This ministry exists to help individuals and families cultivate virtue. We come alongside families to strengthen them, encourage them, and equip them to cultivate virtue within self and each other. In this way, virtuous families create virtuous churches. And virtuous churches share the gospel and make disciple-makers. We have officially relaunched as of Spring 2023, so check out this page and especially our Classical Virtue Academy.
Our prayer is that we would be a blessing to all those who seek to become better people. God has created us in his image which means every person has the potential for cultivating virtue. The ancients knew that path of virtue was the path of happiness. And the believers know that holiness cannot be achieved on the path of vice. We hope to walk with people in their journey to cultivate both intellectual and moral virtue for the glory of God.
Our Story
To summarize over 20 years of questing to help disciple believers, we found the ancient and semi-modern church writings on virtue and virtue ethics. Modern philosophers have in the last 40 years have turned their eyes back to virtue, but the modern philosophers suffer from an unhealthy dose of modern philosophy.
Additionally, the church has faltered in two ways. First, the church followed the modern philosophers rejecting virtue in favor of “categorical imperatives” or the complete rejection of objective morality. Second, the church fell back on fideism (unthinking faith) with the unspoken mantra “if I just believe harder I will do better.”
Trying to make disciples in such a climate meant minimal progress. Additionally, pastors and churches perpetuate the same problems because they are unaware of the problems themselves. Only through training in apologetics, classical theology and philosophy, and classical education did we “happen” to stumble upon a rich Christian heritage espoused by greats like Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Calvin, as well as those of John Milton, John Owen, and Jonathan Edwards.
What began as a personal journey of faith to conform to Christ eventually developed into this ministry to share with others. This ministry exists like clay to mold to the needs of the church. It is not business. It is discipleship.
Dr. Thomas McCuddy serves as the President of Families of Virtue. He seeks to train believers around the world to share, defend, and multiply the faith. He has served in church ministry for over 20 years from office assistant to senior pastor. Starting with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with a minor in Speech and Theatre from Middle Tennessee State University, Thomas went on to complete a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies and a Doctorate of Ministry in Apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary. Having ministered across TN and NC, Thomas understands the need to reach both the minds and the hearts of believers which requires rooting believers in the faith as well as bracing them for world.
For Thomas, the virtues are the gateway for making disciple-makers.
The church desperately needs a strong intellectual foundation as well as clear moral examples. Thomas brings a unique blend of apologetics, philosophy, and theology to bolster intellectual virtue as well as discipleship, mentoring, and teaching to cultivate Christ-like character.
Mr. Thomas Quackenbush serves as the Vice President of Families of Virtue. Thomas earned a bachelors of apologetics from Carolina College of Biblical Studies. He is originally from upstate New York, about an hour northwest of New York City. Now, Thomas resides in Fayetteville, North Carolina, serving as the chairman of the deacons at his local church. He has training in the culinary arts and worked as a chef and artisan baker for fifteen years before God called him into ministry. The Lord called Thomas to come alongside believers to educate them in the wisdom of God and help them to live a virtuous, Christlike existence.
Thomas has extensive training in the areas of Christian Apologetics and Philosophy. He believes what we think about God is the essential aspect of a person, and what we believe will determine how we will live out our lives. Like Dr. McCuddy, Thomas feels that righteousness should be the mark of the Christian and that virtue education should be ubiquitous in Christian schools. If we want to see the world change, it begins with the virtuous habits of the individual who will influence the family, the church, and ultimately the society.
Statement of Faith
We hold the essential doctrines of the historic Christian faith:
- We believe that all people are born sinners and experience separation from God.
- We believe that Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, born without sin, is both truly God and truly man.
- We believe in one God, singular in essence, but three in the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is neither composed of parts nor divided in his nature in anyway.
- We believe that the three members of the trinity are all equally God and are distinct from each other, but not separate.
- We believe salvation is by grace alone through faith alone.
- We believe the gospel is that Jesus Christ through the incarnation was crucified and died for our sin, that he was buried, and that he resurrected physically on the third day.
- We believe Jesus physically ascended to the Father where he currently makes intercession for the saints.
- We believe Jesus will physically return in the future.
- We believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scripture as contained in the 66 books of the Bible.