Bob and Gail serve those in crisis through Reach Global Crisis Response, part of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Gail is a Trauma Care Associate while Bob serves more generally in areas like pastor relations, participating with and ministering to teams, and leading Bible Studies.
Gail has been serving with Crisis Response for about three years and has helped develop materials, training and Bible Studies for Trauma Care, the essential one-on-one spiritual and emotional ministry that precedes and parallels the physical aspects of coming into a crisis.
Bob has recently retired from thirty years of pastoral ministry. One of the things Bob hopes to do is to help pastors to navigate the changes and opportunities that crisis can bring to churches and ministries.
Gail’s Story
Gail’s ministry grows from being a servant of Jesus Christ, called to love his people and share the Good News of his salvation.
For more than forty years Gail’s primary fields of ministry have been her family and the local church. Gail married Bob in 1979 and walked with him as he transitioned from being an engineer to being a local church pastor. Gail and Bob have nine children, though at this point as adults, they are also peers and friends. The family includes four birth children (all girls), two formally adopted children (a boy and a girl), two informally adopted boys, and one informally adopted adult daughter/friend. Six of the nine are currently married and have blessed Gail and Bob with eighteen grandchildren. At least one more grandchild is expected in 2025.
Gail’s ministry to her family has included homemaking and homeschooling, along with coaching, counseling, rejoicing-with, crying-with and praying for her husband and children.
Bob’s Story
Bob became a believer in junior high school and experienced a special season of growth in his faith while attending Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He went to work as a mechanical engineer for Exxon Chemical Company in 1978 and married Gail in 1979. Exxon moved Bob and Gail to Texas in 1980 where they had the first four of their children. In 1989 Bob, Gail and the kids moved to Illinois so that Bob could attend seminary at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
After graduation in 1992, Bob and Gail joined a group in Clear Lake City, Texas to plant Trinity Evangelical Free Church. After ten years the church purchased a building in nearby Friendswood and changed its name to Trinity Fellowship. Trinity has been a small to medium-sized church for all this time, with ministries that have included an effective Awana program, life-changing small groups and strong missionary support.
Gail has had a variety of ministries at Trinity Fellowship. She loved being a listener at Awana and encouraged children to love Jesus and memorize his Word. She helped lead the women’s ministry which emphasized the Bible studies and caring community. She especially enjoyed preparing and leading women’s retreats. She opened her home to small groups, youth, and friends.
In addition to preaching, Bob invested himself during these years in children’s ministries, discipling men and serving with the Texas Oklahoma District of the Evangelical Free Church. Bob has a website (bobdegray.com) which hosts an archive of Bob’s sermons (text, audio and video) and which also contains his current devotional posts. He is currently posting a long series of one page devotions on the significance of our position “In Him” and “In Christ” for our Christian lives.
In 2017 Trinity’s ministry was upended by the impacts of Hurricane Harvey, which opened many doors into the community. and led to Bob and Gail’s involvement with Crisis Response. For more about that see ours post: Getting Started with Crisis Response.
For more about Crisis Response and the Evangelical Free Church of America see: About Crisis Response