Meet Tony McCarver

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I’m Tony McCarver I’ve been married to my wife Marci for 35 years. We attend Orange Hill Baptist Church and serve together at Missions Resources International.

I was saved at the age of nine and attended church regularly with my entire family. By my early teenage years I began to move away from the Lord. Marci and I were married in 1975. Marci didn’t attend church growing up and I was not walking with the Lord so He was not part of our lives. Through a series of events in my life God lead me to a pastor friend and I shared with him what was going on in my life. After sharing his first question was “Do you know Christ as your Savior”? I answered yes and he responded by saying that I needed to get my life right with the Lord. I prayed for forgiveness and strength to follow Him. After that meeting I felt the burden of my sin lifted and the joy of His love and forgiveness.

I shared my meeting with Marci and asked if she would go to church with me. She did and six months later she received Christ as her Savior and God began and is still working in both our lives.
We began our missions’ journey in 1996 as part of a short team to Hunedoara, Romania. We saw God’s Holy Spirit work to changed lives and give hope to the lost. We committed to the Lord that if He wanted us to serve in missions we would. We’ve been involved in missions and have been leading short team teams since 1998.

It was during our first trip to Santa Cruz Bolivia in June 1999 that God planted the desire and dream of organizing a mission agency to serve Him. We were visiting SAM Air at the air strip and the hanger where they stored their planes. The hanger consisted of two storage containers covered by a metal roof with a dirt floor. Kenny Krestan, a SAM Air missionary pilot, was conducting the tour. During the tour Kenny explained that in the rainy season the planes would get stuck in the mud because the hanger did not have a concrete pad. Their goal was to enclose the hanger on three sides with brick walls and lay a concrete pad. This project was on hold due lack of funds. Someone on the team asked how much the project would cost. He replied $16,000.00. At that moment God spoke to me.

I had just completed a major marketing campaign /fund raiser for my largest customer. God spoke to me and said that I was raising money that means nothing for eternity and I needed to be helping here in South America. The seed was planted. Over the next two years of praying and help from several friends, MRI was incorporated as a 501-C non-profit mission agency in June October 2001. We have had the joy of leading over 13 teams to South American and see God change lives of those we minister to and the lives of the people on the teams.

We are so excited about our new partnership with Vining’s Lake Church and the opportunity to serve together. My desire for this team is that God will reveal Himself in a way that will draw each of us closer to Him and plant the desire to serve Him more.

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