Gary has served as senior pastor of Aspire Church San Marco since 2008.  A native of Dayton, Ohio, Gary grew up in Jacksonville, graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, and earned a degree in Music Education from Jacksonville University. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Sheri, in 1993, they lost count of God’s many blessings and even found time to raise four amazing children. Answering the call into vocational ministry at the age of 16, Gary first served as a Southside Baptist Church intern and as part-time worship and youth director in a church plant in Ponte Vedra. He then pursued a Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages at Southwestern Seminary, followed by earning a Doctorate of Ministry from Beeson Divinity School in 2015. He has also had the honor of serving as an associate pastor at Milford Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, and Rivertree Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 

In his spare time, Gary reads presidential biographies (and anything else he gets his hands on), enjoys music, and is a regular theater-goer. You may catch him occasionally on community stages. His credits include To Kill a Mockingbird, Les Miserables, and The Sound of Music. And his local directing debut was the Jacksonville premiere of Shadowlands, the story of C.S. Lewis’s married life. Gary and Sheri are avid arts supporters and also share a passion for writing. Their first book, The Music of Christmas, is a devotional commentary for Advent.