Remembering DARRELL HARDY

A builder of churches, schools, and people

By Julie Z. Lee

Darrell Hardy was kind, warm, and private. So when he died unexpectedly last year, gathering details of Darrell’s life was a bit of a challenge. But still waters run deep, and beneath Darrell’s calm exterior was a soul that was fervently dedicated to the mission and his relationship with God.

The story goes that thirty-something years ago, Darrell was in his twenties when he heard about a series of evangelism meetings being held at a Seventh-day Adventist Church where he lived in Michigan. Curious, he went to one meeting, then returned night after night. He was soon baptized. Not too long after, in 1984, Darrell went on a trip to Mexico to attend Adventist Youth Congress meetings with a group from church. Somehow, they ended up stopping by Nassau, Bahamas, where they joined a team with Maranatha Volunteers International, then called Maranatha Flights International, in renovating a youth camp.

Darrell was hooked. The service experience was so profound that when he returned to his home in Michigan, he researched Maranatha and found another mission trip to join. This time, he headed to Mexico. Then he went back to Mexico again and again and again. Somewhere along the way, he stayed. He sold his house, quit his job as an executive chef at a resort hotel, and moved to

Mexico City. He offered to help with Maranatha projects, showing up to assist wherever he could. Eventually, Don Noble, president of Maranatha, took notice and offered him a year-long stint to help with volunteers and construction.

“He didn’t come to Maranatha for a job. He came as a volunteer. And as he internalized what we were and what we could be, he stayed involved,” remembers Noble, who had started his role as president of the organization just a few years before. “He was invested because of what he saw and what he experienced. He felt led by God.”

In Mexico, Darrell met a young woman named Gabriela (Gaby), who worked at the Central Conference Office. One of the pastors recruited her to assist Maranatha, given that she was one of the few bilingual people at the office. Soon, Darrell and Gaby started dating. They got married in 1989, and two years later, they gave birth to their son, Christopher. Five years later they welcomed twin daughters, Emily and Kenzie.

And as Darrell built a life in Mexico, he also built Maranatha in Latin America.

Darrell grew up in a Methodist family in Boyne City, Michigan. After attending college for a couple years, he dropped out to work. He got a job as a dish boy at Boyne Mountain Resort in Boyne Falls and worked his way up to cook.

Intrigued, he pursued training and experience, hopping from place to place, until he rose to the ranks of executive chef at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme, Michigan.

So when he landed a job with Maranatha, Darrell had zero experience in construction, and going from chef at a high-end hotel to construction worker in a developing country was quite the leap. But Darrell was a hard worker. He absorbed everything he could about the world of construction, picking up tips and skills from the various volunteer leaders who would come through. And as he grew in skill, he grew in responsibility in his job with Maranatha. Eventually Darrell began managing all construction projects in Latin America. But it wasn’t just his knowledge of concrete and steel that got him the promotion.

“Darrell worked at a large resort that put out hundreds of meals at a time, and he was in charge of making sure everything got to people at the right time and at the right temperature,” says Noble. “He had to buy the ingredients and produce it and get it all out on time. It was actually very similar to what he had to do with these buildings. You wouldn’t think there was a connection but there was. He was a chef, but he was also someone involved with production.”

As Maranatha’s operations expanded, Darrell traveled from country to country, setting up teams, creating systems, and maintaining quality control. He was the bottom line for finance, construction, design, and volunteer support. He mentored staff that grew into crew leaders around the world. He was a stickler for details and quality–often requiring a great deal of effort from his team to achieve excellence–but Darrell was a staunch believer in the mission of Maranatha to provide well-designed, solid structures for God’s purpose, and his consistency helped to develop the brand of Maranatha projects.

“Darrell made it a point to always have a job site ready, clean, with all materials and all equipment that was needed, to the point that

FROM COOK TO CONSTRUCTION:

Darrell Hardy, vice president of construction, started his career as a cook at resort hotels before discovering Maranatha. After more than three decades of working with Maranatha, he died unexpectedly on November 20, 2022.

when someone came, all they had to do was start working. That took Maranatha to a whole new standard. And the thing is, people started to realize that if they went with Maranatha, Maranatha was going to make sure it got done,” says Karen Godfrey, vice president of advancement.

Says Noble, “We grew up with him, and he grew up with us. Without question, he was a focal, integral part of the growth of the organization.”

In 2011, Darrell became the vice president of construction and the Hardy family moved from their base in Mexico to Roseville, California. In his new role, he supervised Maranatha’s church and school construction around the world, including management of construction design, quality control, and property assessments. If he wasn’t traveling to visit sites and teams, Darrell could often be found in his office, poring over architectural plans, looking for ways to make them stronger, more efficient, and better overall.

But in those moments when he had to return to the field, he loved to be back in the trenches, getting his hands dirty with the work that started his career with Maranatha.

“He worked shoulder to shoulder with us. He never acted like a boss,” remembers Margarito Trujillo, construction manager, who worked with Darrell for 31 years. “When he was no longer near us, whenever he was back in the country, he would get to work. If we were unloading materials or tools, he would get into the truck to pass us the tools or materials. He worked very hard.”

In early November 2022, Darrell and Gaby were in Chile with their children for the wedding of their daughter Kenzie. After the wedding, Darrell and Gaby stayed to sightsee and visit churches that Maranatha had built in Chile during previous efforts–he always made a point to look for Maranatha projects wherever he was. On November 20, while on a hike, Darrell, showing exhaustion, sat down and passed away. He was 69 years old.

It was then, through the shockwaves of grief that passed through the extended Maranatha family, that Darrell’s true legacy was learned. While it was no secret that Darrell was always ministering to people in his work and personal life–including leading Bible studies and worships for his crew–the depth of his influence came through in the stories that poured from his coworkers and church members of Darrell’s generosity, mentorship, and spiritual guidance.

“Darrell was a silent minister. I say silent because he didn’t go around saying he was a preacher. But honestly, that’s where his heart was, and his heart was reaching others,” says Godfrey. “He did it with his team. He did it with the church in Sacramento that he helped to start. Every time he turned around, he was wanting to be of service to somebody.”

Kenzie Hardy, Darrell’s daughter, says that Maranatha was an integral part of her father’s identity. He was always traveling and working and “he was the Maranatha guy.” But it wasn’t until his funeral in Mexico that she truly understood the impact her quiet, serious father had made beyond the work of bricks and mortar.

“People said he was like a second father to them. They said that he cared for their families,” she says. “They thanked us for sharing our father.”

Caleb de la Cruz, construction supervisor, began working for Darrell in 1990. Over the decades, he observed Darrell’s incomparable dedication to service and quality in his work. But it wasn’t his work ethic that made the most impact.

“What struck me most was his spirituality. He was never too busy to skip building his relationship with God.” The pastor who officiated the funeral service commented that great people are always honored with a statue or monument. But every temple that was built in Mexico and in many parts of the world under the direction of Darrell is a monument to his memory,” says de la Cruz.

“I believe that the best way to honor Darrell’s memory is by following his example of selfsacrifice and service, passion, dedication, love for what he did, but above all, his love for God and neighbor.”

The very last project that Darrell worked on was an expansive school campus in the Dominican Republic. He pored over the plans, positioning the classrooms, the church, the sidewalks, and the perimeter walls. It looks to be an impressive, multi-year project, and volunteers will begin construction on it this year.

Maranatha will be dedicating the campus to Darrell, a man who stumbled upon a mission project in the Bahamas, then dropped everything to devote his life to missions and to follow Jesus.

The school, located on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, is called Ciudad del Cielo. In Spanish, it means “City of Heaven,” a fitting name for a place to honor a man of God.

LIFE OF MISSIONS:

1 Darrell talking to members of the Nueva Esperanza Seventh day Adventist Church in Peru in 2004.

2 Darrell addresses the crowd in Guatemala.

3 Darrell with longtime board member Don Kirkman and Maranatha president Don Noble in Escuintla, Guatemala, in November 1993.

4 The Hardy Family.