Greetings,

My name is Calvin Porterfield, and I live in Yukon, Oklahoma, with my wife Stacey, of twenty years, and our three fur babies. The Lord has blessed us through these last 20 years, and I look forward to what He has in store for us next!

I grew up as a Military Navy Brat from sunny San Diego, California and have moved all over the country till my dad retired in 1992 and moved us to Oklahoma City to be closer to family. I lived in Oklahoma till the Lord moved me and my wife to San Antonio, Texas for the work that I was in. From there, we moved to Birmingham, Alabama, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and now back to Oklahoma City. God is good!

For as long as I can remember, I have been in church. I was raised in the Church of the Nazarene, and accepted Christ at the age of 8 at a revival service. My Grandmother told me at that moment that I will do great things for God’s Kingdom, and she was right! I received my calling at the age of 16 at summer camp and pursued my Bachelor of Arts in Ministry/Theology and Music from Southern Nazarene University, where I also met my beautiful wife. Since then, God has used me and my wife in many capacities of ministry preparing us and grooming us for what He wants us to do.

For the last 20 years the Lord has used my career in the oil and gas industry to move us from place to place, but mostly church to church. Every church that God led us to prepared us for what was next. Finally, a year and a half ago, God led us to Grace Communion Surrey Hills because He had a purpose. Little did we know that when we walked into the church for the first time that the Lord had something up His sleeve.

We had just moved to Oklahoma City from Bartlesville, and we were in search of a church. We had seen the church in our neighborhood, but it wasn’t till we had gone to vote, which GC Surrey Hills is our voting precinct, that we felt a tug at our heart. We walked in and immediately felt like we were home. We dismissed the feeling and went in search of a different church home. We went again a few months later to vote again, and the same feeling came over us. My wife and I said, “it can’t be this simple.” It was! The Lord led us to Surrey Hills because He knew the work that He wanted us to do there. We said, “Yes” and it was the best decision that we have ever made. Especially, when the Lord was in it!

At the beginning of 2024 my wife and I both lost our jobs. Most people would have been devastated; however, within a month of losing our jobs, the Lord brought us new jobs, but new jobs that would allow us to walk through doors of ministry. Doors that we thought were closed, but to our surprise, God was ready for us to move back into ministry. I was approached about our youth ministry and taking on the Youth Pastor role, but also followed up with an invitation to join the Pastoral Resident Program. I officially joined the PR Program on August 12 and will start classes with Grace Communion Seminary this fall working towards my Master of Divinity.

As part of the PR Program, I am asked to fundraise a portion of my salary. My fundraising goal for 2024 is $8000. If you feel led to give toward my goal, you can give a one time or monthly gift. No gift is too large or too small, and from the bottom of my heart I appreciate and thank you all so much! I look forward to what God will bring this next year for I have been placed here for such a time as this. I have always wanted to be a pastor in the church and have had the desire to be part of a church plant. I feel that this is a great opportunity for that to happen!

In His Loving Name,
Calvin Porterfield
Pastoral Resident, Grace Communion International