During the summer of 1992, our family swapped homes with friends who were living in Jerusalem. In addition to exploring the Holy Land, I was able to explore more than 100 books on the topic of friendship. The ideas and themes I discovered became the content of a doctoral thesis, Like a Tree Planted: Cultivating the Friendship Roots of Ministry. This was my thesis: Good things come from good relationships.

Good relationships or “friendships” rely on CHEK which stands for Choosing, Helping, Esteeming and Knowing. We CHOOSE the relationship. We choose to HELP each other in the relationship. We ESTEEM each other and grow to KNOW and understand each other. Friends are people who CHEK each other out! The health and strength of any relationship depends on Choosing, Helping, Esteeming and Knowing each other.

After receiving the Doctor of Ministry degree in 1993 from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, I decided to do more than just write a paper and asked myself, “If good communication is an essential activity in building good relationships, why not create a better way to help people communicate with each other - a practical guide, a way for people to be on the same page, an easy-to-use guide to make it easy for anyone to have a good conversation?” The answer to the question became an S-Corporation established in 1995 called TalkTrips, Inc. which has been doing business as TalkPoints since 2000. More than a million-and-a-half conversations have been produced and sold since 1995.

" The TalkPoints are so well put together that I cannot think of anything left unsaid – what a guide to a new life!"

"The format is easy – not too much to process at one time."

"A lot of issues and thoughts and feelings that I have, I don’t clearly communicate. Writing things down allows me to do that and gives me a base from which to start talking."