About Us
Our Leaders
Mike Irvan
Director
Senior Pastor
Yvonne Irvan
Associate Director
Senior Pastor
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Mike Irvan –
Pastor Mike is an Idaho native raised in Garden City and spent much of his youth at Community Christian Center. He is so excited about what God is doing here in Garden City, its surrounding communities, and at The Garden because it is part of his spiritual inheritance and lineage. There has always been a strong call on Mike’s life. At the age of 8 he was baptized and committed his life to the work of the Lord (little did he know how far that would take him, and Wow! did it take him!). Mike has worked in Ada County for over 30 years in emergency services, paramedicine, law enforcement, fire administration, and many more departments in various government fields. Little did Mike know, that this small town Garden City boy would work with such agencies as FEMA, the FBI and is certified in commercial aircraft disaster management, earth quake disaster management, natural and man- made disaster management, and terrorism management. Mike’s career has afforded him the privilege to work with the United States Secret Service on Presidential and Vice Presidential Protection details, including- Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Mike also coordinated and worked with the emergency services command for two National Governor Conferences. Most recently, Mike has become the Administrative Fire Chief for North Ada County along with being the current Fire Commissioner in addition to his positions as the Director and Senior Pastor at The Garden, a subsidiary of Community Christian Center.
At the age of 12 Mike was visiting Mrs. Leisher, the founder of Community Christian Center, when she laid hands on him and declared him to be a future community leader and leader at Community Christian Center. That day unbeknownst to Mike, he received a torch, a mantle, and a vision for community impact. To raise the standard of this community into a beacon of hope for the city, the state, and nations! Just as the original building was given to become the senior center for Garden City as Mrs. Leisher had done, our old Community Christian Center Building is now a community charter school. Anser Charter School is the first school of its kind to have a permanent place here in Garden City. These traditions and changes were Mrs. Leisher’s vision and that is alive and well today here at The Garden. Mike has been in preparation his entire life to be on the forefront of God’s best in Garden City and to continue raising the standard and change the reputation of Garden City while releasing others into their destinies. How Great is Our God!
In 2005 this path that Mike has been on, allowed him to retire from Ada County Sheriff’s Department, Paramedics and other valued positions into an even higher calling, as a full-time pastor and governmental leader in the community just as Mrs. Leisher prophesied some 38 years earlier. Mike has a heart for this community and to see it raised into all it was meant to be, to be a light on a hill for hope, an example of change and a commitment to the Lord’s Kingdom by seeing His Kingdom come in the Earth, His Will to be Done as we are “Bridging the Past, the Present and the Future!” right here at The Garden.
Pastor Mike will be teaching disaster preparedness classes and continue creating a place of supply, safety and prosperity for the community of Garden City. The classes will include how these happenings relate to end-time prophesy and what the Body of Christ’s response must be and how to be an oasis of safety and peace in the midst of storms. For more information or if you’re interested in motivational speaking, ministry or teaching engagements with Mike, please contact us at The Garden via our website.
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Yvonne Irvan –
Yvonne had powerful encounters with the Lord from a very young age and at 9 years old she was saved, called to preach and filled with Holy Spirit. She has had a fire in her belly and a sword in her mouth from that time until now.
Yvonne Irvan came from a Christian home and was a PK (pastor’s kid) but as with many of us, it wasn’t picture perfect by any means and became severely broken. With the demise of her family life and her young world, Yvonne grew very close to her Godly Grandmother who instilled wonderful words and life into Yvonne, but with the pain of loss, hurting and being fatherless she turned to the world and addiction to find the fulfillment and the love/acceptance she so longed for.
The world couldn’t fulfill her and God never left her. She gave up the struggle at 40 and God guided her through great healing and deliverance, knowing her Heavenly Father personally while finding great intimacy, purpose and destiny. She has a great love and devotion to those hurting and looking for answers and has overcome so much that she can freely give all that she has been given. She married her husband Mike in 1980 and God brought two very different halves together to make a whole. Mike being the Administrative, practical one who operated in great authority and powerful apostolic giftings, while Yvonne is a visionary, creative, prophetic, lover of God who lives more in spirit than in the natural. Who says God doesn’t have a Fantastic sense of Humor? HE Does, He Really Does!! Together, they have been mighty for the pulling down of strongholds and breaking religious chains and bondage.
Yvonne’s capacity for Big Big Love, freedom, truth, healing and deliverance are birthed from her even greater capacity for worship, intercession and intimacy with her King and Lord. Yvonne’s love for the Word has taken her into great revelation and given her sharp discernment and an even greater ability to cut to the heart of matters in the spirit and in healing. Being a woman of the word, Yvonne’s heart is to see this generation and the ones to come, not have to go through all she has, but to overcome and fulfill the call that God has for each and every individual. The giftings of God are without repentance and she believes it’s time the body raises up to direct culture and to have vision for change and raising the standard for those yet to come, to be on the top of the mountain and not circling it over and over. Jesus will have a bride without spot and wrinkle and we are raising a people and generations to walk humbly with their God in all truth and love but also in purpose and power. Great things will we do is what Jesus said and Yvonne believes it and is living it. Yvonne is called to the nations and is working with others to bring forth a new sound in the earth, which will change atmospheres, shift principalities, break strongholds, set captive free and bring in the harvest of lost souls who have no hope. There is hope, life, and great things in store for those who will come behind the veil and know the One who formed them, the Creator, the Father and Lover of their souls.
The Garden is God’s vision for the Treasure Valley and Garden City, it was given to Yvonne 10 years ago and we have witnessed His faithfulness and the birth of a new thing, a new ministry in this region which will affect not only Idaho but all over the country and world. God is aligning The Garden with other ministries that are co-laboring with the Lord to see the fulfillment of Psalms 133 and John 17. Yvonne and her husband Mike are following after God’s direction and heart for Worship, the Arts, Media, Business, and many other facets that will have great impact and bring light to a dark and dying world. On January 17th 2010, exactly 10 years after Yvonne’s Vision of God’s Glory being released through the Arts & Media at Community Christian Center, The Garden was dedicated for that very purpose and God is divinely connecting us to others in this same stream. Yvonne gives all Glory, Honor and Praise to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who made this possible and who gave Yvonne and Mike the strength to stand through it all. Yvonne will be in Israel in Feb. of 2010 on assignment where more connections and divine appointments await and we are excited to see all that God is doing. She will continue to travel internationally and has ministered and traveled to India, South Korea, Wales, England, France, Belfast and Dublin, to name a few. If you are interested in what God is doing at The Garden and would like to have Pastor Yvonne speak or minister/preach, schedule her for motivational speaking, life coaching, or chat about market place vision(s) please contact The Garden via our website and “Contact Us” page for more information.
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Mike & Yvonne Irvan –
Pastors Mike and Yvonne Irvan have been married for 30 years as of April 2010. What a road!! They have been in the world, of the world but for the last 12 years out of the world and into the fire of refinement and full time ministry the past 6 years. Mike and Yvonne have learned to stand in adversity and to stay on bent knee before their King, being refreshed and healed from the battle, being in His presence… gaining revelation in the quiet times and holding fast to their anchor and foundation through the storms of life and battles for Kingdom reign. Mike and Yvonne have a message of sozo (being saved, complete deliverance and healing) a call of destiny for all who will come, be willing and obedient to the beckoning of the Lord and allow Him to complete a good work and launch every person into the fullness of the call upon each individual’s life. Because they have endured and overcome much, they have much to give and release to those who are willing to walk it out and be faithful to the Giver of All Good Things. They believe in the importance of discipling and life coaching others to help them reach their full potential and destinies, especially those is Garden City and of this younger generation.
Mike & Yvonne have two wonderful, blessed and very talented daughters, Sarah Irvan and Mindy Peper, with Mindy’s husband Jacob they are also blessed with two beloved grandchildren, Jordan and Rachael. They love and lead their extended family at The Garden and want to see everyone released into their destiny and release their life’s message to a hurting world. They are an extension of the Godly legacy and heritage of both their families and past generations while releasing future generations to walk in the fullness of God’s divine nature and plans, in Heaven and on Earth.
Check out "Our Crew" here at the Garden - http://www.the-garden.org/html/about-us/our-crew--biographies/