Our History
1989
After ten years as a Christian school educator and principal, Dr. Pam Brady grew increasingly concerned that her students knew the Word of the Lord without knowing the Lord of the Word. Believing that mentoring helps bridge that gap between the head and the heart, she founded Coastlands Consultants and began providing relationship-focused spiritual emphasis weeks to Christian schools.
2004
Matt Huffman joined Coastlands after 5 years of teaching in a Christian school. Matt began leading the middle and high school weeks while Pam led the elementary weeks. Other full-time team members began joining for a year or more, and volunteers (ranging from high schoolers to retirees) also began serving with us.
2009
Coastlands Consultants became a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit.
2018
After 30 years of faithful ministry, Pam passed the baton of leadership to Matt. With no other full-time team members, Matt began recruiting volunteers to serve with him at each school.
2021
Coastlands Consultants became Purposeful Connections. The name changed, but our relationship-focused approach to spiritual emphasis week remained the same. Youth culture has changed a lot since 1989, but the need for mentoring hasn’t!
2025
Purposeful Connections began asking schools to recruit local team members (with our guidance), which has several additional benefits for schools, students, and the ministry. Instead of spiritual emphasis weeks being dependent on Pam or Matt, we're able to train others to use our model effectively!