Get to know us!

BRENDA

I was born in Charles town, WV; raised in Windsor Locks, CT; transplanted

to Denver, CO; for the remainder of my high school years. In early adulthood years,

lived in both CO & OK and then moved to Tampa bay area, FL in August 1999.

I was raised in what we call today, a “blended” family; with 4 siblings and myself.

While growing up, our family had many obstacles [don't we all?]. My step-father introduced

my mom, siblings and myself, to Jesus Christ in 1973 and we started to attend a local Baptist church.

On August 26, 1973 [2 days after my 10th birthday], I received the Lord Jesus into my

heart and became born-again; then in 1975; was baptized and dedicated my life to the Lord, in that dedication, I promised the Lord to go anywhere.

For 43 years now, I've been a missionary, but locally, wherever I lived and worked. The Great Commission has been deeply ingrained within my heart from an early age.  “Every saved person is a Missionary and every unsaved person is a mission field.”

Now is not the time to go into my personal testimony; so here it is briefly [in a “nutshell”] – in childhood there were unfavorable conditions in my life; which affected me greatly in how I went into my adult years & in the poor decisions that I made; however, I must say, that if it wasn't for having  Jesus in my life, I would not physically be here today. I married at a young age and after many years, unfortunately, ended in divorce. Thank God for 2nd chances; when we are unfaithful to Him, He still remains faithful to us.  While I was running from the Lord; I met my husband, Douglas and the Holy Spirit convicted me – and I started to tell Douglas about the Lord; while I was living in the backsliden condition -  then the Holy Spirit convinced him of his need to be saved. [inspite of myself, God still used me] Doug inquired about visiting church with me and I was so convicted on how I was living my life [which kept me away from church], so we attended church together and he became born-again. On November 15, 2009, I became baptized in the Holy Spirit. So, did that now make me a “bapti-costal?”  At that time, I realized how for the first 36 years of being saved; that I was not operating on full power, but on battery power! Thank you Jesus, for the last 7 years, I've been able to live with “dunamis” power!  Oh what a difference it has made in my life. In April 2010, Douglas and I married; God has blessed me with Doug [along with 2 daughters and grandchildren] far more than I could ever imagine or deserve. I'm thankful for God's forgiveness and mercy; this prodigal daughter has run back into her heavenly Father's arms, no more running away. I'm staying where I belong, abiding daily with Jesus.

DOUG

I was born and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut [a small seaport town on the sound]; then moved to Florida in the Tampa Bay area in the 1980s.  I worked locally on the shrimp boats for a few years and then settled in working for the City of Tarpon Springs until retirement in 2009.  I came from a Hungarian Reform and Episcopal background.  I was religious but did not have a personal relationship with the Lord at the time.  I was divorced in my prior life; in the B.C. days. My born-again experience started on November 1, 2009; made decision for Christ; then 2 weeks later, November 15, 2009 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit [and was never the same] then baptized in water on February 27, 2010. Being as they say, a "late bloomer," in the born-again life; was definitely a life changer -    as I became married to Christ.  My marriage to Brenda was April 8, 2010 and we began working together in the Lord's service.  In fall of 2011 we together attended theology classes and served together on our 1st mission trip to the Dominican Republic early 2012.  Later in 2012, I  started with online Christian studies [through World Christianship Ministries], then advanced, as I got out of the diaper stage and into the pull-up stage [LOL] and continued with theological studies through School of Disciples [S.O.D.] and Spectrum School of Ministry [S.O.M.]; graduated on May 22, 2014 with Bachelor of Theology.