Barry, who is originally from county Westmeath in the Republic of Ireland met Raquel, who is from Portugal, at his local church in Limerick in 1995. It was love at first sight and the rest, they say is history!

Barry left the Emerald Isle in 1996 to begin his new life in Portugal eventually earning his undergraduate degree in Modern Languages (English and Spanish) and becoming an English teacher in the small town of Seixal, just south of the capital city of Lisbon.

Raquel also earned her undergraduate degree in music teaching, and both worked in the education sector for 17 years. They married in 1998 and have three children, Mateus who is married to Kerry, David, and Rebeca. Barry and Raquel were actively involved in their local evangelical church in Seixal where Raquel was brought up. Barry became one of the three elders that composed the leadership there being responsible for pastoral care, preaching and teaching, as well as worship.

In 2012, having been approached by Keith Lindsay and Victor Maxwell, they were challenged, invited, and accepted by Acre Gospel Mission to develop the Portuguese speaking ministry as the pastoral team within the International Evangelical Church of the Algarve. This has been their ministry since 2013.

Apart from discipling, counselling, coordinating Sunday school and worship, Raquel works alongside the Evangelical Alliance in Portugal with the organization COMACEP. This organization is responsible for deploying volunteers into state schools nationwide to teach evangelical studies. Apart from pastoring the Portuguese speaking side of the ministry at the church, Barry is heavily involved in discipleship and is also director of the International Theological Leadership College. He is currently in the process of completing his master’s degree in biblical and theological studies with Dallas Theological Seminary.