Robert C. Gage

Robert Clifford "Bob" Gage (born November 20, 1941) is a Baptist minister and Christian author, who in 2000 became the pastor of the historic First Baptist Church in the City of New York at Broadway and West 79th Street. He resigned from the position effective September 9, 2007.

Gage was born in Beverly in Essex County in northeastern Massachusetts to George V. Gage (1908-1994) and the former Elizabeth B. May (1910-2000). As a teenager, Gage surrendered to Jesus Christ to accept the call of ministry. After high school, he first attended Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga from 1961 to 1962. He transferred to the Philadelphia Biblical University (then Philadelphia College of the Bible) in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. There he received the bachelor of science degree in Bible in 1964. From 1966-1967, he attended Palmer Seminary in Philadelphia (then known as Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary). He thereater received his doctorate in religion from Newport University in Newport Beach, California. He also studied psychology at The New School in Greenwich Village in New York from 1975-1976.

In 1964, Gage was ordained by the conservative General Association of Regular Baptist Churches and became pastor for a year of the Whitehall Baptist Church in Philadelphia. He has held various pastorates, including First Baptist Church of Hackensack, New Jersey, and the Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served from 1979-1988. From 1988 to 1991, Gage was staff evangelist for Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1991, Gage accepted the pastorate of the Haven Baptist Church in Winter Haven, Florida. He also became the administrator of the Haven Christian Academy in 1996. In Hackensack, he had been the founding superintendent of the Hackensack Christian School. He left Florida after nine years to become pastor of the New York City congregation.

A prolific author, Gage founded the Christian Writers League in 1996. He has also done radio broadcasts and authors a newspaper column entitled "Personal Problem Clinic".

Among his books are the following:

"The Birthmarks of the Christian Life" (1976)

"Our Life in Christ" (1978)

"The Pastor's Counseling Workbook" (1983)

"The Pre-Marriage Counseling Workbook" (1984)

"Cultivating Spiritual Fruit"

"Discipleship Evangelism"

"Basic Discipleship"

"Why Me, Lord?"

Gage is also a leader in the "Sword and Shields Ministries and Publications". He stresses faith in Christ, biblical tenets, missions, evangelism, and diverse culture. Regular attendees at FBC in New York come from some twenty-six different countries.

On June 17, 1961, Gage married the former Mary Neefe. The couple has five children.

References

"Who's Who in America", Vol. I (2005)

"Who's Who in Religion" (1992)

"Meet Our Pastor, Dr. Robert C. Gage", brochure of First Baptist Church of the City of New York

http://www.firstbaptist-nyc.org/

http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi