Ehud Garcia

Ehud was born in Araguari, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. He grew up in a Christian home, but wandered from his faith during his teenage years. He came to acknowledge and receive Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord at the age of 22 in a most unexpected way. On his way to an Afro-Brazilian Spiritualist service in a Candomblé center, when parking his car, he noticed a rear window sticker in another car with the verse, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). That was his turning point in life. From then on, Ehud has walked in the presence of his Lord and served Him as an evangelist, a pastor, seminary professor and a missionary. He pursued his theological training in Recife, Brazil, at the Northern Presbyterian Seminary (1979-1982), an institution of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. After serving at the West Goiânia Presbytery in Goiânia, he and his wife Neiva left for the United States to pursue further studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he obtained two graduate degrees, a Th.M. in Missiology ('87) and a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies ('01), both degrees majoring in Mission Theology, Church Growth, and Leadership.

Ehud has extensive cross-cultural experience. He did a missionary internship in Itaituba, Pará State, Brazil, in the thick of the Amazon by the Tapajós River in 1980. He worked in Sertânia and Lajedo, Pernambuco State, and in Monteiro, Paraíba State, during his years in Seminary. In Recife, Ehud taught Hebrew at the Recife Pentecostal Seminary. He also served as Adjunct Secretary for the Synod of Pernambuco's Youth Committee. Along with his good friend and classmate, the Rev. Marcos dos Anjos, he planted a church in Jaboatão, in the outskirts of Recife. Ehud also served as an Evangelist Pastor in the Inhumas Presbyterian Church and as Co-Pastor at the University Presbyterian Church, in Goiânia. During that time he also taught Hebrew and Old Testament studies at the Brasil Central Presbyterian Seminary, also in Goiânia.

During his time at Fuller, Ehud founded the Ebenezer Portuguese Fellowship in Glendale, California. After that, he and Neiva joined O.C. International, a mission organization whose main focus is to equip the Church of Jesus Christ for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. In 1990, Ehud received a call to serve as solo pastor at the Bovill Community Presbyterian Church in Central Northern Idaho. In 1992, Ehud resumed his doctoral studies and also worked as Senior Conference Coordinator for the Continuing Education Department at Fuller Seminary, in Pasadena. From 1996 to 2000, Ehud was the Professor of Intercultural Studies at Prairie Graduate School, in Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. Upon his return to the US in June, 2000, he became the pastor of the Nez Perce Indian Presbyterian Churches in Central Northern Idaho, having served them until the end of 2002.

Ehud is also the founding pastor of the Community Church of Ephrata, in Ephrata, North Central Washington, a congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Ehud's commitment to spread the message about the Mission of God and to teach it has led him to dream about a ministry like Diaspora Intercultural Academy (DIA). His love for missions and teaching has led him to work with Neiva in the designing and founding of DIA in order to educate and train the people of God so that they will be equipped to reach the ends of the Earth. Ehud's life verse is found in Isaiah 66:19,

"I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations--to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations"(NIV).