PERRIS, CA (ANS) -- Tim Goble, a founding board member of ASSIST Ministries and a former Calvary Chapel pastor, has passed away in Perris, California, after a long struggle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Tim Goble speaking at an ASSIST banquet in Orange, California.

Tim had played a great role during the early days of ASSIST some 20 years ago and led many short-term medical mission’s trip through the Fellowship of World Christians, which he helped to found with Dr. Dale Kietzman.

I went with him on several overseas outreaches and I was privileged to win an Evangelical Press Association award for my story on a medical mission’s trip he led which carried the headline, “Bandages and Bullets in Lebanon.”

Timothy Wayne Goble was born on July 10, 1951 in East Chicago, Indiana. He was the youngest of James Goble and Doris (Wolfe) Goble's two sons. He lived his first five years in Hammond, Indiana. He moved to St. Louis, MO, for his childhood "growing up" years. As a teenager and on into adulthood, he lived in California.

His mother wrote before she passed away in 2004, “He gave his heart and his life to Jesus Christ when he was 5 years old, and he began preaching the gospel, starting with his unsaved grandpa. He received his license to preach in Walnut Creek, CA, when he was 16 years old. He was ordained in Hawthorne, CA at 20 years old.

“Tim attended California Baptist College, and later received his Bachelor's in History from California State University, Northridge. He was a life-long scholar of both history and religion who loved reading, studying and learning.

“In 1971, Tim married Toni Scafidi, and they had two children together, Jennifer and Joshua. They lived in Southern California, where Tim was a youth pastor, Bible study leader, and preacher.

“Tim pastored two Calvary Chapel churches, but his heart was in the mission field. He traveled the world over, building churches, hospitals, taking Bibles, medical supplies, clothes and food, and toys to orphanages. He facilitated bringing doctors, nurses, dentists, builders and other helpers to places where they were needed most. During the 80's, he took aid to such countries as Mexico, Russia, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Korea. There are very few countries in the world that Tim did not minister in.”

In 1989, Tim was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and sadly his marriage ended. This neurological disease took its toll on his body and his mind, but he always retained the memory of the people he had worked with and the role of God in his life. While he was in the nursing home where he lived out the last years of his life, his mom would ask what he was going to do on Sunday -- and he would answer "preach the gospel."

On October 7, 2008, Tim went to rest in heaven. He is survived by his father, James Goble, his brother, Wesley Goble, his two children, Jennifer and Joshua, and their mother Toni.

His daughter Jennifer told ANS, “I always respected the mission’s trips that he did, and was always so disappointed in other missionaries I would hear speak because I felt like they didn't have the compassion and cultural sensitivity that I heard from my dad's work. I believe that you can't hand someone with an empty stomach a Bible and expect that to satisfy them. I also liked that my dad respected people's other cultures, and learned from them. He never went anywhere without a doctor and an interpreter and he truly tried to help people get their needs met. He brought me back a doll from every country he visited, and I still remember the way he smelled when he stepped off a plane. My brother has no memories of my dad from before he got sick, so I treasure these memories and am thankful for them.

“I also have really great memories of my dad's church in Garden Grove, and the family that was created there. There are still people from those churches in my life, people who always considered my dad their pastor. I have never been to a church that felt so much like a family since then.”

Dr. Dale Kietzman told ANS, “I first met Tim in the context of ASSIST. Then he was serving with World Christian Magazine. Finally, I brought him on staff with World Literature Crusade (where Dale was the then president). A part of his assignment there was to organize trips with donors to visit our various fields. I remember that he took a rather large group (twenty or so) to Southeast Asia, and they returned quite enthusiastic. It was immediately after that trip he began to show signs of the MS, which appeared to progress rather rapidly at first.

“An outstanding characteristic of Tim was his close relationship with his parents. He involved them in many of his activities. I remember his father working at World Literature Crusade as a volunteer (and at ASSIST also). Then, of course, he went to live with them as the MS progressed and then went into a care center.”

Tim was one of my closest friends in the early days of ASSIST and his father Jim was a wonderful encouragement to Norma and me despite the pain of losing his wife and Tim’s long illness.

To send your condolences and also find out more about the Memorial Service for Tim Goble, please send an e-mail to Jennifer Goble at jenng@gmx.com

Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 45 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS); and US Bureau Chief for the Missionaries News Service (www.missionariesnews.tv) and Safe Worlds IPTV’s Christian News Services. He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding He is also the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com.