The Craig Jutila Memorial Fund

Over the last 10 years, Craig prayed and journaled and dreamed of a place on Whidbey Island, Washington for pastors and ministry leaders who were broken to connect and begin to heal. He wanted a beautiful place they could get away from the rush of life and experience the magnitude and serenity of God’s power in nature while rekindling hope and building healthy habits. He dreamed of bringing in counselors to help start the healing, Christian leaders to help teach new habits and group facilitators to help connect hurting pastors to each other.

His dream was not for it to be a ‘retreat’ where they would come for a period of time and then leave, but rather as a place for healing to start. Connections would continue long term, with follow up and most importantly ongoing authentic relationships between the attendees, so that the pastors would experience community in a safe healthy way.

When Craig passed away suddenly of a heart attack in December 2018, Mary and the Empowered Living Foundation Board started the Craig Jutila Memorial Fund, with the goal of making Craig’s vision come to life. 

Our long term goals are:

1)    To own a place on Whidbey Island for this connection to happen and to have regular scheduled retreats throughout the year that ministry leaders could attend free of charge:

2)    To partner with University programs to provide books and leadership materials on the topic of ministry difficulties.

3)    To assemble a team of expert leaders that could reach senior pastors and church leadership teams and connect with them to help hurting ministers.

Short term goals include:

1)    Connect with other Christian ministries who have similar missions and refer others to them as appropriate.

2)    Start a blog/e-letter that encourages pastors and includes Craig’s teaching on this topic.

3)    Build long-term prayer and financial support teams.

We would be honored if you would Join the Cause with us.