About Us
Our first night in an Enjoying Marriage class was spent huddled in prayer with five other couples. Not prayer for God’s guidance in each other’s marriage or even a welcoming prayer.
We were praying for our literal safety. The Rodney King Riots had erupted that Wednesday evening about a mile from where our group was meeting. As we’re watching images of drivers being torn from their cars and beaten, we were struck at the irony of the situation.
Here we were, also. Torn and beaten. In our marriage.
A marriage that on the surface, at least at the beginning, was the ideal pairing. We were both raised in Christian homes. Charlotte’s father struggled with alcohol before giving his life to Christ, setting the tone for the rest of the family to follow. She was raised in Orange County. Her friends owned homes in the affluent hills. Others danced the sidelines as cheerleaders for the then-Los Angeles Rams.
Rick was born into a Christian family in Los Angeles County. No drugs, alcohol or abuse of any kind. He was an athlete but excelled in writing, soon becoming an award-winning reporter in LA.
But along the way we brought some bad “friends” into our lives. Namely, drugs and alcohol. We met one month after Rick had finally given up a decade-long addiction to cocaine and marijuana. Charlotte’s addiction of choice was alcohol.
Soon, we both were headlong into drinking. We denied the problems and, thinking we had what it took, got married one year later.
Dreams quickly took a backseat to nightmares. Rick, working alongside the LAPD, drank daily to relieve the numbness of seeing dead bodies and abuse. Charlotte drank to relieve the pain of an alcoholic husband.
After nearly 2 years of vicious fighting, other horrors, several separations and filing for divorce, we took the advice of a pastor who said, “The easy way out is divorce. The hard way is to fight for your marriage.”
He pointed to us to this class called Enjoying Marriage by Ron and Betty Wiseman that was being taught by our church, Calvary Chapel South Bay.
So, now after nearly 3 years of hell, we found ourselves scared, scarred and leery of anything that had to do with marriage. But here we were, walking into the home of a couple we didn’t know for a marriage class we had never heard of, a mile away from a riot that was threatening the city.
The temptation to flee was great. But we stayed.
And over the next four months, we bonded with other couples who struggled with the death of a child, infidelity, substance abuse and a troubled pregnancy (ours). Through Enjoying Marriage, we learned what a real Christian marriage looked like and what it would take to get it there.
Namely, that God has a plan for marriage that requires taking everything you think you know about relationships and tossing it out the window. His plan is built on hard work, sacrifice, serving and unconditional love.
It’s the toughest challenge you’ll ever face – but the rewards are the greatest you’ll ever experience.
We worked at getting closer to Christ and each other and soon, even though our marriage was far from perfect, we were leading our own EM class in our home. After God healed our marriage, He continuously brought other couples into our lives who were dealing with the same issues we had worked through or were going through as well.
We concluded that God was preparing us to spend the rest of our lives serving Christ through marriage ministry. He healed our marriage. Now, we would give back.
After leading our fourth EM class and counseling countless couples through church, Rick returned to school to earn his master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. We continued to teach numerous studies for men, women and couples at our local church in Placentia, California.
After graduating, we knew God was taking us out of Southern California to Reno, Nevada. It was a hard move, but one made easier knowing that the Father was guiding us.
So, Rick left his 16-year journalism career and we packed up and said goodbye to our families and moved to Reno in 1996.
Rick quickly became licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist and an Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He is now the Executive Director and Pastor of the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission, helping hundreds of addicted men and women while overseeing the area’s largest provider of homeless services.
Charlotte served as the coordinator of the church’s Mothers of Preschoolers, leading 100 women into a closer relationship with Christ, their husbands and their children. She also leads several Bible studies for women and continues to work with moms in developing their faith and marital relationships.
In between all that, we raise the four beautiful children God has given us.
Looking back, we see that God prepared us for Enjoying Marriage in many ways.
We have taught the in-home material nearly 20 times and it has become the core of our counseling and speaking. We’ve led dozens of large marriage gatherings, events and seminars and feel “at home” speaking in front of large groups and conferences.
We stopped our monthly seminars a year ago, believing that God was preparing us to become speakers with EM through the Ambassador program.
We wanted to be ready for whatever God had in store for us.
Little did we realize what He had planned.
When Rick Wiseman announced his resignation due to health reasons, the EM Board of Directors asked us to step in.
The pressure was great – we didn’t want this awesome ministry to collapse. But then again we were in total awe. Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought that we would replace the couple that changed our lives.
The irony is clear. But we believe God can restore any relationship and make it pure. He says when He cleans something, it’s clean (Acts. 10).
The need for a strong marriage ministry is great as couples everywhere are hurting. And as we look back on that first scared night with the City of Los Angeles starting to burn, we thank God for restoring our lives and using them to strengthen marriages.
We’ve worked with well over 1,000 couples during these past dozen or so years. And one thing we see far too often is couples giving up.
Never give up!
With Christ, all things are possible (Phil. 4:13). All things can be made new. You may even feel you don’t want to work on your marriage or that it’s impossible to save it.
We say you can. Through God. You’ll need His help.
We’re living proof.
If you’d like to talk to us, we’re here.
Thank you and God bless.
Rick and Charlotte
CONTACT US
775.530.1383
Enjoying Marriage
P.O. Box 18093
Reno, NV
89511-9986
enjoyingmarriage@
charter.net
Enjoying Marriage
Rick and Charlotte Redding have spent nearly two decades teaching couples in a variety of settings, from seminars and small groups to special events and individual counseling.
Rick is dually licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He is a Pastor and the Executive Director of the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission in Reno, Nevada, which provides substance abuse recovery and homeless services to hundreds of men and women each day. Prior to entering full-time ministry, Rick worked for more than 10 years as a newspaper reporter in the Los Angeles area, winning dozens of awards for his work.
Charlotte is known for her extensive work with wives and mothers and is a favorite speaker at numerous functions and events. She led Northern Nevada's largest Mothers of Preschoolers program as well as dozens of classes and small groups for women. Charlotte is an Executive Director with Cookie Lee Jewelry, mentoring and training the nearly 100 women in her unit. But her pride and joy is always her family and helping other women become the wife, mother and woman that God wants them to be.
Rick and Charlotte have been married 20 years and have four children (ages 17, 15, 13, and 12). The family lives in Reno with their playful Golden Retriever, Cyrie.
