Although we didn’t know it at the time, My Witness Tree began in 2019.
While sitting in church one Sunday, my wife and I were inspired to create trees for our four children with the purpose of recognizing, recording, and remembering their spiritual experiences with God. We felt it was crucial that they not only be taught about God, but they needed to have and remember their own spiritual experiences and develop spiritual self-reliance. We bought special journals, painted trees, purchased other needed materials, and began weekly implementation of this new practice in our home. It has become a faith strengthening and edifying part of the life of our family. We are all improving in our ability to seek and connect with God. As a family, we have hundreds and hundreds of our own experiences—each witnessing to the reality of a loving God who sees and knows us.
“You should consider making these for other people.”
Then one day towards the end of 2023 ago while I was studying specifically about recording and remembering spiritual experiences—God gently nudged me, “You should consider making these for other people.” Although we had told many people about what we were doing, I had never considered doing this. I knew it was something that I needed to do. I didn’t know what I was going to do, how to do it, or what do even call it, but I trusted God.
My Witness Tree begins to grow
I was busy with some other projects and work but slowly started developing ideas and plans for how to bring it to others. Along the way, I ran into Sue and Tim who felt inspired to accept my invitation to join me in this effort. Then, in the summer of 2024, we completely shifted our focus and began working hard to make those inspired ideas come to life. Within a few short months, we had settled on a name and a direction, and hundreds of My Witness Tree kits were in the homes of many individuals, couples, and families.
“It needs to be digital.”
As we worked on completing the physical kit and everything else required to market and sell My Witness Tree, I began to strongly feel the importance of making My Witness Tree available as an app. I knew basically nothing about app design and development. In January of 2025, I literally typed into Google, “What are the steps for building an app?” (This image is my first digital wireframe) Within a month, God had connected me with Jim, Benson, Charles, and Joshua. They are incredible men and software engineers. Over the next year, we designed and built the My Witness Tree app.
What’s next?
The groundwork has been laid and the tools are available. We are still learning. We don’t know what is in store for My Witness Tree, but we will move forward—cheerfully doing all we can and trusting in God. I truly believe this is God’s tool and work to build faith and unify believers everywhere. It was created to be a spiritual and temporal blessing for the world.
