Janie McGarity

Dear Skyline Church Family,

It is with deep sorrow and heavy hearts that we share the passing of our beloved Janie McGarity. After a long and courageous battle with cancer, she peacefully entered into the presence of her Savior.

Janie’s faith remained strong until the very end. Through every moment of her journey, she modeled what it looks like to trust in her Heavenly Father completely— there was never a moment when her trust wavered. Her life embodied what it means to love Jesus and serve her husband, family, and others with purpose and joy.

We grieve this profound loss alongside Pastor Jeremy and their family, and we invite you to join us in praying for them and surrounding them with love and support. In the coming days, we will share how we will honor and celebrate Janie’s life as a church.

At Skyline Church, our vision has always been to help people find and follow Jesus, which was also Janie’s heart. Whether through her words, her example, or her quiet strength, she lived out that mission in a powerful and deeply personal way.

Even in our sorrow, we rest in the hope of eternity. Janie is now healed and whole, rejoicing in the presence of the Savior she loved and followed faithfully.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” —Psalm 34:18

May we walk together in love, hold one another close, and continue the mission that Janie lived out so well.

With love and prayer,

Skyline Church Leadership

As many of you know, in October of last year, my wife Janie, was diagnosed with cancer. This journey has required much strength, faith, and attention. After much prayer and consideration, and with the support of the Skyline staff and Local Board of Administration, I believe that taking time away temporarily to be fully present with her is the right path.

This decision was not taken lightly or without consideration. But I am brought back to our word of the year, “wisdom” and I know that the wisest decision I can make is to focus on my family and take a sabbatical as lead pastor. Since Janie’s diagnosis, I have considered taking some extended time away, and God is prompting me that the time is now. This time will allow me to provide the care and support my wife needs in the coming months.

The sabbatical will begin on November 18, 2024, with an anticipated return in mid-March. I am confident in our Skyline staff’s ability to continue moving forward in our mission. I know the church family will rally together to continue helping people find and follow Jesus seven days a week. We have prayerfully chosen a group of phenomenal guest and staff speakers to bring you the Word and take us through the Christmas season and into the New Year.

I am grateful for the understanding, prayers, and support of each of you during this season. Janie and I deeply appreciate how you have walked with us on this journey so far, many of you providing words of encouragement and faithful prayers.

Click here to watch this announcement with my wife Janie.

In Christ,

Pastor Jeremy

06/13/24 
Hello Church Family,

Thank you so much for praying for my wife Janie and our family. As many of you know, Janie was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer this last October. It has certainly been a new journey that we navigate daily with the strength of your prayers. The Lord has been so good to us through this process. We have learned a lot that we hope to share with others who have to go through this. We know that what we learn will one day help others who have cancer as part of their story.

I want to update you as Janie just had her second scan to see if the protocols we chose are working. We have good news, the doctor said we are not out of the woods, but the protocols are working. The cancer is not gone but it has not spread and not increased in size, and we are awaiting confirmation that it has actually shrunk, which is incredibly good news for 8 months of non-traditional treatments.  Now, as the doctor said, we can step on the gas for the next step in eradicating it.

You may wonder what those protocols are. Well, after watching Janie’s mom suffer through 6 years of chemotherapy and radiation treatments for primary peritoneal cancer before going home to be with the Lord, we decided early on that was not going to be our route.  Instead, we chose a proven protocol that is similar to the one made popular by Chris Wark. You can find his information at chrisbeatcancer.com. It is a health protocol that is intended to trigger the body’s immune response to the cancer and fight the cancer through a nutrient based diet that specifically targets cancer cells. Janie has been incredibly disciplined in this journey in attacking this plan and we are grateful that it is working. Thousands of people have beat cancer through protocols like these and Janie intends to be another added to that list.

Again, thank you for praying and please continue to pray as we continue the journey to healing. I am so grateful for our church family and the prayers you offer up for our family. God bless you,

Love,

Pastor Jeremy and Janie

11/03/23 
Dear Church,

I wanted to give you an update on my wife’s health. I know many of you have been praying, and those prayers are being heard. We praise the Lord for this.

We have a good report, at least as good as a cancer report can be I suppose. This week Janie took the Petscan and MRI scans, and the report came back that there is no spread of the cancer to other areas of her body. The tumor is localized with a little bit into the muscle wall. The lymph nodes near the tumor are enlarged but did not light up as cancerous on the scans. Our medical team says they would consider it stage 2.

Please continue to pray as we strategize the best course of treatment to ensure Janie can be at stage 0 and cancer-free as soon as possible.

I also wanted to let you know that although I mentioned last week that we would be taking a pause on the End Times series for one week, it will actually be a while longer as the schedule is now different with everything that is going on. I had already said from the pulpit at the beginning of the series that we were going to pause the series for the holidays and resume again later in January. It looks like that will be the case a little sooner than anticipated. I will not be speaking for a couple of Sundays while we focus on the strategy for Janie with our medical teams. We have excellent speakers with excellent messages coming in the next couple of weeks that will be an encouragement to your faith growth. I look forward to being back with you on November 19 as we celebrate baptisms and child dedications.

Thank you for being such an awesome church family, we can truly feel the power of your prayers and love.

We love you and are so grateful for you,

Pastor Jeremy

10/20/23 
Dear Skyline Family,

There are times when I am especially thankful that we have such an amazing church family. This is one of those times. Right now, we covet your prayers more than ever.  Earlier this week we learned through some preliminary testing that my wife has a cancerous mass in her colon. There are countless uncertainties, and we are still very much in the “fact finding” stage of this difficult journey. To say that we don’t have all the answers yet is an understatement. In the coming days, in conjunction with our care team, we will decide on a course of action for treatment.

There are many unknowns regarding Janie’s health and diagnosis, but we do know that God’s peace is surrounding us. Janie’s faith is strong, she is very positive and knowing that God has a plan through all of this and has actually been preparing her for this news (a story we look forward to telling at some point). We are already meeting lots of new people who don’t know the Lord through our appointments at the hospital and other care facilities. While we’re not excited about the diagnosis, Janie and I are excited that we have a brand new Oikos in the medical world! Janie is very strong in her relationship with Jesus and knows He is walking with her through this. She knows that God is in control, and we are leaning on Him and His direction during this time.

As I support my wife on this journey, I will continue to lead Skyline Church. At this point, nothing is changing as far as my weekend speaking schedule. I will continue to preach most weekend services as we see how this journey develops. I am more committed to the vision and mission than ever before. The enemy would want nothing more than for this to be a distraction against the momentum of a growing and thriving church; a church that is reaching the lost and seeing many people make decisions for Christ. Janie and I see this for what it is, an attempt to distract and hinder the work the Lord is doing. God has made it clear, “We KNOW that all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose” Romans 8:28. See, it doesn’t say “we think” or “we hope,” it says “we KNOW.” That is the confidence we have. This test will turn into a testimony for the Lord.

We appreciate your prayers as we tackle what is ahead. Our prayer is that God’s healing touch on Janie will be a strong witness for those in and around the medical community that we come in contact with throughout this journey.

God Bless You.

Janie and I love you and are so thankful for you!

Pastor Jeremy