Written by Steve Wong

Photos submitted by Hannah Green

 

 

The headquarters for Gospel Express Ministries (GEM) is a building that is easy to overlook. It is a more-than-modest modern office space with a partial rock facade, and it sits curbside along where West Mills St. turns into Lynn Rd., just out of the city limits of Columbus, around the curve from Isothermal Community College, as you’re headed to Tryon. GPSs tend to get confused when trying to locate it.

 

It is from this unimpressive and low-key place of business that a network of Christians has touched the lives and — more importantly the souls — of tens of thousands of people around the world.

 

To understand what GEM is all about, humanists and secularists might first have to look beyond the exterior of self-imposed modesty, exemplified by its executive director and evangelist, Nelson Coblentz, and his staff. He is a small-framed and slim man of 66 with snow-white close-cropped hair with a matching beard. He admits he looks older than he actually is. He is quietly sincere, the kind of man who would rather give credit than take it. He’ll give it to his staff, his family, his friends, the volunteers, the other evangelists, the musicians, the doctors, the nurses, and most off all to Jesus Christ. Just to be clear, most of all to Jesus Christ.

When not holding a microphone to sing or preach the Gospel, Coblentz chooses his words carefully in trying to explain — and almost down play — the complex web of humanitarian efforts of a few hundred people who improve the lives of the world’s most desperate citizens: the prisoner, the oppressed, the ignorant, the dirty, the hungry, the sick, and the dying. He often quotes scripture, relying on the word of God to fill in the blanks when he feels his own words might fall short of the glory.

However, behind the veil of modesty are some simple truths: Gospel Express Ministries is a $1.5 million, non-profit enterprise founded by a man with an eighth grade education. He grew up in a “modest” Amish family of 12 children. He drove a horse and buggy until he was 18 years old. Then he was an alcoholic who was in and out of prison. He answered the Lord’s calling in 1974, and ever since he, and all those he gives credit to, have moved steadily toward building an organization that on the surface tends to the immediate needs of those in dire straits, but in actuality turns them to Christian salvation.
And that is the fine point of understanding that Coblentz strives to make at all times: feeding, clothing, healing and teaching are all means to the ultimate end of connecting people with the Christian God. Coblentz believes it is human nature for people to want to help others who are in need. It makes them feel personally good. But that is only the beginning of the process, he explained, that eventually leads people to do good work, not to make themselves or those less fortunate feel better, but to help others find spiritual salvation. It is a finer point of theological understanding that requires more than just food, medicine, and toe-tapping Christian music performed by families bond by blood or kindred spirit.
“The most important thing is that it really is not us who are thinking of any of these things,” Coblentz said. “It is Jesus Christ who said…
‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink? And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.’” (Matthew 25: 34-40)

 

On the practical level, GEM has more irons in the fire than Satan has pitchforks in hell. Twenty-two years ago, Coblentz and his wife Sarah started their ministry in Lancaster County, Pa. Very quickly, the work and network grew, especially in the prisons across North America. Simply for better logistics, the Coblentz family moved south in 2000 to Columbus, which they considered to be a better geographical location for spreading the Gospel.

Now, at any given time, the staff is sending out self-published Bible study booklets to thousands of convicts in North America. This project alone requires dozens of volunteers who actually grade the student-prisoners and award them valuable certificates of accomplishment. They coordinate, aid, and assist in old-fashioned tent revivals. They are in prisons, spreading the Gospel through song, sermon, and even dramatizations.
In 1997, GEM went international and began mission work in Ghana, Africa. They have since spread out to Uganda, Mexico, and Belize. They provide food, medicine, education, manual labor to all in need, noting the special awareness of parentless children and HIV victims. Last year, Coblentz was abroad five times, but through the network, there is always someone somewhere spreading the Gospel. Locally, Coblentz and his family attend the Mennonite-based Foothills Community Chapel on Landrum Road in Columbus.

Despite the outward appearance of grassroots discipleship, GEM is a righteous machine, churning out Christian-themed books, pamphlets, music CDs, websites, newsletters, audio files of sermons, crusades, videos, blogs, anger-management programs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, and spin-off sister ministries/organizations, such as the Biblical counseling center Door of Hope, which resides in the same building as GEM.

 

Unlike many non-profit organizations that wear their frugalness and fundraising efforts like badges of honor, GEM simply stays its course of doing good work and looks and feels secure — if not down right middle-class average. Money, like manna, comes to them when they need it, and fundraising takes a far backseat to the work at hand. The donate link on the website is the smallest block on the homepage, found in the lowest right hand corner. No one in the organization carries the title “Director of Fundraising/Giving.” When Coblentz does ask for money, his personal sticky note to the letter usually says, “Most importantly, pray for us.”

This coming May and June, GEM will return to Uganda, having just returned in January. In a two-page newsletter-like report entitled “Refugee Crisis,” GEM reported that more than 100,000 refugees from Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, and Congo have poured into Uganda since 2013 to escape ethnic violence.

 

Over the years, Coblentz has seen many things that have left him both humbled and inspired. He has learned that despite the different cultures he’s encountered, the emotional and spiritual needs of people are strikingly similar.

 

“It has helped me understand how absolutely blessed we are in America,” he said.

 

He has seen people who had nothing, having to drink obviously dirty water. He has had children die in his arms.

 

His usually strong and direct voice dropped to a cracking whisper: “When you see that, you can’t turn your back and walk away.”

 

 

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