Jim attended a Presbyterian church for almost all of his life but until in his mid 30's did not have a personal relationship with Christ. When Jesus called him, Jim could see how God had prepared him for the mission field. In 1988 and 1989, Jim participated in missions' trips to Belize in Central America and Quito, Ecuador respectively. It was in Quito that Jim felt the call to missions and within a year he had returned to Quito as a short-term missionary working with the Quito Church Planting Team. After a year and a half, he transitioned to career missionary and returned to Quito and served as team treasurer. A year later, he met Caty and they were married in December 1994. After spending 22 months in the US, the Tates returned to Ecuador but this time to Guayaquil where MTW had opened a church planting work. Jim served as assistant team leader until 2002 and then as team leader until August 2004.

Caty is a native of Quito and came to know Christ through one of the MTW church plants in Quito. She studied nutrition at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and was director of consumer services for Nabisco in Quito when she and Jim were married. Caty says that she did not really understand what a missionary did when she married Jim so she dedicated herself to caring for Jim and their two children, Philip and Eliana, for the first several years of their marriage. But throughout those years, Caty had a burning passionÑto counsel women facing unplanned pregnancies. While the children were small, she took training in crisis pregnancy centers in the States as well as studied and read whatever she could about crisis pregnancy counseling. She gathered a good amount of materials in Spanish and English to get prepared for the time when she would be able to establish a crisis pregnancy center in Guayaquil. During their Home Ministry Assignment in 2001, Caty received more training and worked in a local crisis pregnancy center. When they returned to the field in 2002, Caty felt that the time had come to open a center. After spending months getting the needed permits and filing the needed paperwork, the Showers of Grace Crisis Pregnancy Center, the first in the country, opened its doors in January 2003. .

Currently, Caty's duties as director of the Center are training counselor volunteers, teaching high school students the value of making good choices in life (abstinence education), as well as seeing clients and offering other services to women going through crises. We praise the Lord that the Center received a donation of an ultrasound machine and has found an OBGYN who is trained in doing ultrasounds and is willing to share his expertise with the Center. Now the Center is able to offer this service to the clients as well as to the community. Caty also enjoys helping Jim at Rose of Sharon Presbyterian Church.

After resigning the team leadership position, Jim is working fulltime in the Rose of Sharon church plant. This has been a challenge for him but he has felt that there is where God wants him to be. He is mentoring a pastoral candidate as well as teaching Bible studies and discipleship classes. Rose of Sharon received into membership 11 people in January of 2004 and six more people will be received into membership in the coming months.