Leadership

Aaron and Cassie were both raised in Michigan and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior at a young age. They met and graduated from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI, and were married in 2002. Aaron worked in the residential and commercial construction trade for many years in Michigan and Florida–specializing in roofing. The Gortmakers have enjoyed serving the Lord in multiple areas of ministry–in camps, churches, and their local communities. 

Sent by New Hope Church in East Lansing, Michigan, and commissioned by Mesa Global in 2015, they came to San José, Costa Rica in 2017 to further their Spanish language and cultural training and start building relationships. In 2018, after language school and the birth of their 5th child, they moved to the NW region of Guanacaste. They witnessed firsthand the great need for unifying the body of Christ and restoring broken churches and families. Many pastors and leaders had a passion to serve but needed biblical training, encouragement, and counsel. The Gortmakers desired to help meet this need but lacked a place to host overnight events at an affordable, accessible location. Despite this challenge, they used their home and rented various facilities in order to offer day classes, conferences, and camps to more than 100 evangelical churches in the region. Then the Lord led them in 2020 to join Árbol de Vida, and they began developing the camp property with the goal to host overnight camps and trainings on-site in order to expand on-going ministry.

Today, there is a spirit of hope and determination in many of the pastors and families who had felt alone and discouraged. A growing number of local churches are excited to receive biblically-sound resources and essential training which equips them to teach effectively, strengthen families in their community, and advance the Kingdom of God.