Meet Anthony & Shannen

Life is amazing, then it’s awful, and then it’s amazing again…and it’s breath-takingly beautiful. If anyone can share hope in the middle of life’s painful challenges, it’s Shannen and Anthony.

 

Shannen Fields-Braswell is an award-winning actress, producer, writer and inspirational speaker. Her dreams were launched with the Kendrick Brother’s feature film, Facing the Giants, where she was cast as the lead female role of Brooke Taylor. The movie was released in 441 theaters across the United States by Sony Pictures through both Provident and Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Since then, Shannen has appeared and starred in film and television projects for the past 20 years.

​

Shannen also partnered with Stone Road Pictures as one of the producers and was cast for one of the lead roles as Kerri Stein in the powerful pro-life feature film, The Order of Rights. Additionally, Shannen was one of the producers and actresses in the feature film, Song of the Tree Frogs, based on the novel by J.W. Kitson. She also co-starred opposite Keisha Knight Pulliam in the feature film, Redeemed.

​

Shannen was the co-host in the mini television reality show, Rebuild and Restore, on Great American PureFlix. She was also cast in an action-packed TV series thriller, Fragment, on the Great American PureFlix network. Most recently, Shannen has been cast in an upcoming feature film, Carol, a modern-day musical reimagining the beloved Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol.”

​

Anthony Braswell graduated from East Carolina University and received his Master’s Degree in Leadership and Public Administration from Mid-America Christian University. He is the founding pastor of Northpark Church in Raleigh, NC, and serves as the Director of Ministerial Development and Church Advancement for Eastern North Carolina Church of God. He is a certified trainer and leadership coach with LeaderLabs, Essential Skills of Executive Leadership. Anthony is also the founder and lead designer of M2Studios.tv. Over the past 30 years, Anthony has served in local church ministry, as well as coached pastors and business leaders around the world.

​

In the past few years, God has taken their lives in a very different direction. Within about eight weeks of each other, Anthony’s and Shannen’s worlds were forever changed. During that very short span of time, Shannen’s late husband Jimmy, and Anthony’s late wife Mary Ann, both went home to be with Jesus. Jimmy battled a terminal illness called Lou Gehrig's disease (or ALS), while Mary Ann battled triple negative, metastatic breast cancer. It felt like the world stopped spinning. Jimmy and Mary Ann were so loved by their communities. They loved Jesus, they loved their families and they loved the people they served, and when they passed, thousands of people grieved. Their absence has been felt by so many, but most of all by the spouses and children they left behind.

​

When Jimmy and Mary Ann experienced their ultimate healing and went to Heaven with Jesus, Shannen and Anthony had a choice to make. They could have easily checked out on the gift of life and refused to move forward, and honestly, no one would have blamed them. In fact, it’s probably what most people would expect. But they felt the Holy Spirit leading them to respond in a very different way. They wanted to honor Jimmy and Mary Ann’s legacy and give their kids an example of what it means to trust Jesus when life is falling apart. When they met and fell in love in 2021, they realized God had placed a calling on their lives that didn’t expire when life took a drastic turn. They chose to live on purpose, work hard to process and experience healing from their pain and help others do the same.

 

Together, Anthony and Shannen have been married a combined 55 years and have used that experience to create Uncover Marriage. They frequently speak at churches and marriage, family and leadership conferences. Through their partnership with the Ministry to the Military, they invest in ministry centers around the world. They love to share their story, equip couples to experience the marriage of their dreams and inspire others to“heal forward.”