Bob Gerhart

Bob Gerhart has been using chalk art through much of his ministry as a Pastor in the United States and while serving as a Missionary in southern Africa. Inspired as a boy seeing the power of Inspirational Chalk, including seeing a program in his home church by pioneer chalk artist Phil Saint, Bob learned by trail and error to use the medium.  In more recent years Bob was able to attend the training course offered by Matt Bowman at David Le Grand's studio in Winston-Salem.  Here he had the privilege of personally meeting the mentor of many chalk artists, Ding Teuling who completed his walk with the Lord here on earth lastSeptember 2016, at the age of 98.. 

Some of Bob’s other ministry interests include bringing church history to life through costumed “first-person” presentations  of several 18th  or 19th Century pioneer leaders.   

 Bob Gerhart serves as the Executive Director of the AMEC Alliance, a network of thirty  Mennonite Evangelical Congregations.

 Bob, a native of the Bally area, graduated from Boyertown Area High School.  After Bible college in Omaha, Nebraska and marriage to Joyce, a classmate from South Dakota, Bob served ten years in pastorates in Quakertown, PA and Downey, California, before moving to southern Africa as a missionary to pastor an International Church for six years in the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.  Bob returned to Berks County in 1988 to pastor the historic Hereford Mennonite Church in Bally until 2008. The Church recently changed its name to Butter Valley Community Church.  In2005 Bob earned a D.Min. degree from Westminster Theological Seminary, with a focus on biblical world views and postmodern challenges to the Christian Faith.

 The Gerharts’ daughter is a media writer at Global Disciples in Lancaster, and their son is a cinematographer in Nashville where his wife is an attorney.  The Gerharts’ granddaughter is a fourth-grader in Nashville.