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Gabe Presley
Gabe Presley — Class of 2028
Married to Katie Presley
Childen: Emmalyn, Elijah, Eliana
Where and how did you grow up?
I grew up in Kansas and Missouri and never really left. I grew up in a home that professed to be Christian but really wasn’t. We attended mostly charismatic and seeker-sensitive churches when I was a kid until we stopped going to church all together. I have one sister who I pray will respond to the Gospel someday. I am thankful that even through a very unchristian background, the Lord saw fit to save me in my early adult life.
What life circumstances or situations did God use to create in you a desire for pastoral ministry?
Interestingly enough, He threw me off of a cliff! This is not hyperbole, it was a very real cliff. After being saved for a few years, I was convinced in my heart that I needed to give up a car building hobby to focus more on the Lord. However, after giving up that idol, I merely replaced it with another, which took the form of a dirt bike. During a ride one day I ended up falling down 40-foot cliff. This is what the Lord used (among other things) to really wake me up to the way I was wasting my time and gifts. I promised that day that if He would preserve my life and get me home to my wife and newly born child then I would do whatever He asked of me. That led me to where I am now.
How do you anticipate seminary helping you specifically to prepare for ministry?
I desperately desire more time for dedicated study in the Word. Our lives have been very busy while I was completing my undergraduate degree at the Master’s University. I hope seminary can provide the opportunity for deeper study of the Word of God. Someone once told me that seminary was a time in which you dig a well of knowledge that you will draw from for the rest of your life and ministry. I have no doubts that Shepherds will help me do just that.
What kind of ministry, people group, or geographical area are you passionate about or planning to be involved in after graduating and why?
The Lord has given me a burden to serve the people of the Air Force as a chaplain. I served on active duty in the Air Force for nine years before transitioning to the U.S. Air Force Reserve, where I just recently got into the Chaplain Candidate Program. I love my Airmen, and there are so many souls in the military that need Jesus Christ. I am eager to share His Gospel with them.