 3 different homes, expanding investments as his family has grown. He and Dr. Jones manage two businesses; Idigitology, LLC., a web development company and the $7 Dollar Train, providing continuing education for early childhood professionals.
SESSION FACILITATORS
DR. KILEN & CASSANDRA GRAY
“As we spend time with God, the seeds He has planted in us can be harvested in due season after intentional nurturing, watering, and sometimes pruning.”
Rev. Dr. Kilen K. Gray and Cassandra D. Harris-Gray have dedicated over three decades to strengthening marriages and relationships through their pastoral and therapeutic work.
Dr. Kilen Gray, with a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, has served as Dean of Community Life at the seminary. Cassandra Harris-Gray, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor, is the CEO and Clinical Director of Creative Spirits Behavioral Health, Inc., where she provides therapeutic services to couples, families, and individuals.