About Us
Devoted Family was created to encourage, strengthen, equip and inspire families who follow Jesus. We are sharing lessons we have learned and are continually learning, and would love for you to join us on this journey.
We’ve seen hurting people everywhere we turn over the years… One of the most common similarities between them is that many have had significant issues within their family, currently or previously. Marriage and families are so precious to God and a vulnerable, direct path to each person’s heart, so the enemy does everything in his power to isolate and destroy them from all sides – especially inside out. This has left countless individuals feeling broken and alone.
NO MORE. We are on a mission to RECLAIM OUR HOME. The home is where we can battle depression, suicide, divorce, anxiety, selfishness… all kinds of broken aspects of life in this world. WE SEE A GENERATION WHO WANTS TO DO LIFE DIFFERENTLY. Real. Authentic. Pure. Committed to changing the trajectory of lineage. Maybe not just your own, but on behalf of the culture. Devoted to God and His ways. If that’s you, join us.
You may be wondering why we would put out more information into a world where data is so excessive. Our goal is not to be an additional data source, marketing to your needs, but rather to be a place where you can be refreshed, challenged, encouraged and inspired.
We are in this with YOU! We have found that the family is one of the best places to start investing in people. Dysfunction in the family impacts EVERYONE in it, and our prayer is the redemption of the family unit. Whether you are leading a family or are preparing to one day have your own family, this content is for you. A healthy family is made up of healthy individuals, so as you join the conversation we would challenge you to draw the circle around yourself and work on everyone inside of that circle.
The family is the foundation of education and discipleship, and it’s a crucial component to raising men and women who strive to live selfless lives. The kind of people who would lay their life down for the people around them. Hurting people tend to focus instinctively on a much smaller proximity, centered around the hurt (themselves). We believe that if you want to change the world, you have to start at the root – the home. It is impossible to live an authentic life wanting to make a difference if you are not able to lead and follow well within your own family. Mother Teresa said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family”. Unfortunately, there are many forces in today’s society that make it very difficult to actually invest into your own family. A majority of people spend the minority of their life making disciples and intentionally investing in their family.
By no means do we have all of this figured out, but we would love to invite you on a journey where we will be exploring the importance of the family. Training alongside one another, we hope to lead and serve people who love each other deeply. We want to walk with you through the topics on community, fitness and health, finances, and most importantly, how faith has been foundational in our family.
We love you and are extremely excited to share with you content that could radically change where your family and your following generations are heading.
Gratefully,
Crystal & Manfred
Manfred Jeske
My Story
I was born and raised in South Africa within an incredible, German-speaking family. Growing up, I was a sport fanatic and found success as a competitive tennis player. However, after fracturing my lower back in a car accident, I was told by doctors that I would likely not walk again (never-mind playing tennis). By God’s grace, they were wrong! I recovered and earned my first professional ATP point in tennis at the age of 15. I then attended an all-boys Afrikaans high school, and at age 17 was recruited to the U.S. to play Division 1 tennis at the University of Arkansas where I studied Chemical Engineering. This is where I found incredible mentors and many opportunities to mature in my faith.
Working in the chemical engineering industry for a few years, I began to see the value that software and data analytics can have in all industries, and started working as a consultant in this space. Just before transitioning into the consulting world, I made the best decision of my life (after following Jesus) & married my INCREDIBLE wife, Crystal! Every free minute I have is spent either with my amazing wife (and soon, our son), studying scripture, becoming a better investor, or working on entrepreneurial ventures!
Crystal Jeske
My story
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma is very far away from South Africa… and that’s where I grew up! (Speaking English, and only English.) Most people would have identified me as the competitive golfer or the musician for most of my life, which truly did defined me for many years. I jokingly say that I stared at the ground for years because I practiced so much, but I’m extremely grateful for the experiences and free college degree that golf allowed me!
Our Story
Manfred's Perspective
I met Crystal for the first time at a Bible study in the Fall of 2016, where we both went for the first time that same night. We really didn’t talk much, but I certainly noticed her comments at the end of the study which showed how on fire for Jesus she was and how driven she was to live on mission. For the next several months, we only spent time around each other for events that were organized by the church and others, and we really didn’t know much about each other. Throughout this time, I saw the awesome things she was doing with the church and just how passionate she was to genuinely honor God in everything she did. We were still only friends at this point… Unfortunately! When my sister came during Christmas of 2016, I organized a few events in the hope that Crystal might show up so I could get to know her a little better, but to my disappointment she was not able to make them. Crystal had been very busy with bringing and starting The Porch Live in Tulsa from Dallas (and all that with a broken foot!!! – more proof for how amazing of a human this woman is!). The Porch is a young adults ministry from Watermark in Dallas that has impacted many young adults throughout the US. In January of 2017, she asked me if I would be on the team for The Porch, and without considering twice I agreed. Being on this team, I got to know Crystal a lot better, and I quickly realized what an amazing woman she really was. Throughout the following few months, I started to really look forward to seeing her at The Porch and all kinds of other church related events. The characteristics that I loved about Crystal were her drive to be authentic and loving, her joyful attitude no matter what, and her passion for people.
It wasn’t until March, on St. Patrick’s Day, that our story started. That evening, Crystal had asked if anyone could help a friend of her’s move out of her apartment. Although I really didn’t have time, I went and everything changed. We had an AWESOME time helping her friend move and decided to all go and eat out (which I do very rarely). We ended up spending several hours together after the dinner and talked about everything in the world. At the end of it all, I ask her out on a date. That night I spent time with the Lord and wrote in my journal that I knew I was going to marry her!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
The next few months we probably spent way too much time together (which was awesome) and quickly found out how great of a team we could be for the Kingdom. From flying to South Africa, to spending time at the Church Leaders Conference in Dallas, to getting lost in London (with no phones) and many other adventures… we made a lot of fun memories quickly!
We were engaged by November (story below) and are now married, and I am so excited to get to spend the rest of my life with Crystal. She is the most intelligent, wise, humble, genuine, hard-working and driven person I have ever met. The beauty about our relationship is that we can both honestly say that it has been totally focused on Jesus. We both understand that this life is but a vapor, but that in our short time on this earth we know that together we will become more like Jesus and love people as best as we can with JOY and THANKFULNESS!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Crystal's Perspective
I moved from Fort Worth, TX back to Broken Arrow, OK (where I grew up) in the Fall of 2016, although I said I would never do so. I loved my life in Texas, but through a crazy series of events that I will tell another time, God made it unavoidably clear that I was supposed to move back to Oklahoma. So I did, but with the mindset of, “Okay, God… Let me do whatever it is that you want me to do here, and then please get me back to Texas as fast as possible!!!” I arrived on crutches with a broken foot (part of that crazy story I mentioned), and instantly started to seek out community. I went to a Bible study at a random house where I met about 20 young adults. Among them was Manfred Jeske – although, we didn’t really talk so I wasn’t derailed from “Operation Get-Back-To-Texas”. Actually, I’m completely stumped as to how I didn’t notice this man… I mean, come on… God must have absolutely blinded me until the right time because he is the most amazing person I know!!!
As time went on, God made it clear that we were supposed to bring The Porch, a young adult ministry that I was part of in Texas, to Tulsa. At the same time, I continued to be involved with outings that the young adult group had. I began to get to know Manfred during this time, and I quickly realized that he was one of those people who everyone loved and wanted around! (If you’ve met him, you know that’s true!) He was always the most positive and fun person, but I am embarrassed to say that I had never once thought of him in a “romantic” way. (I was too laser-focused on Texas and The Porch!) One time we were at an event where there was dancing, and I remember that everyone else awkwardly sat at the table (understandably so if you knew the circumstances), but Manfred jumped up and was convincing others to join in! He appreciated what we had there and it turned out to be a fun night because of him! When we began forming a Porch Leadership team, of course he was one of the first people I reached out to! He is such a solid believer in Christ, phenomenal leader, and a joy to have around! We then served together for months, still with me not seeing him as more than a friend.
I can actually pinpoint the day and moment that everything changed. It was St. Patrick’s Day. One of my friends, (s/o Lucinda!) needed to move kind of last minute, and I sent out desperate texts asking for help that Friday! It was during March Madness, so as you can imagine… we had very few people respond. Actually, only one person showed up other than myself. That person was Manfred! He jumped in with us as the only guy and he had the best attitude. His ankle had been twisted and he was going up and down stairs carrying all of the heavy things, and he was still so joyful! (Now I know that might have been because he was spending time with me. Hehe) Here comes the moment… There was a man walking around the complex who would probably would have made a most people feel uncomfortable. Rather than be defensive or avoid him, Manfred jumped in and tried to get to know him. He asked him about himself – his life, his family, if he lived there… Manfred ended up helping him with his car, giving him his phone number and inviting him to church the following day! As he helped him with his car, out of nowhere, I had a thought. “That’s the kind of man I want to marry… I could follow that.” He was on mission, and I had known that before, so it does not make any sense why I thought that in that moment. Also, it was actually a very general thought because I didn’t think he was interested in me at all. (I don’t pick up on hints well…) Knowing what I know now about Manfred, I am convinced that God had blinded me until that moment. We had a wonderful night moving things out and in, splitting dinner at Café Ole on Brookside, and talking about Jesus and faith matters in the car at Sonic. Later that evening, when Lucinda took back the truck, he and I ended up in the same car! We started talking and worshiping as we drove, and he ended up telling me that he had liked me for a while and he asked me out on a date! (I was COMPLETELY shocked… I had no idea and spent the next day or two with my mouth hanging wide open, speechless.) The rest is history…
There is MUCH more to the story after that, like our first date, asking a million questions to see if we wanted to get married, trips to South Africa, Dallas and Arkansas, hammocking, dancing, running from scary men in the park and getting separated in London, but you’ll just have to ask us about all of those things! Manfred loves Jesus so much, is active, driven to do everything with excellence, the most frugal human I know, and the absolute BEST hugger I know. He is grateful for every single gift in life, such as a meal and the opportunity to learn, breathe and exist at all. He is truly unlike anyone else I know, and he doesn’t want to settle down into the “American Dream”… Which is perfect, because I don’t either! We both want to live in such a way that it makes no sense to the world. We want to be different. We want to light this world on fire for Jesus, and there is no one who I would rather be teamed up with to serve Him!
Our Engagement
Manfred's Perspective
I looked for a ring forever!!!! I went to 42 stores within 5 days to find a ring. (It was hard to find a ring for a price that, as a Christ follower, I felt peace about spending.) I really had to come determine and study what we as believers should be spending on rings, knowing that more than half of the world’s population live on less than $2.50 per day. Even though I ran through all these stores, I didn’t find the one I wanted until the night before the proposal, and didn’t buy it until 3 hours before I proposed (oops!).
On November the 4th is when I decided to plan out this entire event since it was my sister’s birthday on the 3rd (by the way she is the best sister in the world and gave me some tips). So I had everything planned out, and it went perfectly according to plan:
I told her I had a soccer game at 5:45pm (this actually was true- I just would miss it).
I told her that we had tickets to a “fancy” event after the soccer game, which wasn’t completely untrue since the tickets were to our own “Proposal” event.
We typically do our “Saturday Sermons” on Saturday afternoon, which is where we both share what we have learned throughout the week with each other.
So on the 4th I told her we would do our sermons before the soccer game, but what really happened is that we went to eat dinner on the river and I was the only one giving a sermon on that day. My title was: “What if Marriage wasn’t about us?” (Ask me about it → It had to be pretty good since she obviously liked it saying yes later…)
After we completed dinner I told her: “I am sorry, but now I will have to blindfold you”. I blindfolded her and we drove to a “secret” location that I had somewhat prepared before (I was scared everything would be stolen, hence I didn’t prepare it all)
I continued my sermon until we arrived at the location, which was a beautiful Gazebo next to a pond with a fountain. I put worship music on in the car for her and told her to wait there for 5 minutes. During this time I lit all the candles, brought glasses and sparkling wine into the Gazebo that I had decorated with lights, spread out the blanket and played worship music.
As I went to get her from the car, I put on the song: “It is well with my soul”. I guided her to the Gazebo, to the middle of the heart and read several passages in Ephesians to her. After this, I got down on one knee and I meant to ask her if she would give me the honor of glorifying Jesus together for the rest of our lives… but what actually came out was, “Will you marry me???” … She knew what I meant!
SHE SAID YES → who would’ve thought? 😉
We danced, prayed, laughed and cried! THANKFULNESS & JOY are the two words I would use to describe our journey together.
I told her after that we may go to her family’s house quickly to show them the ring. When we drove into the lot at her house, there were many of our friends who her mom and I had invited to surprise her! It worked pretty well 🙂 We had an amazing time with our friends eating, talking and laughing together!
Now a new journey is about to start, and I couldn’t be more thankful and joyful for having met Crystal! She brings out so much passion in me and honestly pushes me to become more like Jesus daily! If you haven’t met her, I recommend you do so ASAP.
Crystal's Perspective
He crushed it. I said, “YES”. The end.
Okay, okay – there’s a LOT more to the story! We both dated differently, and for me this was thanks to Jesus through a series called “Boy Meets Girl” that The Porch taught in 2011 (download the free app “The Porch” and listen to this… it changed my life. s/o Jonathan Pokluda)! We were not dating simply to date, but with the intention of seeing if the other person was someone we could spend the rest of our lives on mission with! I think we had known early on that we wanted to marry one another, and we had been talking about getting married for a while. That said, I wasn’t sure if or when it would happen!!
On the Saturday that Manfred proposed, I had been working on school work at Panera (if you know me well, you know that is essentially where my most productive moments happen… s/o J. Coop). Manfred had been “running errands” all morning, and I had a hunch that he was up to something. He had a soccer game late that afternoon, and we had our Saturday Sermon (Manfred and I have tried our best to start a tradition that we call “Saturday Sermons”. Each Saturday we deliver a short message to the other about what we have been learning in Scripture.) He called me while I was at Panera and told me that his friend had tickets for a formal event downtown that he could no longer use, and he asked me if I would like to go! I quickly agreed! We agreed to get dressed up early, go to dinner (which was very suspicious knowing Manfred), do our Saturday Sermons, go to his soccer game (which was also suspicious, because he was getting dressed up first), and then to the show downtown!
He took me to dinner at Blue Rose Café, on the river in Tulsa. It was an abnormally beautiful day- warm and almost no wind. (A perfect day for everything that was to unfold, and the following day would have been cold and windy!) At dinner, he informed me that he would be the only one to share a sermon today because his was pretty long. It was entitled, “What If Marriage Was Not About Us?” He had pages of notes written and proceeded to share scripture about marriage and how it applied to us. (He was so, so sweet, and I was pretty sure that he was up to something at this point… I must admit the rest of this night was very surreal, but I will try to capture the details!)
At the end of dinner, he said, “Unfortunately, at this point in the night I am going to have to blindfold you, because you know where Soccer City is and that’s not where we are going!” He blindfolded me once we got into the car and continued his sermon as he drove around, trying to throw me off by going over backroad bridges! When we arrived to our destination (I didn’t peek, so I was completely lost), he said to wait for 5 minutes! That was a thorough amount of time for me to realize what was happening and PRAY LIKE CRAZY out of nervousness! I’m pretty sure that all that came out was just the “JESUS”, over and over again as I breathed out! Haha!
When he opened the door, the first thing I heard was a fountain. Then the piano introduction to the song “It Is Well” by Bethel Worship started. He kept me blindfolded and helped my wobbly self out of the car. He guided me forward and had me duck under something. He read the last part of Ephesians about loving and serving one another (this was all a blur to me, honestly… hehe). He took off my blindfold and I was standing in a beautiful gazebo by a pond with a fountain in a neighborhood that I grew up loving called The Lakes! He had put candles in the shape of a heart around us and a red blanket in the middle. There were also candles leading up the walkway, and the entire gazebo was glowing with white string lights! It was absolutely beautiful, and he had combined all of the things I loved. Gazebos, lights, fire, music, fountains… and HIM!!! At that point, he had said so many beautiful things throughout the night, there was only one thing left to say… On Saturday, November 4, 2017, Manfred Jeske got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! (And I said YES… at least 3 or 4 times!)
He chose the most perfect ring because of the symbolism that he saw in it. The two pieces on the band intertwine on either side, representing he and I. Both of us working together under God, the center, and each taking the position below the other at times to serve them. It was just he and I, and a friend who he had hired to take pictures for us. We danced, prayed, took pictures and spent a little bit of time to realize that we were engaged! I said, “What do we do now!?!” We happened to be very close to my house, so he suggested going by to show my mom and brother! When we pulled in, there was a sign, lit up, on our gate that said, “Congrats, Crystal & Manny!” I was shocked again when I saw a group of friends and family along our driveway with sparklers, cheering as we arrived! We ended up grilling hamburgers, telling the story, playing ping pong and celebrating our engagement that night, and it was so perfect!!!
I had told Manfred a few times that he could have proposed on the side of the road with a tinfoil ring and I would have been ecstatic because he would be the man on the other side of it, asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. That said, I can’t imagine a more perfect day. I guess that will be challenged, though, as I truly believe that the best is yet to come! Like I said… He crushed it. <3