As we set out on this journey to build something of lasting value, my mind was drawn to an April day in 1994. We had just moved to North Carolina and were invited on a parish family weekend in the mountains of our new state by our newly joined church. During a break period, a group of families invited us out for a hike to the top of Eagle Rock. My four-year-old son, Craig, and I set out with the group. After a short while I asked Bo Proctor, a fellow hiker and former Marine Corps officer, if he thought Craig could make it to the top.

I can still see that moment perfectly. Without missing a beat, Bo looked at me and my son and said “If he wants to!”. I was struck by Bo’s simple, but powerful, response, “If he wants to!” Desire, drive and faith can make so many wonderful things possible!

Since that first hike, I have been fortunate to return each summer over the past 25 years as a camp volunteer for a group of 100 underprivileged kids from Charlotte. We take them on that same hike and I have been blessed to watch those children, who each have so many obstacles to overcome in their daily lives, achieve what many thought they couldn’t, to reach the pinnacle of Eagle Rock and look out on a view they could not previously imagine.

Ever since that first church hike (and yes Craig did make it) that simple pinnacle has come to perfectly manifest achievement. Eagle Rock, in the wild and beautiful mountains outside Hendersonville, NC, has become a sacred place for me. It is a place where I have witnessed so many others accomplish their goals. I’ve have been blessed to see the wonder on their faces as they summit that rock and look out on the awesome expanse of nature revealed before them!

Our vision for Eagle Rock Partners is to walk beside, to guide, to assist, and to create results where our partners can look out with wonder from new heights as we acheive goals together!