Joe serves as a lay pastor on the Rocky Butte campus overseeing the Rocky Butte Jr. High Ministry, along with working full-time as the GU Conference administrator. His passion is to see the youth of this generation fully devote their lives to the Lord and he is committed to helping them become the young men and women of God they’ve been called to be. After living in California for eighteen years, he moved to Portland in 2006 to attend Portland Bible College where he received his Bachelor’s in Theology with a Pastoral Leadership Emphasis. He has faithfully served City Bible Church in many areas and we are so excited to have him join our team! Follow him on Twitter @josephgaribay
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I pray it’s a great time of fellowship and relaxation with the ones you love the most!
Keep it real,
- JG
Hello from San Diego! The GU team woke up early, packed up their bags, and took off to San Diego. It’s amazing down here! Flying into this city was hands down one of the best views I’ve seen from an airplane. So nice. We’re definitely enjoying the 70 degree weather too! In-N-Out Burger for lunch? NOT a problem! As I write this, the band is doing their soundcheck. It’s going to be another great night! Looking forward to being at Shiloh Church tomorrow night in Oakland…
Till next time,
-JG
Here is a list of some of my favorite books in no particular order…
- Be A People Person – - John Maxwell
- When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box – - John Ortberg (A personal Top 3 favorite)
- Touch – - Rudy Rasmus
- A Tale Of Three Kings – - Gene Edwards
- The Ragamuffin Gospel – - Brennan Manning
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – - John Maxwell
- Waiting and Dating – - Myles Munroe
- Confessions of a Pastor – - Craig Groeschel
- Rescued – - John Bevere & Mark Andrew Olson
- Visoneering – - Andy Stanley
- Make Today Count – - John Maxwell
- Axiom – - Bill Hybels
Remember, leaders are readers! Enjoy…
-JG
What a weekend! The Saving Power worship tour found itself in Boise this past weekend and man was it a great time. We hit the road first thing Thursday morning and rocked the house with our friends at Boise State University later that night, then, on Friday night, we rocked the house again with all of our friends at Family Life Church! Good times for sure!
The thing that stuck out to me the most was this morning at church, looking around, seeing everyone who traveled to Boise, tired for sure, but still remaining faithful to the building of His work at CBC. It’s amazing to belong to a team full of so many great people.
I love that about Generation Unleashed.
It’s not about us. It’s about Him and the building of His work in the local church. We understand that the Lord has opened certain doors to allow us to do certain things, but our home church will never suffer because of it. We want to stay grounded and faithful to CBC, because when it’s all said and done, that’s what matters the most. We want to plant ourselves in the house of God, and we want to stay there.
What can I say? It’s home sweet home. Seattle? We’ll see you Wednesday night!
-JG
Life has been pretty good lately. Busy, but good. It’s a season where I’m finding myself being stretched in every way possible. It’s a good thing, because it’s forcing me to depend on Jesus more than ever before. One thing I’ve quickly learned about ‘Ministry Life’ is that you don’t work normal hours. In fact, you don’t even really view it as work, because deep down in your heart you know it’s your calling. It’s what God’s called you to do. Ya, you get your 40 hours in on the clock, but it doesn’t stop there. You keep working, and you keep working hard.
William Booth once said, “while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight.”
There’s this new passion inside of my heart to fight, and it doesn’t matter what’s in front of me, I will fight until the end. I’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done, because there are people who need to know about Jesus. One day I’m going to be held accountable for how I spent my time here on earth, and I think about all of the people who are dying and going to hell. I want to be able to say that I gave it my all, did my absolute best to build His church and reach everyone I could.
The life I’m now living? It’s not work to me, it’s my calling, and by the grace of God, I’m never going to stop.
I’ll fight.
- Joe
Hey guys, here is a quick update with the new Saving Power CD/DVD!
The GU Saving Power CD/DVD will be in all major Christian book stores and iTunes starting Nov 23rd. You can also get them pre-released on the GU Worship Tour for $11.99. For those of you who pre-registered for the Generation Unleashed 2011 Conference, you will receive your free GU “Saving Power” CD/DVD in the mail the first week of October. Its not too late to pre-register for GU 2011 and get your free pre-release CD/DVD, just go HERE and get registered by November 1st!
Also, if you have any other questions regarding the upcoming worship tour or conference, just let me know! You can reach me at the City Bible Church offices (503.255.2224) or email me at joegaribay@citybiblechurch.org
- Joe
I’m seriously being blown away with everything going on in the Rocky Butte Jr. High ministry right now. It’s really exciting! These kids are so on fire for God. I wish I had their passion for God and the building of His kingdom when I was in Jr. High! For the last three weeks, our numbers have kept growing, and this last week, we had 59 people in the choir room! (It’s the place where we meet on Sunday’s for our Jr. High Tracks) From what I’ve heard, the total head count hasn’t reached 59 in a very long time, so we as a team were pretty stoked! As the team leader, I’m celebrating the win, but deep down in my heart I know this is just the beginning. We’re not settling, we’re not slowing down. If anything, we’re ready and determined to work harder than ever before! I seriously believe the Lord is getting ready to move in a supernatural way in and through these kids and the number 59 will soon be a distant memory. You read it here first, the choir room will one day be too small for the Rocky Butte Jr. High Ministry…
Oh ya, I have the greatest leadership team ever!
Believing it!
- Joe
The one thing I love about our church is that we have a heart to reach people for Christ. Everything we do has the same purpose: to let people know there’s hope that can be found in Jesus Christ. Today, between all four of our campuses, we blitzed our neighborhoods and hung up close to 18,000 door-hangers inviting people to our (Re) Discover Church service that will take place next weekend.
We’re believing for thousands of lives to be touched!
As for now, I’m enjoying the rest of my day by sitting on the couch and watching college football! If you didn’t already know, I’m a die-hard Florida Gator fan! I know, we’re not looking too hot this year, but we’re still 2-0! I believe! I’m curious to see how this Ducks game will play out too, but until this lighting storm that’s going on over there in Tennessee goes away, I’m stuck watching the LSU/Vandy game! Lame…
Believing for great church services all over the world this weekend,
- Joe
GU 2011 is officially underway! Today we had our first official meeting to discuss all of the major details for the conference. It’s going to be AMAZING! I seriously cannot wait. Right now the GU team is working pretty hard to finalize all of the details for our Fall Worship Tour. Eight weeks. Four States. Seven Cities. ONE PURPOSE! October & November are going to be too cool for school! Anyway, you guys have a great weekend. I’m looking forward to a super chill night at home while all of the GU Interns come over for a BBQ. Free food and great friends! Well cool, be excited! Preparation for GU 2011 has started! Let it begin. Oh ya, by the way, check out our worship page to see if we’ll be coming to a city near you. You definitely do NOT want to miss one of our worship nights! Till next time…
- Joe
