May and June 2019
This last month and a half has been ridiculously busy and blessed! As you know, I am working full time for the Army in the middle of the Mojave desert, but the Lord has blessed us with an abundance of ministry.
Starting in May, I had the opportunity of sharing at The Pursuit Christian Fellowship in Gilbert Arizona. This was an extra special blessing because Tina and I got to hang out with a couple of our best friends, Tim and Jenny Lee, and Greg and Lori Ward. Tim pastors The Pursuit. Tim and Jenny haven’t laid eyes on Tina for close to 20 years. So you can imagine the blessing that reunion was.
June 2nd I was asked to share at another friends church, Calvary Chapel Paradise, in Las Vegas Nevada. I gave a brief highlight of our current ministry with Saving Grace Worlds Missions and then shared on the Purpose of the church.
I find it interesting that the purpose of the church is to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have yet to hear it. With an estimated 3 billion 234 million people who have never heard of the name of Jesus, much less the free gift of salvation offered in His name, I’m surprised so many of us in the church are not engaged in taking the gospel into all the world. In reality, if we don’t do it, who will?
Jesus in Mat 7:12 “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
What Jesus is basically saying is put yourself in the other guys shoes and treat him the way you would want to be treated should the tables be turned. I know, knowing what I know now, if I were unsaved I would desperately want someone to share Christ with me. I’m so thankful for those who did share the love of Christ with me when I was lost.
I know that we are not all called to be missionaries, but we are all called to care about the state of those who are dead in their sins and trespasses, with no hope of heaven.
The message finished with a gentle invitation to get involved. Everyone has a part to play in the Great Commission. We all can do at least one of three things.
- We can Pray first and foremost. There is a lot we can do after we pray but there is not much we can do of any value until we pray.
- After we pray we can go. I invited everyone at The Pursuit Christian Fellowship and Calvary Chapel Paradise, and I invite everyone reading this update, pray about going on a trip to South Asia or the Middle East with me. We’ll visit the colleges I oversee and spend time ministering and pouring into the students there.
- Finally, for those who can’t go, but would really like too, they can send. Some people have the means but not the time. Some, have the time but lack the means. When a person serves as a “Sender” they share equally in the rewards.
If we will be involved in the Great Commission is any combination of these ways, we will hear from our Savior, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
I have started to lay the ground work for a new Bible College in the Middle East. I’m really excited for this work to get off the ground. I had hoped it would start this semester but there are a few more things we need to work out before we launch it. I have spoken to a number of people who are interested in teaching and we have approximately 20 muslim background believers waiting for classes to begin.
Lastly, we are about to start a new Semester at the Bible Colleges in South Asia. This will be the first semester we be teaching via Skype to the Northern and the Central campus simultaneously. This semester we have many returning students, as well as number of new students. The student body is growing. We have teachers teaching via Skype from Pakistan, Oregon and across Southern California. The classes this semester include Church History, The Prison Epistles, The Pastoral Epistles, and The Book of Proverbs, which I will be teaching this semester. Our staff on the ground will be teaching the book of Hebrews, the Gospel of Mark, New Testament Survey III (Matthew – Acts), and Practical Christian Ministry. On Thursday nights we have various Calvary Chapel pastors teach a Chapel via Skype. This semester the topics that will be covered are Missions: The importance of taking the gospel to the world, The attributes of God, and a Biblical View on the Spiritual Gifts. It’s going to be such an exciting semester.
My last lastly is this, I have applied for a 10 year visa and I will be returning to South Asia with a group of pastors sometime mid October – November. We will be holding a pastor’s conference for the local national pastors serving in South Asia. Our prayer is to refresh and equip them for the work of the ministry. We will also be holding a Leadership conference for the leadership and staff of the three Bible Colleges. We will be pouring into them fresh vision and strengthening them in the work. Lastly, half the team will continue on to Nepal for a pastor’s conference there while I take a team of pastors to the south to finish out the semester at the Southern Campus. I will have the pastors with me teaching block classes and interacting with the student. Imagine having a group of pastors hanging out with you for a week and you can ask them anything and just sit and soak up all their teaching. It’s going to be a glorious trip. Please be praying
If you are not currently a financial supporter, I would invite you to please pray about joining us in raising up pastors and missionaries who will take the gospel place we could only dream of going? Our ministry is to raise up men and women and send them out to the truly unreached people of the world.
For those of you who are standing with us in the work, thank you. Tina and I are so thankful for your prayers, love, friendship and support. I hope one day you’ll be joining me on a trip that will change your life and spoil you for ordinary living.
And for my last lastly, If you would like me to come to your church and share a message on missions and God’s heart for the unreached of the world, I would be more than happy to do so. Please just email me and we can make those arrangements.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
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CCBC South Asia
I wanted to let you know the latest and ask you for your prayers.
The new semester at Calvary Bible College South Asia is under way. It started November 15. The 16 week semester will continue through the month of March.
This semester the classes offered are: Ezra & Nehemiah, 1st & 2nd Samuel, The gospel of Luke, The book of Acts, The book of Romans, 1st & 2nd Corinthians, and Practical Christian Ministry.
We have pastor Chuck’s tapes translated into a local language that the students will listen to and study through. At the end of the two year program, each of the students will have studied through the entire Bible with pastor Chuck. This semester they will be going through the second half of the Old Testament, Psalms through Malachi.
On Thursday evenings we will also be starting an Evening Chapel where the students will learn the Calvary Distinctives and the Doctrines behind them.
It’s going to be an exciting semester!
I have pastor Caleb from Calvary 
Chapel Fullerton teaching Ezra & Nehemiah. Pastor Caleb was the director of CCBC Europe, in Hungary, for many years.
Pastor David, also from Calvary Chapel Fullerton, pastor Caleb’s assistant, will be teaching through 1st & 2nd Corinthians..
Pastor Tim, from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and the assistant director of Saving Grace World Missions, will be taking the students through The book of Acts.
Pastor P, our National Director, and his staff will be teaching through 1st & 2nd Samuel, and The gospel of Luke. They will also will be teaching the class on Practical Christian Ministry and overseeing the Old Testament Survey II (Chuck tracts).
The Evening Chapel will be taught by a number of Calvary Chapel pastors from all around the United States.
I have the privilege of teaching through the Book of Romans.
Please be praying for the students, for the national staff, and for the state side pastors. The enemy isn’t happy at all with this work and will attack in various ways throughout the semester. The work of training up these students, and then sending them out to reach the unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a great work, which seeks to take souls for the Kingdom of God and make them disciples. The devil just won’t stand idly by and let us do it. But thank God, though, we are more than conquerers. Thank God that the prayers of the saints avails much.
So please stand with us in the work and pray. I sense this semester the Lord wants to do a greater work than any of us could imagine.
Pray for insight into the word for each of the teachers. Pray that we, through the mighty Spirit of God, would speak prophetically into the lives of these students. Pray that the world in which they live would be radically changed through the teaching of God’s word, through raising up these students and sending them out.
As always, thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love, friendship, and support. Your prayers mean more to us than you could ever imagine
God bless,
Gary and Tina
Below are a few pictures of the Bible College.
This is the front of our Building.
This is a picture of the kitchen.
This is a picture of one of the dorm rooms.
The Bible College cost nothing for the students to attend. They each receive housing and meals while they are engaged in studying the word. It’s a big under taking, but we serve a big God. All glory and praise to Him! Amen.
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Psalms, Praise, and Prayer
“I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High”
Ps 9:1-2
One of the Psalms I read this morning. I love the Psalms and read them daily. I am frequently reminded by the psalmist how much of our walks with the Lord is simply just a choice. In the psalm above he states his choice to praise the Lord, “I will praise you, O Lord.” He tells us how he chooses to praise the Lord, with his “whole heart.” He also declares how he is going to carry out his choice, by “telling of all [the Lord’s] marvelous works.” He says, within his heart, he chooses to “to be glad and rejoice” in the Lord, while outwardly, he chooses to “sing praise” to the Lord.
I need to be reminded that much of my walk with the Lord, how I express myself to the Lord, and how I go about life, is a choice that I need to make on a daily basis. Lord you are worthy of all my praise!
I know it’s been a while since my last update and since my return from 
South Asia. So I want to share with you some of the amazing things God has and is doing.
South Asia was more than I could have imagined. We had 10 flights where we 
traveled just shy of 22,500 miles in 18 days. We visited each of the three Bible Colleges campus we had started. One in the north, in the foothills of the Himalayas, one in the south, our main campus, and one in the central area, where there is open hostility towards Christians.
We met with the local team at each campus and discussed the upcoming school years and the two year curriculum that we developed and were going to go forward with. We also discussed vision and direction for the colleges and ministry to reach unreached people groups.
We also held two Pastor’s Conferences where we had some 80 pastors come out to be taught, refreshed, strengthened and encouraged in the Word. That alone would have made the trip a success, but there was so much more.
We met with pastors who wanted to come under the umbrella of Calvary Chapel and learn to teach the Bible inductively, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. So, the Sunday after the second conference, we held a typical Calvary Chapel Sunday morning service. Pastor Asher, one of the pastors traveling with us, taught through chapter 1 of 1 Samuel. Talk about powerful! That Sunday morning was some of the most powerful teaching I have ever had the privilege to hear. There was no hype or emotionalism, what these pastors were used to, just simply teaching God’s word and seeing the Spirit bring it to life. It was wonderful!
We also visited some of the remote churches pastored by some of our recent graduates from our previous Pastor’s School. What a blessing that was. To see people living so remotely, so simply, with very little, never having heard about Jesus before was something I have never witnessed. Then seeing God do a work in those villages, raising up a church, where Christ is being preached, was truly humbling.
When I returned, I was very busy with work, we also traveled to Oregon where I got to officiate my aunt’s funeral. Afterwards, when I returned to California I began working on scheduling Calvary Chapel pastors to teach the new 16 week semester which started in July. Due to short noticed I taught two classes until two of the pastors would be available to teach. The first was the Book of James on Tuesdays, which was a 5 week class. The second, on Wednesdays, was an overview of the entire Bible. That was a 6 week class. Each started at 8 PM Pacific Coast Time and went until 11 PM. It was a tough 6 weeks since I wake up for work at 4 AM.
The really great news is, this semester we welcomed women to be part of the program. At our central campus, where we teach via Skype, we were given a piece of property that we made into a women’s dorm. We have 17 students, 6 of which are women. The students are studying through the Bible with translated Chuck tapes. This semester, the other classes include the books of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, the Gospel of John, Inductive Bible Study, Systematic Theology, and Practical Christian Ministry. Our other two campuses are also following this teaching schedule.
When we left South Asia God gave us vision for construction of 8 new churches buildings, to buy some means of transposition for some of the pastors who did not have a motorcycle, to expand the Central Campus class room, to rent a larger property in the north, and to purchase beds, tables, chairs and supplies for the schools. We thought all of that would be about $140,000. That’s not to mention support for the missionaries or the $25 a day to feed and house each of the students. It was a crazy, we could never do it apart from God, thought. Just last month God provided, out of no where, approximately $125,000. All Glory to God!
Would you please pray?
- Pray the Lord would continue to bless the work in South Asia.
- Pray that we would have wisdom and insight as leaders to what the Lord is wanting to do and accomplish. Pray that we would then be able to facilitate that work.
Would you please continue to pray for our family?
- Pray for Tina and I as we would love to be closer to Ashley and Elijah. We want to be able to have the impact the Lord desires grand parents to have on their grandchildren.
- We are longing to have fellowship and be part of a church. We live over an hour one way to my current place of employment and an hour in the other direction to church. As a result we are unable to be at men’s and women’s Bible studies or serve in the church the way we would like to. We feel a little isolated with out a close church family near by to fellowship with. we miss what we had in Corvallis and Europe.
Would you please pray for Bryan and Austin?
- They are hoping to see the Lord open doors for them. They are attending school but would also like to get jobs. The job market here is nearly if not totally non-existent. They also are feeling isolated with out friends and family close by.
As always, we are so thankful for your friendship, your willingness to pray and your love for us and our family. I’m so sorry that it has taken me so long to write an update. Pray for me and I’ll try harder in the coming months.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
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