08/16/2026
Marriage Seminars Bring Practical Help and Encouragement to Couples
Couples in Portugal have benefited from two years of marriage seminars led by Dan and Deborah Graham of Homestead Hope Counseling Services, LLC. Four seminars were hosted in part through Cross Church in North Richland Hills, Texas, and the Evangelical Baptist Church of Monção, Portugal, bringing together biblical teaching, practical relationship skills, and opportunities for couples to strengthen their marriages.
The 2025 and 2026 seminars focused on some of the issues couples face most often: communication, listening, conflict, stress, affection, trust, commitment, friendship, and understanding one another more deeply. The Grahams combined teaching with guided discussion, practical exercises, and activities that encouraged husbands and wives to apply the material directly to their own relationships.
Much of the relationship material incorporated principles and research developed by renowned marriage researchers Drs. John and Julie Gottman. Their decades of work with couples have helped identify patterns that strengthen relationships as well as behaviors that can gradually damage marital connection.
Each seminar also included a strong biblical foundation. The 2025 program began with a Sunday morning message by Dan Graham entitled Fear: The Awe of God. In 2026, he opened with Abide: The Foundation of Healthy Relationships, based on John 14 and 15. Translation was provided so the material could be clearly understood by the Portuguese-speaking participants.
The response from couples was highly encouraging. Participants repeatedly described the seminars as practical, meaningful, and useful in everyday married life. Many left with specific goals: to listen more carefully, communicate with greater respect, handle conflict more constructively, spend more intentional time together, show greater affection, and better understand their spouse.
In 2026, couples worked more specifically with relationship concepts drawn from the Gottmans' research, including the Four Horsemen and their antidotes, Love Maps, soft start-up, compromise, and the distinction between solvable and perpetual problems. These tools gave couples practical ways to recognize destructive communication patterns, strengthen friendship, approach disagreements more gently, and learn to manage differences that may not have simple solutions.
Interactive exercises and guided conversations were especially well received because they gave couples the opportunity to practice what they were learning rather than simply hear about it.
The combination of Gottman-based relationship principles, biblical teaching, and direct couple interaction helped connect research and instruction with the realities of everyday married life.
One of the most encouraging outcomes was the desire for continued marriage enrichment. Participants consistently expressed interest in future seminars, showing that the need—and the opportunity—for this kind of ministry remains strong.
The partnership between Homestead Hope Counseling, Cross Church, and the Evangelical Baptist Church of Monção has helped create a meaningful bridge between biblical teaching and practical marriage support. The research and relationship principles developed by John and Julie Gottman provided an important foundation for many of the practical tools presented, while the faith-based setting allowed those concepts to be considered within a biblical understanding of marriage, commitment, and relationship.
More importantly, the seminars gave couples space to reflect, talk, learn, and leave with concrete ways to strengthen their relationships.
The success of both seminars offers a simple but important reminder: strong marriages are built intentionally. With practical tools, encouragement, sound relationship research, and a biblical foundation, couples can continue growing in understanding, connection, and commitment to one another.
The experience was well worth the time, expense, and resources expended in the endeavors. If you believe your organization would benefit from such a seminar or workshop, please contact Homestead Hope Counseling at www.homesteadhope.org or by calling 817.812.3021.
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