Ray Palosaari

Ray grew up in Michigan. After his father died in 1971 his mother moved the family to Tucson, Arizona. Like many young people in the 60’s & 70’s Ray was part of the counter-culture of drugs & the hippie movement. In the midst of that emptiness everywhere he turned God was reaching out to him.

His brother had accepted Christ, but Ray was not ready. While hitchhiking across the country his mind was continually fixated on the words of a song by James Taylor:
Won’t you look down upon me Jesus,
You’ve got to help me make a stand,
You’ve got to see me through another day.
My body’s aching and my time is at hand,
An’ I won’t make it any other way.

One day while sitting in a park with a group of others living on the streets 2 young men came up and handed him a flyer announcing a free Christian concert in the park. The group mocked the Jesus freaks when they walked away, but Ray thought within himself “At least these guys have something Spiritual all we are doing is sitting around and getting stoned”. Ray went to the concert and 2 men approached him and began sharing the gospel - to his amazement - both of their names were Ray.

Later, while hitchhiking He received a ride and the driver began to talk about his problems. Ray listened quietly for about 40 minutes looked over and said “Have you ever tried Jesus?” The man looked at Ray with a startled look on his face. Ray quickly added “I don’t believe in Him or anything but He seems to help a lot of people, maybe you should try Him”. The man was quiet for the rest of the ride except for sporadic small talk, and Ray spent the next hour thinking over things in his head “What is wrong with believing in Jesus? Why don’t I believe? Maybe Jesus is the only way.” When the ride ended Ray prayed for the first time “Jesus if you are real I want to know - show me.”

For the next 2 days his thoughts turned toward Jesus, he tried various ways to pray. He had been told he needed to ask forgiveness for his sins so he did, he had heard that he needed to ask Jesus to come into his heart so he did. But, none of these things made a difference in how he felt. While walking by the Verde River Ray prayed, “Jesus, I don’t want to live like this anymore, what should I do?” A sense of peace and joy came over him and he knew he had to find out more about Jesus. Ray moved in to a Christian outreach house called Maranatha House where they had daily Bible Studies, he had a great hunger for and devoured the Word.

Shortly after that time he listened to some teachings by Chuck Smith on the book of Romans. Ray went to Costa Mesa to visit Calvary Chapel, while there he stayed for several days at their “house of Miracles”. While there he was led to another movement that had grown out of Calvary Chapel called Shiloh. Shiloh was an evangelical outreach to street people in the 60’s and 70’s. He served the Lord in that ministry until 1979.

In 1980 he married Suzie and they have 2 children Kristin & Bethany. From 1984 to 1994 Ray served as pastor of a Calvary Chapel. From 1993 to 2006 he established a printing business and began to print bulletin shells for Calvary Chapels all over the country.

Ray joined the staff of Calvary Tucson in February 2006 as an assistant pastor.  Ray still has a passion for the Word of God and applying it to our lives in practical ways.