Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
A Manifesto of Fruitfulness invites you into real conversations with people from Church of the City New York who are learning what it means to bear fruit. Not in what they produce, but what their lives produce in someone else—in a marriage, a friendship, a block, a job.
Doug and Lisa have been part of Church of the City New York since 2019, though their story starts long before that — thirty years of marriage that began in Atlanta and led them to Denver, Amsterdam and Hong Kong, some of those cities more than once, before New York finally became home. Doug spent over 35 years in the insurance industry, starting as an actuary and now serving as Chief Risk Officer for a large retirement and life insurance company — a career built, in his own words, on trusting what he can't fully control. At Church of the City, Doug and Lisa lead a community group and mentor couples preparing for marriage. Doug also serves on the Board of Overseers.
We're going to talk about what it looks like to hold money loosely instead of tightly. Why they believe you genuinely cannot out-give God. What it cost them to wait years for New York to open up, and what it meant to quit a job with no plan for what came next. And what thirty years of marriage has taught them about showing up for someone else's life instead of just your own.
Doug and Lisa have a lot of hard-won wisdom to offer for anyone who desires to live a fruitful life. We are so grateful for our conversation with them and are excited to share it with you.
Listen to the entire interview at church.nyc/fruitful
A Manifesto of Fruitfulness invites you into real conversations with people from Church of the City New York who are learning what it means to bear fruit. Not in what they produce, but what their lives produce in someone else—in a marriage, a friendship, a block, a job.
Doug and Lisa have been part of Church of the City New York since 2019, though their story starts long before that — thirty years of marriage that began in Atlanta and led them to Denver, Amsterdam and Hong Kong, some of those cities more than once, before New York finally became home. Doug spent over 35 years in the insurance industry, starting as an actuary and now serving as Chief Risk Officer for a large retirement and life insurance company — a career built, in his own words, on trusting what he can't fully control. At Church of the City, Doug and Lisa lead a community group and mentor couples preparing for marriage. Doug also serves on the Board of Overseers.
We're going to talk about what it looks like to hold money loosely instead of tightly. Why they believe you genuinely cannot out-give God. What it cost them to wait years for New York to open up, and what it meant to quit a job with no plan for what came next. And what thirty years of marriage has taught them about showing up for someone else's life instead of just your own.
Doug and Lisa have a lot of hard-won wisdom to offer for anyone who desires to live a fruitful life. We are so grateful for our conversation with them and are excited to share it with you.
Listen to the entire interview at church.nyc/fruitful
