Blessings
Chris
Gentry Ministry Plan of Action
Chris and Aleisha Gentry are moving to Corpus Christi Texas for both personal and professional reasons. Personally, the Gentry’s need to move to sea level for Chris’s health. It has become very clear that by living at sea level Chris is able to regain much of his functionality which is key if Chris is to continue in ministry and have a fuller life. Professionally, Chris and Aleisha feel strongly called by God to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to disciple new and existing believers in the faith so that they too can become Great Commission Christians.
IT is important to realize that these next steps will take time to develop. There is, as far as I am aware after my meeting with Real Life Church, not a ministry like the one I propose in the area. To become fully functional it will take the better part of 10 months to identify individuals, groups, and ministries that can support and/ or join with InFaith for the purpose of reaching and healing our servicemen and women. As of August 2014, 33% of chaplains in the United States Military had been forcibly retired. The need is great and the resources available to provide healing are in short supply. I have included in these steps a timeline by which to measure my progress. While I have already begun working on each step and have had success in some areas, i.e. identifying hunting grounds, I need to do more. My goal is to have this ministry fully functional by the start of the 2015 hunting season, 11 months from now. However I feel I need you to understand that in addition to being called by God to this ministry, this ministry is incredibly personal for me.
I feel I am uniquely gifted and qualified to serve in this area not just because I am an avid hunter and fisherman or called of God to do this, but because of my own difficulties and suffering I myself have had to endure over the years. This has made me quite effective in serving in this capacity, which I discovered while serving as the Chaplain for PCOS Chariots in Hoyt Colorado. On November 6th, 1998 I suffered a traumatic Spinal Cord Injury, loosing a great deal of functionality on the left side of my body from my chest down. As a result of my injury and subsequent treatment and surgery my nervous system no longer functions normally and I live and sleep in a constant state of pain (Please note that at the advice of my doctors that by moving to sea level my disability becomes less of an issue as I experience more functionality and less pain). Additionally I have lost a great deal of mobility for which I utilize modern hunting and fishing techniques and equipment to enable me to hunt and fish. In addition, given my childhood and the abuse I suffered, combined with the trauma of my injury I developed Hyper-vigilant PTSD which was fully realized while working in school security while serving as a youth pastor. A Mexican street gang marked me for death and attempted to kill me with pipe bombs, and other means of violence. I lived in mortal fear for almost 3 years, never knowing when I started my truck if that was the moment I was going to die, laying awake each night in fear for my family or going to work and encountering these gang members if that was when my life was going to end. While I have never been in combat, I can without a doubt understand the affects of a traumatic injury to the body, how it affects the dynamics of one’s relationships with loved ones and family and friends and living a productive life. I know, after living under the threat of death, the irrational fear and stress caused by such things and live every day with that anxiety. Most people cannot understand how base these emotions are or how they affect your life in a multitude of ways. However, the soldiers I have worked with these last 3 years do understand, and they, realizing that I understand what they are going through and have been through, have opened up to me in ways that my counterparts rarely realize. It is through these relationships that I am able to, without judgement and in love, accept them as they are, witness them show their true faces, and in that atmosphere share the transformative love of Jesus Christ. It is by the grace of God, by His Spirit, that He has allowed me to experience things that most people cannot even begin to imagine much less comprehend so that I may be His vessel through which His love, compassion, mercy, grace and forgiveness may be realized by those I seek to serve. The ministry I seek to create is outlined below.
The vehicle through which we are called and through which this will be done is:
1. Once we move to Corpus Christi to find a home church were we can be fed, encouraged and supported in our ministry and in which we can volunteer through involvement in leading and being a part of missional communities and other areas of ministry in which God leads us to be a part of as members of a new Church home as well as assisting the church in it’s mission to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Our primary ministry will be to work with injured soldiers (Physically, emotionally, Psychologically and Spiritually), providing an environment in which they can heal through relationship and encounter the Healing power of Jesus Christ by utilizing hunting, fishing and deep sea fishing.
Our primary ministry will consist of three parts.
a. First, we will reach out to existing ministries, organizations, chaplains, bases, and naval air stations to establish a working relationship for the benefit of the soldiers,marines, airmen and naval personnel we will be working with. This will include building a volunteer base to help man the hunts, guide and in general help the disabled soldiers hunt and fish to the fullest. Given the complexity of the situation or goal is to have this first priority in place by beginning of hunting season, September 1st, 2015.
i. I have already identified and contacted Chaplains and Warrior Transition Units at Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Fort Sam Houston, Fort Carson and am attempting to connect with NAS Corpus Christi, as well as Naval installations in Houston and New Orleans.
ii. I will continue to contact small groups of Servicemen and Women in and around San Antonio to Corpus Christi, to Houston to identify individuals who would benefit from this ministry as well as to seek out volunteers with skills in hunting and fishing and more importantly, with skills to connect to the physically and psychologically hurting.
b. Second, we will need to identify areas, both private and pubic to hunt Wild Pig, Deer, Pronghorn, small game and waterfowl as well exotic game such as Python, Alligator and Snakehead fish(Which I have already begun to do). This will also include identifying individuals with the equipment, ATV’s, blinds, land, boats and gear for hunting and fishing on land, in rivers and lakes and deep sea fishing. My goal is to have have the above accomplished by June 1st, 2015
i. This will entail working with the Texas Division of Wildlife, landowners, and like minded organizations to provide licenses, gear, ammo, firearms, clothing, ATV’s, etc as I firmly believe in a no-cost policy for the injured soldiers we will be working with.
ii. Part of this aspect is to also provide hunting and fishing opportunities as well as lodging for existing ministries around the country, such as Freedom Alliance, Forward Operating Base out of Fort Carson and PCOS Chariots all three of whom I am already working with, so they would be able to bring servicemen and women down to Texas for hunts of their own.
c. Third, we will seek to put in place through chaplains, churches and other ministries a support network for these soldiers. Helping them heal physically, emotionally and psychologically is only part of the battle. One Chaplain equated it to a chair, each aspect being a leg. He said, and I wholeheartedly agree, that without a Spiritual Leg, the chair will collapse and the serviceman or woman will collapse with it. So our third priority is to have in place by June 1st, 2015 a support network in place for the men and women we will work with. For those servicemen and women who chose to not engage in spiritual matters, I will at the advice of the Chaplain I am already working with, Lt. Col. Paul Franz, funnel these individuals into organizations and programs on and off base where they can receive the support they need, augmenting what we are already doing. Ideally however, we will through relationship, share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, seek to disciple these individuals and to ultimately get them involved with the Body of Christ. My hope is that our new Church home would play a large role in this as they are already equipped to introduce people to the body of Christ and grow them in the faith through ongoing Missional Communities.
As you read this and should you feel led to partner with us you can either give Aleisha and I a call at 303-791-1108 as we'd love to get together with you (If you prefer not that's ok too), email us at pastorchrisgentr@gmail.com or you are more then welcome to go to InFaith's website at www.infaith.org, click on the donate tab on the top of the page and when you are redirected to to the next page, click on "Give to Fieldstaff" at which point a drop down menu will appear and then just select our name from the list. You can also send a note and/or gift indicating your desire to partner with us directly to us at 17615 E. Coltsfoot Ct, Parker CO 80134 (Our address will soon change as we move this Saturday into our new home in Corpus Christi. I'll post our new address next week) or you can send the same directly to InFaith at 672 Conestoga Road, PO Box 370, Villanova, PA 19085. Please make gifts out to InFaith and in the memo line please write our ID number 08259 in the Memo line. Please indicate if the funds are for moving, monthly or one time. As with all gifts to non-profits, they will be tax deductible.
Should anyone have have any questions, wish to volunteer and/or partner with us please do not hesitate to contact Chris Gentry at 303-791-1108 or at pastorchrisgentry@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to prayerfully consider this ministry.
In Christ
Chris and Aleisha Gentry
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