In Dr. Tackett's words:

"This is Esther. She is sitting third from the right, next to her husband, Joel. I first met Esther when she was a student of mine at the Family Leadership Institute. Esther was a bundle of joy and energy for the Lord. Her heart for the lost is unparalleled. She is a godly stimulant in a lost world. The Lord has shaped her through a very difficult background. I recommend you read her book, No More Faking Fine. She is an accomplished speaker and writer, but to me she is a precious jewel, a dear treasured friend.

Tour 6  Student Cameo, Esther

Esther grew up in suburban Detroit in a family that looked stable outwardly, but unraveled through her childhood due to her father’s untreated mental illness, a painful divorce, and repeated disruptions that left her feeling unsafe and deeply alone. After her mother’s remarriage also ended in betrayal, Esther describes feeling “orphaned” as a teenager, hiding her pain while a nearby church youth group became a place where she experienced intimacy with God amid abandonment. She says God later used The Truth Project to transform her and clarify a calling: to help her generation understand why marriage and family matter, which led her by faith to Colorado Springs to work at Focus on the Family. In a striking detail, she stayed up all night before the very first Truth Project training writing down attendees’ names for staff to pray over—later discovering her future husband, Joel Allen, was one of those attendees, reinforcing for her how personally God weaves stories together. Going through The Engagement Project with Joel challenged her relational depth, strengthened their marriage through shared processing, and brought her freedom as a new mom by shifting her focus from scripting her children’s lives to loving them well and trusting God with their story.