Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Silverii.
Scott, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I spent over twenty-five years in law enforcement. It was the only job I’d ever known, and after twelve years working undercover, sixteen years in SWAT, and my last five years as a city chief of police, I was called by God to retire. At fifty-years-old and only four years away from a full pension, I walked away from everything I’d known and into a season of the unknown.
Our family moved from South Louisiana to Dallas in 2015, and at the time, we didn’t know why, but the call was unmistakable. I spent the next year in a wilderness season as the pain from a past of childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse came to the surface once the facade of the police uniform I wore was removed. The PTSD I’d normalized while wearing the badge suddenly raged out of control in retirement and eroded my marriage to the point of having to confess to my wife that I was going to kill myself.
We immediately began seeing a Christian counselor who gave us both the tools to work on our marriage and healing from my past. It was when I learned to truly forgive and begin praying for others that God began to show me why He’d called me to leave law enforcement and move to Dallas. It was clear that although I’d spent my career locking men up, it was now time to spend my life setting them free.
My ministry focuses on men’s issues and in addition to preaching at churches upon request, most of my speaking opportunities involve recovery groups and men’s conferences. Five Stones Church.Online is the church my wife and I planted together. Primarily a digital church, we have multiple social media campuses with over 100,000 engaged people from across the globe. We speak at marriage conferences, write Christian inspirational books, and mentor couples in crisis. We’ve been blessed in our publishing ministry and were led to make our publishing company available to other Christian and inspirational authors. We love serving and calling Dallas home!
Has it been a smooth road?
Although we were unsure why the call to relocate to Dallas was so strong, the physical transition for our blended family of seven went relatively smooth. The challenges came in not knowing anyone, having left our home church back in South Louisiana, and both working from home as our ministry was just getting started.
I was conflicted over exactly how God wanted me to serve, so I pursued ministry opportunities at traditional churches. Nothing broke loose, and I continued to question whether I’d made the right move for our family. Once God began laying out His plan for us to share the gospel in the digital space and avoid the trappings of a building where attendance is valued more than loving people, I became much more focused on where my life’s purpose was meant to serve.
Also, transitioning from an adrenaline-fueled law enforcement career to working from home, writing books, and sharing faith-based messages was more challenging than imagined. My wife and I had always enjoyed being independent in our careers, but now that we were both working from home, it required retooling the way we approached each other.
One of the biggest challenges we faced was my wife’s shift in her writing focus. Writing under a pseudonym, she’s published over seventy novels and hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller list thirty-three times. As we were called into full-time ministry, she stepped away from a very lucrative fiction writing career to focus on our co-author projects dealing with everything from marriage, life after divorce, and blending families. But we remained faithful and God has always provided.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Five Stones Church.Online – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Five Stones Church.Online is truly our calling. It is a non-traditional church dedicated to reaching the unchurched and discipling believers in what’s called the 3rd Space. We conduct services online that include community groups that range from recovery, marriage, singles and creatives. While our ministry’s digital campuses have been open for several years, Five Stones is a new church plant that’s combining our current digital campuses into one body. In addition to sharing the gospel, I share my testimony as a public speaker in traditional church sermons and conferences. Together, my wife and I present at marriage conferences as well as provide counseling for couples in crisis (online and in-person).
Part of the church also includes our non-fiction Christian publishing house, Five Stones Press. We’re working hands on with pastors, speakers and influencers to walk them through the process of turning their dream of writing a book into a reality. It’s been incredible using our writing and publishing experience to mentor writers into expanding their catalogs by creatively repurposing their written content into study curriculums, devotionals and online subscription courses. What sets us apart is that Five Stones Press is our ministry, we work directly with authors from manuscript concept to book sales and we donate 90% of our net proceeds back to charity.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I like best about Dallas is the culture. Coming from a very different environment just south of New Orleans, the DFW metro has a consistent atmosphere of individual respect and personal kindness. I also love the diversity of the city, the focus on family and community and the common interests that bind us together.
If I said the traffic was what I most disliked, that would sound like most everyone in the city. Honestly, I don’t mind the traffic. It makes riding my Harley Davidson a challenge, but what I don’t like is having to drive forty-five minutes to an hour to get anywhere from the barbershop to a restaurant.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fivestoneschurch.online/
- Phone: 4133248402
- Email: contact@bluemarriage.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottsilverii/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiveStonesChurchOnline/
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