Stories of Faith

In August 2025, after hearing Pastor Cody speak about discipleship groups, Brian and Andrea Marler felt God leading them to become more involved in discipleship within their church family.

“After searching for a couple of months, we were encouraged to start and lead our own D-groups,” Andrea shared.

At the same time, their 13-year-old daughter, Alayna, felt God stirring the same desire in her heart.

“Alayna felt that God was also asking her to start and lead a D-group,” Andrea said. “She asked if I could help her facilitate a group.”

The original plan was for Alayna to lead a group made up of friends from church and school, but scheduling conflicts from school and sports made it difficult to launch. Instead of becoming discouraged, Alayna felt led in a different direction.

“She decided that she wanted to do a multi-generational D-group,” Andrea explained, “consisting of Alayna, me, her grandmother Stacie, and her great-grandmother Rita.”

With family members living states away in Montana, the group began meeting weekly over FaceTime  something Andrea says “actually works really well.”

The group officially started in mid-January and began studying through the New Testament together. Week after week, the women gathered to study Scripture, grow in their faith, and encourage one another in applying God’s Word to everyday life.

But Alayna had an even deeper prayer on her heart.

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“One of the things that Alayna wanted to accomplish with her D-group was helping her great-grandma Rita understand the truth of the gospel.”

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Rita knew Scripture well and had spent years studying the Bible, but she wrestled with assurance of salvation and fully surrendering in obedience to God.

Then came April 12… a night their family will never forget.

“Grandma Stacie called and said that great-grandma Rita spent the whole night praying and wrestling with God,” Andrea said. “She didn’t get any sleep that night, and she now knows for sure that she is saved.”

That same evening, Rita wanted to publicly declare her faith through baptism in front of her family.

“Over FaceTime, our family was able to watch great-grandma Rita be baptized,” Andrea said.

What happened next became an even greater display of God’s grace moving through the family. Before Rita’s baptism, her two oldest sons, Scott and Kenny, shared the gospel. That evening, Andrea’s Uncle Andy and cousin Hayden also gave their lives to Christ and were baptized.

“This has been such an answer to prayer for many in our family,” Andrea said. “Praise God!”

Today, the Marler family hopes their story encourages others to trust God’s leading, even when the outcome is unknown.

“Our family wants to encourage other families to take that step of obedience when God calls,” Andrea shared. “He has a perfect plan that changes lives, and we may never know who we are impacting on this side of heaven.”