The Lord said, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." (Luke 14:23) Reverend Gerry Eppinga uses that scripture to explain the Christ for First Nations evangelistic ministry.
Gerry is an evangelist who travels with Beatrice, his wife of 30-plus years, also an evangelist, and often with their son, Peter Eppinga, who has an amazing story of repentance and salvation that he delivers around the country (during specific periods only because Peter is a resident physician at a regional general hospital in Prince George, B.C.. Read Peter's story of salvation at www.christforfirstnations.com)
"I am a pastor ordained by the Independent Assemblies of God. I have a gospel tent," that Gerry sets up at various urban and rural locations each year. "This year I was in a lot of places around B.C.; last year I was in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and many, many First Nations communities in between."
Gerry was preaching the gospel at Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, the largest First Nations community in Manitoba, with 7200 people.
"It is located approximately 190 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The citizens of Peguis are of Ojibway and Cree descent." (Wikipedia) (Also see http://www.peguisfirstnation.ca)
Gerry is a Canadian of Dutch descent and Beatrice is Haida Gwaii from Old Massett, B.C., in the Queen Charlotte Islands. He has been preaching the Gospel since 1988. "The tent I have been using for the past three years."
Prince George is home for Gerry and Beatrice and he takes the pulpit at the Christian Lfe Centre and St. Michaels Street Church in the city's tough downtown core and three other ministries in the city. This summer he traveled to Anahim Lake, Abbottsford, and Fort St. James.
Many of the places he goes to preach with the gospel tent are "the rough places. These are not bad people. Many come to the Lord."
Gerry and Beatrice go to communities and work with local clergy, "We work with local First Nation ministers in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. We do the west with a focus on First Nations. Of course we go to all people. Our tent is often filled with First Nations people."
In Regina, Saskatoon, and Edmonton, "We set up in the 'hood. And they are coming to the tent. We offer the whole package; we put food out, we put literature out. We try to give people a bit of footing."
The people he reaches at street level need a lot of help. "They carry a lot of pain and hurt. They are not bad hearted." Ministry to First Nations is a challenge, and a big job right in Prince George.
"God brought us here from Mission, B.C.." He meets with success in Prince George. For example, last time at St. Michaels Street Church, "Eleven came to the Lord. It hit them hard in the head. It is not a light-hearted commitment."
That is a fact, Gerry's message is fiery and direct. Beatrice takes another approach. She has a gift for dream interpretation. "People come to her and tell her their dreams and she knows what it means."
Gerry arrived in Canada in 1967 in Montreal during Expo 67. He went west and met the Lord in 1975 in Prince Rupert. He met Beatrice when he owned a night club; then, it happened, "I responded to an alter call and I was hit in the neck through my body by the Holy Spirit and it changed my life." He had a profound awakening to the Holy Ghost that never left him and only grew stronger.
He ended his sinful ways one day at a time, "I was living a real bad life. I was into drugs and booze and a lot of things." At first he held evangelical meetings in a room above the night club he owned in Prince Rupert. Beatrice became a Christian and the Lord's work became redoubled and the bar was dispatched and a ministry was born.
His zeal was unformed, "I was barred from every bar, and I found it was not easy changing 180 degrees. We know God was there and He guided our steps. I worked in construction and put a sign on my van and witnessed on the job. I went to Reserves with my wife, printed my testimony and handed it out."
Booze left, marijuana left; cigarettes were gone, and the idea of full time gospel ministry was really taking root. Beatrice had come to the Lord from a different perspective. She went to Port Alberni Residential School but grew up at Old Massett and left there at age 17. She went to Prince Rupert to work in the canneries and as a chambermaid and she met Gerry.
The ministry, Return to Jesus Christ, was born in 1988 after much preparation. Christ for First Nations is part of that ministry. The traveling mission will reside in a location for four consecutive days and preach to, and feed, and share the love of God with a lot of people.
They do the ministry in tough urban settings like behind the Freight House in Winnipeg and on 20th and Victoria in Prince George or in the 97th street area of Edmonton.
Another aspect of Gerry's mission is to make stronger communities by building church representation by ordaining ministers. "We promote licensing and ordaining First Nation ministers. God's word will come forth on Holy ground without compromise in the word of God. He will bless the work in First Nations."
