Gani Coruña was the eldest of the nine siblings born to a poor barber father and a clothes-washer mother in the far southern tip of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. As a youth, he determined that he would have something worthwhile in life and doggedly worked his way up through high school to college. 

Quite young, he married his high school sweetheart, Cecelia (Liling) Cortes, and they have five children: Norman, Noemi, Gabriel, Joseph and Gani II.

In time, both of them submitted themselves to the Christian ministry and graduated from the Christ to the Philippines Missionary Training Center in Murphy, Quezon City. He is currently Senior Pastor of Christian Faith Church at West Crame in San Juan City, Metro Manila and President and CEO of Star of Hope Christian School System in the Philippines.