Frank & Caroline Martin’s Family

A brief biography

Frank and Caroline grew up in Northeastern Ohio – Frank in Ashtabula, Caroline in Pepper Pike, a suburb of Cleveland. They met at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and married 3 days after graduation in 1966, Frank with a degree in Business, and Caroline in Elementary Education.

They came to Tucson, Arizona so that Frank could work on a Masters degree in economics. After one year, they joined the Peace Corps and went to Turkey.

Thus began their life’s work in Turkey.

In 1971 both became Christians in southern Oregon as part of the ‘Jesus Movement’ and the whole focus of their lives changed from successful careers to that of serving Christ. After getting grounded in God’s Word at Grace Chapel in Tucson, Frank took the family to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, located north of Boston, Massachusetts. After graduation, they moved to West Newbury, a town only a short distance from the seminary, and started their career of pastoral ministry.

After pastoring two churches on the east coast, they came back to Tucson and planted Canyon Community Church. That church merged with Saguaro Canyon Church to become Saguaro Canyon Church, located on Old Spanish Trail.

Caroline taught at Grace Christian School, then both taught at Desert Christian High School. Caroline completed her Master’s degree as a reading specialist, then completed a Masters in School Administration. She was the founding Principal of the Academy of Tucson Elementary School.

In 1997 Frank did a survey trip of the Balkans, Central Asia, and Turkey. During that trip, God spoke to Frank to concentrate on ministry in Turkey. Thus began a long involvement with ministry in Turkey. In 2004 Frank resigned as Senior Pastor of Saguaro Canyon Evangelical Free Church in Tucson and started full-time ministry in and to Turkey. He has been involved in the ministry in and to Turkey since that time. In 2006 Caroline resigned her position as Principal and joined in the ministry.

Our family

We have lived in Tucson, Arizona for over 25 years.

We have two children, Amy and Matthew. Both live in Tucson. Amy is working at Starbucks in Tucson, and has a passion for world health. Matthew married Kirsten in 2011. Kirsten is a first grade teacher at Soleng Tom School. Matthew works as Consumer Relations Director at Cord Blood Registry in Tucson.

Current projects in Turkey

Even though we live in Tucson, we are engaged  with ministry to Turkey, traveling to Turkey at least twice a year.

We are currently involved in 4 projects in Turkey:

• Frank is on the Leadership Team of the Timothy Project.
• We are involved with the Orality Project.
• We have been getting connected with the Yazidi refugees in southeastern Turkey and the Refugee Highway which runs through Turkey.
• We have been involved in helping the believers in the Northern Aegean region.