The founders of G.C.M.I. began their work in 1979, by counseling
troubled youth who were hanging on street corners in small gangs.
Following this, a very active youth group was formed by these young
people where they learned about God, morals and how to earn what they
wanted. Fund raisers were held to pay for trips to local
amusement parks, these young people also preformed various help
activities for the elderly and shut-ins of the town. By the
following year our founders had become trusted enough by the local
youth, to receive calls from runaways who wanted to contact home.
(In most cases, arrangements were made that returned the teens to their
homes.)
The natural outgrowth of this work came when people in another town,
who had heard of their work, called to seek lodging for a teenage
girl. Arrangements for this 16 year old to come and stay in their
private home were made. This young lady stayed with them, helping
them with various tasks, for over a month.
The work continued and expanded:
It was during this time that victims of domestic violence and unwanted
pregnancies, also began to seek both counsel and lodging. At
times, due to the limits of space, sleeping bags had to be used on the
floor of the founders' living room to provide shelter. Phone
calls were received from the local police and other agencies, who were
seeking safety for some of these victims. An advocacy
relationship was formed with both a county safe house program, the
National Association Against Domestic Violence and the Physicians
Against Domestic Violence. We began a transportation program for
these women who no longer felt secure in their local communities.
If we received a call from a Safe House anywhere in a 300 mile distance
which informed us of a woman needing relocation, it was provided free
of charge. Several women were relocated to one of four different
states, where at times other organizations moved them again to still
different locations. In essence, this proved that the only really
safe opportunity a woman would have for rehabilitation was to be
removed from her own home town.
During 1985 the founders had begun visiting a local prison with another
group. Within two years they were granted regular volunteer
status and, for 15 years, provided at least two services per
month. In addition, the chaplains of two facilities, would
call them to fill in for other groups who could not make their
designated service. That work continued to grow over the years, to
include additional services and programs. Our founders became certified
facilitators of the Alternatives to Violence Program and were active in
those seminars for 3 years. Also, they were asked to become
involved in the organizing and assist in heading of a Child Advocacy
Program. Through this program contact was made with the families
of inmates and successful, supervised visits were arranged with the
children to visit their fathers. Thus serving to show the
children what life was like for their incarcerated parent.
1986 found us organizing Tri-State Full Gospel Bible Institute.
This was a branch school of an organization in Pennsylvania. We
taught the courses and ran the school. Some of our graduates were
trained to also teach. Various outreach programs were formed with
local nursing homes and our students were trained to go into hospitals,
nursing homes and prisons. TSFGBI ran until 1991 when, due to
changes at the main office in Pennsylvania, the affiliation was ended.
In 1987, New York State required that all groups aiding victims
of domestic violence be incorporated as nonprofit
corporations. In response, Great Commission Ministries,
Inc., became an incorporated entity in November of 1988.
Many other facets have developed over the years. It has been the
policy of GCMI, and its founders, to aid in meeting the needs of any
who call, and are seeking material and/or spiritual help. For the
needs that cannot be met at a particular time, we work with other local
agencies.
GCMI’s first web page was hosted at GeoCities in 1993. In 1995 we
purchased our own domain, http://www.gcmi.net, which is still in
use today. That same year we began our automated Prayer Page
which reaches around the world (in 2003 we are sending prayer requests
to 16 countries and most US States).
Our first International visit was in 1994. We traveled to
Barbados to speak at a convention for the National Baptist
Church. Three more trips were made back to Barbados, including
one when we helped sort and distribute a large portion of 3,000 pairs
of shoes for the needy.
In 2000, we changed our name to reflect the International portions of
our work and Great Commission Ministries International, Inc. was
born. Then in 2001 we moved our headquarters to North Carolina
where we also continue to enjoy a fully approved non-profit status.