History

Kelly and Susan Curry met at the University of Kentucky and were married in 1977. Kelly entered the world of business as an accountant. He quickly moved up the corporate ladder of success, eventually becoming the Chief Financial Officer for Health Management Associates, a Fortune 500 hospital management company located in Naples Florida. But as Kelly attained many earthly treasures of financial success, he found himself empty of life, peace, and joy. In 1993, their marriage struggling, Kelly and Susan attended a CBN seminar in Virginia Beach in a last ditch effort to save a troubled marriage. Miraculously, they departed the seminar with a new marriage and purpose to life. Their focus would be nothing else save the Lord, and they would walk this journey together.

Earnestly praying for the Lord’s direction, Kelly and Susan soon felt their life was about to take a radical turn. In October of 1993, Kelly shared a passage out of Deuteronomy 11 with Susan, expressing what he felt was a call to Ireland. Susan immediately remembered a vision she had in August of that same year. As she was walking through her neighborhood praying, Susan had a very strong image of a thatched roof cottage placed in her heart. Realizing the significance of this picture the Lord implanted in her heart, she journaled the event, but she had not shared it with Kelly. The vision now made perfect sense.

The Curry’s came to a strong conclusion. They must be obedient to God’s call on their lives above all else. Kelly left his corporate position, moving his whole family to Ravencrest Bible College in Estes Park Colorado.

After graduating from the program, completing ordination though the Southern Baptist Church, and starting FICM, Kelly and Susan found themselves on Irish soil in 1996. Their first experience in Ireland would be in the city of Cork, where a rock concert had brought 70,000 youth to the city. Both Kelly and Susan heard the Lord speak to them about the youth of Ireland. They felt Him speaking that the Irish youth needed a safe place to come to.

A month later, the Curry’s settled in Galway. It was slow and small beginnings at first. They ministered through showing the Jesus Film in local hotels and opening their home up for Bible studies. But the vision for a safe place for Irish youth burned in their hearts. They began to search for a building to house a coffee shop. After several failed attempts to rent space, they found a building on the edge of downtown. This dilapidated building had once been a army barracks and had most recently been a youth hostel. After much hard work, this old broken down building became a beautiful coffeehouse café and bookstore.

The greatest crowds to frequent An Tobar Nua were the local secondary school students. The students in Ireland have no lunch program so many started coming to the café to eat on their lunch hour. After awhile, they started to hang out in the afternoons and weekends. Quickly, the need for a discipleship Bible study was assessed and incorporated into the schedule. On Friday nights, the café started to host itself as a venue for Christian bands. People began to bring in their prayer needs and an active prayer/-counseling ministry was birthed.

In 1998, Kelly and Susan felt a strong impression from the Lord to start praying for the building that sat adjacent to An Tobar Nua. At the time, it seemed an odd directive. Only a few students were coming into the shop daily. In 1999, the fish market that was housed in the next-door building moved. They quickly leased the shop, moving the bookstore out of the back of the café and onto the more prominent Dominick street location. In 2002, 29 Dominick Street was purchased. The ministry had grown by leaps and bounds and the space was now a necessity.

Within a couple years’ time, planning began on a major expansion to house added and growing ministries to serve the Lord in effectual new ways. In 2005, work crews began construction on a 9,000-square-foot addition and a 3,000-square-foot renovation to create prime space for conferences, retreats, counseling offices, classrooms, dorm rooms, staff apartments, and expanded kitchen and dining areas. The An Tobar Nua ministries now occupy 15,000 square feet of space dedicated to sharing the Good News.

In 2007, classes for the Emmaus Scripture School and the Ministry Experience Program convened for the first time in the new classrooms. Students from Ireland and abroad come for in-depth Scripture study and hands-on ministry extending the outreach even further. Expanded classroom and dining capacities provide a convenient and comfortable setting for seminars, workshops, support groups, weekend retreats, and weekly prayer gatherings for this quickly growing outreach in the heart of Galway.