Jack & Marsha Countryman: Working, Living, and Loving Together

working, living, and loving together

For decades, husband-and-wife authors

and publishing partners Jack and Marsha

Countryman have worked side by side, inspiring

millions of people with their work and with

their marriage. Our editor sat down with Jack

and Marsha to talk about how they started their

publishing company, J. Countryman, at their

kitchen table almost forty years ago, not knowing

what to expect or where God was going to lead

them, and how they’ve been able to keep their

First things first: how did you two meet?

JACK: I was a manager of a health club. We were hiring

women to work on the fl oor as instructors, and lo and behold, Marsha shows up looking for a job. I was also a lecturer on the Dallas Morning News, and I needed somebody to help me with instruction. I asked Marsha to come help me, and we would have coff ee afterwards. And it led to us starting to go out together.

MARSHA: I was very impressed with him because he

was an excellent salesman, but I saw a softer side to him. That’s what drew me to him, and how he loved the Lord.

“God has the answer for everything. Just seek it. You’ll fi nd it.

That’s wonderful! How did you go from the health club business to publishing?

JACK: In 1981, I was sitting in the living room of Roger McDuff , a gospel singer, and he mentioned he had a promise book. And I looked at it and I thought, I think I could do that. At the time, I was teaching single parents from the Bible and I would say to them, “God has the answer for everything. Just seek it. You’ll fi nd it.” That started our trip into the publishing business. We published that book in December 1981, and we printed 11,000 books. I never will forget this: we sold 10,000 copies. A year and a half later, we came up with the God’s Answers series. And then we had God’s Gift for Mothers, God’s Power for Fathers, God’s Promises for Graduates and so on, always taking the Word of God and arranging scriptures topically oriented to the needs of people— that was our secret. Eventually we sold more than 20 million books. learned to listen to my wife, and she’s number one in my life. learned to listen to my wife, and she’s number one in my life.

MARSHA: I did have to learn to speak up

for myself, because he’s such a dynamic person and aggressive and charging ahead. God just made a way for us to realize the strengths in each other, and to care about the other person more than we do ourselves. We pray together every day, and we pray together all the time. We have a real respect for one another, and we’ve had a lot of hard knocks that we’ve worked through. But here we are, 55 years later. MARSHA: I did have to learn to speak up person and aggressive and charging ahead. God just made

Adapted for print from Jack and Marsha’s interview on the Jesus Calling Podcast.

M ARSHA: They just fi t the needs of people in various categories, in various situations they were in. And at one time, Jack went to meet Pope John Paul II and showed God’s Promises to him. That was quite a turning point for us, to be able to branch out and just reach whoever we could with the Word of God.

“I’ve found the secret of marriage is to lift up your partner at all times.

You’ve been married and working together for more than five decades. What’s the secret to your partnership?

You can fi nd God’s Promises for Graduates, Class of 2020 at your favorite book retailer today.

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