The Biggest Surprise of Our Lives!

It’s been almost a year since our last update, and we are beginning to realize we might just need to come to terms with calling it our annual update, as it seems we only find the time to pull one of these together once a year…and spare time will not be getting any more abundant with the personal update we have for y’all this year. This is definitely the biggest news we’ve ever shared, so be sure to get through the whole update!

We’ve had the opportunity to serve some amazing ministries this year even though it’s actually been our lightest international travel year since the inception of Agape Visuals. When you move past our work update and get to our personal updates below, you’ll understand how we came to realize this was God’s timing and plan.

We only took two international trips this year— one to the Czech Republic and one to East Asia. On both trips, we documented church planting efforts supported by Providence Church in Raleigh, NC. For security reasons, we can’t share any of the photos or videos from East Asia but we can tell you that God is moving powerfully there. So powerfully, in fact, that we were convicted about how easy it is for those of us who live in open countries like the United States where you can go to church, invite people to come with you, carry a hard copy of the Bible, worship the Lord as loud as you want… all without concern for your safety. These things we’ve taken for granted, and it impacted us a lot. In post-Christian Czech Republic, now one of the most atheistic countries in the world, church planting is a difficult task and takes years to see fruit. We had the privilege to re-visit a church and seminary in Pelhrimov, which has planted two additional churches since our last visit a few years ago, including a house church in Prague.

Our work in the US took us to another church plant supported by Providence Church in Silver Spring, Maryland over Easter weekend. Returning to the DC area brought back a lot of memories from our newlywed era. This year was our 10th anniversary of our missional year, when we left our DC jobs in 2015 to serve ministries around the world with our gifts, not knowing it would become our full-time endeavor for a decade to come. The inspiration for that calling from God came during the time we served at a church plant much like the one in Silver Spring, meeting in a school, setting up and breaking down each Sunday and passionately living in community to draw people to Jesus.

Locally in North Carolina, we documented the story of a college student with cerebral palsy who was provided with a mobility scooter by Jillian’s Jitterbug, an organization that helps youth with disabilities get the medical equipment they need to keep moving.

We documented the impact of The Foundation of FirstHealth’s FirstFutures sponsorship on eight sponsorship recipients’ lives. Their community college medical education will be paid for in return for two years of employment at FirstHealth of the Carolinas. The stories we heard ranged from college-aged students who have to support themselves because their parents are addicts to single moms struggling to make ends meet, and even though each person’s story was different, they all were empowered by the sponsorship and look forward to job security as future nurses, sonographers, radiation technicians, etc.

The not-for-profit hospital system that those sponsorship recipients will work for, FirstHealth of the Carolinas, also gave us the creative freedom to film and produce a video series about gratitude for each of their hospitals in four different counties. We had fun interviewing employees about who they are grateful for at work and let the interviews lead us to that next unit or department— quite literally following the story! The gratitude video below is from the Moore Regional Hospital-Hoke Campus in Raeford, NC.

Every year, we film a project for Refugee Hope Partners, but this year we actually filmed two projects, one at the beginning of the year for use in 2025 and one this fall for use in 2026. Check out the video we filmed early in the year about how RHP utilizes their Welcome Center to serve refugees, from teaching adults English as a Second Language to being a safe place for high schoolers to gather for social events. Just from our couple days of filming, we saw how busy the Welcome Center gets, and the huge impact the programs hosted in that space by RHP staff and volunteers are making in the lives of refugees.

We’ve filmed for many other projects that are still in the production phase, which will keep us busy for the next couple of months while we’re unable to film…

which brings us to our biggest news ever…

After 12 years of marriage, we are finally expecting our first child! The baby’s due date is January 17, and as you might expect, we are waiting to be surprised by the gender of our little one. We’re extremely excited that God has answered our prayer in His timing, and look forward to this next adventure of parenthood! Here are some pictures of Cassie at 36 weeks pregnant!

The first question people usually ask us when we share the news is, “What are you going to do for work and travel?” And although we know something will eventually have to change, our short term plan is to continue the work God has called us to, which means traveling with a baby. We apologize in advance to those who might be sitting on a plane with the three of us in the near future!

The second question people usually ask is “Do you have everything you need for the baby?” If you’d like to take a look, here is the link to our baby registry, but please do not feel obligated to get us anything! We need and would love your prayer support— for Cassie’s health, the birth and health of our baby.

With less international travel this year, we were able to be close to home for the majority of Cassie’s pregnancy, which was also helpful for making the millions of decisions necessary for our full-house renovation and we finally moved into our beautiful home in Southern Pines at the end of August. You might recall the reason we moved to Cassie’s hometown was to be close to her parents as they age, especially when Cassie’s dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy body Dementia. Due to his condition, he has good days and bad days, so we’re thankful to be nearby to make memories together and are especially grateful when he has good days. Here’s some photos from one of the good days— when we celebrated Cassie’s parents’ 50th anniversary as a family earlier this year! We made it a full-day celebration, complete with a walk down memory lane touring some of the iconic places that played a big role of when they first met (including a picnic lunch where they had their second date), a vow renewal ceremony where every family member played a part (and Cassie’s mom wore her wedding gown), a fancy home cooked meal (with an impressive wedding cake made by their 9-year-old grandchild) and a family talent show (there was no official voting, but we definitely won)! It was an incredibly special day honoring their 50 years of marriage.

Once we moved into our house, our project workload ramped up again and what started as a slower-than-average year, became busier than ever, especially with an extra responsibility Cassie took on this last semester. Back in May, Cassie applied for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program, and after a series of interviews, she and 34 other North Carolina business owners were selected out of 580 applicants for a 12-week program designed to help small business owners grow their business. After being out of school for 15 years, Cassie found herself balancing a full video editing workload with classes twice a week, homework and weekly meetings with business advisors, peer partners and growth groups. Despite it being a big time commitment, it has helped us both set goals for the growth of our business, especially entering this new season of our lives. The plan we developed for the long-term growth and sustainability of our business involves continuing to serve nonprofits and ministries at discounted rates like we have the last 10 years, while extending our professional and genuine photo and video storytelling services to the for-profit business sector so they can have the same opportunity to share their stories and promote their brands. If you’d like to watch Cassie’s growth plan final presentation, the 3-minute video of her pitch is below. And if you know of any great businesses out there that would benefit from high-quality, meaningful narratives to connect with their customers, let us know!