Our Deepest Belief
Your greatest asset is the health of your closest relationship.
For Couples Who Know There's More
Most of your energy goes to what you're building. The relationship underneath it can quietly go under-supported.
Relational Drift
High-performing couples accumulate unmet needs under pressure — and slowly, partners can begin to feel like a burden to one another rather than a source of strength.
No Common Language
Without the tools to use your voice intentionally, you stay isolated in your own experience — missing the shared framework needed to navigate complexity together.
Carrying Life Alone
Without a trusted circle of support around your marriage, you carry the weight alone. The Wellhouse helps you build the structure that sustains connection through every season.
A Different Category Entirely
This is a marriage experience.
It's a high-trust, growth-oriented relational development experience designed specifically for couples navigating leadership, responsibility, and the complexity of modern life — together.
The Old Proposition
— Escape & inspiration that fades
— Performance without formation
— Reactive — waiting until something breaks
— Broad, generalized audience
— A temporary emotional high
The Wellhouse
Growth, alignment & lasting tools
Formation to enhance performance
Active — intentional investment before drift
A curated, private cohort of peers
Long-term relational health, built well
What You Can Expect
You'll be met exactly where you are — with an experience built around the real strengths, patterns, and dynamics you bring as a couple.
Guided Sessions
A curated combination of teaching, honest conversation, and intentional relational work — facilitated within a safe, trusted community of peers.
Practical Frameworks
Tools for communication and alignment that are immediately applicable — a shared language for navigating life and leadership together, long after you leave.
Personal Assessment
Insight that illuminates how each of you carries weight and processes life — surfacing clarity, restoring identity, and revealing the opportunity for expanded capacity.
You will leave with a clearer picture of where you are, a shared language for navigating life and leadership together, and a stronger relational foundation to support all you are building.
Three Transformative Days
An intentional arc — from arrival to alignment to advance.
01
Arrive
Slow down & settle in
Step away from the noise. Settle into your private lakeside cabin, meet your cohort over dinner, and begin with honest reflection on where you truly are as a couple.
02
Align
See clearly & reconnect
Move through guided sessions and experiential work. Discover how you each carry weight, learn the frameworks, and build the common language that turns tension into connection.
03
Advance
Carry it forward
Translate insight into a shared path. Leave with practical tools, renewed alignment, and the relational resilience required for long-term impact in your life and leadership.
The Venue · Nature Link Resort
On Clark Lake, in the heart of Minnesota's Brainerd Lakes.
The Wellhouse takes place at Nature Link Resort in Nisswa — a modern lakeside retreat set on 14 wooded acres with 1,400 feet of private shoreline, a private island, and architecture designed to remove distraction so you can reconnect with what matters most.
Your Modern Link to Nature
Floor-to-ceiling windows. A crackling fireplace.
The lake just beyond the glass.
Modern Private Cabins
Each couple stays in a thoughtfully designed cabin with a king bed, fireplace, and soaking tub — privacy and comfort by design.
Lakeside Sauna
A serene sauna house overlooking the lake — built for slowing down and watching the sun move across the water.
Private Beach & Island
1,400 feet of shoreline, a private beach, and a private island — 14 wooded acres to disconnect and reconnect.
Premier Event Center
Spacious, modern gathering spaces overlooking Clark Lake — the curated heart of our daily sessions.
Top-Rated Service
A 9.6-rated property celebrated for its modern aesthetic and attentive, intentional hospitality.
Easy to Reach
Nature Link is located at the end of a scenic two and a half hour drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul through the North Woods of Minnesota.
Your Host & Facilitators
Founded and hosted by Chris McFarland — facilitated together as a team.
The Wellhouse experience is founded and hosted by Chris McFarland, and facilitated together with Kristi Mallory and Madeline Spring.
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Chris McFarland
Founder & Host - The Wellhouse Experience
The Wellhouse is founded and hosted by Chris McFarland, founder of McFarland Crew Leadership — a leadership and relational development practice built on a simple model: grace, truth, and time.
Chris is a certified leadership coach through Dr. John Townsend's program and serves on Dr. Townsend's board. He has spent his career developing leaders who are personally and professionally integrated — including eight years as Executive Vice President at PULSE and seven years as Festival Director for the Luis Palau Association.
Townsend-Certified Leadership Coach
Board Member · Dr. John Townsend
M.A. Organizational Leadership
M.A. New Testament
50+
Campaigns Directed
500+
Events Produced
36
States
11
Countries
Your Facilitators
Kristi Mallory
Co-Facilitator
Madeline Spring
Co-Facilitator
Audience Clarity
Built for a very specific kind of couple.
We serve high-capacity, leadership-oriented couples who carry meaningful responsibility and want their relationship to remain strong, aligned, and emotionally healthy as their influence grows in complexity and depth.
This is for you if…
You're builders, leaders, decision-makers, and visionaries
You already invest in growth — and want that same intentionality in your marriage
You sense when something feels off, even when life looks great externally
You're advancing, not rescuing — looking to go deeper, not put out a fire
You value privacy, quality, and a trusted environment
This is not for…
— Couples in active crisis requiring professional intervention
— Anyone unwilling to engage honestly and do the work
— Those seeking a leisure getaway — we engage in real work
— A broad, generalized audience — we keep the cohort tight and selective
Reserve Your Place
You've invested in many great things. This is an investment in the foundation that makes all of it sustainable.
An intentionally small cohort means every couple is fully seen, supported, and known. Reserve early — pricing rises as each window closes.
Every Experience Includes
3 transformative days & 2 nights in a private lakeside cabin
Personal & relational assessments with debrief
Meals and full access to the grounds & sauna
All guided sessions with the host & facilitators
Takeaway frameworks, tools & materials
A trusted cohort of peer couples
A $1,000 non-refundable deposit secures your place at registration; the balance is due by October 15, 2026.
Questions, Answered
Everything you're wondering.
Start A Conversation
The relationship underneath everything
deserves your full attention.
Tell us a little about you. We'll be in touch personally with availability and next steps.