AVRC grew out of the life experiences, faith, and calling of Cheryl and Derek Noe. He grew up on the farm where AVRC will be located. For more than fifty years, the land has been prayed over by his family and has served as a quiet refuge for friends and family. From an early age, Derek developed a strong sense of service and community that would shape the course of his life. As a teenager in high school, he joined the local fire department as a volunteer. What began as a desire for adventure quickly became a lifelong calling to serve others. Over the next several decades he advanced through the ranks, eventually becoming Deputy Fire Chief and Fire Marshal for the Ashland City Fire Department.

Throughout his career, Derek responded to countless emergencies—car accidents, fires, medical calls, and rescue situations. He experienced the profound reward of helping save lives and assisting families during moments of crisis. But he also witnessed the emotional weight carried by those who respond to tragedy day after day.

Through years in the fire service, he saw firsthand how the cumulative stress of emergency response affects first responders and their families. Behind the public image of strength and heroism are men and women who often carry deep emotional and spiritual burdens. These experiences planted a growing conviction in Derek’s heart: those who spend their lives caring for others need places where they themselves can step away, rest, and be restored.

Cheryl’s journey toward AVRC was shaped through a different but equally meaningful path. She grew up on a Tennessee farm in a close-knit community surrounded by family and informed by faith. Her life was profoundly shaped by both great joy and deep personal loss, including the death of her first daughter, Katherine Rose, who lived for ten days. During that time, Cheryl experienced the extraordinary love and support of her church and community, a compassion that left a lasting imprint on her heart.

Over the next thirty-five years, Cheryl built a career in nonprofit and ministry work, developing a deep passion for helping others through service and leadership. Through her work with a missions agency, she and Derek traveled internationally, where she witnessed both the incredible impact of missionaries, as well as the immense pressures they face while serving in difficult circumstances around the world. Familial crises, marital strain, geopolitical instability, health challenges, and emotional fatigue that can end a calling early if support and care are not present.

Through these experiences, Cheryl became increasingly aware that many ministry leaders carry significant emotional and spiritual burdens with few opportunities for restoration. She developed a deep desire to create spaces where people could step away from the pressures of their work and reconnect with their purpose, their faith, and their sense of peace.

Derek and Cheryl’s shared vision for AVRC began to take shape through conversations about the needs they had both witnessed in their respective fields—first responders, pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders who dedicate their lives to serving others, but often struggle to find places where they themselves can rest and heal. This was brought home when the pastor of a church they helped launch took a sabbatical after seven demanding years, and they saw firsthand the life-giving impact that intentional rest had on him and his family.

Thus, in the spring of 2025, they felt a clear calling to establish AVRC on the farm in Cheatham County, Tennessee. The peaceful countryside, quiet fields, and long legacy of prayer over the land made it an ideal setting for a ministry centered on rest, reflection, and spiritual renewal.

Today, Cheryl and Derek are working to establish Anchor & Vine Retreat Center as a place where those who serve others may come to step away from the demands of their work, encounter the healing presence of Christ, and return to their calling renewed.

Their hope is simple but profound: that every person who visits AVRC will leave more grounded, restored, and equipped to continue the work they feel called to do.