BRITT AND AUDREY HANCOCK
MOUNTAIN GATEWAY FOUNDERS AND DIRECTORS
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Britt grew up wandering in the Alabama woods. Three things defined his childhood: being in the woods, working construction with his dad, and seeking Jesus. He was born-again at 5 years old, was baptized in the Holy Spirit at 11, and knew at 13 that Jesus had called him to full-time ministry. While studying at Auburn University, he went incurably blind with macular dystrophy, but God healed him in an instant! Britt knows from personal experience that Jesus still heals today.
Audrey grew up in suburban Atlanta. When she was 3 years old she said, “I want Jesus.” Growing up, she was active in sports and drama, and went on summer mission trips where she developed a love for international ministry. She got her degree in elementary education at Auburn University, where she met Britt. They married in 1988 while Britt was a contractor building custom homes. |
1989: The Lord told them to stop construction and go into ministry full-time. While on a trip to the mountains to pray, the Lord told Britt to train missionaries. The Lord showed him what was to come and he knew he wasn’t qualified; it was overwhelming. The Hancocks decided to start ministry right where they were, with college students in Auburn. They discipled, mentored, and led prayer groups. Two daughters were born. They started a ministry to the custodians on campus. Britt was the campus pastor of a college ministry and in 1991 they built a 24-hour World Prayer Center.
1992: They took their daughters and traveled across the United States for six months to develop an intercessory prayer team for a mission organization in Latin America. That September, they moved their prayer ministry base to Colorado Springs. They got involved in a local church where Britt started a Royal Ranger outpost in 1994, a ministry that mentors boys in the outdoors. Britt knew that one day he would use this style of outdoor education to train missionaries.
1996: They took Hannah, Aspen, and Jacob to Paraguay, where David, their fourth, was born. They worked alongside a missionary family for six months, putting feet to their prayers and going where there was a need.
1997: The six of them went to language school in Guatemala, then moved to Mexico. They knew they needed to become missionaries to train others from experience, not theory. They worked in rural Mexico full-time for 15 years as pioneer church-planting missionaries. Their primary focus was working with the indigenous where Catholicism is mixed with the ancient Aztec religion and idolatry is rampant. Immorality, drunkenness, and witchcraft are prevalent. The Hancocks have seen God pour out His Spirit in great power. Many souls have been saved, and signs, wonders, and miracles have followed the preaching of the Word.
1999: One day as Britt went to preach in a remote Mexican village, he had a life-changing vision. He saw people sliding into hell. Jesus looked at him and asked, “Where are the ones I sent to stop this? Find workers. Help them stay.” This further burned into their hearts the need to train missionaries. Find workers. Help them stay.
2003: The Hancocks were sent from their mission work in central Mexico to pioneer churches in an area where the gospel had never been established. Since that time, scores of house churches have been started and local leaders have been raised up and discipled.
2009: After 12 years on the mission field and 20 years in full-time ministry, Britt and Audrey founded Mountain Gateway. They continued working in Mexico, and to this day churches are being planted, a Bible Institute trains local leaders, widows are cared for, and new missionaries are trained and placed on the mission field.
2012: They started the Mountain Gateway Academy and trained Mountain Gateway’s first missionaries. It was clear how years of preparation in their lives became the platform to train others: the Wilderness Semester utilizes a lifetime of knowledge in the woods, the Technical Skills Semester their construction background, the Prayer and Bible Semesters their life of prayer, and the Mission Track their years on the mission field.
2013: God opened the door to begin working in the country of Nicaragua. Mountain Gateway is now planting churches in multiple regions, discipling local pastors, serving through community projects, and ministering through a coffee farm business.
2017: Mountain Gateway was given a coffee farm in Jinotega, Nicaragua, that they named Finca Esperanza de Gloria (Hope of Glory Farm). They walked the borders of the farm, anointed it with oil, and dedicated it to Jesus. The harvests since then have been abundant and beyond expectation in quality and quantity! The farm exists to see God transform Nicaragua through evangelism, discipleship, and economic development in local communities.
Britt and Audrey are grandparents and absolutely love it. Their adult children have grown up to love and serve Jesus, which they count as their greatest gift. Hannah married Ben Johnson and they have 4 children. Aspen married John Marshall and is working as Mountain Gateway's Operations Director. Jacob married Cassie, they have one son and serve as Mountain Gateway missionaries in Mexico and Nicaragua. David is working for Mountain Gateway’s coffee farm business.
1992: They took their daughters and traveled across the United States for six months to develop an intercessory prayer team for a mission organization in Latin America. That September, they moved their prayer ministry base to Colorado Springs. They got involved in a local church where Britt started a Royal Ranger outpost in 1994, a ministry that mentors boys in the outdoors. Britt knew that one day he would use this style of outdoor education to train missionaries.
1996: They took Hannah, Aspen, and Jacob to Paraguay, where David, their fourth, was born. They worked alongside a missionary family for six months, putting feet to their prayers and going where there was a need.
1997: The six of them went to language school in Guatemala, then moved to Mexico. They knew they needed to become missionaries to train others from experience, not theory. They worked in rural Mexico full-time for 15 years as pioneer church-planting missionaries. Their primary focus was working with the indigenous where Catholicism is mixed with the ancient Aztec religion and idolatry is rampant. Immorality, drunkenness, and witchcraft are prevalent. The Hancocks have seen God pour out His Spirit in great power. Many souls have been saved, and signs, wonders, and miracles have followed the preaching of the Word.
1999: One day as Britt went to preach in a remote Mexican village, he had a life-changing vision. He saw people sliding into hell. Jesus looked at him and asked, “Where are the ones I sent to stop this? Find workers. Help them stay.” This further burned into their hearts the need to train missionaries. Find workers. Help them stay.
2003: The Hancocks were sent from their mission work in central Mexico to pioneer churches in an area where the gospel had never been established. Since that time, scores of house churches have been started and local leaders have been raised up and discipled.
2009: After 12 years on the mission field and 20 years in full-time ministry, Britt and Audrey founded Mountain Gateway. They continued working in Mexico, and to this day churches are being planted, a Bible Institute trains local leaders, widows are cared for, and new missionaries are trained and placed on the mission field.
2012: They started the Mountain Gateway Academy and trained Mountain Gateway’s first missionaries. It was clear how years of preparation in their lives became the platform to train others: the Wilderness Semester utilizes a lifetime of knowledge in the woods, the Technical Skills Semester their construction background, the Prayer and Bible Semesters their life of prayer, and the Mission Track their years on the mission field.
2013: God opened the door to begin working in the country of Nicaragua. Mountain Gateway is now planting churches in multiple regions, discipling local pastors, serving through community projects, and ministering through a coffee farm business.
2017: Mountain Gateway was given a coffee farm in Jinotega, Nicaragua, that they named Finca Esperanza de Gloria (Hope of Glory Farm). They walked the borders of the farm, anointed it with oil, and dedicated it to Jesus. The harvests since then have been abundant and beyond expectation in quality and quantity! The farm exists to see God transform Nicaragua through evangelism, discipleship, and economic development in local communities.
Britt and Audrey are grandparents and absolutely love it. Their adult children have grown up to love and serve Jesus, which they count as their greatest gift. Hannah married Ben Johnson and they have 4 children. Aspen married John Marshall and is working as Mountain Gateway's Operations Director. Jacob married Cassie, they have one son and serve as Mountain Gateway missionaries in Mexico and Nicaragua. David is working for Mountain Gateway’s coffee farm business.
APPREHENDED: Britt Hancock
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Just what is possible when the Creator of the Universe seizes an ordinary life and sets the stage for the greatest adventure imaginable? What can arise from the infusion of divine relationship with the human heart? What happens when a person runs out of themselves and desperately hangs onto an invisible thread of faith energized by personal relationship with God?
This is not a call to unattainable greatness. This is not a teaching on doctrinal secrets that must be unlocked in order to experience the extraordinary. This is a book about what can happen when normal, ordinary people truly meet Jesus and surrender their lives to Him. It doesn’t matter what stage of spiritual maturity you find yourself in right now. If you will engage with Jesus on a regular basis, He will astound you with what He does both in you and through you! Get ready to be challenged. You too can be apprehended. |
