Following graduation from high school in McLeansboro, Illinois in 1956, I attended
the University of Illinois for one year then transferred to East Texas Baptist College
where I studied for the next two and one half years. I met my wife, Linda, there
and migrated back to the home town area for a couple of years pastoring a church
near Macedonia.
I finished college at Eastern Illinois University while working as an associate pastor
in Salem, Illinois and went back to Texas to attend seminary. Seminary was not for
me, but I continued to pastor in two churches in East Texas and finally moved to
Oklahoma where I left the ministry to run an aviation business and fly as a commercial
pilot and flight instructor.
A few years of constant flight time left me empty and still searching for my niche
in life. Another former minister friend of mine asked me to join him as administrative
assistant in a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children in East Texas.
I accepted the offer and returned to school at East Texas State University to pursue
a master’s degree in counseling psychology. This took me down another “dead end”
with career burn-
1977 found me in the Mid-
It was at this point (I was 39 at the time), through miraculous circumstances, I
had a life-
After a period of time, the call to ministry was reconfirmed and new doors of ministry
began to open. Since then, I have continued to shepherd smaller groups and also have
traveled extensively teaching in seminars and conferences. I have authored several
books that are printed through our publishing ministry.
Presently, my wife and I live again in the Mid-
God has been good.
Micah Bell
Shepherd
Eliah Alvarez
Elder
Leadership
Eliah Alvarez was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX. Instead of finishing high school,
he joined the Navy at the age of 17. After being honorably discharged after 2 years,
he completed his GED and went to work in his Dad’s custom furniture upholstery business.
Eliah was put in the position of outside sales, and felt he had found his place in
the world.
He married and had three children by the time he was 30. He was heavily involved
with drug trafficking and drug use. The drugs took their toll and caused his marriage
to crumble. After the divorce he gave his portion of the family business to his younger
brother and walked away from everything. He spent the next few years wandering around
doing drugs.
One day while standing on a street corner in the south side of Fort Worth, Eliah
had an awakening and found himself saying, “there has to be more to life than this”.
He had already done things and been places most men only dream about.
On September
8, 1990 while alone in his home, the Lord made Himself known to Eliah. Nothing has
been the same since that day; his whole life started over that day!
Eliah came to the Key Ministries in 1991 to attend their first deliverance and spiritual
warfare conference at their new campus. On the second day of the conference, after
hearing the truth of the Word of God, he heard the Lord say this was where he wanted
him to stay.
It has been a life-
In 1993 Eliah married Elizabeth, who at that time was the ministry’s secretary.
The Lord’s restoration still goes on, because of His power and love!