By the spring of 2024, Gospel Life Church in Guam had grown from a dozen people meeting in Mel’s home to around 50 gathering publicly.
Mel was grateful for what God was doing. But as a first-time church planter, he was also overwhelmed. Families at Gospel Life were walking through health concerns and relational struggles. Leadership challenges added to the weight Mel was carrying. And in a place shaped in part by its military community, people were often coming and going.
“At first I felt like I was drowning,” Mel said.
When Mel reached out to Send Network for help, he was connected with Daniel Carter, then pastor of Pillar Church San Diego. As a fellow church planter who had also pastored in a military community, Daniel understood what Mel was facing.
The two began meeting monthly. Daniel listened, encouraged Mel, and helped him navigate the realities of leading a new church. As they talked and prayed, Mel shared a prayer that had begun before Gospel Life launched.
“Ever since day one,” Mel said, “we did not want to go about this alone.” He and his wife had been asking God for ministry partners even a year before they planted.
“I just need someone to buddy up with me and do the work of the ministry,” Mel remembered telling Daniel.
At the time, neither pastor could see how God was already answering that prayer.
Sent with Purpose
Meanwhile, at Pillar Church San Diego, Daniel had spent time investing in Micah and Natalie.
Micah was serving as an elder at Pillar. Natalie was deeply invested in the church and its surrounding neighborhood. They were also close friends with Daniel and his family.
Then Micah received military orders to Guam.
The news, Daniel said, “broke my heart.” But as he wrestled with their departure, he began to see what God might be doing.
Daniel had been praying with Mel for God to provide ministry partners. Now Micah and Natalie were being sent to Guam by the military.
What initially felt like a loss for Pillar became provision for another church. Instead of simply watching Micah and Natalie leave, Pillar sent them with purpose.
Micah and Natalie arrived in Guam in the summer of 2025. They intentionally chose to live near Gospel Life and Mel’s family rather than close to the military base.
Micah’s preparation for pastoral leadership soon became evident. He began preaching and helping lead in several areas of the church. Today, Gospel Life is walking through the process of considering him for eldership.
Around the same time, Gospel Life was experiencing some of the transitions that come with PCS (Permanent Change of Station) moves. Natalie helped wherever she was needed, including helping in the music ministry and discipling other women in the church and community.
Together, Micah and Natalie serve in a thriving small group.
As Micah, Natalie, and other leaders have taken greater responsibility for ministry, Mel has been able to give more of his attention to discipling leaders and caring for people facing difficult circumstances.
And more people are stepping forward.
Men are pursuing theological education. Church members are leading Bible studies and small groups. Mel can already identify several men he believes could one day become elders, pastors, or missionaries.
Today, Gospel Life continues to grow and has service members from multiple branches of the military who are learning and serving alongside one another.
“We want to be a multiplying church,” he said.
It’s a desire shaped by what Gospel Life has experienced firsthand. Pillar developed people who were ready to serve when they were sent. Now, Mel hopes his church can do the same for others.
For Daniel, Micah and Natalie’s story is another reminder that the possibility of having to say goodbye doesn’t make investing deeply in people any less worthwhile.
“As we see this time and time again, it’s so worth it to lean in,” he said.
Looking Back at God’s Faithfulness
Mel can see how much has changed when he thinks back to one of his first Send Network Military gatherings.
He remembers sitting around a campfire with other pastors. He shared his struggles, and they encouraged and prayed for him.
Mel built relationships with these pastors who understood what he was facing. They stayed connected between gatherings, regularly encouraging and walking alongside one another. Mel described the group as a “tight-knit community.”
At a recent gathering, he found himself around a campfire again.
“There’s such a night and day difference of where I was then,” Mel said.
As other pastors shared what they were walking through, Mel was able to offer encouragement.
“It was just really cool that I was on the other side of that,” he said. “It’s like, wow, Lord, you’ve been so gracious.”
The church that once prayed for God to send people who could help carry the work is now developing leaders of its own—people who are learning to lead, disciple others, and serve wherever God sends them next.
To learn more about how your church can reach, disciple, and send military members and their families, visit SendNetwork.com/Military.