Emily and Joe met in 2023 at Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, OH, the summer before their final year of undergrad. Emily was working her Sunday internship, and Joe was exploring marketing roles and visiting Crossroads as a potential place of employment. Emily had already heard whispers about the “new cute volunteer” who gave up a week of his summer to lead middle schoolers closer to Jesus.

While Joe was getting a tour of the building, he crossed paths with Emily and a friend — and that’s where the first introduction happened. Later, Emily sent Joe a message on Instagram, and the two planned a coffee date. Joe left that date feeling great and kept in touch even as Emily returned to finish her last semester at the University of Wisconsin.

Over Thanksgiving break, Emily came home to Cincinnati, and Joe took her on what she describes as the best date of her life — a beautiful dinner followed by a classy drink at a speakeasy downtown. Their connection was strong and immediate, but with graduation approaching and major life transitions ahead, they chose to pause and pray about what moving forward should look like.

In early 2024, after a few different run-ins and their circles of friends naturally overlapping, Emily and Joe reconnected. From the beginning, they built everything on a shared commitment to God and faith in Jesus. In May 2024, Joe asked Emily to be his girlfriend, and they stepped into the relationship with excitement and expectancy for what God would do through them. They bonded deeply over faith, travel, fitness, and making ordinary moments feel extraordinary simply by being together.

Through a year filled with changes — new apartments, new jobs, new friends, pets, hobbies, and more — God continued to grow them and bless their relationship.

In 2025, they took on one of their favorite challenges yet: training for and running their first marathons together. Encouraging, motivating, and pushing each other toward their highest potential became one of the sweetest rhythms of their relationship.

Today, Joe lives in Dayton while Emily lives in Cincinnati. Even with an hour between them, they prioritize their faith, community, and cultivating joyful, intentional time together.

After they marry, they plan to move to downtown Cincinnati and make Crossroads Uptown — right by the University of Cincinnati — their home church. They hope to pour into young adults and college students there. Their prayer is that God continues to grow them individually and together, and that their marriage becomes a blessing to those around them, a source of joy, and a catalyst for the work God wants to do in Cincinnati and beyond.