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Meet the Founders
Earl was born in rural Western Idaho and
grew up in a small farming community in Eastern Oregon. He never intended to move to a big city
with all of it's glitter and temptations.
He learned all of life's lessons early on growing up on a farm.
He met his wife to be when they were both
13 and at age 19 they were married after they had already begun their
education at Multnomah Bible College.
Their goal was to serve small churches in rural America. However, after receiving some counsel from
a professor at Multnomah these plans were sidelined. Earl enrolled in graduate school in
counseling psychology at the University of Oregon. He attacked the program with vigor and
earned his M.S. and PhD degrees by the time he was 25 years old. He loves to say that his sheepskins
(diplomas) were a license to learn.
Earl counseled students at Idaho State
University for two years then moved to an academic position at the University
of Nebraska in Lincoln for 10 years . One of those 10 years was spent
teaching at the National University for Teacher Education in Tehran, Iran.
In 1977, the Wilson family which now
numbered seven moved to Portland, Oregon where Earl became a professor of
clinical and counseling psychology at Western Seminary. It was shortly after the move to Portland
that Earl started on the slippery slope which led to his moral failure
culminating in an extramarital affair with a former client and his subsequent
resignation from the seminary in 1989.
In all of this, Earl had become heavily addicted to many forms of
pornography and erotica that included frequenting prostitutes. Appropriately, his life of hypocrisy and
dualism were exposed.
Out of this rubble, repentance and a
search for God started. A new
beginning for life eventually arose.
This was a three year process which involved receiving professional
counseling and the support and guidance of a spiritual care team. When Earl returned to his professional life
he focused on counseling men with
sexual problems. Just as his
professional life had a new beginning so did his writing and speaking
ministry. He began to speak to
men’s groups on the perils of pornography. He, along with Sandy and
their spiritual care team wrote the book entitled "Restoring
the Fallen". In 2002, he wrote "Steering
Clear: Avoiding the Slippery Slope to
Moral Failure". Also in that
same year the vision for helping Christian leaders steer clear of internet porn
was crystallized and Tuff Stuff Ministries was born.
Miraculously, Sandy choose to stay in the
marriage relationship and after two years fell back into love with Earl. She is his partner in life and ministry and
together they enjoy their five adult children and their families which
include nine grandchildren…
As Earl states, God is good and His mercy
is a treasure.
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