adviser
Dr. Gene A. Getz is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and has earned a B.A. from Rocky Mountain College, an M.A. from the Wheaton Graduate School and a Ph.D. from New York University. He has served as a professor at Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary.
After 20 years in the academic world, Gene became involved in church planting and in 1972 launched the Fellowship Bible Church movement. Today, some 30,000 people worship in approximately 12 churches in the Dallas area alone, and hundreds of Fellowship Churches throughout the United States trace their roots back to Gene’s church planting efforts in the Dallas area.
Gene is also a prolific author. Most of his 60 books have grown out of his experience as a pastor. The Measure of a Man has become a classic and is used around the world for personal and group study. He has authored Elders and Leaders: God’s Plan for Leading the Church, and he and his son, Kenton, have recently completed a book entitled The Measure of a Young Man. He has also authored 12 books in the Men of Character series published by Broadman and Holman. These books feature “Principles to Live By” that come from the lives of biblical personalities both in the Old and New Testaments.
Gene now serves as President of the Center for Church Renewal and recently completed a seven year Bible project using the Holman Christian Standard Bible. The Life Essentials Study Bible is the first multi-media Study Bible which contains 1,500 principles from Genesis to Revelation. Using QR codes associated with each biblical principle, the reader can access over 250 hours of video teaching on these principles by Dr. Getz. For more information about the Life Essentials Study Bible, go to www.bibleprinciples.org. Gene also airs a 2-minute daily feature called “A Principle to Live By” on stations across the nation. These can also be accessed by going to the website.
Adviser
Major John Tolan is the Program Director at The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Oklahoma University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree and received his ordination from The Salvation Army’s seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. John has been active in ministry for over 50 years as a pastor and in various social service ministries. As such, he was involved in the construction and implementation of a residential therapeutic treatment program in Washington, D.C., obtaining contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the District of Columbia community. John belongs to several professional groups such as the American Association of Christian Counselors and Texas Association of Addiction Professionals.
Major Tolan has been quoted as saying: “We are pleased that Celebrate Recovery has become such an integral part of our ministry component at The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Centers program. It is an effective tool as we minister to the men, many of them homeless because of their addictive lifestyle and dysfunctional behavior. Celebrate Recovery is one of many programmatic tools that we use in our program, in addition to the work therapy assignments to help men become responsible for their choices. We rejoice when the men in our program realize their brokenness and desire through the grace of God that they become whole again.”
John and his wife, Jackie, have been motivated by Christ’s Great Commission, being reminded of the words of Christ: “As you have done unto the least of these you have done it unto me.” John and Jackie retired from active officership and have found additional joy in being associated in a post-retirement assignment working with the men and their families with The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Dallas, Texas.
Adviser
Dr. Hormoz Shariat is the President of Iran Alive Ministries.
Hormoz firmly believes that Iran as a nation is ready for a major transformation—spiritually, socially, financially, and politically as prophesied in Jeremiah 49:38.
He has been heavily involved in church planting among Iranians in the US, Europe, and Iran since 1987. Since December 2001, he has been using Satellite TV broadcast to reach into the homes of millions of Iranians to help them transform their personal and family lives with the Biblical principles. As a result, hundreds of underground house churches have been planted in over 100 cities in Iran. Hormoz is a gifted evangelist and a well-received host on TV. As a result of his broadcasts since 2001, there have been over 34,000 registered decisions for Christ with over 850 house churches planted.
Hormoz is from a Muslim background and became a follower of Jesus in 1980 after a comparative study of the Bible and Quran. He has been married for 40 years and has three grown children.
Hormoz’s ministry has been featured in Christianity Today, Charisma, World Magazine and other publications. He has been a guest on various radio and TV stations such as CBN’s 700 Club, Daystar, and TBN. He has been called “The Billy Graham of Iran” and “the most influential Iranian American” by best-selling author Joel Rosenberg. Hormoz is a frequent speaker at the Voice of the Martyrs conferences.
Hormoz is a native of Tehran, Iran, where he lived until completing his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at Sharif University in 1978. He immigrated to the USA in 1979 to continue his studies at the University of Southern California where he completed a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has also received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible and Theology from Jessup University.
Hormoz has been a pastor and a church planter since 1987 He planted six churches in Northern California before launching a 24/7 Satellite TV broadcast in January 2012 in order to focus on transforming Iran with the Gospel. In addition to producing TV programs, he oversees the church plants in USA, Europe, and Iran.
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