G l o r i a S l o a n

On steady ground Text and photos by Denise McGill

l International Mission Board mission-ary Gloria Sloan is exhausted after a long day. Life has changed drastically for her and her family since her husband and daughter, shown in photos, died in a swim ming accident in 1999.

l People still enjoy the waters of Playa Linda—translated Beautiful Beach— scene of the accident which claimed the lives of IMB missionary Gary Sloan, his daughter Carla and two young summer mis-sionaries.

“My calling did not end on that beach when Gary and Carla died. Gary completedwhat it was that God had called him to do. I have not.”

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010517583–284/C separated as b/wTunisia/MJonesWINDOW SIZE: 46p6 X 32p1

Left l The Sloans are a musical family. They frequently hold mini-concerts at home. Gloria plays the piano while son Alan, 6 (from left), and daughters Rissa, 8, and Alyssia, 12, accompany her.

omething was desper-ately wrong. Gloria Sloan rushed toward the panicked

screams of her children. Soon she stood over the body of her daughter Carla.

Wet. Limp. Lips blue. Gloria knew she was dead.

Gloria doubled over, unable to breathe. A beach birthday party had turned tragic in an instant. In her pain, she could only manage to cry out to God.

“The miracle happened after that,” says Gloria. She says she could physically feel the presence of Jesus.

“It’s like the Father said, ‘That’s all I need to know is that you need me.’ My body raised. I could breathe again. I felt such a strength and power and control. I looked down at my daughter, and I had such a peace.”

She cradled her 11-year-old’s body in her arms as rescue efforts continued.

Three other people drowned that day. Besides Carla, Gloria lost her husband, Gary, and two young missionaries from the United States, Joy Murphy and John Weems.

Playa Linda, the beautiful beach along which they died, is a common swimming spot on Mexico’s Pacific coast. An intense undertow had swept Carla out to sea. As others rushed to save her, they were over-come themselves. Eventually their bodies lay in the sand.

That afternoon, June 18, 1999, the Holy Spirit poured out, and Gloria’s character was defined. As people gathered to wit-ness the tragedy, Gloria stood over the bodies of her loved ones and preached.

“I told the people the pain I felt because of the loss of my husband and daughter was not as much pain as I felt for the true lostness of those standing around me,”

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“I told the people the pain I felt because of the loss of my husband and daughter was not as much pain as I felt for the true lostness of those standing around me.”

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Above l Since her return to Mexico after Gary’s death, Gloria has been training church workers. Many of them will teach Backyard Bible Clubs and Vacation Bible Schools. The demands on a single mother and full-time missionary aren’t easy. Her son, Alan, interrupts one of her training sessions.

she says.She told them Carla and Gary were

standing in God’s presence at that mo-ment and seeing God’s face.

“What if you were the ones laying here? Would you know you would be in God’s presence?”

Gary Sloan, 37, had been athletic, driv-en and missions-minded. “I knew we were going to be married as soon as I met him,” recalls Gloria.

As a young couple, they planted Hi s-panic churches in Texas. They established three before they were ready for their life-long goal—overseas missions service.

Gary and Gloria brought their four children, Carla, Alyssia, Rissa and Alan to Tapachula, Mexico, in January 1999 as new International Mission Board mis-

sionaries. The transition was natural for Gloria, a native of El Salvador.

“Our time in Tapachula was like a dream,” says Gloria. “Gary was like a kid with a new toy. He would say to me, ‘I can’t believe we’re here doing what we al ways wanted.’”

After 10 years of preparation for this, they served only six months together be-fore that fateful birthday party. Gloria buried her husband and daughter in Mexico and returned to Texas to heal.

Soon, to astonished friends and family, she announced she was ready to get back to work on the field, single-handed, with Alan, Alyssia and Rissa in tow. They were back in Mexico by December, almost six months later.

It never occurred to Gloria not to return.“My calling did not end on that beach

when Gary and Carla died,” she says. “Gary completed what it was that God had called him to do. I have not.”

They now live in the Toluca Valley—high in the mountains above Mexico City—where Gloria leads a children’s

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She told them Carla and Gary were seeing God’s face. “What if you werethe ones laying here? Would you know you would be in God’s presence?”

Below l Gloria brings a great deal of enthusiasm to her training sessions. They are part of a strategy to use chil-dren’s ministry as the basis for starting a church-planting movement in the Toluca Valley near Mexico City.

Continued from page 29.

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Above l There is an urgency in Gloria’s step. When they first came to the mission field, she and Gary thought they would spend their entire lives in one place. In a sense, Gary did. Now, she plans to finish

Gary Sloan’s legacy“I think we should work like we don’t have enough time to work. We cannot afford to think we have a whole lifetime.”

her work in the Toluca Valley within three years, then move on. There are too many places with too many needs for her to stay longer. She will train others in ministry, then move to where others need training.

welve years ago Baptists in Chiapas, Mexico, prayed for a missionary to help them share Christ with their peo-ple; 12 years ago God called

Gary Sloan to be come that missionary.It took 10 years for Gary and his wife,

Gloria, to reach Chiapas, but together they made up for lost time. Gary sprang into action. Mexican Bap tists were eager to learn. He made a six-month blitz visit-ing every pastor he could find along the Chiapas coastline, learning about their work and encouraging them.

His relentlessness made an impression on them.

Leslie Ortiz, now a Baptist leader, says that Gary came to them “as a servant.” He and others say Gary possessed a wis-dom beyond his years and was deeply committed to prayer.

Gary listened with respect and im-parted a God-given vision of how Christ could change the coastal communities, says Leslie. His convictions were infec-tious.

Antonio Perez was a young lay pastor with little education, but a huge heart for Jesus. When Gary started a pastors’ prayer meeting, Antonio walked three miles each way to participate. Gary soon became his best friend and mentor.

The meeting grew into a study group, and the pastors began to turn to each other for mutual support and coopera-tion. They had caught Gary’s vision and developed a sense of unity. Two years af-ter Gary’s death, they still meet weekly.

On June 17, 1999, Gary met with them and shared his strategy for planting churches in the region. A key component was a Bible institute which would hold weekend classes in various locations so that Christian leaders could have easy ac-cess to training.

Gary drowned the next day.“Mexicans couldn’t accept that the

plan ended with Gary’s death,” says Leslie.

They brought it to the Regional Con-vention of Baptists of Southern Chiapas, which acted on Gary’s proposal by es-tablishing the Gary Sloan Bible Institute.

With help from Baptist partners in the United States, it recently graduated its first class of 34 students.

For Antonio, the Sloan institute has had a tremendous impact on his life.

Seminary was impossible for him. He has little education and must work to sup-port his large family. His pastoral duties often were relegated to his spare time. And before the institute opened, it was even more difficult to study and address all the challenges he faced.

A member of the first graduating class, the institute made it possible for Antonio to gain an education and prepare for the challenge of ministry.

“The institute has been a huge bless-ing to me,” he says emphatically.

There is a sense that even in death, Gary continues to mentor him. Antonio was not only in the first graduating class, he is the first missionary ap point ed by the Gary Sloan Mission Agency.

The agency is also part of the proposal Gary shared with the pastors. It, too, was adopted by the Chiapas convention.

With Antonio, Gary’s dream of Mexi-can Baptists reproducing themselves is be com ing a reality.

Southern Baptists in the United States are helping to birth the fledgling Bible school through limited partnerships. A church and two associations are sup-porting the school and two missionaries for two years. Volunteers make frequent trips to offer encouragement and behind-the-scenes guid ance. All is intended to help Mexican Baptists eventually be-come self-sustaining.

In 1998 Antonio led a small congrega-tion of 25 Baptists in a staunchly Catholic town. When he left last year it had 100 members. He now ministers in a town where the chants of witchcraft ring through the streets each night.

There is much work to do. But he is equipped for the task.

So far, more than 200 new believers have been reached through institute graduates, and 15 new churches have be-gun in less than a year. At least two U.S. churches and one in El Salvador are part-nering with the churches in Chiapas.

“When Gary’s life ended,” says Eu-genio Alforo, the Sloans’ pastor while they were in Chiapas, “God’s plan con-tinued.”

There are no plans to send any further International Mission Board personnel to Chiapas.

“IMB missionaries are not need-ed,” says Gloria. “The job that the IMB and Southern Baptists entrust-

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Above l Alyssia Sloan enjoys a swim, one of the Sloan children’s many after-school activities. The Sloans have always been strong swimmers.

For now, Gloria feels at peace. The children are happy, and people are comingto the Lord—all signs that she is in God’s will.

Above l Gloria (left) leads a study for women interested in learning more about the Bible in the home of her neighbor, Mari-sol Arcega. Most of the women who attend

are from the neighborhood. Most were raised Catholic. Marisol, who lives next door to the Sloans, recently accepted Christ while attending a similar study.

Top l Beneath photographs of Carla are drawings she made of Christ. She was only 10 years old when she made them and al-ready a budding artist.

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ministry. Here she finds the same sense of purpose that she had when she and Gary first went to Mexico, but with a twist.

In her first assignment, she planned to spend her entire life in one place. Now she feels she can’t afford the luxury of anywhere for too long. There’s too much to do.

She has given herself three years to fin-ish the work here. After that, “I should not be needed anymore,” she says, not excluding the possibility of transferring to another area. She has a personal goal to

Below l Antonio Perez was one of Gary Sloan’s best friends. He is a lay pastor who was closely mentored by Gary. Antonio is now one of the first missionaries commis-sioned by his convention.

share Jesus Christ with a specific number of people.

“I think we should work like we don’t have enough time to work. We cannot af-ford to think we have a whole lifetime.”

By no means is life easy. She still grieves and experiences loneliness. She juggles kids and work and being the deci-sion maker.

Even now when she faces hard times, “My mind goes back to that moment in the sand holding my baby, and I know God can handle anything.

“I have come to understand the verse that His strength is made perfect in me.”l

The photographer/writer can be reached by e-mail at pikchergirl@pobox.com.

Continued on page 38.

Above l People celebrate, have picnics and clean up graves in a cemetery during the Day of the Dead, a traditional Catholic holiday. Gary and Carla Sloan are buried

in the cemetery. The plaque on their head-stone was donated by the Coastal Chiapas Baptist Convention. The convention also maintains the grave.

There is a sense that even in death, Gary continues to mentor. “When Gary’slife ended, God’s plan continued.”

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Insights for prayerl Alan, 6, has fewer “blue crying days” than he did a year ago. He and his mom have worked out a system for relieving the separation anxiety that plagued him when she left the house. As she drives around the block, he watches from strategic windows where he can see her and wave as she goes down the street. There are four lookout points, and he never misses one.

l Alyssia is 12 and the oldest. She helped Carla teach preschoolers in Sunday School when she was only 7 and recently led a friend in Mexico to the Lord. Her birthday will always mark the death of her father and sister.

l Rissa is 8, and when she talks about herself says ,“I am a pilgrim.”

l Before Alan says his good-night prayers, Gloria holds him close and slow dances around the bedroom: Gloria “You’re my big boy. Not too big for me to hold. You’ll pick me up someday.” Alan “Like Daddy.” Gloria “Yes, like Daddy. He used to pick me up, and I would scream for him to put me down.” Alan “You and Daddy used to kiss, and I didn’t like it.” Gloria “You would make a funny face, but Daddy laughed.” Alan “I like it when you kiss me.”

l For now, Gloria feels at peace. The children are happy, and people are coming to the Lord—all signs that she is in God’s will. “I take every opportunity to share what happened because I want to glorify the Father until the day I die.”

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. —2 Timothy 1:7, NIVCall upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me. —Psalm 50:15, NIV l

Above l While Alan sleeps, Gloria works long into the night on a quilt for a Sloan family reunion. Alan nearly always sleeps with her or one of his sisters. In the past, Gloria says her bedroom was the first room of the house to be decorated. But not this time. Even though they have lived in the house several months, the room is almost bare. Gary’s diploma from seminary and his graduation photo sit in a corner.