President and Founder of Empower Ministries International
Ron was born and raised in a Christian family in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He relates that he can’t remember a time when he didn’t love Jesus from his youngest years. But someone told him when he was 13 years of age that he needed to “make it official by going forward in a church service.” So, on a cold winter’s night during a Sunday evening church service, he went up to the front of the church during an altar call and “officially” prayed to receive Jesus. He tells this antidote when he is asked about this experience:
“When I was on my knees at the front altar and all by myself – in prayer, I confessed that I was a sinner, asked Jesus to forgive me, and invited Him to take control and ownership of my life forever. And then I added a heart-felt request – ‘But please Jesus, don’t let it be boring.’ ”
Over the years, God has answered that prayer over and over again, as Ron’s life and ministry have been anything but boring.
After graduating high school, Ron continued his education in a variety of ways. He attended Bible School, University, and Seminary in his hometown, receiving training in Theology, Revivals, End-Time Prophecy, Church Planting, and Missions. Following this, God continued his education and launched him in ministry to others by serving as an assistant pastor and then as a founding pastor of a rapidly growing new church plant in Ontario, Canada.
I confessed that I was a sinner, asked Jesus to forgive me, and invited Him to take control and ownership of my life forever.
Amid all the education, training, and church planting, God saw that the most vital component to building a “man of God” is for him to be wed to the perfect “woman of God.” And this is where Ron’s wife Nancy, of over 45 years, comes into his story. Ron met his bride at Bible School as they were both prepared to go to Vietnam as missionaries. When Vietnam fell to communism in 1975 and missionaries were expelled, God led them together to begin their ministry with church planting at home and, within a few years – international ministry. Today, they have three wonderful and supportive daughters (Charis, Tarah, and Courtney) and ten grandchildren.
But the Lord was not finished educating Ron in what turned out to be his final calling. The Lord knew that he needed experience in business, management, and sales. Therefore, the Lord engineered for Ron to spend ten years in the insurance industry, while at the same time starting house churches and teaching at various ministries in Canada and the United States.
In 1989, Ron commenced his lifelong calling to represent and support the bourgeoning and global – national (indigenous) church planting ministries. The Lord designed all his education, training, and experiences to equip him for this ministry.
But the Lord was not finished educating Ron in what turned out to be his final calling.
Since then, he has traveled internationally to over 70 countries, meeting Christian leaders, studying the nature and secrets of revival, being shown by the Holy Spirit the best ways to equip and support national ministries, and finally, coming to understand the correlation between the current outpouring of the Holy Spirit sweeping the earth and the soon return of Jesus.
In 2004, Ron and his family founded Empower Ministries, specifically designed to “empower” national ministries and workers, while at the same time attempting to revitalize believers in Canada by explaining revival, modern missions, and especially the power and centrality of the Bible for a believer’s walk with God.
A slogan that has become synonymous with Ron Pearce is his often-quoted phrase:
“My goal in life is to go to heaven tired.”
And these words capture the heartbeat of Ron. National believers have modeled before him their tireless labor in sharing the Gospel with lost souls over the years. The Holy Spirit has gifted him with that same burden and has equipped him with the ability to tell stories of what God is doing around the world today… while at the same time always pointing to Jesus and not himself as the source of this God-breathed movement of God in this generation.
Ron’s Philosophy of Ministry
Losing one’s identity in the Church of Jesus Christ
Ron’s spiritual mentor, Dr. Garth Hunt, passed along this valuable life lesson to Ron at a very formative moment in time. Garth came into Ron’s life when he was in his second year of Bible School, and Garth and his family had returned home to Canada on furlough from missionary work in Vietnam. The lesson that Garth communicated was that to be an effective laborer for the Lord means that a believer must become invisible to a watching world when dealing with the Church Jesus was building globally. Practical humility entails not gaining glory or prestige from being in the limelight but rather prefers his servants to simply be reporters and supporters of the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is doing a superb job of building His Church as promised, and there is no panic in heaven concerning the ultimate plan of God for planet earth and its people. Therefore, Garth emphasized that to be useful and a valuable tool for God, his bondservant must be willing to lose one’s identity in His Church – His bride!
Jesus is doing a superb job of building His Church as promised, and there is no panic in heaven concerning the ultimate plan of God for planet earth and its people.
How do you make Jesus smile?
Ron believes that the goal of a bondservant’s life and ministry is to make Jesus joyful, and the best way to do that is to care for the needs of His bride – His Church around the world. It was for this reason that Ron has dedicated himself to lifting up the body of Christ, and not criticizing or condemning it for its shortcomings. In John 21:15 – 17, Jesus spoke directly to Simon Peter, and indirectly to Ron two thousand years later, “Tend my lambs.” Ron took this to mean that his life calling would be to facilitate bringing people to saving faith in Jesus and then caring for them spiritually by providing them with Scripture and other desperately needed supplies and tools for sustained growth. This, he believes, fulfills the Lord’s desire to care for His sheep and ultimately… makes Jesus smile.
The Lostness of Man
During a Friday evening ‘Missionary Meeting’ at the Bible School Ron was attending, a guest speaker and missionary statesman delivered a message to the student body on “The Lostness of Man – One motivation for Evangelism.” That message and that evening changed Ron’s life forever. Never had the Holy Spirit spoken to him so directly nor opened his spiritual eyes so widely. From that moment on Ron could not escape the call of God on his life to be instrumental in saving the spiritually lost and dying of this world from hell itself. The difference between heaven and hell became vivid in his mind, and nothing could extinguish the fire in his spirit to save the lost. Many people comment on Ron’s enthusiasm when he speaks to congregations or individuals. His ‘enthusiasm’ stems from this moment when God placed heaven and hell before him, and will last until he is called home.
To be useful and a valuable tool for God, his bondservant must be willing to lose one’s identity in His Church – His bride!