Gary RicucciDirector of Student Care

After working alongside C.J. Mahaney and other pastors at Covenant Life for many years, Gary transitioned in 2004 to a new role as Director of Student Care at the Pastors College. He comments, “What a privilege to have served with C.J. and the Covenant Life team, and now with C.J. and the Sovereign Grace staff.”

Under the direction of Jeff Purswell, Dean of the Pastors College, Gary is responsible for helping students to watch their lives as well as their doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16). He regularly meets with students, oversees special events, and provides pastoral counsel and care. He also leads monthly couples meetings in his home with his wife Betsy, who meets with students’ wives for additional care and fellowship.

Gary was saved as a young teen. And after a season of rebellion in the late 1960s, he graduated from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee in 1971 with a B.A. in Fine Arts. In 1973 Gary met C.J. Mahaney at a D.C. area teaching meeting called TAG (Take And Give). Here relationships formed that led to the founding of Covenant Life Church. Gary worked as an illustrator and built architectural models until 1974, when he went full-time as administrator, graphics designer, and counselor at TAG. He has been in full-time ministry ever since.

Covenant Life Church (then called “Gathering of Believers”) began in April 1977, an eventful year for Gary. He turned thirty in August, married the former Betsy Mahaney in October (but still considers himself on honeymoon!) and was ordained as a pastor on New Year’s Eve.

“Serving with the men and couples that we love and respect most, and providing pastoral care for couples, leaders and their families, especially when Betsy and I can serve together, is a humbling privilege to me,” says Gary. “Men in the Pastors College, with their wives and families, will go from here to different parts of the country and the world to build churches for the glory of God. It is hard to think of a higher honor than to play some small part in that.”

Crossway Books released the second edition of Gary and Betsy’s book on marriage, Love That Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace in 2006.

Gary and Betsy live in Gaithersburg and have two daughters and two sons, all married except for the youngest son.