John and McKenna's story began in January 2023. They were living on two ends of the country at the time. McKenna was living in Utah temporarily, and was making steps to move wherever the Lord led her in the next few months. John was already living and serving at his church in Nashville, the place he was sure was home. One night, McKenna went on Instagram to check out the profile of the church that she was hoping would be the church that God was calling her to, The Belonging Co. With the intention of building community and friendships before moving, she looked to see who liked some of the most recent posts, as she believed, "that often, these were typically the most involved people in the community." It was then, when John had caught her eye. Little did she know that he had been fasting and praying for God to reveal his wife to Him. McKenna reached out to him in a direct message introducing herself (yep, she slid into the ol' DM's ladies and gents!). They quickly found that they had a lot in common but one thing in particular stood out. They had both just been laid off months prior. They developed a friendship and as time went on they had hopes of seeing where things could lead. A few months later, they celebrated each other from afar as each received job offers (1 month apart) and God prepared the way for McKenna to move to Nashville. The day after McKenna arrived she and John went on a date and they have been inseparable since.

John had placed “date nights” on the calendar for 3 weeks. There were 9 days that could have been when he would finally pop the question. McKenna had no idea that it would be the first date planned. After all who proposes on a Wednesday? ;) John told her that they had special seating tickets to the Nashville Symphony. Needless to say they never made it to a concert but she left that night with a ring on her finger!