About the Guest
David and Claudia Arp
“Real, down-to-earth, practical, fun, encouraging” are words that describe Claudia Arp and David Arp, MSW. This husband-wife team speaks each year to thousands of people in a variety of settings across the United States and in Europe. Dave and Claudia are masters at communicating in an encouraging, non-threatening way that energizes and inspires others to make needed changes. Their transparency and rich life experiences combined with a lively, give-and-take style and a fun, practical approach to relationship issues, endears them to their audience and makes them sought-after speakers.
The Arps are founders of Marriage Alive International, Inc. MAI was founded in 1983, as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) marriage and family educational organization, is dedicated to providing resources and training to help congregations and community groups build better marriages and families. Today Marriage Alive resources are trusted and widely utilized across the United States and internationally.
Their teach-right-out-of-the-box marriage education program, 10 Great Dates, received the Smart Marriages 2005 Impact Award as the most used marriage education program. This innovative marriage education program disguised as 10 great dates is used by churches, community marriage initiatives and other groups around the country and internationally as a low- key, fun, male-friendly, yet skilled-based program that appeals to the masses and to couples in any setting. It is also used by the US military to help troops strengthen their marriage before deployment and to reconnect with their spouse when they return.
David and Claudia Arp are also known for their pioneering work with empty nesters and for their Second Half of Marriage program and books. Partnering with PREP (University of Denver) they co-authored the book, Fighting for Your Empty Nest Marriage, with Scott Stanley, Howard Markman and Susan Blumberg. They have appeared as empty nest experts on national media such as NBC Today, PBS, CBS This Morning, and Focus on the Family and their work has been featured in national print media such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Ladies Home Journal.
Married for over forty years, David and Claudia Arp bring a wealth of experience and real credibility to their work in marriage education. David graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS Degree in Management and later earned a Masters of Science in Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee. Claudia is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a BS degree in Home Economics Education.
About the Host
Dave & Ann Wilson
Dave and Ann Wilson are hosts of FamilyLife Today®, FamilyLife’s nationally-syndicated radio program. Dave and Ann have been married for more than 38 years and have spent the last 33 teaching and mentoring couples and parents across the country. They have been featured speakers at FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember® marriage getaway since 1993 and have also hosted their own marriage conferences across the country. Cofounders of Kensington Church—a national, multicampus church that hosts more than 14,000 visitors every weekend—the Wilsons are the creative force behind DVD teaching series Rock Your Marriage and The Survival Guide To Parenting, as well as authors of the recently released book Vertical Marriage (Zondervan, 2019). Dave is a graduate of the International School of Theology, where he received a Master of Divinity degree. A Ball State University Hall of Fame quarterback, Dave served the Detroit Lions as chaplain for 33 years. Ann attended the University of Kentucky. She has been active alongside Dave in ministry as a speaker, writer, small-group leader, and mentor to countless wives of professional athletes. The Wilsons live in the Detroit area. They have three grown sons, CJ, Austin, and Cody, three daughters-in-law, and a growing number of grandchildren.