About Ron L. Deal

Popular conference speaker and family trainer Ron L. Deal is a member of the Couple Checkup Research Team that completed two of the largest qualitative studies ever conducted of marriage and remarriage couple strengths. Most recognized in the past for his resources and seminars for stepfamilies, Ron has been training premarital and married couples for over 20 years. Ron uses creative presentation strategies, including multimedia experiences, to create what some have called a "laugh and learn" conference experience. His audiences are never disappointed (see participant feedback).

Ron is founder and president of As For Me And My House Ministries which provides marriage and family training across the country and family education consultation to church and community leaders. Ron is author of the bestselling book The Smart Stepfamily: Seven Steps to a Healthy Family and DVD series, co-author with Couple Checkup developer Dr. David Olson of The Remarriage Checkup (in press), co-author with Laura Petherbridge of The Smart Stepmom, and creator/presenter of the Couple Checkup Conference. He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor. 

Ron has appeared on dozens of radio and TV programs and has written feature articles addressing a variety of family matters for a number of publications and online magazines including Focus on the Family magazine, ParentLife, The Family Room, and Christianity Today, and is a regular contributor to HomeLife magazine. View his interview regarding The Remarraige Checkup with WGN News at the right.

On a regular basis Ron trains therapists, marriage educators, and ministry professionals at conferences around the country including Smart Marriages, the American Association of Christian Counselors, and the Association of Marriage & Family Ministries conferences.  One of his most popular workshops for professionals is on the effective use of Power Point and video clips in conducting marriage education.  He has also spoken at the National Stepfamily Conference and the Utah and Arkansas Governors' conferences on the family.  He and Nan have been married since 1986 and have three boys.

The Couple Checkup Research Team (headed by internationally recognized marriage expert Dr. David Olson, president of Life Innovations) conducted two of the largest studies of marital strengths ever accomplished. They studied over 100,000 marriages and remarriages (over 200,000 people surveyed) and examined the qualitative differences between highly satisfied marriages and low-quality marriages. The results of their groundbreaking research for married couples are published in the book The Couple Checkup (Olson, Olson-Sigg, & Larson, 2008) and The Remarriage Checkup (Deal & Olson, 2010). The Couple Checkup Conference capitalizes on this research of strong marriages.

Ron and Nan Deal have three boys. Their middle son Connor died unexpectedly in February, 2009 at the age of 12. They would be honored if you would view his videos here.