The early years…

I was born in Mexicali, Mexico in 1952 and I am the baby out of 10 of us. We came to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1961 and I was quickly enrolled at George Washington Elementary School but knew no English whatsoever. Those were interesting days to say the least.

It would be May 1972 that I met Theresa Rosalie Stone at a club named, “Dusty’s Playland.” Theresa is Mexican also but born here in the States. The band that happened to be playing on the night we met was called, “Los Diablos.” We were married in October of 1973 and, being Catholic at the time, married at St Christopher’s Catholic Church. The first five years of our marriage were filled with anger, rage, fighting, cursing, and so many more worldly ways that altogether sought to destroy our marriage. Having been raised in the construction industry and with four older brothers, this gave me a very selfish view of life, specifically as it related to marriage.

At the point of divorce, Theresa and I decided to attend a marriage conference that was designed to teach communication in marriage. However, our hearts were touched when they began teaching about forgiveness in marriage. Forgiveness was something that was sorely needed in our marriage, primarily because of my selfish actions. The Lord, in His miraculous way, touched our hearts Saturday night, December 9th, 1978, and we were born again.

The leap into ministry & moving across the US to help plant a church…

After about three years of walking with the Lord and growing in the Word of God, I began to teach a Bible study in someone’s home that grew and grew. After about a year, I was asked by the Pastoral team at our church if I would pray about teaching the Spanish ministry that took place on Thursday nights and had about 15 people attending. I said yes to this call and continued to work in construction because Theresa and I had a dream of being home builders one day since we’d already built two homes and had done well.

Then on one Thursday night after the study, one of our pastors was walking by and mentioned to me that he and his wife were going to be moving in a couple of months to start a church. Of course, I asked where, and he said, “We’re going to Florida.” “What part of Florida?” was my response. “We will be going to Fort Lauderdale.” I immediately responded with, “Where is that?” At that point in my life, I had never heard of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It made no impact on me at that moment because, after all, Theresa and I were going to be home builders.

Two weeks later, as I woke up at 4am and sat on the edge of the bed, I asked myself the question, “Why does he have to go to Florida? There’s plenty of lost people here in Vegas?” I shook the cobwebs out of my sleepy brain and thought, “Why am I even thinking about him going to Florida? It’s none of my business. I’ll pray for him.” That was the Florida seed that the Lord planted in me to get me praying about being a church planter in Florida. Myself, Theresa, our three children, Gabriel, who was 10 years old at the time, Andrea (8), and Matthew (2), left Las Vegas on Saturday, July 20th, 1985, following the twenty-four foot U-Haul truck that the pastor and his wife were driving to plant Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We arrived Thursday, July 25, 1985.

Tested over time, testimony upon testimony…

After starting the church in a funeral home, we moved to a couple of other locations before we ended up at a storefront in 1987. It was at this location that the church was able to take me on as a paid staff member, and was also ordained at this location in November of 1988. In July of 1990, the Lord called me and my family to plant another Calvary Chapel west of Fort Lauderdale and served there as the Senior Pastor until 2000, at which time the Lord called us to return to CC Fort Lauderdale.

Since 1985 I’ve served at Calvary Chapel as a worship leader, Associate Pastor, then a Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel Tamarac then back to being an Associate Pastor. I served as the Campus Pastor for our Hollywood campus for five years and have led many mission trips. We’ve taught at the Hungary Bible College and several Couple’s Conferences. I’ve had the privilege of speaking at several types of conferences: Men’s, Pastor’s, and Leadership conferences multiple times.

Over the course of the last 15 years, we’ve had the privilege of seeing the launching of 9 campuses in the South Florida area.

Servants never really retire…

We’ve recently completed the chapter of us serving as full-time staff members at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. However, the word “retired” is not in our vocabulary because all we’ve done is begin a new chapter of serving our Savior. The purpose of this site is to, in all humility, make ourselves known to you and that we are here to serve you. Our calling is to strengthen, comfort, and encourage the body of Christ and to evangelize the non-Christian.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
—1 Corinthians 15:58