Our Story

Dawn and I first began in ministry while we were still single. Dawn began serving with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) in Kenya, Africa. Then she moved to Cru’s headquarters in San Bernardino, California. I first began in ministry at Youth for Christ in Fresno, California. Dawn and I (Dave) met while I was in San Bernardino at Cru’s seminary.

While in seminary I felt called to serve in missions in Mexico. Dawn initially didn’t feel called to Mexico until after she met me, so the Lord and I had to convince her. The Lord did a better job than I did, and we were married in 1989.

While we lived and ministered in Mexico, we learned a lot about church planting. Our team was somewhat avant-garde at the time, at least for Mission to the World (MTW). We were involved on the ground floor in building strategic partnerships with the national church before many missionaries even considered working that way. We moved from being front-line church planters to training, coaching, and facilitating the national pastors and leaders. In many ways, this was the school of hard knocks, and we made many mistakes along the way.

On our second term in Mexico City, I was kidnapped, and about a year and a half after that, I was carjacked. I remember Dawn asking me if I still felt called to Mexico after I came home from being assaulted the second time. Ended up that we left Mexico about 5 months after that.

After we left Mexico we lived in Colorado Springs for 12 years. We served with Dr. Thomas Graham and the Center for Organizational and Ministry Development. We also ministered with Greater Europe Mission while in Colorado Springs.

In 2010 Dawn and I came back with MTW and we moved from Colorado Springs to the US/Mexico Border in the San Diego – Tijuana area. We like to refer to our ministry as Beyond Borders because we work on the Border, the Baja, and Beyond. God has given us a heart to see a church planting movement on the border, throughout Mexico and in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

We are igniting church planting movements through coaching, training, assessing, and funding. We have a God-shaped vision to be involved in helping to plant at least 1,000 churches. As of January 2023, we’ve helped start 467 churches.

I love this passage from Acts 14:22 which describes the ministry of Paul and Barnabas as they were visiting the cities and preaching the gospel. They were, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (ESV). This is what we seek to do as we minister to the leaders we work with, who have become like family to us.

Before we moved to the border God gave us Isaiah 61:1-4 as a key passage:

Bring the good news to the poor; heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives… Repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

We have three wonderful children: David, Jr., Jonathan, and Hannah. Our daughter Hannah moved to heaven on October 18, 2016. David married Emily in May 2019, and Jonathan married Hannah in December 2018.

We appreciate your prayers and interest in what God is doing Beyond Borders — The Border, The Baja, and Beyond!