Challenging
Leaders to Fulfill Their Destiny
By
George Gunner
As
told to Sue Carlisle
I
grew up in Moose Factory, Ontario, in the James Bay area.
There were eight of us in our family, and it was hard
for my dad to make ends meet. There was a lot of drinking
and violence. I resolved to make life different for myself
so I got an education. I got my heavy-duty diesel mechanics
license. I wanted to go out West and make it on my own.
At
that time Moose Factory was having a revival. My oldest
brother had given his life to the Lord and they were holding
camp meetings. I'd hear the gospel on the radio; yet I
resisted it. I even forbade my wife to go to the camp
meetings. I would say, "Don't get involved with those
people; they're crazy." At the same time I knew there
was something there for us, but I was afraid of it.
I
got a good job in Alberta. We bought a home and had two
vehicles. I thought, this is it—we're on our way
. We had "success," but the more we
obtained the more the emptiness grew inside of me, and
I fell back into drinking. One night I drank too much.
I was on my way home from work and ran through a stop
sign—right in front of a police cruiser.
As
I sat in my jail cell, everything came crashing down—all
my ideas, my pride, what I was, what I was trying to be,
and I realized that I couldn't do it on my own. I remember
looking through the bars of the jail that night, and that's
when I really began to think of my life. I guess the biggest
thing that hit me was the thought of where I was bringing
my children. I was leading my children on the same path
that I was on, the same path that my dad was on, the same
path that his dad was on. It was a path to nowhere. I
think at that moment I began to realize there was a God
out there who loved me. I was running from that God when
I left Moose Factory, but that God was still there calling
me in Alberta, and I somehow needed to find Him.
Family
members were sending us gospel leaflets, but I had only
glanced at them and shoved them away. Pauline kept them
all. Pauline's dad had been murdered in 1978, which devastated
her. Her older brother came to know the Lord at that time
and he encouraged her to call on the Lord. She began to
seek the Lord, and she had let me know that she wanted
a different kind of life.
Pauline
got very upset when I got put in jail and lost my license.
The police called her to come and pick me up, but she
said, "No, you can just keep him there." Then
she called home and her older brother answered the phone.
He told her to pick me up. He prayed with her and said,
"You know, you never know what God is doing. God
can turn this around for good."
We
went to a church in the area that was having revival services.
Again, I felt that stirring, that calling, but I kept
resisting. I walked away after each service feeling empty
and lonely. We got back home the final night and I sat
on the couch and asked Pauline, "Do you want to get
saved? I want to give my life to the Lord; what do we
do?" Pauline ran to the bedroom to get all the tracts
she had been keeping. We took a tract that helped us know
how to pray, and we knelt down in our living room and
asked Jesus to come into our lives.
We've
walked with God since then. There have been times when
we've failed. There have been times when I didn't even
know if I was saved or not, but we walked with the Lord
and He has brought us from that point. We moved back to
Ontario and God asked me to minister where I never thought
I could. He asked me to pastor, to encourage other pastors
and to start a Bible college.
Pauline
and I want to see Native men and women, who are called
into ministry, be trained so that when they get through
with Bible college they not only have theological training,
but practical training in all aspects of ministry. I believe
that these people will then be able to go back into their
communities and start a church on their own, a church
that will affect their whole community. One of our greatest
calls comes from communities that have no churches at
all. They ask, "Can someone help us?"
We
recently had about 400 youth attend a conference. They
came from 23 different First Nation communities. There
is a stirring among the First Nation young people. They
want to know truth, and they're not going to put up with
anything but the truth. They want fullness. They don't
want anything second hand. You can see the hunger in them.
They just press in and they are getting all they can from
God.
I
remember the fear that gripped my heart when I was seven
or eight years old. I would have loved it if someone would
have come and told me that a man named Jesus died for
me and loved me. I remember my dad was close to 60 when
he got saved but he cried, "No one ever came and
told me about Jesus." I think that is why I have
a passion to preach the gospel, to keep on going and not
to give up, because, somewhere, there is someone crying
for help, and we have the answer.
George
Gunner and his wife, Pauline, pastor a church in North
Bay, Ontario. They also operate a Native Bible College
associated with Master's College in Toronto. George is
the director of the Aboriginal Pentecostal Ministries
and oversees 24 Aboriginal churches. His heart is to encourage
pastors and Native leaders to fulfill the destiny to which
God has called them.
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