Revisiting King’s Castle, where a mission was born
in a prayerful moment

SANTA ANA, El Salvador — This was perhaps the only moment that could come close to matching that day in the year 2000 — June 17 to be exact — when People Helping People Network founder Jeff Cardwell was moved during prayer to launch a mission in El Salvador that has since transformed the lives of thousands of Salvadorans, along with their families and communities.

This moment was more than 22 years later, but it was at the exact same spot where that seed was first planted — at King’s Castle’s Prayer Tower.

“My life was changed here,” Cardwell says. “I feel like I’m standing on holy ground. I still remember the day — June 17th of 2000. I was here with my daughter who was 11 years old, and my life was changed through prayer right here at this prayer tower.”

It was a trip he never wanted to make in 2000. In fact, he insists that he went “kicking and screaming” because he did not think he could afford to be away from his thriving business in Indianapolis.

“I just really sensed Jeff was supposed to go,” said Kevin Stewart, then a youth pastor for the group at Parc-Way Assembly of God in Indianapolis and now serves in the same capacity in Askewville, N.C. “Jeff has always been a very giving person — very giving of himself and his time. I think when he saw the needs of the people, it transformed his life immediately.”

Don Triplett founded King’s Castle Ministries with wife Terri in 1989. Its overarching mission was to train missionaries to spread the Gospel — especially to youth — throughout Latin America. That outreach now spans dozens of countries around the world.

“Jeff came in here just willing to help, and then the Lord got hold of him,” Triplett recalls of that June 2000 visit. “God takes an event that happens in our lives and turns it into a cause. If we can discover our purpose, it’s unbelievable what the Lord can do. He got hit by a cause bigger than himself.”

Maria Mercedes de Cruz was a 15-year-old volunteer at King’s Castle during that visit and served as the church group’s translator. She, too, saw Cardwell’s eyes opened to a new opportunity to spread God’s love in tangible ways.

“I think when you look at things through God’s eyes, that’s when you fall in love with something,” she said. “I think that’s what happened with Jeff. He didn’t realize it at the time, but what he was seeing was something through God’s eyes. God sometimes just moves that veil from our eyes and we see something that we never thought we would see. I think that’s what happened to him on that trip.”

While the primary goal of King’s Castle Ministries is to train missionaries who can effectively inspire and bring children to the Gospel, it has a multitude of other outreach programs from feeding programs to health clinics to construction projects and much more.

Its sprawling campus rests on the picturesque shores of Lake Coatepeque, a crater lake formed by an ancient volcano’s eruption. The best view of this 10-square-mile lake is from the Prayer Tower a short hike up a hill from the main campus. It is a site of constant prayer — every minute of every day.

This is where Cardwell had his moment more than two decades ago. During a People Helping People Network Vision Trip earlier this month, the group returned to this momentous site. Some went to quietly reflect. Others went to enthusiastically pray.

Everyone felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.

“To be honest, I really didn’t think a place like that existed in the world,” said Laura Hatton, who was making her third visit to El Salvador but her first visit to King’s Castle. “I know there are monasteries. I know there in which people pray 24 hours a day for years on end. I get that, and I know that it’s a very spiritual place for them.

“But I never expected to walk up the stairs and within two or three minutes feel the power of what they’ve created in the way in which I did,” she added. “For just normal people to walk up there and feel the presence of God and the Holy Spirit the way in which I did, I will keep that with me forever.”

For supporter Maryann Kolb, the entire Vision Trip was an opportunity to revel in the goodness of The People Helping People Network’s many positive programs in El Salvador while continuing to cope with a string of recent losses of beloved family members. All the emotions came pouring out at the Prayer Tower.

“I think the most impactful for me was being up in the prayer tower and just sobbing uncontrollably,” she said. “The amount of compassion and love and the presence of God that I felt in that moment from the team and the missionaries there … was just overwhelming. It’s something that will resonate in my heart forever.”

Something else that resonates forever in El Salvador is The People Helping People Network’s HOPE Equation (Housing + Hunger Relief + Healthcare + Education x Faith = HOPE). Triplett believes the seeds of that equation were planted at the Prayer Tower — on June 17, 2000.

“I think in those moments, God just comes and puts that mustard seed in your heart, and it grows into a great big tree,” Triplett said. “I think that’s what this is really all about.”

While housing, hunger relief, healthcare and education are the practical pillars upon which the HOPE Equation is built, it’s that final part of the equation — “multiplied by faith” — that Triplett says is the key component.

“I love People Helping People because there’s a place for people who have resources to be able to help people, but at the same time there’s a place for God to touch people as they’re helping people,” he said. “It makes all the difference.”

Cardwell agrees.

“All of those things are important, but there’s nothing more important than sharing God’s word,” he said. “Everything that we do is multiplied by faith. And the faith and God’s word is the glue that holds everything together.”

While the seeds of The People Helping People Network’s mission in El Salvador may have been planted at the Prayer Tower in 2000, this most recent trip has a similar purpose — watering and fertilizing the flourishing vision.

“Coming back here, I have the same feelings that I had 20-plus years ago,” Cardwell said as he surveyed the blue sky and the striking view of Lake Coatepeque for the final time in 2022. “It’s just an incredible place, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be here again.”