Christian Leaders Christian Basic Grad Christopher Gentry

My name is Christopher Lee Gentry and I am 39 years old. I live in Yucca Valley, California in America with Jamie my wife of three years. Yucca Valley is a small community and I have lived here off and on since I was twelve years old. The town in which I live is very liberal and predominantly occupied by those involved in Secular Humanism, New Ageism, and Occultism. It is very hard to witness for Christ in this area and there is great opposition by many who live here. I too was ignorantly involved in the New Age Movement being that I grew up in this area and therefore just went along with the culture. This area was also one of the first to be overrun by meth amphetamines in the early nineties. I was involved in with drugs and occultism before coming to Christ in 1998.

In 1998 my drug addiction had become unmanageable and I was tormented by demonic creatures that I could see and hear physically. The people I had chosen to befriend were heavily into occultism and they had been initiating me into a cult called The New World Order. Upon failing initiation I found myself in terrible danger from this cult. I had been sentenced to death by their counsel and in terror of what was getting ready to happen I cried out to God for help. To my surprise I was not only released by this cult but actually driven to a local church and dropped off in the parking lot. I was invited in and that night I confessed my sin in front of a small crowd while crying out to God and accepted Jesus Christ. At the end of the service a group of young men surrounded me and begin praying for me while crying out to God. I felt a powerful presence fall on me and then one of the young men declared that I had been baptized in the Holy Ghost. I have felt the presence of God with me ever since.

God called me that night to ministry and through a later prophecy revealed to me that I would be a witness to the very people that had been trying to involve me in their cult. My ministry dream is to achieve the proper training and to go come back into this area and change the odds in God’s favor. I want to be a pastor who outreaches to the drug addicts and victims of the occult in this and other communities. It seems no one is really addressing the issue here and that someone needs to expose these dangers for what they truly are.

I would associate most closely to being an Evangelist. I desire to bring non-believers into the fold and then be available also to pastor them.

The key issue for me to pursue ministry was my salvation experience and God’s power to deliver me from the forces of darkness. I want to be available for those who need someone to lead them in this deliverance experience as well.

There is a great challenge here in California due to the liberalism and idea that god is who you want him to be. Homosexual marriages are newly legal and the people seem to just be without desire for God. Occultism, New Ageism, and Secular Humanism are everywhere and if you simply say the name Jesus in a reverent tone you are offending someone.

I have been attending the largest church in a 20 mile radius which is also a church that seems too involved in itself to welcome new members. I have been praying and will be moving to a smaller church that I have attended several times by the leading of the Holy Ghost. I feel that there will be a much more personal support level there.

Currently my extended family members are non- believers and involved in occultism. My wife has accepted Christ but seems to have very little desire to know Him personally. I have been working on this through prayer and have convinced her to begin doing devotions and attending church with me.

A scholarship is important to me due to the fact that I have no income as of right now. I have a bad back and have had to give up my usual occupation as a cook. My wife is supporting both of us on a minimum wage job. I would not be able to attend a bible college if it was not for this ministry. I know God has called me to ministry and it was no coincidence that I came across this Institute.