Gary Bellis

Gary Bellis was the guest this week in class. He went to Zion Bible College and received Christ into his life in 1971. He soon became the youth pastor at his home church and while there his Senior Pastor went to Ohio and asked him to go along with him, but he declined the offer.            

            Growing up Gary was heavy into drugs and everything that went along with that but once he found Christ his life was restored. He went on in ministry to Newport, NJ a city of 46,000 people. He has now been in ministry 37 years. His primary passion is discipleship and missions, he say’s the church is not doing a good job of it. He likes the idea of faith at home, which is basically making the home the focus of the church and ministry, the idea that if you get the home you get the family. He has been on a number of mission’s trips. In his church he takes on a year minimal for missions projects. Gary has been to India over 10 times, while there the ministry he works with does a lot of medical projects, usually set up in the brothels. 

            Gary stated that it is important to have a clear purpose statement. His church statement is, “To know God, to be his people, to value others, and change the world.” He liked the idea of using the acronym S.H.A.P.E, Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences; to disciple people. Overall it was great to learn from Gary and his ministry.