My Story
In September of 1970, I was the eleventh child added to a farm family in Eastern South Dakota . I broke the tie. My parents already had 5 boys and 5 girls. Nope, the boys didn’t win. Two more girls joined to fold by 1974. But shortly after the last baby was born, my Dad at age 40 passed away from lung cancer.
Can you imagine a young mother of thirteen mouths and 900 acres under her care? Back then, families still took care of one another, and our neighbors and friends pitched in for several years helping us avoid hunger.
Somehow, we made it work with a small amount of incivility. We all knew we were loved by our Mom, faithfully went to Sunday worship, and kept family and relationships above non-important worldly ideals. Most families did back then.
For me, it took a while to recover from Dad’s death. I remember in Junior High a friend asked if I knew that man (my Dad) in the graduating class of 1951. Honestly, he had no clue, and yet I was pretty disturbed he found the needle in the haystack. This anger enabled my pursuit to a party life style and many mistakes.
By the end of my Senior year in High School in 1988, I started to re-think everything I knew, even God’s existence. To put it frankly, God wasn’t very high on my list since he took my Dad (at least that’s what I thought). Life was about sports and girls, and working hard, of course.
The Gauer Family, most likely taken in 1972, sitting on our front steps.
There was just something about those vacuum cleaners.
After High School graduation, I found myself in the middle of Basic Training when something extraordinary happened; God started speaking to me.
That’s right! Now, I didn’t hear an audible voice (that would be fun), nor did I know it was God. Regardless, these thoughts made their way into my intellect, had a deeper meaning, begging me to answer the riddle – does God truly exist.
In January of 1989, in pursuit of the truth about God’s existence, I decided to step out in faith and attend a christian retreat named S.E.A.R.C.H. It was that weekend the paved the rest of my faith walk. Through the talks and testimonies, there could only be one conclusion!
A couple years after the retreat, I decided it was time to commit my life to Christ. For a Catholic, I wasn’t sure what that meant. Nevertheless, it was time!
Here Comes the Holy Spirit!
In January of 1990, I did it. My life was committed to the person of Jesus Christ. I guess I became on of those Jesus freaks. My home town community was not giving me the vibe, at least my party friends.
Six weeks after my decision, I fell into a pit of sin. A huge pit. The next morning I woke up pondering how this happened. Sitting in that awful brown chair and starring at the wall, I tried to figure out what went wrong. Then God spoke to me:
“You do not have the power to live the Christian Life”! He was right! How do I get the power? I had no clue.
So, I found a rosary at the local Newman center and began praying to have a “God Experience”, you know, to get the power. I had no clue what was about to happen.
“God speaks to you”?
At that moment it began, the realization that God not only existed, but He is Alive and speaking to other people. Maybe it was God putting these thoughts in my head the whole time.
After a 17 minute exchange, he said a quick prayer and took me to a place where people were already praying. That night, on March 25, 1990, a great Catholic Feast day, something happened to me. While the people layed hands on me, the Holy Spirit came into my life and brought peace and love. It was amazing. Life Changing!
I knew without a doubt God was real and He loved me. It was obvious. God by the power of the Holy Spirit came into my life in a way I could have never predicted.
Three weeks later, practicing snare drum (I wanted to be Bon Jovi’s drummer) a young man began talking to me about God. It was strange, out of the blue. He shared with me all the things Jesus was doing for him in his life.
And it was then, a strange look came upon his face, and he asked me: “Do you have this sin problem (Ah, I won’t tell you, sorry) in your life? Well, he was right. I asked, “How did you know that”? “God told me”.
Glen and Jamie married in 2005 and founded Mission Blueprint twelve years later. Mission Blueprint is a ministry charged to help men and women experience the Power of God in their lives. Check out his latest blog on this website.
What Can I Do for You?
I’m a public speaker!
I provide a Conference Experience!
I mentor/disciple men!
