JAY McCARL is the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel on the Georgetown Divide. Originally schooled and trained as an artist, God had a different road set out for Jay, and in 1973, while attending Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, he began serving in ministry. During the first fifteen years of ministry he served as Beach Area Director for Orange County Youth for Christ, worship leader for various ministries at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, and an assistant pastor and worship leader for affiliates in Orange, Napa, San Diego, and Auburn. In 1990, Pastor Greg Denham of Calvary Auburn sent Jay to begin a work that soon became Calvary Chapel Georgetown Divide. Pastor Jay has a Master's degree in Chaplaincy Ministry and serves as a volunteer supervising Chaplain with Placer County Lay Enforcement Chaplaincy. Jay has been married to his beautiful wife Kathee for almost thirty years and has four children.

A note from Pastor Jay: "Writing about one's self has often seemed an exercise in vain conceit and self-aggrandizement. My specious expectations of myself, however, have proven infinitely greater than the sum of my achievements, such as they are on earth. Thankfully, God's expectations of me have been from the beginning constant and truthful: unmitigated failure. It is in this light that I give Him thanks, and in fact, adore Him, for quite in spite of my relentless malfunctions He sought me, bought me, adopted me, and made me a younger brother to His Only Begotten Son. And it was not because I was ever good or impressive on any level; it was because He is Jesus, and this is what He does. Thus, as the apostle Paul elucidated is shining words, "...by the grace of God, I am what I am..." Concerning the life God has given me I submit that I am now His, and to this point I hope and pray that He has disposed of me precisely as He has determined from eternity past. You too. Do you know Him? For He most certainly knows you and is intimately aquainted with all your failures, yet He continues to love you supremely. He is relentlss in His pursuit of His lost children, and unless you have already been found of Him, He is hot on your trail. Stop now. Turn to face Him, for He will not destroy you, only forgive you and make you clean in His all-discerning sight. Receive the superlative work His Son did for you: dying the death you (and I!) deserved to die as He took upon Himself God's anger against your sins; rising from the dead to live and stand next to His Father, praying for you. He will take you as His child, and keep you forever. Stop running now, turn, and see His face. He loves you so. What have you to lose by doing so? And what have you to gain by continuing in your flight? This I have learned, of this I am convinced; and it is also for you..."