The Shepherd’s Way: Thriving Hearts and Homes Ministry was born from a lifetime of grace, service, and love for souls.
Rick and Donna have walked together in marriage for over 50 years, raising 11 children and now cherishing 36 grandchildren. Their home has been a refuge of healing and love, having opened their doors to 48 foster children during nine years of active fostering. Their lives have been marked by a deep burden to shepherd hearts, whether in the home, the church, or the broader community.
Today, Rick and Donna labor to pass on the beauty of heart-level Christianity. Through seminars, retreats, mentoring, and discipleship, The Shepherd’s Way equips families, churches, and individuals to thrive—not by mere structure, but by a Spirit-filled heart that walks closely with God. Their calling is simple but weighty: to help others walk in truth, dwell in love, and raise the next generation to know the Shepherd of their souls."
In the early 1980s, Rick and Donna began homeschooling—before it was even legal. They stood at the forefront of the movement in Montana, working alongside the State Legislature to help pass one of the first homeschool laws in the United States. Their courage and conviction paved the way for thousands of families to pursue God-centered education in freedom.
Rick’s journey with Christ began in the aching emptiness of his teenage years. At eighteen, God interrupted his life with mercy, bringing him face to face with the holiness of God, the weight of sin, and the stunning hope of salvation through Christ. In time, the Bible became his treasure and the Father’s love, his rest. Passages like Psalm 27:10 and Psalm 68:5 were not mere verses but living words that embraced him with the affection of a Father who takes in the forsaken. This encounter with divine love shaped the rest of his life and ministry.
Our Doctrinal Foundation:
The Role of a Confession of Faith
At The Shepherd’s Way, we joyfully embrace the historic faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). We affirm the Holy Scriptures as the inspired, sufficient, and final authority for all faith and practice. Yet we also recognize, with humble clarity, that every generation must articulate what it believes the Bible to teach. May the church never lose the thrill of discovery, even a fresh, enriching exposure to the “old paths” (Jeremiah 6:16). For this reason, we hold to a confessional standard: not as Scripture, but as a trustworthy summary of its truths.
Our formal statement of faith is the 1689 London Baptist Confession, a richly scriptural and time-tested document which we believe honors the whole counsel of God. It magnifies the sovereign grace of the Father, the all-sufficient redemption of the Son, and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Its doctrine is not novel, but deeply rooted in the Scriptures, expressed in the theology of the early church, clarified in the Reformation, and passed on through faithful churches who feared the Lord and trembled at His Word.
As Samuel Miller wisely wrote, “To reject all creeds is to reject the very means by which truth is distinguished from error… and the Church becomes a field without fences, where any weed may spring up and spread without check.” A confession does not compete with Scripture; it protects its right interpretation. It binds us to what is true and frees us from the tyranny of each man doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
We do not exalt man's teaching over the Word of God, but we do humbly acknowledge the maturity, the holy passion, and the Spirit-blessed diligence of Christ-gifted pastors and teachers who, through faithful labor, have hammered out these precious truths with remarkable consistency across the Scriptures. Their work gives clear and harmonious expression to the one true faith once delivered to the saints.
We also find great blessing in the clarity of the Westminster Standards: the Confession and both Catechisms, as well as the Baptist Shorter Catechism, all of which serve as faithful expressions of the truths taught in Holy Scripture. We hold these documents not to elevate human tradition, but to declare with reverence what the church has long believed the Word of God to teach.
All that we write, teach, or counsel flows from this deep doctrinal well. We believe that doctrine is not dry; it is living water when drawn from the Scriptures and seen in the face of Christ. And we confess with joy that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), and in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
In a time when many are “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14), we are resolved to “hold fast the pattern of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13), to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1), and to guard the good deposit entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14). For the Word of God is not only truth; it is life, and it is our life (Deuteronomy 32:47).