Premiere Speakers Bureau

"Real, down-to-earth, practical, fun, encouraging" are words that describe Claudia Arp and David Arp, MSW. This husband-wife team speaks each year to thousands of people in a variety of settings across the United States and in Europe. Dave and Claudia are masters at communicating in an encouraging, non-threatening way that energizes and inspires others to make needed changes. Their transparency and rich life experiences combined with a lively, give-and-take style and a fun, practical approach to relationship issues, endears them to their audience and makes them sought-after speakers.

The Arps are founders of Marriage Alive International, Inc. MAI was founded in 1983, as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) marriage and family educational organization, is dedicated to providing resources and training to help congregations and community groups build better marriages and families. Today Marriage Alive resources are trusted and widely utilized across the United States and internationally.

Their teach-right-out-of-the-box marriage education program, 10 Great Dates, received the Smart Marriages 2005 Impact Award as the most used marriage education program. This innovative marriage education program disguised as 10 great dates is used by churches, community marriage initiatives and other groups around the country and internationally as a low- key, fun, male-friendly, yet skilled-based program that appeals to the masses and to couples in any setting. It is also used by the US military to help troops strengthen their marriage before deployment and to reconnect with their spouse when they return.

David and Claudia Arp are also known for their pioneering work with empty nesters and for their Second Half of Marriage program and books. Partnering with PREP (University of Denver) they co-authored the book, Fighting for Your Empty Nest Marriage, with Scott Stanley, Howard Markman and Susan Blumberg. They have appeared as empty nest experts on national media such as NBC Today, PBS, CBS This Morning, and Focus on the Family and their work has been featured in national print media such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Ladies Home Journal.

Married for over forty years, David and Claudia Arp bring a wealth of experience and real credibility to their work in marriage education. David graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS Degree in Management and later earned a Masters of Science in Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee. Claudia is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a BS degree in Home Economics Education.

10 Great Dates—The Seminar is David and Claudia’s most requested seminar and is for all ages and stages of marriage. It is designed to complement the 10 Great Dates video-based program with new insights and faith-based content. (This seminar can also be adapted for a universal audience.) David likes to describe the seminar to men as “guilt free” and “male friendly.” Participants will not have to talk about their marriage in front of someone else’s husband or wife. No small group breakout sessions. Instead, couples have the opportunity to relax, to take time to grow together, to laugh together and to affirm each other.

David and Claudia Arp's books have sold over a million copies in over 10 languages, including the Gold Medallion winner, The Second Half of Marriage and the Silver Medallion winners, 10 Great Dates and Answering the 8 Cries of the Spirited Child. Latest releases include No Time for Sex and The Connected Family.