Ron and Sheri Marlin have taken a new step of faith in their long-running romance story, planting a new church, Gates Pass Community Church in Tucson.

Their romance story began 30 years ago when they both served on the ministry staff of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tucson. Here they met, courted, married and ministered together.

“From the moment we married, we had a desire to serve the Lord together,” Sheri says. “It has come to fruition so beautifully in this church plant.”

Ron had a prayer regimen. He went to “A” Mountain to pray weekly for the city and other things.

“In 2014,” Ron says, “I learned of an empty church building and prayed for the man that God would have lead a new work there. I wondered, ‘Am I praying for ME’”?

Ron and Sheri took a new step of faith and became church planters, starting a new work in that empty church building. By April 2017, Gates Pass Community Church was up and running in a freshly renovated building that hums with new activity.

Sunday morning services host as many as 62 in attendance. Meetings for community groups take place here. School kids enjoy after-school hang time in a safe space in the fellowship hall. And a walking track has been carved out of the previously overgrown desert.

Sheri smiles as she says, “This was all made possible through the Cooperative Program. Because others reach out, we can succeed.”

Ron adds, “Luke 1:37 says, ‘For nothing is impossible with God,’ and here He has been proving that! Our vision is to plant another church!”

Ron and Sheri Marlin are the CP.

Because you and your church give, You are the CP.