About Marvin

Reverend Marvin Stephenson, Sr. has a God-given heart for people — and a specific, sustained calling to help married couples build covenant marriages that are purposeful, powerful, and passionate. 

His approach to marriage ministry was forged in the fire of personal experience. Early in his own marriage, he and Dr. Lila faced what many couples face silently — unhealed wounds, patterns inherited before they ever met each other, and a complete absence of the knowledge, tools, and support needed to navigate what was quietly pulling them apart. For seven years they fought each other instead of fighting for the covenant they had made. When the right resources finally reached them, everything changed. That transformation did not just save their marriage — it launched a ministry. 

For over three decades, Reverend Marvin has served as a leader, co-founder, and director of various marriage and family ministries alongside Dr. Lila. His teaching is rooted in Scripture, practically grounded, and consistently accessible — transcending generational and cultural lines to reach couples wherever they are in their marriage journey. He does not simply teach biblical marriage principles. He has lived them — through seasons of struggle and seasons of abundance — and that lived experience is what gives his teaching its particular authority and warmth. 

Reverend Marvin is the Co-Founder of Make a Better Marriage, PLLC — a faith-integrated marriage, intimacy, and trauma-focused practice serving couples in Georgia, Texas, and Louisiana, with coaching available nationwide. He facilitates couples workshops and intensives alongside Dr. Lila, bringing the male pastoral voice and a husband's perspective into every room they enter together. For couples where a resistant husband might hesitate to engage — Reverend Marvin's presence changes the dynamic. He speaks to husbands as a husband. He speaks to men as a man who has needed the same healing he now helps others find. 

Reverend Marvin serves as Co-Director of the Couples United Marriage Ministry within United Christian Faith Ministries (UCFM) — where he and Dr. Lila provide marriage enrichment, covenant restoration programming, and training for ministry leaders and counselors across their network. 

He is CASE-certified as a Covenant Lovers Educator through the Christian Association of Sexual Educators — bringing a theologically grounded, biblically sound framework for Christian sexuality into every couples workshop and training he facilitates. He has received specialized training and served as a marriage and relationship coach through Bethany Christian Adoption Agency, and co-hosts the Making Love-Better podcast with Dr. Lila — where together they discuss practical, faith-integrated strategies for enhancing the relational and sexual dimensions of covenant marriage. 

Reverend Marvin and Dr. Lila have been married for over 37 years and have four adult children. He does not stand before couples as someone who has all the answers. He stands before them as someone who found the right ones — and has spent the last three decades helping others do the same.