Gregg D. Garner
Institute for GOD Intl Founder and President
Gregg Garner is the Founder, President/CEO, and Distinguished Professor of the Institute for GOD.
Gregg has served as President, member of the Board of Trustees and faculty member since founding the school in 2004.
Gregg, the son of Michael and Trinidad Garner, was born on a military base in North Carolina and raised in Fillmore, California. Gregg spent a portion of his childhood in the Philippines where his mother is from and where his family served as missionaries.
While in college at Azusa Pacific, Gregg led worship and Bible Study events for thousands of young people in Southern California. There he began several community service initiatives including food and clothing distribution, athletic camps and music performances. Gregg joined APU mission teams to Mexico and Kenya, and then, at the encouragement of Don Rodgers with Empowering Lives International, began to lead teams. On these early teams, Gregg was joined by Jason Roufs and Tara (Bishop) Garner, Gregg’s wife, who continue in service with GOD International today, as well as the late Robert Munoz.
Background & Formation
These college mission experiences, combined with his childhood in the Philippines, ignited a passion to see missions done right. In working with and researching hundreds of other organizations, he saw an overwhelming number of missionaries retiring early because of a lack of preparation, a lack of education, and a failure to get along with other missionaries. Frustrated with the “best efforts” he saw, Gregg began G.O.D.(Global Outreach Developments) International, a formal 501-c-3 nonprofit that carried out biblical service to the marginalized, stateside and continuing in Mexico and Kenya.
Gregg and Tara married and committed to serve God in Kenya, raising $3000 a month for 3 years. God interrupted their plans, waking Gregg one night with the word “Go to Nashville instead and I’ll send many more in your place.”
Gregg and Tara had never been to Nashville. They didn’t know anyone in the city or have jobs lined up, but they obeyed God’s calling, even when their support dwindled to $150 for 3 months. Gregg began teaching Bible and Math at a local high school and Tara began a job as a social worker. Gregg started a band called UnNamed Servant, which toured and led thousands of young people in worship.
High school students and youth who came to hear UnNamed Servant play became the first Institute students in 2004. Gregg’s father served as the initial Academic Dean of the school. Together they authored and taught a majority of the courses at the Institute. From the start, the mission of the college was to teach God’s Word and prepare students to serve God on the mission field.
“Go to Nashville instead and I’ll send many more in your place.”
The “many more” today
Today, 96 students have graduated from the Institute.
96% of them are still involved in missions 5 and 10 years after graduation, and we anticipate many more years of the same.
160 students are currently being equipped to serve God on the mission field with our unique blend of biblical education with integrated mission experiences in the third world environment. God has truly made good on his promise to send many more into the world as a result of Gregg and Tara’s obedience to his call. Today, GOD Intl has campuses in Latin America (El Salvador), East Africa (Uganda), South East Asia (The Philippines), and India.
Expertise & Research
Gregg’s gifts are many, and he has used these them to shape the spirituality, strategic initiatives, and the cirriculum of both the Biblical Studies and Community Development program.
Gregg is proficient in Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Warai-Warai, Hindi, Kiembu, Luganda, and Kingala, along with biblical Hebrew and Greek. He has continued to lead mission teams throughout Latin America, East Africa, South East Asia, and India, training thousands of young people in third world development methods and practices and establishing the international hubs for GOD Intl in El Salvador, Uganda, The Philippines, and India. He continues his position as the CEO of GOD Intl where he gives vision for its missions strategy and approach.
Academically, he has done extensive research on generational studies. His law degree has enabled Gregg to help support and protect the work of GOD Intl and the Institute in its complex framework. Gregg’s love and knowledge of God’s Word and his ability to appropriate it is the consistent thread that draws students to the Institute.
Gregg has been involved in ministry since his teenage years, and continues to lead the GOD Intl Community as the lead pastor. He preaches, teaches, leads worship, plans and facilitates events and meetings, and counsels individuals, couples, and work teams on a regular basis.
Gregg’s songwriting led to UnNamed Servant releasing four full length studio albums between 2002 and 2010. He continues to lead worship for G.O.D. community gatherings and Institute chapels and events. Gregg is also a sought-after playwright. He has written, directed and produced four original plays and two full length musicals. His first original musical, ALIEN: The Musical, a story about immigration, was performed at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and as a part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series at Vanderbilt University. Institute students and staff appear regularly in his plays.
Gregg is a serial entrepreneur who has initiated several different businesses in the Nashville area. These businesses work in collaboration with the Institute to offer a job to any student who wants one, as soon as they move on campus. This business network includes audio and video production, health care, construction, food and hospitality, graphic design, birth services, and more. This comprehensive network helps the Institute ensure none of its students graduate with debt, and offers flexibility for students to go on mission trips throughout the year.
Gregg says his greatest accomplishment is his family. Tara serves as his greatest encouragement in life.
Tara’s passion for maternal health has had a significant influence in the efforts of GOD Intl as well into the Institute’s curriculum. The Institute for GOD is one of the only Bible colleges that offers a Maternal Health emphasis, equipping women to help fight the biggest leading cause of death in the world: childbirth. Tara’s influence and education has paved the way for six midwives and more than three dozen doulas and childbirth educators to serve women without discrimination at our Nashville base and throughout the developing world. (For more, see NOVA Birth Services).
Gregg and Tara have five children and live in Nashville.