Guest host Pastor Ken Keith spoke with Tasi Castro this week about growing up at Harvest, her family, coming to know Christ, and having adopted siblings.
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Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and usually on Harvest Time, our host would be Pastor Gary Walton. Today, Pastor Ken Keith is our guest host. But every week on this program, we spend twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church, interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We have services at Harvest Baptist Church every Sunday morning, 08:45AM and 10:45AM.
We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service. That’s also when we live stream at hbcguam.org. Hbcguam.org. This week, it’s the seventh message in our seven habits of highly effective churches series, and Pastor Gary will be back. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Ken.
Ken Keith: Good to be here today. How are you doing today, Chris?
Chris Harper: Doing great. How are you?
Ken Keith: Awesome. Well, we’ve got Tasi Castro in the radio station with us today. So excited. Known Tasi for a long time and have loved every minute of it, Tasi. But we’re so glad you’re here with us today.
Tasi Castro: Hafa adai, everyone. So great to be with you all today.
Ken Keith: So Tasi, no stranger to Harvest. You’ve been here a long time. Mhmm. And the Academy and Heart for Christ, and then coming back and being part of our church as an adult. Kind of walk us through when did Tasi Castro first step on to this campus?
Tasi Castro: Yeah, definitely. So I am the first born daughter of Robert and Jessica Castro. Only girl as well. And I at the time attended a military school here on island. My dad is a active service army member, and I went to school there since daycare all the way up until the second grade.
I do have two younger brothers, Tano and Ty Castro, who are also both alumni, of Harvest and also church members here at Harvest. And it wasn’t until, Tano was in K-4. At the time, he was too young to attend my school, and, my parents decided to send him to Harvest. And at the time, he was K-4. And I remember one night asking my parents, Hey, mom and dad, how come I’m not attending Harvest?
And that was actually the seed that was planted and not knowing that years later would bring us to the church and coming to know Christ as not just myself, but also my entire family.
Ken Keith: Yeah, I was around at that time, right, when I remember vividly seeing your dad for the first time. He came a little bit before your mom, correct? I remember Correct. It, yes. And tell us about that.
I know we’re but you’re a part of this, you know, journey. Tell us a little bit about how that all came about and how Christ came to your family.
Tasi Castro: So as any local, we were Catholic. I would say more so not in practice but just through tradition. And so we were brought up to only go to church during Christmas time, Easter. We really didn’t go to Sunday mass every Sunday.
Sunday was just a regular day for us and I remember that. And it wasn’t until I started attending Harvest and I, right away, saw a difference just in the curriculum and just the way that bible reading and scripture and testimonies were just embedded in our everyday school life, and that was new to me. And I was like, This is this is new. Is this something that’s normal? We would have chapel services every week, and I would always hear these stories in the Bible.
And I was like, this is interesting. You know, I I I know God and I believe in God, but it was never anything past that or a personal relationship. And it wasn’t until, in the fourth grade, it was actually pastor Joe Baldwin.
Ken Keith: Mhmm.
Tasi Castro: And he was giving a sermon on heaven and hell. And that was the first time that I had the realization of, there’s something evil inside of me Mhmm. That I am born not good. And for the only girl and the oldest child, I think naturally we’re overachievers and the goody two shoes and always wanting to please our parents. And so I never really had such a rough background or anything of that sort of storyline, but I think that was the first realization, like, I there’s something wrong with me, and I need Christ in my life as my savior because I’m not good in God’s eyes.
Tasi Castro: And so God really did a work in me from that point on. I would say that’s the first time that I did accept him into my heart. Mhmm.
Tasi Castro: And throughout my years here at Harvest is when after that seed was planted, I really grew in my faith and understanding and love for Christ and understanding that it’s not a religion Mhmm. That we’re we’re trying to sell here, but it’s a relationship with Christ. And that’s something that clicked with me in my time here. And so bringing that back home and what I’m learning at school at the academy, I think also planted a seed for my parents because my dad is a first generation, Christian.
Ken Keith: Yeah.
Tasi Castro: His family, he grew up very Catholic to the point where I know his parents would even shun anyone who doesn’t follow those practices. And so I know that God’s plan was to plant that seed in my heart and then grow in the lives of the Castro family here. So, yeah.
Ken Keith: Yeah. It was awesome. Like I said, I remember being here during that time. And eventually, he was the chairman of the deacon for a while.
Tasi Castro: Mhmm.
Ken Keith: Heavily involved with him and your mom both in both Harvest House and in the church. And so just amazing how God works in your life here in fourth grade. And I believe your dad was telling me or your mom at one point, you know, some of the things that were clicking was just working in homework, helping you study. Yeah. And God’s Word was just just working.
Mhmm. And then you’ve got, two younger brothers.
Tasi Castro: Yes.
Ken Keith: Where where are they at right now?
Tasi Castro: Yes. So my brother, Tano, he just recently graduated from Bob Jones University. He was class of 2020 woah, 2022? Think 2021.
Ken Keith: Twenty one or twenty two.
Tasi Castro: Twenty one or twenty two. And he is currently serving here in the hub, and he is actually awaiting, though, to be enlisted in the Navy. That’s his plans right now.
And then my youngest biological brother, Ty Castro, he just graduated last year here at the academy and he’s now at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He’s studying in pre, not physical therapy, optometry.
Ken Keith: Yeah.
Tasi Castro: Yeah. So
Ken Keith: Yeah. I’ve got a lot of funny we won’t talk about Ty. Obviously, Jack. Jack, my youngest boy and Ty, very, very close. So a lot of great pictures throughout the years of those two knuckleheads.
But love them both. And you just mentioned youngest biological. What do you by that? Because I happen to know your family does not end there.
Tasi Castro: No, it does not. So my junior year of high school into my senior year, so that would have been 2017 into 2018, my family decided to become a foster family. And it was during the Foster Sunday?
Ken Keith: Mhmm. Yeah. Orphan Sunday.
Tasi Castro: Orphan Sunday. That year prior to that is when God really planted that seed in my parents’ heart and said, it’s time for you guys to open up your home and bless these children who are fatherless and who don’t have people to love them and to show the love of Christ to these children. And so we got our first, two foster kids that summer, and we loved and adored them instantly. And, they did stay with us for a year, and they did actually re reconcile with their biological parents. But fast forwarding to today, we do have seven adopted children who were initially our foster kids.
So from ages youngest is five up to our oldest, who is 11. So we started
Ken Keith: They’re so fun.
Tasi Castro: They sure are. And I think it’s so beautiful, to see how God worked in that, because I remember always wanting sisters. Mhmm. And, it’s just cool to see how God works and to see that, yeah, may not be biologically, but they are still my siblings. And, yeah, I treat them as such.
Ken Keith: That’s so awesome. That yeah. We we get to especially in the summer through cool school, then the camps, we get we have a blast. It’s awesome. So you graduated 2018, 2018,
Tasi Castro: yeah. Yes, here at the academy.
Ken Keith: Before, let’s before we get to where you went after you graduated, you were also an integral part of Heart for Christ.
Tasi Castro: I was.
Ken Keith: You were a huge help. I was a youth pastor for part of your journey. And always a huge help. Always anything I ever asked, you jumped right in. And so appreciative of that.
So you were someone who not only was saved through the ministry but gave back to the ministry even at a younger age in high school. But then you graduated. Where’d you go from there?
Tasi Castro: Yeah. So I graduated in 2018, as mentioned earlier, and I did get accepted to a couple colleges, and one of them being the only Christian college. And for me, that was a very big decision to make as I knew that, that summer before I graduated, I also got baptized.
Ken Keith: Mhmm.
Tasi Castro: I had you to thank for that and to lead me into, just making that decision for myself and really, you know, solidifying my trust in Christ and and showing that trust to everyone around me in my church. But I knew that I wanted to continue on that path and really solidify my personal growth and relationship in Christ because I knew that from an early age that life is hard. Mhmm. And I’m not gonna be surrounded in this Christian bubble at all points of my life. And so to be someone who is just being constantly fed and around fellow believers would really help iron sharpeneth iron and guide me to be a stronger Christian and just fellow believer to my peers.
So I did end up going to Bob Jones University. Mhmm. And, again, that was that was kind of a hard decision for me because there were other really great colleges that, you know, I always thought, hey. I wanna go here. This is, is such an elite school and they have great curriculum.
But I knew that God was pulling me towards, no, I want this for you. And so that was my decision and I did four years there. And I did health science, public health there. So it was an amazing time learning know learning to know Christ in my profession and just shaping me to be a Christian professional in that setting.
Ken Keith: Yeah. Yeah. Let’s park on that for just a second, if you don’t mind, because I mean, you’ve kind of talked about this a little bit. And I have these conversations with teens, with parents, just the importance of a Christian, environment for college. Yeah.
I mean, the education is good. Education across the board, there are better colleges than others at certain things. But the the impact it makes on you as a person, you and your spiritual life,
what would you say to a teen right now, let’s say a senior, who’s looking at a school like, Man, I don’t know if this is, there’s no Christian influence. I’m sure you can find them. There’s a lot of great Christian organizations and there’s churches often around. But looking at that, that what do I choose between this university over here that has a great educational program, you know, has a little prestige maybe to it, has a big name, but I know it’s also got a big name for some maybe not some great things either.
Tasi Castro: Yeah.
Ken Keith: And then another great institution, by the way, Bob Jones, institution, great education, not as well known, but a Christian environment. As a teenager kind of facing that, what would you say to that teen today now being on the opposite side of your decision?
Tasi Castro: Yeah. I would say that there’s already so many evil darts that are coming your way. It’s guaranteed. We live in an imperfect, sinful world. And to have that biblical foundation, I mean, as simple as the childhood song, build that strong foundation, build that house upon the rock Mhmm.
You want to make sure that you know how to combat Satan’s evil darts towards your life. And so I would say, to not let, what the world tells you and whether it’s prestige or academic, which is all great. Mhmm. But really, we’re only here for such a short amount of time, and life is a vapor. And in reality, we are meant to be on this earth to glorify God.
And so whether that is through your studies and excelling in whatever profession, you know, God has gifted you with, that should really be your main focus and not the applause and accolades of
Ken Keith: Yeah.
Tasi Castro: Being praised from the things that this earthly world offers us.
Ken Keith: That’s excellent advice. So if you’re out there listening, phenomenal, advice there. And it is just so important, as you probably remember, I said this a lot in Heart for Christ, but you know, these years between that about 16 to 30, it’s not that long of a time. It seems like these big numbers.
Tasi Castro: I’m almost there. I know. Just crazy.
Ken Keith: You know? It’s
Tasi Castro: My brother calls me an unc already. Nice. For our viewers who know what that is. Yeah. That’s yeah.
Yeah.
Ken Keith: What a nice guy. What a nice guy. But but your foundation, you said you hit on the head. Your foundation for the rest of your life, so much is built now It’s at that crucial. And so just being guarded.
I know some don’t have a choice. They have to financial reasons, whatever. And and God, just like he did with Daniel, just like he did with Joseph, he will protect, he will bless if if they commit themselves to him. But, I mean, if you can, it is such a great opportunity to grow and, like you said, solidify that foundation. Get a great education, right? Yeah. So you got a great education and where did you go from there? ‘Cause You’re now back on island
Tasi Castro: I am.
Ken Keith: And doing what?
Tasi Castro: Yes. So I am currently an environmental health specialist at Guam EPA. So I do a whole lot of tree hug No, I’m just kidding. But we are a regulatory agency. And so a lot of what I do is think public health, but on a wider scope and ensuring that our island is safe and the environment is.
So we handle everything that regulates the land and sea and the air. Anything that you can think of, that is what we oversee. And then while working there, I also completed my master’s master’s online with Liberty University. Thank you. Yeah.
I just graduated, last year in 2025 So, I did that all online while working full time, and that was a journey, but, it was a wonderful one. And I got my master’s in developmental psychology, which I made that my passion project because I knew that with my background in the foster ministry and a lot of my non profit work too on the island with the women’s organizations that I’m involved in, I knew that down the road I do want to utilize that. So that was something I always was very interested in. So working on the PhD, I am getting married this summer.
Ken Keith: So it’s gonna a get We’re gonna get to that.
Tasi Castro: So once that journey is over, then we will work on that next degree.
Ken Keith: Yeah. For our listeners, Tasi smiles a lot, laughs a lot, but she is a very, very smart person. She won’t say it, but very, very smart. Yeah, I’ll just throw in that PhD. You know, why not? I could do that. No problem. I know you get that from your folks.
Tasi Castro: Oh, man.
Ken Keith: Yeah, I know you got that. They’re awesome. Real quick, before we get to, you know, wedding, all that kind of fun stuff, just real quick random question. What’s unique in the EPA world to Guam that would be different than stateside?
Tasi Castro: Oh, that’s an easy one. We, if you didn’t know, live on a very small island. So a lot of the resources that the states has and some of their solutions to environmental hazards, we don’t have that here. And so, a lot of the trainings that I get sent out to is, kind of advocating for that also for the island. It’s like, hey, yes, I know we can just blow it up, bury it there in The States, but we don’t have that here on the island.
So it’s really strategic in finding alternate ways that maybe our mainland folks don’t go through. So that’s definitely a big one for us that we face.
Ken Keith: We don’t have, you know, the the back 40, if you will. We can go deal with stuff. The back 40 is the neighbor’s backyard. You know, there’s there’s a lot with that. So you already broke it open.
I was gonna come to this one. What’s happening this summer, Tasi?
Tasi Castro: Yes, I am getting married.
Ken Keith: Yes.
Tasi Castro: Yes, to my fiance of now nine years, but we’ve been together since high school. So the time that I was under Pastor Ken’s mentorship when I was in Heart for Christ. Yeah, it’s been a long time coming.
Ken Keith: It has been. It has been.
Finally, you know, this summer. And what’s his name? What does he do?
Tasi Castro: Jadin Padilla.
Ken Keith: Yeah. Yes. And he’s what does he do?
Tasi Castro: He is an aircraft mechanic for United Airlines. So he is very intelligent, but in his own way. He is definitely not the academic one.
Ken Keith: I Like those kind of guys.
Tasi Castro: Yeah.
Ken Keith: That’s how I role.
Tasi Castro: But give him, you know, a motor, a car motor, and he knows how to fix things and he can just see how to work things together. I think that’s something that God has really gifted him with, because I absolutely have no clue.
Ken Keith: Where’s the battery
Tasi Castro: Yeah.
Ken Keith: In this thing.
Be glad. He is the one helping work on the planes. Trust him mentally. And he’s a pretty cool truck. I just wanna
Tasi Castro: He sure does.
Ken Keith: It’s it’s really nice. So, yeah, so you’re getting married. You’re sticking on island. What are you doing?
Tasi Castro: Yeah. We plan to be here on island. I mean, he’s stationed here at the Guam United location. And so there are other hubs. And maybe down the road, we could potentially move.
But for now, we will be on Guam and church members here at Harvest.
Ken Keith: Yeah. That’s so exciting. So exciting. Well, before we close, I just wanted to, you know, thank you for everything you’ve done for the ministry, getting involved. And and again, those who are listening, just seeing how God works just in such a unique way.
You’re one of the favorite stories I tell people when they ask about how does the ministry work on the island? You know, what does this look like? You know, how what is the relationship with the local people? Know, what what you honestly are one of the families I bring up. And I tell the story of how God brought through the academy, a family into, you know, our midst and the children into our care, and how God just worked, like you said, through testimony, preaching, ultimately through his word.
God worked in a family and saved a whole family unit. Yeah. And and it’s just amazing what God does. We we often say this, but it’s so true. Our call is to be faithful, not to save.
It’s not to save everyone. That’s not our goal is to save a person. We can’t save them, only God can. Yeah. But being faithful to what God’s called us to do, and we see God do amazing things.
And I want you to know your your family is one of those that that I’ll bring up, just talking about God’s work, and it’s amazing. And it’s always encouraging. And Tasi, I miss you. We talk about you often. Like if only Tasi was here.
Yeah. If only Tasi was here. You know, miss you in Heart for Christ, such a blessing. And I know God has done a work in your life, in your family’s life, exciting to see what God does in your new family as you go into the next journey of life. Yeah.
And thank you so much for coming and just spending a little bit of time with us today.
Tasi Castro: Yes. Thank you so much. We love harvest. I love harvest, and it’s such a special place in our hearts.
Ken Keith: Amen.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time today. Of course, at this point in the program, we always just wanna personally invite you again to services this weekend at Harvest Baptist Church on Sunday, 08:45AM and 10:45AM. During the 10:45AM service, we have Japanese and Korean translation. That’s also the service we bring you live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org.
We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.