PASTOR

Tamarindo Church is currently going through a transition of leadership and is in the process of searching for a new pastor.  Pastor Lyle, who planted and led Tamarindo Church for the past 8 years, has returned to the U.S. to care for his mother who is suffering from health issues.

In the coming months we will be posting a position description for the open pastor position at Tamarindo Church.  Please pray along with as we consider and discern who are next pastor will be.   And if you are anyone you know is interested in being considered for this position, please contact us at tamarindochurch@gmail.com.

Former Pastor – Lyle Watson

We asked our pastor to answer few questions that we thought would help you get to know him better.  Find out more about pastor Lyle by reading below.

Tell us about your family…

My wonderful wife Stacey and I were married in 2005.  We have a daughter named Olivia who is 12 yrs old and a son named Wolfgang (Wolfie for short) who is 11 yrs old.

How long have you been in Tamarindo?

I’ve been in Tamarindo since 2005 while my wife Stacey has lived here since 1996.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Phillip Yancey, C.S. Lewis, Henry Nouwen, Fr. Joseph Grizone, Tim Keller, Francis Chan, John Ortberg.

Music fan of _____ ?

James Taylor, Jack Johnson, David Gray, David Wilcox, Josh Garrels, Chris Rice, Christafari, Enter the Worship Circle.

Okay… now for more serious stuff.  What is your ministry background and education?  What’s your story?

God has had me on quite the ministry adventure, so there’s a lot to tell here.

Young Life, Virginia Beach, VA- I was first called to ministry back in 1996 when I entered a two year internship program with the ministry of Young Life in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  I served with Young Life from 2006-2009.

Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church- San Diego, CA.- After serving with Young Life in Virginia Beach, I took a position serving at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church in San Diego as a high-school youth minister.  It was here, while in San Diego, that I applied and was accepted to Princeton Theological Seminary.

Seminary- Princeton, NJ- And after two years in San Diego, I spent 2003-2005 pursuing a Masters in Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary.  During my time at Princeton, I interned for one year at Alexandria 1st Presbyterian Church and completed a 3 month Clinical Pastoral Education internship at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. Upon graduation from seminary, I was awarded the Pulpit Parish Fellowship.  This Fellowship gave me the opportunity to travel and study in Costa Rica for a year.  While in Costa Rica, I took Spanish language courses, attended a semester of Seminary, and did some personal study in Natural Theology.

Cafe Cafe- Tamarindo, Costa Rica- Upon arriving in Costa Rica for my studies, I attended language courses at WAYRA Spanish language school in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.  And as God would have it, it was here in Tamarindo that I met my wife Stacey.  From the moment Stacey and I started getting to know each other, we discovered that we both sensed a burden on our hearts to reach the people of our community with the Gospel.  There was no church in Tamarindo at the time.  Sensing this call, we founded Tamarindo Ministries in Playa Tamarindo in 2006.

Our first ministry endeavor was offering worship services in a local restaurant downtown Tamarindo on Saturday nights.  After about 9 months of hosting worship services, we eventually came to the conclusion that we might actually be more effective in reaching our town through a more relational ministry.  And that’s when we opened a coffee shop called Cafe Cafe as a relational outreach ministry.  Over the next several years, we spent time building relationships with people in our community over coffee.

Beach Community Church- In addition to starting the coffeehouse ministry, Stacey and I were also attending nearby Beach Community Church where I helped to lead worship.  While serving there it wasn’t long before I was eventually called to serve as Associate Pastor there.  I served in this role from 2007-2010, and eventually in 2010 I was called as Senior Pastor of Beach Community Church.  I served as Pastor at Beach Community  Church until the summer of 2012.  Upon leaving Beach Community Church in 2012, Stacey and I found that the calling that we had years ago…. to reach Tamarindo and the surrounding communities… was still in our hearts.  And that’s when we began moving forward with planting Tamarindo Church where we are serving today.

Tamarindo Church-  In August of 2012, there were about 10 of us who met in our home with the vision of planting Tamarindo Church.  Over the next several months we met, prayed, and prepared for the “launching” of Tamarindo Church after the new year.  On January 13, 2013, we launched the first of our weekly, Sunday worship services at Tamarindo Church.  It’s been a great adventure so far.   We are super excited about what God is doing here in Tamarindo, and we look forward to what He has in store for the years to come.