Jim Gerhart and his wife, Christal, have been in the ministry for over twenty years.  They met at Liberty University in Virginia and then moved to Clarks Summit, PA for seminary at Baptist Bible Seminary.  Several years later while Jim was serving the local church as an associate pastor, he and Christal believed the Lord was calling them to train ministry leaders somewhere that had limited access to education.   

This led them to Togo, West Africa where they lived with their family for six years and had the awesome privilege leading two groups of men through a three-year Bible institute program (the majority of which are serving as pastors throughout Togo). Jim taught Bible and Theology courses as well as served as team leader for the missionary team.   

God brought them back to New Jersey in 2015 where Jim has been serving in dual roles as pastor of a local church and Director for Theological Education in Africa with ABWE, the mission they had been serving with in Togo. 

Jim and Christal have a passion to see the Gospel continue to spread across the continent of Africa and they believe that healthy churches led by trained leaders who are equipped to lead are essential to this mission.  Their life mission can be summed up in the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, “…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim 2:2).