|
CALVARY CHAPEL |
|
Assistant Pastor Gary Reed
I accepted Christ Jesus into my life in 1977 after attending a Keith Green Concert. I went to that concert with my church youth group. During the concert I went to find the restrooms but wound up at the stage door. Keith was playing the piano, facing me. As he played, sang and spoke, I knew God was speaking to me through this man. God began to soften my heart that night. (Hebrews 4:7, Psalm 95:7). After the concert, I went to buy his album but only had a few dollars on me. The person selling them said that if that was all I had, then that was how much it was. When I got home I began listening to it and I read the No Compromise story of how no man can't serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). In a day when believers seem to be trying to please both the world and the Lord (which is an impossible thing), when people are far more concerned about offending a friend than offending God, there is only one answer. Deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him, (Luke 9:23).
A couple of weeks later, during a regular church service, I went forward to give my life to Jesus. I felt God's Holy Spirit leading me to go forward even though there was no alter call. My youth group leader met me there and prayed with me as I prayed and accepted Christ's death on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins. Over the next couple of years I began to grow in God, and closer to the friends in the youth group. But after graduation from high school, my two closest friends went away to college and I missed our friendship and fellowship. I attended church less and less. My walk in the Lord was suffering (Hebrews 10:25).
Then in 1984, a relative invited me to go to her church which was a Calvary Chapel, then Maranatha. I really felt God's love and Holy Spirit there. As I began attending, God began to convict me of my carnality, (1Chorinthians 3:1). One day I went home, pulled out my Keith Green album from the 70's, and again began to read the No Compromise story. I knelt down by my bed and prayed for God to forgive my carnality and sins, and that I wanted to follow Jesus with No Compromise. As I sat under Pastor Ray Viola's teaching of God's word, line upon line and precept upon precept, God began refining me and still is (Phil. 3: 12-14). I began serving at Koinonia Calvary Chapel Eastside in 1985, and did for 11 years until the Lord called us to come to Buffalo, NY to serve Him.
I was married in 1991 to my wonderful wife, Karen, who has a heart for the Lord.
In 1996, God began to stir up my wife and I to plant a Calvary Chapel. We were praying about LeRoy, NY. Then my employer asked me if I was interested in moving to Buffalo, because they were expanding and needed more help. When I told Pastor Ray about this, he said that he believed that a Calvary Chapel was starting in Buffalo. Then God began to show us we were to be a part of this through many confirmations in His word. Pastor Ray contacted Pastor Mark Siena to let him know that we willing to come out to help. We met Pastor Mark and Chris Siena and started traveling out from Rochester, NY, to help serve and fellowship weekly. We moved to Buffalo in 1998, after I obtained a job transfer. The Lord has given us a wonderful church family here that we love and for which we are grateful. In the four years we have been here, we have seen the Lord do wonderful works. But the most wonderful is to see people get saved and receive eternal life through Jesus Christ (John 3:16), and to see how He changes our hearts to make us more like Him as we study His word and surrender to Him, (Colossians 3:16-17, Romans 10:17).
No Compromise.
In Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
My Resume'
My wife is Karen J. Reed and together we have three children, Seth, Josh and Matthew. Although I serve as Assistant Pastor of Calvary Chapel of the Niagara Frontier, I also am employed full time as a Produce Category Manager.
I attended Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes Bible College, Calvary Shepherd School and was ordained as a minister by God, through Koinonia Calvary Chapel Eastside (Rochester, NY) March 20, 1997.
I served as Youth Leader and Deacon at Koinonia for a number of years.
Presently, I serve as Assistant Pastor, Youth Leader and Worship Leader at Calvary Chapel of the Niagara Frontier.
