About Us
Ā
šļø A Wing and A Prayer ā Our Founding Story
By Stuart
In 2000, at the age of 50, I was diagnosed with renal cell (kidney) cancer. As a healthy husband and father of three, the news was shocking and frightening. With my wife Susan by my side ā as she has been for more than 47 years ā we faced the uncertainty together. After surgery to remove the cancerous kidney and no further treatment required, we praised God for healing.
But something had changed. My sense of purpose and mortality had become real ā and after 90 days of prayer and reflection, God gave me a surprising calling: to build birdhouses.
With no tools, no workshop, no experience, and no plan ā only faith ā I left behind a successful sales career and began building birdhouses at 4 a.m. from scratch. Slowly, those early designs took shape, and over time, A Wing and A Prayer Birdhouses grew into a thriving business built on craftsmanship, faith, and persistence.
Nearly two decades later, I reconnected with a longtime friend from church, Tim Lockamy, during a fishing trip. Through long conversations about life, business, and family, it became clear that God had brought us together for a reason ā and the next chapter was about to begin.
Paradise Birdhouses ā A New Chapter Begins
By Tim
Paradise Birdhouses is owned and operated in Youngsville, North Carolina by me, Tim Lockamy. Iām a lifelong entrepreneur and have started several businesses from the ground up. But this one ā Paradise Birdhouses ā started in the most unexpected of places: a fishing trip in the mountains.
In 2018, I met up with my friend Stuart, founder of A Wing and A Prayer, and we spent the weekend talking about life, faith, and what really matters. What started as casual conversation quickly turned into deep alignment. We realized we shared similar values, family priorities, and ā most importantly ā a vision for building something meaningful.
From those conversations, a partnership was born. I brought in my longtime friend and creative partner, Shawn, and the three of us began collaborating.
With combined skills in design, engineering, production, and materials sourcing, we completely reimagined the product line ā creating birdhouses and feeders that are:
More beautiful
More durable
More functional
Backed by exceptional customer care