All the ends of the world, Shall remember and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations, Shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations. Psalms 22: 27-28

Gerry (Geraldine) and Cal (Calvin) Ray met in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1967 while attending North Central Bible College.  I (Cal) flew from my home in rural New York State, by way of Kennedy Airport in New York City, planning to become a full-time pastor in my denomination.  Gerry took the train from Cumberland, Maryland and enrolled in Christian Education.

We were married one Christmas wintry night in 1969.  We eloped and drove all night to a little town in upper Michigan named Iron Mountain.  Michigan was the closest of four states in the US which allowed marriage under age twenty-one without parental permission.  We were both twenty and agreed marriage was in the Lord’s desire for us – it certainly was ours. Our parents, God bless them, were informed over the following week.

While Gerry worked at a city hospital, I completed my studies and used the musical talents God had given me. I played piano, sang with various college teams and coordinated a group of students for street meetings in downtown Minneapolis and suburban North St. Paul. After graduation I was honored to serve as a full-time assistant pastor within Christian Education in Hudson Falls, NY near the Adirondack Mountains.  In addition, I drove the Church school bus on Sundays and once in a while chosen to preach the Sunday message. One of my first sermons was on Priscilla and Aquila (Acts18).  I explained how these two “women” helped Paul in his ministry. Again, more zeal than preparation!  Our first daughter, Stephanie, was born in Hudson Falls.  I remember her always being wide awake, even when quiet. In the middle of the night, when we would check on her, her eyes would be wide open.  She was, as you might expect, a delight for both of us and the whole congregation.

Our next assignment caused more maturing of our lives. God had been so good to us; we lived through those early years in His protection and presence. In 1973, we took leadership responsibility of a small church near Ithaca, NY. The church families were meeting in the two-car garage of the parsonage, but soon new growth required a larger facility. A new sanctuary was built on the property and mostly constructed by skilled workmen in the congregation. With today’s prices, it’s hard to believe the total cost of the new building was only about $5,000 for material and a little labor. God was so good. Gerry and I helped to install the styro-foam panels on the cathedral ceiling while being pregnant with our second daughter, Kristy.

The Holy Spirit began to encourage us to seek out teaching from a broader expression of the Christian faith instead of being limited by our denomination traditions. Although Gerry and I were busy with church growth and two girls in diapers, we went to Ft. Lauderdale to meet with leaders at Good News Fellowship regarding witchcraft, the occult and deliverance—subjects rarely discussed in a denominational setting. We also met with pastors in the discipleship movement near Ithaca regarding family priorities, their private Christian school (thinking of Stephanie and Kristy) and discipleship. By the end of 1977, after sharing much of my discipleship investigation with our congregation, we were asked to leave the church or return to a more denominational ministry.

It was time for us to re-evaluate our original plans, hopes and dreams, an ultimately wonderful and beneficial experience. Although scary at the time, we needed to submit to the direction of God, regardless of our fears. Now we needed a new home, a new job and a new place to gather those who had also heard the call to move on and wanted to continue with us. The final months of being a senior pastor and leading a congregation, not welcoming my non-traditional Biblical perspectives, had exhausted me and our marriage relationship. Most of all, we needed someone to disciple us as a family and to teach us deeper ways to grow in Christ. God graciously took our hand into His and led us into the unknown. We completely committed our plans, hopes and dreams to Him.

In 1978, we determined to connect with the discipleship movement.  We joined one of their satellite fellowships north of Ithaca, bought our first home and I started working in the printing business. The next ten years we concentrated on improving our marriage, learning to be better parents and giving ourselves to the Lord in new ways. Church fellowship was so different and refreshing, after “working” full-time in the ministry. We enjoyed a closer walk with the Lord in our family and date night became a new habit. I served as the church worship leader and Gerry taught kindergarten in the Christian School.

At this time, we met the precious people still so important in our lives.  Ken and Faith Negvesky (Bridge Intercessors), Ken was one of our pastors, and Ragnhild Ulrich (Bridge Founder) was the Christian school Principle. These people, and many others, taught us, prayed for us and yes, discipled us. We learned about the Kingdom of God in so many important ways.  It is still a privilege to know and work with Ken, Faith and Ragnhild at the Bridge.

Ken challenged me in such way that it changed my intimacy with Jesus.  One day, he explained how many Christians meet and know Jesus based on “head” knowledge (learning, reading and mental acceptance) and have missed the essential “knowing” Him that comes from the heart (a loving relationship, discerning His voice, sensing His direction). I thought, what Ken was teaching applied specifically to me. I enjoyed studying the Bible and reading Christian writings by a number of authors, but recognized that I did not have the heart-based relationship that I wanted. I could not honestly sense the desire Paul expressed in Philippians 3:10-11; “I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in His death.” The scriptural meaning was foreign to me.

During the next several months, I got up before daylight and drove to a nearby park, watching the sun arise and reflect on the lake. During those early hours I endeavored to meet with Jesus in my heart by listening to worship music, reading scripture, praying loud prayers and sometimes crying for mercy. After several weeks, my heart began to connect with the Spirit of the Lord and my relationship with Jesus changed up to this day. David prayed in 1. Chronicles 29:10-13: “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours…In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” I could now understand David’s enthusiasm. The Lord then taught me His ways out of Psalms 24 for the next three months. I will always remember those practical lessons the Lord placed in my heart from that Psalm.

In 1990, I left the printing business and began working for a high-tech manufacturing company, resulting in ten years of a bit of international travel. One of our church pastors was involved in Prayer Walking, so during my traveling days abroad, I would walk and pray for the cities where I was working. Most of my trips were to British Isles cities such as London and Edinburgh.  For a time I had an office in Paris where I, sometimes with Gerry, visited three times a year.  It was during those many trips my desire to pray for the nations began to grow.

I did get to Asia on a few business trips. During a bus ride from an airport to my hotel in Puna, India, I saw people living in mud igloos. On another same day in New Delhi, those visiting Gandhi’s memorial drove in Mercedes Benz vehicles and wore extravagant sarees. The extremes in the caste system were astonishing. While in the Philippines I saw rows of shacks along river banks next to successful manufacturing plants. I had heard of this kind of poverty, now saw the lack of compassion and support from the surrounding culture.

I worked for the high-tech company for twenty-five years. After that we retired to Rochester, NY to be close to and prioritize our children and grandchildren. It seems like God has taken Gerry and I a much different way than we expected. Although my goal was pastoring, we were led toward business. We worked in real estate, retail sales, and even owned a Christian Book Store, which Gerry managed full-time. During the years we continued to volunteer as teachers, worship leaders, conference administers, church secretary and other support ministries when there was a need.

It was about three years ago that we joined the Bridge Intercessor prayer team. We are so privileged to stand in the gap for the ministry and needs of our international friends. Each week the team conferences for prayer on Tuesdays and Fridays. We agree together for prayer requests which come from the Bridge harvester’s correspondence or from our bi-monthly Skype meetings. Every other Monday we meet with many of the harvesters on Skype face to face. We love those meetings. We get the updates and prayer requests in person and build eternal relationships.

Besides getting to know and love the individual harvesters and their families, God has given me a desire to pray for Cuba, Haiti and India. I visited India twice while traveling overseas, but have never visited Cuba or Haiti. However, I pray for Godly leadership in those nations, asking God to raise up a Moses or a David to bring glory to God out of chaos and corruption. The “Pharaoh’s” of these nations demand spiritual servitude to the evil kingdom, to the enemy of the Cross.

Gerry has a special burden for children. Especially for those who are being aborted, misused and abused around the world. We ask God for protection over the children of many nations and often pray for the children of the Bridge harvesters and, for a few, their grandchildren. We know the enemy is set on the destruction of the next generation. We are certain our prayers and decrees make a difference in the heavenlies with results on the earth.

We live in a time when there is much evidence of the last days. Isaiah called it “the day of the vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2b). The weapons of our warfare against the enemy are prayer, the Word of God and worship. I encourage everyone to get close to the heart of God so they may pray His prayers, decree His scriptures, and worship with warfare in their spirit. Listening and responding to Him from your heart, as well as your mind, brings you closer to His purposes. We need to align our lives with His divine plans.

Gerry and I are living in Rochester, NY and spend a lot of time with our family. We are careful to make our children and grandchildren a priority while they are in high school and college.  Gerry is busy with another business using her creative talents. We are both celebrating our seventy-fourth birthdays this year and in December fifty-four years of marriage. We still find our joy with God in the morning hours. To God be the Glory.

This chorus from the song Our Heart by Bob Fitts is for heartfelt worship:

Our heart, our desire is to see the nations worship.   
Our cry, our prayer, is to sing You praise to the ends of the earth. 
 That with one might voice every tribe and tongue rejoices.  
Our heart, our desire,  is to see the nations worship You.

From R.K.’s Corner 

If you want to know what a Servanthood Leader is, take a look at the testimony of the lives of Cal and Gerry Ray.  Their lives reflect Philippians 2:1-11, where the Apostle Paul describes Jesus, although being God, willingly laid aside His glory and became a bondservant of all!

I met Cal and Gerry and their two girls more than 40 years ago while living and working as Principal of a Christian school in upstate New York.  They had moved to the area and joined our fellowship.  As I came to know them, I was impressed by their willingness to serve others, often behind the scenes in quiet, unassuming ways.

A few years later, our ways parted. I moved to Florida; from there to the mission field behind the Iron Curtain. For decades we had no contact, till three years ago, Ken and Faith Negvesky who had become a vital part of The Bridge Intercessory Prayer Group, suggested that the Rays would like to join us. They did, and they have blessed us here on the  home front as well those we serve in the mission field by their spiritual maturity, their manyfold experience within both pastoral care and secular business, and their commitment to intercessory prayer!