Truth78 announced today new leadership to pursue a vision for the discipleship of the next generations, naming David Michael as Executive Director and Gary Brewer as Director of International Resource Development.
David, along with his wife Sally, founded what is now Truth78 in 1998 as Children Desiring God. Over the past 20 years, David guided the ministry while serving as Pastor for Parenting and Children’s Discipleship at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then as Pastor for the Next Generations at College Park Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
As full-time Executive Director, David will lead the ministry in advancing the Psalm 78 mandate to teach the next generations, “so that they should set their hope in God.” His primary concern is to help the North America Church be serious and effective in discipling the next generation and to help the Global Church with God-centered resources for children and youth.
“While the Church in North America has access to a wealth of resources and facilities for children and youth ministry programming,” David says, “unprecedented numbers of children and youth growing up in those churches do not continue in the church as adults and, more seriously, do not walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ.” David believes this is owing in part to the absence of a biblical vision and strategy for raising the next generation in the truth. Truth78’s mission is to inspire, influence, equip, and support the Church to pursue her God-given mandate to disciple the next generation with faithful intentionality, purpose, and fruitfulness.
“The Global Church faces this same need for vision and purpose without access to the resources they need for the instruction of their children and youth in the truth,” says David. “For more than two decades, Truth78 has been committed to supporting the translation and distribution of resources for the discipleship of the next generation so that every tribe and tongue will ‘set their hope in God.’”
To that end, Gary Brewer joins Truth78 as International Director of Resource Development after more than 35 years of missions-focused ministry. Gary served with Baptist Mid-Missions for 24 years and with Bibles International for 15 years as Projects Manager, where he was responsible for managing 25 Bible translations projects and language research around the world.
In 2008, Gary founded the nonprofit ministry Partners in Discipleship International (PDI) to focus on the great global need for children’s discipleship materials, partnering with Children Desiring God (now Truth 78) to translate and publish curriculum and booklets in languages spoken in Myanmar, India, and Thailand.
As Director of International Resource Development, Gary will oversee all translation work and international printing and distribution contracts. He will also establish international training programs that inspire a biblical vision of ministry to the next generations, as well as effective and practical implementation of children’s discipleship resources.
With many Truth78 resources already available in Spanish, Gary will guide growth in various parts of Latin America, including El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and new opportunities being explored in Honduras, Mexico, and Cuba. In addition, he will be supporting existing translation projects in Korean, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Burmese, Falam Chin, Paite, Manipuri, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, French, and Romanian.
David and Gary serve on Truth78’s executive team, which has been restructured to better fulfill the organization’s mission.
David, along with his wife Sally, founded what is now Truth78 in 1998 as Children Desiring God. Over the past 20 years, David guided the ministry while serving as Pastor for Parenting and Children’s Discipleship at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then as Pastor for the Next Generations at College Park Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
As full-time Executive Director, David will lead the ministry in advancing the Psalm 78 mandate to teach the next generations, “so that they should set their hope in God.” His primary concern is to help the North America Church be serious and effective in discipling the next generation and to help the Global Church with God-centered resources for children and youth.
“While the Church in North America has access to a wealth of resources and facilities for children and youth ministry programming,” David says, “unprecedented numbers of children and youth growing up in those churches do not continue in the church as adults and, more seriously, do not walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ.” David believes this is owing in part to the absence of a biblical vision and strategy for raising the next generation in the truth. Truth78’s mission is to inspire, influence, equip, and support the Church to pursue her God-given mandate to disciple the next generation with faithful intentionality, purpose, and fruitfulness.
“The Global Church faces this same need for vision and purpose without access to the resources they need for the instruction of their children and youth in the truth,” says David. “For more than two decades, Truth78 has been committed to supporting the translation and distribution of resources for the discipleship of the next generation so that every tribe and tongue will ‘set their hope in God.’”
To that end, Gary Brewer joins Truth78 as International Director of Resource Development after more than 35 years of missions-focused ministry. Gary served with Baptist Mid-Missions for 24 years and with Bibles International for 15 years as Projects Manager, where he was responsible for managing 25 Bible translations projects and language research around the world.
In 2008, Gary founded the nonprofit ministry Partners in Discipleship International (PDI) to focus on the great global need for children’s discipleship materials, partnering with Children Desiring God (now Truth 78) to translate and publish curriculum and booklets in languages spoken in Myanmar, India, and Thailand.
As Director of International Resource Development, Gary will oversee all translation work and international printing and distribution contracts. He will also establish international training programs that inspire a biblical vision of ministry to the next generations, as well as effective and practical implementation of children’s discipleship resources.
With many Truth78 resources already available in Spanish, Gary will guide growth in various parts of Latin America, including El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and new opportunities being explored in Honduras, Mexico, and Cuba. In addition, he will be supporting existing translation projects in Korean, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Burmese, Falam Chin, Paite, Manipuri, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, French, and Romanian.
David and Gary serve on Truth78’s executive team, which has been restructured to better fulfill the organization’s mission.
- Brian Eaton, who has faithfully served as Executive Director for the past 13 years, will become Director of Customer Relations and Operations where he can expand the ministry’s partnership with churches.
- Steve Watters, who joined Truth78 in 2018 as Director of Communications, will expand into the role of Director of Marketing and Resource Development.
- Sally Michael and Jill Nelson, who have written most of the Truth78 resources, will continue in primary writing roles, while also serving respectively as Director of Publishing and Training and Director of Content Development.
Upcoming efforts toward Truth78’s vision for the North American and Global Church include hosting the “From Childhood You Have Known” Conference (October 18-19 in Louisville, Kentucky), production of the More Than a Story children’s Bible resource, and the development of more training resources for the church and home.
Standing with Truth78 and helping to make these initiatives possible is an increasing number of “next generation partners” who have committed to praying big, bold, biblical prayers for the next generation and providing ongoing financial support for this mission. Recently, these partners helped Truth78 meet a $270,000 goal in a three-month campaign that concluded on September 1. “We’re encouraged that supporters of this vision of discipleship for the next generation not only helped us meet our summer goal but actually exceeded it with contributions that will go toward the larger overall annual need that we’re still trusting the Lord to provide,” David shares.
“Looking back on the 21 years since this ministry began, we have witnessed remarkable evidence of God’s grace and favor, and now are looking ahead with confidence that this undeserved grace and favor will continue for the exciting opportunities and challenges before us,” says David. “In the end, may our Savior find us faithful to teach the truth to our children so ‘that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments’ (Psalm 78:6-7).”
