News
Hello friends. It make a very long time I stopped writing. I am sure you heard what is going on. Still, I will share a little bit here....
Who are we?
Hello, we are the McGinnis family! we are Ivan and Cate, a young married couple with a passion for our Father, and a love for his people across the world. We want to introduce ourselves to you all by sharing where we came from and where we are now.
I Cate was Born in 1998 and lived the first years of my life in between the red clay of Georgia, and sandy beaches of Florida, in the United Sates. I was a fiery soul from the start, and everything had a flare of drama! Being raised believing in the gospel, in some ways I was practically bred to become a missionary, but the one thing I lacked for years was my relationship with the Lord.
I once spent my days lost in a world of rejection trying to win the love of young men, until I met the inextinguishable love of One, Jesus Christ. I decided to leap into his love in 2018 when I took part in Surfers Discipleship Training School (SDTS) with Youth with a Mission (YWAM), in Perth Western Australia. During this 6 months God showed me what it’s really like being a “Christian”. He ignited the fire I always had and showed me the purpose of it. The love of Christ was my fire. Sharing this love became my purpose. The following year I helped lead the school that Ivan was a student in, and that’s where our story began.
I Ivan, was born in 1995, a Swiss by law with a spirit eager for discovery. I Spent my early 20s in short term jobs so I could spend life on the road, or in a plane. I travelled with my friends to wherever our imaginations could think up. I once spent most of my waking hours in the dead of night, enjoying the party life, and being the life of the party.
However, Jesus didn’t forsake me. I couldn’t stay completely satisfied with the life I was Leading, so in 2019, I took part in the Surfers DTS, in Perth (the year Cate staffed). In just 6 months I was met by the love of Christ, I gave my life to the Lord, got baptized, and found a purpose to my wondering the world, which would be to spread the love of Jesus. I also met the love of my life, Cate, and proposed just two months after my school ended, and now we are happily married and leading this life of discovering together!
Now we are here, this young couple with this big love, and what we want to do with it is take it everywhere God may lead us to. We have been a part of YWAM for two years together, taking part in different training schools in a hope to grow our knowledge and experience. We are still currently with YWAM and at the moment, we could see ourselves with this organization for some time. We believe that YWAM has an anointing in growing young missionaries by giving them safe environments to lead and offering countless amounts of training schools. Although we both started in Perth, we have also spent time in other YWAM bases and could see ourselves increasing the number of bases we discover and work with. So, look for us, okay?
If you look just to your right, you will see a small chat icon waiting to be pressed. Please feel free and encouraged to chat with us! Whether if it’s wanting to know more about our story, to ask questions about a life of a missionary, or just to say hello.. We Love you! We want to hear from you, and we have a little place in our hearts for you, even if we don’t know you...
Being new to the apostolic life, our dreams are still in the process of joining with the Fathers dreams for us. As easy as it would be to know our perfectly outlined vision, at the moment, we can only share a blurrier picture of what our Abba Father is forming for us. We both know and have heard a clear calling to live within the weight limit of a check-in bag on an airplane, always ready to say, “Yes” to the, “Go” from the Spirit. We are, and will always see ourselves as missionaries, living for Christ in the realm of any border He so wills for us.
In this stage of our growth in vision, we see the importance of training. While we know that the holy spirit moves through us, we have become aware of the importance of equipping ourselves with training to have the best outcome in our missions to follow.
Ivan and I both want to discover more about the beautiful art of human relations. Ivan has an ever-growing heart for counseling, which started his journey into getting equipped through YWAM. He is currently learning skills and practices of Christian counseling, and he has a longing to carry this knowledge with him in missions. He has a passion for human emotions and wants to be able to help people discover their own, and just how to embrace them with the Father by their side. We both believe that there is a gap in missions in this area. There needs to be a skill in healing conversations that co-exists with the passion that the Lord puts in our hearts for his people. We are excited to see what God will do with counseling in our lives, and we know that it will follow along with us as our vision evolves.
From the age of 16, Cate has been in love with the surfing, and from the age of birth, Ivan has been a beach bum at heart. We have been amazed so far to see God forming dreams with us by the sea. We have both already gotten to work in surf ministry and have enjoyed it deeply and seen the positive outcomes of it. We believe the Lord has created the ocean in a very purposeful way that holds both symbolism and therapeutic benefits. We want to use this creation to the advantage of the kingdom of God. We have dreams to use surfing as “therapy”, for making connections with people, and for revealing the vast beauty and depth of the Father. While this plan remains vague, God is faithfully forming our hearts to receive what will come with surf ministry.