Gary Shafer

Gary was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He grew up with a love for the drums and joined the Spurrlows after graduating from high school. The Spurrlows was a music group working for Chrysler Corporation. It was through his time with this group that Gary entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In 1969 he met Carolyn, an accomplished pianist, and they married in 1974.

Gary's love for music led him to spend time traveling with other musicians and in
the late 70's he and Carolyn joined Operation Mobilization and served seven years on the ship Doulos. Prior to service on the O.M. ship Gary attended San Diego City College and graduated Cum Laude from Christian Heritage College (now S.D. Christian College). After the birth of their three children in Barbados, Peru and Portugal, his family moved into Spain and he worked as a church planter for ten years before returning stateside in 1995.

Gary has taught Bible studies, worked as a drum instructor and taught Bible and Spanish at Horizon Christian Schools. During the past eleven years he has remained with O.M. and served as an event coordinator and recruiter.

When Miles McPherson set out to launch The Rock Church in February 2000 he asked the worship team that Gary was a part of if they would be willing to help out by doing six months of worship. They spent two years on worship teams and Gary considers it a privilege to once again be working with The Rock.