Now booking engaged couples · Book a Discovery Call
Stronghold Premarital

The Truth
Before I Do.

A diagnostic premarital program that tells you the truth about your relationship. And at the end of eight sessions, gives you a direct recommendation on whether we believe you are ready to marry.

01 · What You Cannot See

Every couple is carrying
something they cannot see.

You know your partner. You've met the family. You've read the books together. You've had the hard conversations about kids, money, and faith.

But every person carries patterns they do not see in themselves. Wounds they have rationalized. Survival strategies they have never named. Defense mechanisms that run automatically the moment they feel threatened.

The patterns you cannot see in yourself or your partner are the ones that will define your marriage. Not the ones you have discussed. The ones you do not know exist.

"I have watched couples marry after two years of dating and thirty hours of standard premarital prep, and still be blindsided by what emerged in year three. Not because they lied to each other. Because they did not have the tools to see themselves clearly."
Dr. Johnathan Hines

Stronghold was built to be that tool. Over nearly two decades of coaching men and marriages, it has surfaced what standard premarital prep cannot touch. The patterns that hide during dating. The dynamics neither of you have put words to. The inherited scripts that will run your first year of marriage.

And at Session 8, we tell you directly whether we believe you are ready.

02 · What Stronghold Measures

It sees what a
personality test cannot.

One hundred thirty plus composites across eighteen categories, built specifically to measure what predicts marriage success. This is what the diagnostic surfaces about you and your partner as a couple.

How You Connect
  • Attachment patterns under stress
  • Emotional availability and vulnerability
  • Intimacy and closeness capacity
  • Connection language alignment
How You Fight and Repair
  • Conflict style and escalation signals
  • Pursuer and distancer dynamics
  • Repair mechanism presence or absence
  • Stress response under pressure
Where You Align
  • Spiritual and moral alignment
  • Life vision and shared values
  • Financial philosophy compatibility
  • Parenting readiness and approach
What You Each Carry
  • Family of origin imprints
  • Generational patterns in your lineage
  • Your individual strengths
  • Your growth edges going in
Most couples never see any of this before the wedding. The ones who take Stronghold learn it in the first month of engagement. And at Session 8, they get a direct recommendation on whether we believe they are ready to marry.
03 · Nineteen Years. Thousands of Couples.

This is what
we keep seeing.

Every month I sit across from a couple in their first or second year of marriage who says some version of the same sentence.

"I did not know he was like this."

"I had no idea she would react this way."

"None of this came out when we were dating."

They are not lying. They are not careless. They are not people who skipped premarital prep. Most of them did everything their church, their pastor, and their culture told them to do before the wedding.

What they did not do was take a real diagnostic. They took personality quizzes. They answered questions about their love languages. They discussed finances in general terms. They had someone walk them through communication tips.

None of that tells you what it will actually feel like to live with this person in year three. None of that shows you how you will fight, how you will repair, how you will survive the hard years. None of that gives you an honest answer on whether you are ready.

Stronghold does. Not because I am a magician. Because after nearly two decades of watching couples in crisis, I built an assessment that measures what actually predicts marriage success.

And at the end of eight sessions, I tell you directly whether I believe you are ready. You get a compatibility profile drawn from your combined data. You get my recommendation. Most coaches will never say the hard thing. I will.

Dr. Johnathan Hines
DCC · DPC · MCC · BD · ABS · Certified Trauma-Informed Coach · Gottman Method Level 1
04 · The Program

Eight sessions.
The truth on the table.

Delivered over eight to twelve weeks. Ninety minutes each, with Session Five running two hours. In person in Broken Arrow or on video anywhere.

Session One
Your Story, Your Fears

We start with your individual histories before we touch the relationship. The Stronghold Assessment launches here.

Session Two
Individual Debrief

Each of you meets yourself in the data. Your patterns, vulnerabilities, and strengths. Your partner listens.

Session Three
The Couples Dynamic

We map the actual pattern between you. Pursuer and distancer. Conflict escalation signals. Repair mechanisms.

Session Four
Communication and Conflict

We teach you to fight without destroying each other. Tools you will use for decades.

Session Five
Money, Sex, Expectations

Two hours. The three topics that kill more marriages than any other category combined. No surface conversations.

Session Six
Family of Origin

What you inherited. What you will refuse to carry forward. The specific family members to watch.

Session Seven
Spiritual Oneness

The covenant foundation. Roles, prayer, church, spiritual warfare. Christian framework handled directly, not avoided.

Session Eight
Integration and Signing

You sign a written covenant document we build together. Then we plan the first year of the marriage.

05 · The Verdict

At Session 8,
you will know.

Most premarital programs end with a certificate and a vague "you're ready" from someone who did not do the deep work. Ours ends with a direct recommendation.

01
Your Compatibility Profile

A composite score drawn from your combined Stronghold data across one hundred thirty plus dimensions. The specific strengths in your relationship. The specific areas of risk. Not a letter grade. A map.

02
Dr. Hines's Recommendation

A direct answer on whether we believe you are ready to marry. The specific reasons why or why not. Not a certificate. A recommendation from someone who has spent nearly two decades watching marriages succeed and fail.

If we tell you yes, you walk into the wedding with clarity most couples never have. If we tell you no, you have the chance to do the real work before the wedding, not after the crisis.
06 · What You Walk Away With

You don't leave
with a workbook.
You leave with a plan.

Most couples finish premarital work with a signed certificate and a warm feeling. Our couples finish with a diagnostic profile, a signed covenant, and a written plan for the first year of the marriage.

The Stronghold Assessment
One hundred thirty plus composites across eighteen categories for each of you. Individual reports, couples report, and integrated profile.
Eight Coaching Sessions
Twelve and a half hours of direct work with Dr. Hines, plus all worksheets, exercises, and between-session tools.
A Signed Covenant Document
Not a certificate. A written covenant you build together across sessions five through seven, capturing the decisions, boundaries, and commitments that define your marriage.
A First-Year Plan
Specific markers, check-in rhythms, and accountability structures for the hardest adjustment period most couples have ever faced.
Thirty-Day Post-Wedding Check-In
Fifteen minute call at one month in to troubleshoot what is actually happening, not what you thought would happen.
Ninety Days of Email Access
Direct line to Dr. Hines for three months after the wedding. When you hit the first real wall, you do not hit it alone.
07 · Who This Is For

We are not the right fit
for every couple.

This program is demanding. It surfaces hard things. It costs money, time, and emotional bandwidth. It only works for couples who actually want the truth.

This is for you if

  • You want the truth more than you want comfort
  • You are engaged or seriously considering it
  • Your wedding is 90+ days out (ideally 6 months)
  • Your faith is central to your marriage
  • You are willing to hear hard things about yourself
  • You want a marriage that outlasts most

This is not for you if

  • You want confirmation that you are ready
  • You view premarital work as a box to check
  • One of you is being dragged into the process
  • You are looking for a quick program before a fast wedding
  • You want a pastor who will also do some light prep
Your Investment
$2,400
The full program. All eight sessions. Assessment included.

Paid in full or split into payments.
Discovery call at no charge to determine fit before enrollment.

Secure checkout via Stripe. All major cards accepted. 100% refund if discovery call determines we are not the right fit.

Next Step

Let's talk first.

Thirty minutes. No charge. If we are not the right fit for your situation, I will tell you. If we are, we launch the assessment the same week.

Dr. Hines Inc. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
DrHinesInc.com · johnathan@drhinesinc.com · (918) 212-5330
Lions don't bow.
If you are in crisis: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) | 911 for emergencies