Jimmy and Irene are passionate about ministry but even more so they are passionate about the marriage and family unit. These two passions have now come together as they have founded the ministry of TWO=ONE with a mission for building healthy marriages that result in healthy families that impact our communities for the better. After almost 25 years of full-time ministry as church leaders, with 10 of those years as Senior Pastors leading a thriving church of over 3000 members called i5 City, Jimmy and Irene felt a shift in their ministry focus. They made the decision to transition from their role as Senior Pastors and yield to the call on their lives to help people build healthy marriages and families filled with love, laughter, and longevity.
Excerpt from Two Equals One by Jimmy and Irene Rollins:
RESENTMENT: THE SILENT KILLER
Differences will eventually cause division—it’s totally natural. But this division gets dangerous when we don’t work to reconcile, because then the door is left wide open for resentment. In Scripture, James contrasted wisdom and understanding with resentment. He cautioned against allowing bitterness to lead you to being “false to the truth” (James 3:14 ESV). Resentment presents a false reality. Resentment isn’t always loud; it doesn’t always involve cursing. Resentment is typically a silent killer.
When we feel as though we’ve been wronged, we typically withdraw emotionally or have less empathy for our spouse. The internalized feelings cause us to misplace emotions or blame. They present us with a skewed version of reality.
Resentment allows your pain to project the problem onto your partner.
This is why James cautioned against letting bitterness distort the truth and Paul called bitterness a poison (Ephesians 4:31 The Voice). Eventually resentment can build to the point that it destroys and can lead to divorce.
There are many reasons that marriages end in divorce: different sexual appetites, different parenting styles, different dietary preferences, or even different lifestyle priorities. But, in the end, differences such as these are usually listed under the same heading: irreconcilable differences.
The question then becomes this: Is it possible to reconcile your differences?
The answer, we believe, is yes. Today our marriage is stronger than ever! And your relationship can be more than sparks and the starry- eyed romance of your dating years. You can learn how to love your spouse on a level that’s deeper and more intimate than circumstances or seasons dictate. In fact, the seasons of life can strengthen you if you learn how to navigate your differences.
Think of it like this: differences can be like a drummer playing in the wrong time signature. If you know anything about music, you know that you first learn to play in a simpler four- beats- per- measure style. But more sophisticated music requires more mature and developed rhythmic patterns. Jazz, for example, has nearly endless variety.
Love is like this. The early phases of love feel pretty effortless, but if you go deeper, if you want your marriage to truly sing, you have to be willing to put in the work.
The starting point, however, might surprise you. It’s tempting to ignore each other’s differences or gloss over them. That’s what we did. But if you want to reconcile them, you have to do the exact opposite. You and your spouse need to identify all the differences hat are causing disruption in your marriage and face them head- on. We’re talking about the differences in your upbringings and your innate differences (the way God created each of you), as well as the different experiences that shaped your modes of thinking.
If you don’t face these, they will have power over you because they will undermine every argument. They will become areas you subconsciously avoid so as to maintain the synthetic peace—t he peace you’ve artificially created for the sake of avoiding an argument. What we didn’t know during those early years in our marriage is that you can’t connect out of a deficit. The lack of understanding— the void in your relationship— will hinder connection until you confront it and learn to love your differences. Your differences can become your strengths. You will be able to help your spouse navigate areas they lack, but only when you recognize and learn to love each other’s differences.
Marriage today faces unprecedented challenges. From the heartbreak of countless bitter divorces to the unspoken conflicts simmering beneath the surface of many relationships, too many couples are enduring more heartache than hope.
Jimmy and Irene Rollins understand this struggle firsthand. Despite their public smiles and dedication to marriage enrichment events, their own relationship was once on the brink of collapse. The miraculous transformation they experienced has inspired them to write Two Equals One: A Marriage Equation for Love, Laughter, and Longevity—a timely, relatable guide designed to help even the most damaged marriages to become restored and rejuvenated. In this heartfelt and practical book, Jimmy and Irene tackle a range of tough topics with gut-level transparency.
Each chapter ends with a prayer and a practical challenge, ensuring you can apply what you’ve learned right away.
Through their Two Equals One marriage and coaching ministry, Jimmy and Irene have helped thousands of couples develop a healthy, vibrant union. Now it’s your turn. Discover how two completely different people can accept, learn from, and leverage their differences to make a marriage made one with Two Equals One.
