History:

    Back in 1999, the Lord had placed a call in the hearts of Pastors Archie & Cheryl Mark to start something new. Cheryl had been involved in the Church for many years as a Children’s leader and Pastor.  Archie had served on various Church boards as his vocational position was in the business arena. He is a CMA by designation. In May of that year, they began home meetings under the affiliation of Christian International.

    Then on October 8, 1999, The Rose Garden was officially launched.  The meetings were marked with restoring intimacy, renewing passion, and releasing love.  People were brought through times of healing as the Lord truly worked in the hearts of the congregation and visitors.  While this was  wonderful time, Pastors Archie and Cheryl were feeling the next steps within their hearts about where the Lord desired to take the organization.

    Back in 1997, the Lord had given Pastor Cheryl a vision of an organization called Arise. It was a place where ministries were going to be run as businesses and businesses were going to be run as ministries with the goal of impacting children at risk around the world. While The Rose Garden was a great start, Pastors Archie & Cheryl were realizing that it was time to take the next step in walking out their mandate.

    On January 1, 2005, this next phase was begun as Arise Gateway. While it was still a Church, in the normal sense, it was a structure that was going to allow them to grow and help people to grow. Beyond the meetings of intimacy, Arise Gateway became marked as a place of speaking to people’s destiny and callings.  While maintaining their unique outworking of their faith, Arise Gateway became a multi-dimensional, open-armed body of believers, who desired to meet with God and show His heart to the world in a meaningful way.

    As of April 5, 2009, Arise began its next steps towards the initial vision by sponsoring and planting its first global initiative. Funding 3 safe houses with 9 children and a social worker, Arise began the beautiful journey of making a difference for children around the world. With great plans ahead for global impact, the journey has just begun...

Leadership Team:

a.k.a. pastoral management team

Lead Pastors Archie and Cheryl Mark

Pastors Archie and Cheryl Mark desire to see people genuinely meet God and become people with true foundations. They also love to see God work in people lives so that they are released from fears and bondages into the fullness of His power, love and soundness of mind. They have covenanted together with God to serve the Church, meaning the whole body of Christ, locally, in this city and this world through prayer and strategic initiatives. In 1999 the Lord called them to found The Rose Garden. In 2004, this grew to a call to expand and pioneer Arise Gateway International Ministries. Pastor Archie is also consulting part-time, a new endeavor the Lord has initiated in his life. In the 1970’s their life directions changed 180 degrees when they met and gave their lives to The Lord. Archie and Cheryl have been married 33 years and have four wonderful children; Steven & Cara Holmstrom and Timothy & Ramona Mark.

Timothy and Ramona Mark

Tim and Ramona have been married for 10 years and have served with the church since before that time. Ministry involvements have included such areas as leadership, music, dance, youth, administration and teaching. Helping bring leadership ideas and structure is a key component to their ministry. Tim and Ramona desire to see a healthy Church (people) that is relevant and effective. This includes having a heart to see people grow in their relationship with Christ and others so as to fulfill their potential for their lives. The heartbeat of Ramona’s life is to live in intimacy with God. God’s also given her a testimony of purity for young women to live in completeness for God. “All that is within” worship is a trademark of Tim’s life, desiring to go to new places in the presence of God. They also desire to be believers in Christ who are transparent, and free from religious ideas that hinders an authentic witness. Currently, Tim has recently finished his MBA at Thunderbird Global School of Management and has also taken over a water purification retail store.

Cherlyn Gower

Cherlyn has been a Christian since 2001. While visiting the Toronto Airport Fellowship she was touched by God and healed of server acid reflux. Since becoming a Christian, her desire has been to have intimacy with God. Her hearts desires is to see people have an authentic relationship with God, seeing every generation grow deep into the knowledge of God through hopeful heartfelt prayer and intimacy with the Lord. Also, she desires to see people released into hope, love and into their destiny. Cherlyn has also been working with the children and has a desire to see them develop a sound foundation in Christ. She wants to provide a safe environment for them to express and grow in their gifts of prayer, healing, teaching, deliverance and the arts.

Tracy & Theora Meyers

Tracy and Theora desire to see unity and building up of the Body of Christ, His Bride; all parts and giftings operating in relationship with each other. At the local level, their desire for unity and building is expressed in: leadership of a small group, coordinating the Helps and Hospitality teams, core team involvement in the Arise Marketplace group, and the Pastoral Management Team. Theora, supported by Tracy, is actively involved in prophetic and prayer ministry at many levels from the City of Calgary to international initiatives; e.g. Calgary One Heart core team, Alberta Prophetic Council, Canadian Prophetic Council, and the Institute For Global Affairs for G8s, G20s and other strategic prayer initiatives such as Hollywood Movie industry and the recent Mexican war on drugs. Tracy has worked for 36 years as an Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry, the past 11 years as an engineering consultant. Tracy and Theora have been married 35 years and have three amazing children; Nathan, Laura (Palaschuk) and Victoria; and also including Laura’s husband Greg and our two adorable grandchildren, Ben and Blake.

Kenton & Denise Reimer

Kenton & Denise have a passion to train and release believers into their God given purpose and destiny.  They also have a desire to encourage the body of Christ to walk in wholeness; physically, mentally, spiritually, relationally and financially. 

They both enjoy starting new ventures having helped plant two churches in Calgary, Alberta as well as starting a number of businesses including their own consulting company.  Kenton & Denise are part of the Market Place group and the Pastoral Management Team at Arise.  

They have been married for 22 years and have two amazing children.

Justin & Melissa James

Justin, a Canadian, met Melissa, an American, at a conference for marketplace ministry in 2009 and got married in February 2011. Justin has attended Arise for 12 years serving in the helps ministry, Marketplace ministry as well as spearheading key prayer initiatives.  Melissa has been a lead worshiper, singing on the praise team at her church in Houston for the past 10 years.  She has led women’s small groups and used her leadership and administrative strengths to support church development. Both work full time in the healthcare industry.

Having a diverse group of friends as well as living and traveling all over the world, they love connecting with people of all nationalities and backgrounds.  Their heart is to share the hope that comes from an authentic relationship with Jesus and encourage others to see God in the midst of life’s joys and trials.   They are passionate about giving hope to the hopeless and seeing people developed to their fullest potential.