I was fortunate to have great parents and grandparents that raised me in church. I honestly don’t remember not being in church every week. At the age of 9, I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. When I was 16, a friend asked me to go to the alter with her at a youth event I helped chaperone. Little did she know I needed to go forward as well. You see, there were times I had doubts about my salvation. I left all those at the alter at the Youth Encounter in Illinois where I lived until 2017.
Music has always been a large part of my worship and I was fortunate to sing with the Victory Singers Gospel Quartet for 13 years. I am so thankful for being raised around music. My mother sang in a gospel quartet as well when I was growing up and I had the pleasure of singing bass in the church choir next to my grandpa. I am so honored to get to play the piano and sing at EMBC.
When I was 26 and a newlywed, East Salem Baptist Church gave me the opportunity to serve as a Deacon. I felt very called to this and have been able to serve as a Deacon at East Salem, North Benton Baptist Church, McLeansboro First General Baptist Church and EMBC. It is such an honor to be installed as an Elder at EMBC in 2021.
In 2016, I went through Created to Be God’s Friend bible study with a friend. God challenged me to spend more time doing things with eternal value. I had given God most of me, but still wanted to be “in charge” of many aspects of my life. I surrendered and asked God to use me. Shortly after this, Robin and I heard of jobs in North Carolina. We had never considered moving East, but prayed and told God to open the door wide, or close it shut. The longer story can be found by searching “Life Journey 101 - Gibbs Move East” on Facebook. In the matter of three and a half months, God gave us jobs, found us a home, sold our house in Illinois, and brought us to EMBC to serve. On Easter Sunday 2017, we walked into EMBC and knew we were HOME! We have not doubted where God brought us a single moment since that Sunday.
To contact Eric, please email: gibbsericduane@gmail.com