For over twenty years Gary and Elizabeth Inrig have taught God’s word and shepherded the flock at Trinity Church in Redlands, California. As the senior pastor, Gary has made Scripture come alive with his deep expository preaching, and Elizabeth, the pastor of women’s ministries, has shown us the big picture of the Bible, challenging us to trust God’s word while sharing her life and her humor with us.
Now, at the end of this month, they are stepping down from their pastoral roles at Trinity, but their example and faithfulness continue to impact us. Richard and I have been blessed to learn from Gary and Elizabeth since November, 1998, when we first visited Trinity Church on our journey out of Adventism into evangelical Christianity. Their Bible teaching alone would have been enough to change our lives, but their examples of trust, faithfulness, and commitment have shaped the way we understand ministry.
In our Adventist past, we had never seen a pastor take his responsibility to preach or teach as seriously as the Inrigs took theirs. Many times they would return from speaking engagements or, during the summers, overseas mission trips late on Saturday evening—and Gary would preach his three sermons on Sunday morning. Other times Elizabeth would lead her Monday evening Bible study before flying to an appointment out of state the next day.
During the past three years, we have watched Gary preach through his treatments for cancer, through subsequent debilitating headaches from an auto-immune response, and through his daughter’s recent diagnosis of a brain tumor. We have seen Elizabeth take on the care of her two grandchildren and become the primary care-giver and chauffeur for their daughter as she has undergone treatment—while continuing to write and teach her women’s Bible studies. As we watched them make their commitment to teach the Word to us their priority, we began to understand Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin” (2 Cor. 11:2).
Gary and Elizabeth have taken preaching the Word seriously because they believe God commissioned them to equip us, their flock, with the knowledge and the tools to study Scripture so we will be able to discern between truth and error. Bible teaching is not primarily their job; it is God’s grace to them. Their commitment to His will has blessed us personally, and it has also shown us that God is faithful to sustain and to provide when He asks us to do His work.
God used Gary and Elizabeth to untangle our Adventist worldview and to ground us in biblical reality. They have nurtured a profound love of Scripture and its triune Author, the Lord God, in both Richard and me, and they have helped us know the Bible is living and active, the essential tool for a renewed mind and a transformed heart.
In fact, the deep and clear Bible teaching they have given us has been the theological bedrock for Proclamation! magazine. Because of the Inrigs’ faithfulness to be true to Scripture and honest in their teaching, they have helped countless others besides us “unpack” their Adventist confusion and become anchored in truth and the reality of God’s word.
As they step down from Trinity church at the end of this month, we praise God for giving us such godly mentors and gifted teachers. We thank Him for showing us through them what commitment and consistency look like. We praise Him for their unwavering faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and to His word. We are grateful for seeing in them what it means to be true to God’s word even when engulfed in suffering. We are blessed to see them trust God when there is no visible means of comfort or support.
Gary and Elizabeth have preached the word. They have been “ready in season and out of season” to “reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2). They have made an indelible mark on us; God has shown us through them what it means to be faithful.
Now, as they walk out of their pastoral roles, we know they are not finished preaching the Word. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29).
The Lord Jesus has them firmly in His hand, and we are eager to see what His next assignment to them will be. †
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