After attending Calvary Chapel Redlands, CA (the Packinghouse) for a number of years, serving in the church, and teaching in a couple of ministries outside the church, Garrie sensed a call from God. Jackie had been praying, ‘Lord. If you will make Garrie a man after Your own heart, I will follow him anywhere.” When Garrie told Jackie, “I believe God is calling us to be missionaries.” Jackie didn’t hesitate but said, “Okay.” Then the question was where and when?
They began to pray about this. One night while Garrie was watching Monday Night Football, Jackie was in the bedroom praying. She came out and told Garrie, “I know where God is calling us to serve Him.” Garrie said, “Don’t tell me. Get an envelope. Write it down. Date it and seal the envelope. Put it away. We will pray for God to confirm this to me if it’s God’s will since I’m the spiritual leader of the house.” So we began to pray. Four months later, I needed some dental work and a couple of crowns. We decided to get some work done but wait for the crowns where ever the Lord took us. A few days later, I picked up some mail for my business and then got busy returning phone calls. When I went to check out the mail, a magazine had opened to a page about a California businessman who owned a small business like I did. He had went to Budapest, Hungary on business. Over lunch, he bit down on an olive and cracked a crown. While he was in Budapest, he got a new crown. They did such good, inexpensive work, a month later he returned to have a bunch of dental work done. As I read the article, I thought, “This sounds a lot like me.” In that moment, I believe God put on my heart, “Now you know where you will serve Me.” I was excited. When Jackie came home, I told her, “I know where the Lord wants us to serve Him.” I handed her the magazine and she read the article. The front page of the article was a beautiful picture of Budapest. When she finished the article, I said, “Go get the envelope.” She went into the bedroom, and returned with the envelope. I opened the sealed envelope and took out the paper and stared at what she had written four months before: Hungary. God had confirmed to me what He had shown my wife four months earlier. God wanted us to serve Him in Hungary. Confidentially, although I had once spent a semester in Western Europe, and passed through Austria, I had no idea where Hungary was. But now I knew we were going there and I had better look at a map.
Jackie and I answered God’s call to Hungary in March 1999. I pastored a refugee camp ministry for three years outside Budapest. Jackie learned Hungarian and discipled women in Calvary Chapel Budapest. Then the Lord called us to start a church in Vac, Hungary. After four years in Vac, God called us to turn the church over to a Hungarian pastor, Tamas Gemes. By God’s grace, the Vac church continues to grow. The Lord then called us to Baja Sur, Mexico. After helping a struggling pastor for a year in San Jose del Cabo, in 2008 the Lord led us to Cabo San Lucas to plant a church. We built a temporary church on land we were allowed to use but didn’t own, as we taught the Word of God verse by verse through the Bible. Jackie leads worship. Garrie disciples the men and Jackie disciples women in the church. Future church leaders are being raised up. In May 2018, after three years of prayer, God provided and gave us land upon which to build His church in Colonia Miranda. There is no Christian church in Colonia Miranda or Colonia Azteca which is next to it.
Please join us in prayer for God’s provision for materials and workers to build His church, two class-rooms for the children, a kitchen and a large storage room for food, clothing, shoes, bedding and other donated items for use and distribution in our humanitarian efforts in the surrounding communities. May God continue to bless His work in Cabo and may the God of grace receive all the glory.
They began to pray about this. One night while Garrie was watching Monday Night Football, Jackie was in the bedroom praying. She came out and told Garrie, “I know where God is calling us to serve Him.” Garrie said, “Don’t tell me. Get an envelope. Write it down. Date it and seal the envelope. Put it away. We will pray for God to confirm this to me if it’s God’s will since I’m the spiritual leader of the house.” So we began to pray. Four months later, I needed some dental work and a couple of crowns. We decided to get some work done but wait for the crowns where ever the Lord took us. A few days later, I picked up some mail for my business and then got busy returning phone calls. When I went to check out the mail, a magazine had opened to a page about a California businessman who owned a small business like I did. He had went to Budapest, Hungary on business. Over lunch, he bit down on an olive and cracked a crown. While he was in Budapest, he got a new crown. They did such good, inexpensive work, a month later he returned to have a bunch of dental work done. As I read the article, I thought, “This sounds a lot like me.” In that moment, I believe God put on my heart, “Now you know where you will serve Me.” I was excited. When Jackie came home, I told her, “I know where the Lord wants us to serve Him.” I handed her the magazine and she read the article. The front page of the article was a beautiful picture of Budapest. When she finished the article, I said, “Go get the envelope.” She went into the bedroom, and returned with the envelope. I opened the sealed envelope and took out the paper and stared at what she had written four months before: Hungary. God had confirmed to me what He had shown my wife four months earlier. God wanted us to serve Him in Hungary. Confidentially, although I had once spent a semester in Western Europe, and passed through Austria, I had no idea where Hungary was. But now I knew we were going there and I had better look at a map.
Jackie and I answered God’s call to Hungary in March 1999. I pastored a refugee camp ministry for three years outside Budapest. Jackie learned Hungarian and discipled women in Calvary Chapel Budapest. Then the Lord called us to start a church in Vac, Hungary. After four years in Vac, God called us to turn the church over to a Hungarian pastor, Tamas Gemes. By God’s grace, the Vac church continues to grow. The Lord then called us to Baja Sur, Mexico. After helping a struggling pastor for a year in San Jose del Cabo, in 2008 the Lord led us to Cabo San Lucas to plant a church. We built a temporary church on land we were allowed to use but didn’t own, as we taught the Word of God verse by verse through the Bible. Jackie leads worship. Garrie disciples the men and Jackie disciples women in the church. Future church leaders are being raised up. In May 2018, after three years of prayer, God provided and gave us land upon which to build His church in Colonia Miranda. There is no Christian church in Colonia Miranda or Colonia Azteca which is next to it.
Please join us in prayer for God’s provision for materials and workers to build His church, two class-rooms for the children, a kitchen and a large storage room for food, clothing, shoes, bedding and other donated items for use and distribution in our humanitarian efforts in the surrounding communities. May God continue to bless His work in Cabo and may the God of grace receive all the glory.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-17
