About Mark Carver

As executive director for Purpose Driven Church, Mark Carver oversees the ministry of Purpose Driven in every region of the world except North America. His vision is to see a worldwide community of healthy churches working together to fulfill the Great Commission.

Toward that end, Carver and his team are developing tools to train pastors worldwide and creating curriculum to support the spiritual health of individual church members. Additionally, they’re ensuring that needed materials are translated into necessary languages and then manufactured, reproduced, and distributed. Their responsibilities also include international training events, like the 40 Days campaigns. Along the way, they are building relationships to aid the development of the Purpose Driven community worldwide.

After spending 12 years as a member of Saddleback Church, Carver became missions pastor in 1999. In 2000, he took on his current responsibilities. “When I first came, we didn’t have an international ministry per se,” Carver said. The team he built has worked to develop relationships with missions organizations, Christian denominations, and other international ministry partners. They’ve even established indigenously-run Purpose Driven offices in several countries.

Knowing that God has chosen to work through local churches, Carver’s passion is to see pastors trained and watch churches change as they adopt Purpose Driven principles.

Growing up as the son of a theologian who served in Nebraska, New Jersey, Scotland, and Pasadena and San Diego, Calif., Carver often came into contact with missionaries and other Christians. Carver majored in philosophy and minored in business at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Calif., and earned his MBA from California’s University of La Verne. Carver is a licensed minister through Saddleback Church.

Before joining the Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven staffs, Carver helped create the U.S. field ministry of World Vision and served as its director of field operations for seven years. He worked as vice president of development for Elliot Capital Resources, an investment banking firm, and as vice president for business development with Ark Energy, where he helped create and then headed a sub-division called Arkenol. He served as a consultant for Progressive Vision, which develops curriculum for the Christian world.

Carver and his wife, Jillian, live in southern California. They have one daughter Alysa, 27; and four sons, Robert, 24; Jordan, 19; Braven, 16; and Tobin, 13. Carver enjoys cycling, mountain climbing, backpacking, and rock climbing.