Gary Erickson

Gary was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1948 to John and Marie Erickson. He had an older brother, LeDean, who is deceased, and has a younger sister, Toinette Floyd, who resides in Shreveport, Louisiana.

His mother, Marie Erickson, was a pastor and church planter. She started three churches—Vowells Mill, Louisiana, Summer Grove, Louisiana, and Greenwood, Louisiana, and pastored churches at Marthaville, Louisiana, Waskom, Texas, and Fairbanks, Alaska. His dad, John, was a carpenter and helped Sis. Erickson with church expansion projects and maintenance needs.

Gary grew up primarily in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attended Texas Bible College after graduating from high school. After one semester, he returned home and married Judy Tullos in 1971. They moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where Gary graduated from the Apostolic Bible Institute in 1975.

They evangelized full-time for one year before being elected pastor of the church in Greenwood, Louisiana, where they served for six years. The church in Abbeville, Louisiana, elected him pastor, and they pastored there for three years.

During these two pastorates, he was bi-vocational—working in the petrochemical industry as a designer and draftsman while pastoring. The New Hebron Pentecostal Church in New Hebron, Mississippi, elected him as a full-time pastor, and he pastored there for 13 years.
He held various sectional and district administrative positions in the UPCI (i.e., Youth Director, World Missions Director, and Sunday School Director).

They moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1998, after being elected General Sunday School Secretary for the UPCI. After serving for five years, he was appointed by the General Board to the office of General Sunday School Director and served in that capacity for nine years.
While living in St. Louis, Gary earned a Master of Theological Studies from Urshan Graduate School of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry from Covenant Theological Seminary.

After being asked to serve as the Director of Library Services, Theological Librarian, and Professor at Urshan College and Urshan Graduate School of Theology, he went back to school and earned a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Missouri.
He authored 22 books and booklets, wrote for the Word Aflame Adult Sunday School Literature for 25 years, and served as chairman of the Curriculum Committee for Word Aflame Sunday School Literature for nine years. He led seven Holy Land tours and ministered in South Africa, Malawi, Venezuela, Guatemala, Italy, England, Bolivia, and several Canadian provinces. Also, he has written numerous articles for periodicals and symposia.

The Ericksons have two children—Jason Erickson and Kayla Nation. Jason passed away at the age of 31 years. Kayla is married to Greg Nation and is a respiratory therapist at St. Joseph Hospital in O'Fallon, Missouri. Judy earned a Master of Education from the University of Missouri and worked for the Church Division at the UPCI headquarters in Weldon Spring, Missouri.

They currently live in a villa in Cottleville, Missouri, with their Miniature Schnauzer, Sadie.