Iraida Garcia

My name is Iraida Garcia. I am married and live in the beautiful city of Miami, Florida, where I was born.  

I was blessed to grow up in a loving Christian family home. My parents taught me to love the Lord from the very beginning. I gave my heart to Jesus at the age of five. I will forever remember myself standing at the little altar of my Christian school chapel, in a pink dress, asking Jesus into my heart. 

My parents taught me the importance of servant leadership from a very young age. I started serving as a child in Sunday School, into my teen years, and throughout my adult life. This service has trained me to work in many different capacities and areas of ministry at the church.   

At the age of 18, I married my high school sweetheart. Almost two years later, we had an amazing son, Mike, and together as a family, we all served the Lord. Then after 26 years of marriage, I was devastated to lose my marriage. I thought I would never marry again. However, God has a way of showering us with His love. My Pastor introduced me to Carlos, a wonderful man that loves Jesus and loves to serve Him. Carlos had lost his wife to brain cancer five years earlier. We fell in love and married soon after. 

Carlos immediately embraced my family, and my family welcomed him. I especially love to see the great relationship he has built with my son. Mike is now married to my wonderful daughter-in-love, Carolina. Together they serve as Youth Pastors at their church. The best gift they have ever given us is our granddaughter Zoe. She makes us the happiest and proudest Papa and Mimi on planet earth.

Carlos and I have been facilitating the premarital course at our church, Trinity Church Miami, for over seven years. In the last couple of years, we have also been working with many of our married couples. We now lead the Couples Ministry there. It is truly our passion to see couples excel in their relationship with God and each other.  

I thank God for the Christian Leaders Institute! With our schedules the way they are, as we tend to family, run our business, couples ministry, etc., I love that I can be trained for ministry with flexibility. CLI is an answer to prayer!