Lift Your Lamp Tactical Strategies to Build Resilience and Create Community

Lift Your Lamp is an introduction to the foundational ideas that inform The Road to Resilience, a program that uses clinically proven methods to improve individual performance through the power of connected community. The unique offering of this program is Spiritual Resilience, an animating force that is strengthened through hardship, flourishes amidst adversity, and is accessible to everyone.

Spiritual resilience has traditionally been cultivated within familial, religious, and civic structures. As our society has reprioritized, reimagined, and redefined itself, we've failed to create a space for the instruction and practice of spiritual resilience. Through The Road to Resilience, Dave addresses these challenges head on and provides a program through which spiritual resilience can be cultivated.

David Wurtzel is the founder of The First Twenty, a nonprofit dedicated to the health and wellness of America's firefighters and first responders. First Twenty programs have served over 100,000 first responders nationwide and been utilized by the Department of Defense, the United States Forest Service, and major municipalities including Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

In his two decades of on-the-job experience, David served as both a structural and wildland firefighter. He won the gold medal in the Firefighter Combat Challenge World Championships Over 50 Relay in both 2017 and 2018 and the silver in 2019.

The culmination of Dave's passion and experience is The Road to Resilience, a clinically proven program, that builds spiritual resilience, creates community, and strengthens character.


Jeff Dernlan lives in Philadelphia with his wife and three children where he helps nonprofits and thought leaders articulate their vision, share their mission, and create resilient communities.