345. "Pre-Parenting" Learning How To Raise Godly Kids Before the First one is Born with Michael and Angela DeAquino

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Michael and Angela DeAquino have a unique passion and ministry:  Coaching parents on how to raise their kids before their first child is born.  Hoping to avoid many of the pitfalls of parenting this couple with five kids believe that the earlier parents get help raising their kids, the better.  They recently wrote a book on the subject and are helping ministries prepare married couples to raise spiritual kids.

More about Michael and Angela:

Michael was born to Brazilian parents who immigrated to the U.S. and eventually settled in
Chicago. His dad was trying to make ends meet and got involved in Amway for a time. One day,
while knocking on doors in their apartment building, he met a group of disciples who were
having a Bible talk. They invited him in, and not long after, both of Michael’s parents became
Christians in the Chicago church. Michael was six years old at the time.

He grew up in the Chicago church and was part of an awesome youth ministry. At 14, he
decided to become a disciple himself. After graduating high school in 2003, he joined the
campus ministry in Champaign, IL. During his sophomore year, he visited a friend who attended
Harding University and loved the atmosphere there. He transferred to Harding his junior year to
pursue a Bible degree with a focus on Youth and Family Ministry.
During his senior year, his former teen ministry leader from Chicago called and asked if he’d
consider leading the campus ministry in Cincinnati. After graduating in 2007, Michael moved to
Cincinnati to take on that role.
Angela didn’t grow up in the ICOC. She was first invited to church in fourth grade by her best
friend Kelly, who invited her on the bus. Angela came on and off but eventually became a
Christian her senior year of high school in 2006. She was part of the graduating class that
moved from the teen ministry into the Cincinnati campus ministry in 2007, which is when
Michael began leading it.
We started dating in 2008 and got married in 2011. We had our first child in 2013 and today
have five kids (one boy and four girls).
In 2017, we were invited to interview for the Youth and Family Ministry position in Denver,
Colorado. We moved there in 2018 and led the ministry for four years. In 2022, we transitioned

out of full-time ministry. Angela now stays home and homeschools our kids, and Michael works
full-time as a realtor here in Denver.
The Parenthood Primer and The Parenthood Project Ministry
After 11 years doing campus ministry, we noticed that many campus students who had been
raised in our churches were struggling spiritually. The reason we decided to move to Denver to
serve in Youth and Family Ministry was because we thought that if we could reach them earlier,
in high school or middle school, we could help them be better prepared. But eventually, we
realized the real need was to reach parents earlier.
That insight led us to the idea of pre-parental counseling, helping couples prepare for parenting
before they even have kids. We wrote a book called The Parenthood Primer: A Pre-Parental
Counseling Workbook for Expecting Christian Couples. It is designed to help couples build a
solid foundation for faith and family before their child arrives.
We also started The Parenthood Project, a non-profit ministry that helps churches build young
parent ministries. Many churches do a great job with teens, campus students, young
professionals, and marrieds, but once people start having kids, they often lose that sense of
community and support. Our goal is to help churches bridge that gap by equipping and
encouraging young parents early on so their homes can be spiritually strong from the start.
There are long-term benefits for churches and it’s also a huge evangelistic opportunity.
Our focus now is helping churches and parents build strong families before and during those
early parenting years. We have a website where parents and churches can sign up for our
online pre-parental counseling course, along with many other resources and opportunities. (We
are currently involved in helping 13 churches.)
Michael and Angela DeAquino