Carl and Valerie come to this ministry as a pastoral couple who love pastors and their families, and simply sense a call on their lives to "come alongside" those in ministry, to be their advocates, and to provide ministries and resources that will strengthen their relationships with their spouses, families and the congregations they serve. It is their conviction that enhancing the health and strength of those relationships builds not only healthy pastoral families but healthy churches as well. Rather than being therapists, they are pastors who are called to serve pastors. They endeavor to do this ministry, not as experts with answers to every situation, but as those called by God to serve those in ministry. It is out of their experiences in pastoral ministry that God has equipped them to serve. It is their deepest desire to share their lives with pastors and families as they serve the church. Dr. Carl Addison serves as the executive director of Earthen Vessels Ministry. He has served Church of God congregations in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. Dr. Addison is a graduate of Anderson University, and has the M. Div. degree from Anderson's School of Theology. Additionally, Carl has done doctoral studies at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO, and received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL. Dr. Addison's dissertation project is entitled, "Enhancing the Health of Pastoral Marriages in the Church of God (Anderson, IN)."