Our Story

at the Western Union in Waco, TX, where Cal worked. When he saw Lin, he told one of the other employees, “I’m going to marry that girl.” The other employee responded, “Well, she’s your bosses’ daughter.” Cal was right, though—they got married in December of 1956, when Lin was 16 years old.

In 1960, they moved to Fort Worth so that Cal could attend Southwestern Seminary, and Lin could attend Texas Wesleyan Teachers College. During this time, Cal and Lin’s first child, Kyle, was born (1962).

After completing their programs, they moved to Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, where their second child, Laurie, was born (1965). Cal served as a chaplain at Williams until he was deployed to Vietnam in 1968.

Cal served a year in Vietnam, where he was a chaplain at the Air Evac Hospital, as well as visiting and witnessing to remote groups in the area. When he returned, the family moved to a military base in Florida for one year, where their third child, Scott, was born and passed away one day later (1969).

The family then moved to a military base in Laredo for one year, and Cal served his final year of active duty military service. He remained a member of the reserves until his retirement in 1996.

In 1970, Cal accepted a position at Temple Hills Baptist Church. That same year, their fourth child, Jeff, was born (1970). Cal held the position for 7 years before deciding to join the Methodist church. In 1977, he accepted an associate pastor position at the United Methodist Church in Pryor, OK. Kelly, Cal and Lin’s youngest child, was born the same year (1977). The family then moved to Muskogee, OK, to be apart of Honor Heights United Methodist Church.

Anytime Cal had time away from pastoring,

he visited India to preach the gospel. He and one of his colleagues founded the Happy Home for Girls to provide safe living conditions for girls in remote tribal villages. Through this ministry and the funds raised to support it, multiple church plants were also made possible in India.

In July of 1984, Cal and Lin felt God calling them to teach at a Methodist seminary in Kenya. Along with Jeff (14) and Kelly (7), Cal and Lin moved to Kenya, where they taught at the seminary for one year. But after their first year of teaching ended, the Methodist Bishop decided that he no longer wanted non-Kenyans on-staff at the seminary.

During their first year in Kenya, Cal had traveled deep into the heart of Kenya and met the Tharakan tribe. After they were released from the Methodist Seminary, the McCarters decided to move to Tharaka and work with the people, who were close to death after facing a serious drought.

Cal and Lin continued to live in Tharaka working with the people, visiting India during holidays. They lived in Tharaka full-time until 1991, when Cal and Lin decided to return to Muskogee, where the Mission OFC (is this right?) was located. Cal pastored at an interdenominational church, Lin taught school, and they visited Tharaka in the summers until 1996, when they decided to dedicate all of their time to fundraising and visiting the missions in Kenya and India.

In 2006, during a visit to India with his wife,

Cal had a major physical setback with heart issues resulting in dementia. Upon their return to America, Lin assumed full responsibility for their work in Kenya, and the staff and volunteers in India agreed to take charge of the mission there.

In 2011, The McCarter’s oldest son, Kyle, was asked to step in and help run the mission in Kenya. Lin and Kelly served as caretakers for Cal until his passing in 2018.

Today, Lin enjoys keeping her husband’s vision alive. She visits Kenya often and loves teaching the staff and house moms. On a normal day in Tharaka, you can find her tutoring a small child or doing hard work with the young women.

To read more about Cal and Lin’s adventures in Kenya and India, click here.