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Our Story 

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After experiencing the loss of both our spouses (James' wife Rachel in 2023 & Jenny's husband Robb in 2020), God stepped in and surprised us both!  We had no idea the incredible match that God was preparing. As we began to talk, we discovered that we not only shared the same passion and desire to know Jesus and make Him known, through a John 15 lifestyle of abiding in Him, but God saw past our expectations for remarriage, and went way beyond the hidden desires of our hearts! Having had deep and healthy previous marriages, we honor Rachel and Robb and the foundations that have been laid in partnership with them in both life and ministry and look ahead with incredible expectation that for "such a time as this," God has brought us together. On March 1, 2025 we were married in Bradenton, Florida. 

 

Our views of ministry and vision for the future dovetail in beautiful ways that we are just discovering, and we look forward to investing in discipleship, leadership development, teaching, church planting, and sharing the incredible story God has entrusted to us of redemption! God took our ashes and has given us beauty, and for that we are thankful! We celebrate Him and want to see Him glorified through our lives and story! 

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Biography - James Krechnyak Jr. 

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James is a graduate of both Elim Bible Institute (1995) and Charis Bible College (2024). He also completed a DTS (Discipleship Training School- 1996) and SOE (School of Evangelism- 1998) with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), where he traveled on a youth multi-media productions team that encouraged teens in their personal relationship with Jesus and encouraged them into world missions, training and taking teens into Mexico on summer short-term missions trips. It was on that team where he met his first wife, Rachel.  

James has traveled extensively to date ministering in Mexico, Jamaica, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Norway, along with having lived 24 years as a missionary/church planter in Ireland.

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In between his first and second years at Elim, he did a 4 week internship, where he served alongside a missionary couple in Split, Croatia, during the war in 1993. It was through that experience that the Lord told James to change his minor from music to general ministry, and that one day he would be a missionary. It was also on that trip that God shared His heart through others that one day he would pastor and help plant churches.​​

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In the Summer of 1999 James and Rachel felt God call them from the United States to Rachel's homeland of Ireland to minister. After serving traditional and nontraditional churches for four years in the city of Kilkenny, Ireland, in the areas of worship, pastoral ministry, and children/youth outreach, James and Rachel felt led in 2004 to plant a church in the rural town of Portlaoise.  With a population of nearly 20,000, the town had a few evangelical churches, but no Spirit-filled churches. James and Rachel, along with a small group of people the Lord divinely connected, founded Life Church! There they saw God move from a small group of faithful followers of Jesus to upwards of 200 people within approximately 5 years! 

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In 2009, on the tails of an intense building project for Life Church Portlaoise, James and Rachel, tired but with a sense of completion began to wonder what God had for them next.  The church in Portlaoise had established healthy foundations with solid leadership, and by moving into its own building the icing seemed to be on the cake for these pioneers.  In 2011 they started Grassroots Ministry to see what God may want to do. For several years they wrestled in prayer as to whether they should hand over the church and move on to other fields or continue as senior leaders. Wanting to be sensitive to God's plan, not only for His house but also as missionaries equipped and trained to "go" they continued to listen to what was on the Lord's heart. In the quiet stillness of God's presence, over and over, they could not escape the fact that their work at Life Church was completed. So in 2016 they handed the church over to their successors of whom God chose, Noel and Heather Cammack. The church to this day of 2026 is still being joyfully led by this wonderful couple. Life Church continues to grow and see God move!

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From 2016-2023, James was involved in a variety type of ministries within the city of Kilkenny, helping to develop a youth outreach & community center, as well as serving on staff for several years at a local church helping to develop a structure for future growth.  James was also involved in personal life coaching with several individuals.

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On October 28, 2023, after years of battle, Rachel passed away. A few months later the family relocated to Colorado, one reason being for the children to fulfill the desire of Rachel that they all attend Charis Bible College.

 

Up-to-date, James had been working to develop the ministry remotely, and now with his new wife Jenny, the wheels are turning at a more accelerated race as they are seeking to establish the next steps of Grassroots. Jenny's education and career have been extensively in Communications and Marketing, having worked for a church in Florida for the past 6 years. Together they are putting an updated face on the ministry, and taking steps towards fulfilling the mandate to help people know Jesus more intimately and make Him known throughout the nations! There passion is for pure freedom for the Bride in America as they have developed a new course to re-discover the Acts style "simple" Church. 

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In 2011, James and Rachel took what felt like a giant step of faith.  They resigned from the missions organization that had sent them out (no negative reasons or tensions were in connection to this transition) and started Grassroots Church Planting Ministries, with the vision to support, impart, and multiply new church plants, primarily in unreached and difficult places.  

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During this season, James and Rachel, along with their three children, started to make trips to minister regularly in both Poland and Norway.  This was the beginning of a more international flavor to their ministry, which eventually led to traveling to other nations in Europe for prayer and relationship building, as well as the ministry that was taking place as they spent more time in the United States.

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In September 2012, they launched a second church plant in the town of Carlow, Ireland, and oversaw it as a campus of Life Church Portlaoise.  After several years of challenges developing a strong leadership base for the church, it eventually relaunched as a successful house church.

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In 2016, after much deliberation and prayer, James and Rachel felt it was time to hand over both Portlaoise and Carlow churches to local leadership, in the pursuit of something new.  They continued in relationship with the churches, understanding that they needed to transition into developing further the ministry of Grassroots.

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Grassroots International Ministries is a registered non-profit organization within the United States and is made up of a Board with experience in Pastoral Ministry, Administration, and Foreign Missions.