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Instructor Information
Garland Owensby was raised in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. He attended
Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God in Lakeland, Florida, earning a B.A. in
Pastoral Ministries.
For one year following graduation, Garland ministered as a children's/teen evangelist with Don Triplett and the Castillo del Rey team in El Salvador, Central America. A highlight of the year was leading over 400 students in spreading the gospel to over 150,000 people in just 3 days.
Following the missions experience, Garland married Tiffani Hester of Bartow, Florida and the two began a life of ministry together. They first youth pastored at Northside Assembly of God, Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The group saw tremendous growth as well as discipleship and evangelistic involvement.
In 1993, Garland and Tiffani accepted the youth pastorate of First Assembly of God, Ocala, Florida. This group also saw great growth both in spiritual and numerical matters. Speed the Light giving quadrupled during his 4 1/2 years of ministry there. His family also experienced growth as his son Austin was born in April of 1997. Garland is pleased the most with the number of students that were called into full-time ministry while he youth pastored in Ocala. Many are in full-time ministry or training for it at this time. The family welcomed identical twin boys Bryson and Logan in 2000.
In 1998, Garland completed his Master of Science in Practical Theology from Southwestern Assemblies of God University. The Fall of 1998 was his first semester as Youth Ministries Coordinator for SAGU. He is dedicated to wquipping young men and women for a lifetime of ministry to youth. During his time at Southwestern he has developed the SAGU Youth Ministries web site resource for youth workers which contains hundreds of web links and downloadable resources.
In 2005 Garland completed a Doctor of Educational Ministries degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ft. Worth, TX. The project assisted students to incorporate classic spiritual disciplines into their lives. The project can be found at www.Soulrest.com.
Garland also frequently travels doing stand-up comedy! He has performed for groups of 20-900 with his killer act. His unique sense of humor had always been a part of his ministry, but now he performs all the funny stuff at one time!
Owensby has contributed to YouthWorker Journal, Group Magazine, Youth Leader Magazine, The Ocala Star Banner, the Youth Specialties/Zondervan book "Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks 3" edited by Wayne Rice and most recently a feature article in Group Magazine entitled "UnCommon Communion." He has also been a frequent speaker at District Youth Conferences and national youth ministries.
Garland is available to speak for your youth services, volunteer leader training, seminars, retreats, sectional rallies, camps, and consultation. If he can be of service, do not hesitate to contact him at gowensby@sagu.edu or 1(888) YES-SAGU x4717