Why Grow Exists
“We’ve spent years caring for people who were caring for everyone else. We saw how often pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders needed a place where they could be honest, process what they were carrying, and remember that they didn’t have to lead alone.”
- Joe and Kari Bulman
Meet Joe and Kari
Get to know Joe Bulman.
I have been passionate about following Jesus and serving His people for as long as I can remember. At eight years old, I invited Christ into my life, and while I didn’t realize it at the time, that moment set the trajectory for my entire story. By sixteen, I had already stepped into ministry as a youth pastor, beginning a lifelong journey of learning what leadership, faith, and obedience truly look like.
At the heart of my calling is a desire to invigorate God’s people and strengthen church leadership. I love encouraging pastors, equipping leaders, and reminding the Church of its purpose and power. Through preaching, worship, coaching, and ministry experiences around the world, I have had the privilege of witnessing the transformative power of the gospel and helping others discover who God has created them to be.
I am incredibly grateful for my wife and our four children, who are my greatest earthly blessing and a daily reminder of God’s grace. I am a lifelong learner who continues to seek wisdom from Scripture and the leading of the Holy Spirit, believing that God does His best work through willing hearts. Whether I am spending time with family, investing in leaders, or serving the Church, my commitment remains the same: to strengthen God’s people and help them walk confidently in the calling God has placed on their lives.
Ministry Experience & Certifications
25+ years serving in ministry leadership
15 years of pastoral leadership, including lead pastor experience
Certified Life Coach
Prepare & Enrich Certified Facilitator
Certified Marriage Coach (American Association of Christian Counselors)
Get to know Kari Bulman.
For more than 25 years, I’ve had the privilege of serving people through ministry and pastoral leadership. As an ordained Foursquare pastor, I’ve walked alongside individuals, couples, families, and leaders through seasons of growth, grief, change, disappointment, healing, and new beginnings.
For 11 of those years, I served in pastoral leadership, including lead pastor roles. Those years taught me something I carry into everything I do today: leaders need a safe place to be people, too.
We spend so much of our lives caring for others, carrying responsibility, making decisions, and showing up for people. But that doesn’t mean we stop needing someone to listen to us, ask good questions, pray with us, and help us process what we're carrying.
In 2021, I became a certified Life Coach, which felt like a natural extension of my pastoral calling. Coaching has given me another way to create space for people to be seen, heard, encouraged, and equipped—and to help them identify practical steps toward the life and leadership God is inviting them into.
I especially love walking with people through seasons of transition and grief, helping them reconnect with their identity, clarify what matters most, and move forward with hope.
I believe God is always at work in us, not just through us.
And sometimes the most important growth happens when we stop long enough to notice it.
Ministry Experience & Training
25+ years serving in ministry leadership
11 years of pastoral leadership, including lead pastor experience
Certified Life Coach
Prepare & Enrich Certified Facilitator
Certified in Marriage Coaching and Grief Coaching through the American Association of Christian Counselors
Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational & Ministry Leadership
What You’ll Experience
A place where you can come as you are.
Safety.
Leadership can be lonely. We believe you need a place where you can take off the leadership hat, tell the truth, and know you will be met with compassion and confidentiality.
Truth.
Growth requires honesty. We won’t pretend everything is fine when it isn’t, and we won’t shy away from the questions that matter. We believe truth, when held with grace, creates room for genuine change.
Grace.
None of us gets it right all the time. We believe growth happens best when we can acknowledge where we are without shame and receive the grace to keep becoming.
Honesty.
You don’t have to have the right words or a polished story. Bring the questions, the disappointments, the doubts, the hopes, and the things you’re still trying to understand. There is room for all of it.
Hope.
Even in difficult seasons, we believe God is still at work. Hope doesn't mean ignoring what is hard; it means believing that your current season isn't the end of your story.
Forward movement.
Growth isn't about staying stuck in reflection forever. We want to help you listen, gain clarity, and identify the next faithful step—whether that means changing a rhythm, setting a boundary, having a difficult conversation, grieving a loss, or stepping into something new.
Let’s Start With a Conversation
FAQs
Who is Grow for?
1
Grow is designed primarily for pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders who want a place to grow personally and lead more sustainably.
What does Grow offer?
2
Our courses and coaching opportunities address the real-life issues leaders encounter—including grief, healthy rhythms, relationships, boundaries, leadership, transitions, and discerning what's next.
Is Grow coaching or counseling?
3
Grow is not therapy or clinical counseling.
Our approach draws from years of pastoral leadership, coaching, and ministry experience. We provide a safe place to reflect, process, gain clarity, and identify practical next steps while recognizing that some situations may require a licensed mental-health professional or other specialized care.
What makes Grow different?
4
We understand the world of Christian leadership because we've lived it.
We've experienced the joys and weight of pastoral leadership, the responsibility of caring for people, seasons of transition, grief, family demands, and the questions that come when the thing you've devoted your life to begins to change.
We don't want to simply give you another leadership formula.
We want to create a place where you can slow down, listen, grow, and move forward with God.