Leadership

Gail Wallace

Azusa, Foothill Community Church

Briefly describe your testimony of coming to Christ…

I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I responded to an altar call when I was 10 years old and was baptized by my pastor/missionary father. I went through a time of rebellion in high school and then re-committed my life to Christ in a big way at summer camp before my senior year. At that time another missionary kid (one of my best friends) sat me down and said “I know you already know these things, but the Lord told me to tell you again anyway”. Then he proceeded to share the gospel with me and it was like hearing it for the first time! It took me most of that year to shed old friends and habits, but after graduation I went to APU, where I soaked up teaching and discipleship like a sponge. There have been a couple of “dark night of the soul” times since then, but I have never doubted God’s existence or love for me and always came through with a richer understanding of who God is and what Jesus really did for me on the cross.

Briefly describe your understanding of God’s calling on your life…

I have had a passion for the local church my whole life, ever since having a life-changing experience in high school and finding life-giving community in my church youth group. I have answered several “calls” of God in my lifetime. One involved being a part of a church planting team in the early 1990s (Horizons Community Church, now existing as Baseline Community Church in Claremont) where I served on staff and as a lay leader for many years. While over the past two decades I have played a supportive role to my husband in his leadership position at APU, in the last two years God has made it very clear that I am to be in vocational ministry during this season of my life. In the fall of 2017, during a week of church-wide prayer, God made it clear that this ministry would be at Foothill. It has been my deep joy and privilege to serve in the role of Associate Pastor for the last six months.

How did you come to the Free Methodist Church?

There is a longer story, but the short version is that while my husband was undergoing chemotherapy and not up to driving out to Claremont to our previous church, we began attending Foothill, which is 5 minutes from home. Karen Winslow and I were personal friends, and of course, the church has a long history of supporting APU, so it was a good fit theologically and personally. After several months it became very obvious to both of us that God was calling us to stay at FCC. Over the past three years I’ve discovered that Free Methodist theology is consistent with what I believe about the nature of God and with the way I am called to live out my life in the kingdom. In addition, the commitment to the poor and to women in ministry, and to diversity has been deeply meaningful to me.