Aaron Shipe

I REJOICE THAT BY GOD’S GRACE I WAS RAISED IN A CHRISTIAN HOME where the Bible was not only taught faithfully but lived obediently by my parents. Through their faithful instruction and the faithful preaching of our pastor, I came to realize that I was a rebel who had sinned against a loving but righteous God. I saw that I could never live up to His holy standard and that I needed to trust in Jesus and His death on the cross as the substitute for my sins. As a young child, I repented and trusted in Christ and began to follow Him as my Lord and Savior. In 1985, my family moved to Maryland and we began to attend Calvary Baptist Church. It was here that I was baptized, that I surrendered to the Lord’s call on my life to be a pastor, and that I met and later married my wife Nicole (Dean) Shipe. We both studied at Pensacola Christian college, graduating in 1999. I continued my education at Pensacola Theological Seminary graduating in 2001 with an M.A. in Biblical Exposition. From 2001 to 2003 I served as a youth pastor at Pensacola Baptist Temple, then in the fall of 2003 we returned to Maryland and Calvary Baptist Church where God graciously allowed me to serve as assistant pastor until 2008.

In 2009, we surrendered to the Lord’s direction to go to Tanzania, East Africa where we were blessed to serve as church planting missionaries with GFF until 2021. Nicole and I are so thankful to God for the privilege of raising our 7 children (Colten, Anna, Ben, Alyssa, Erin, Eden, and Hudson) in Tanzania, where we were able to make so many wonderful Tanzanian friends, experience God’s power and protection, and learn to live as pilgrims in a foreign land. We rejoice again at God’s awesome providence that allowed us to return to Calvary Baptist Church in December of 2021 so that I could serve as Pastor of Family Discipleship.

Psalm 5:11 “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.