
For Dr. Steve Gober, multiplication is about making disciples. He and his wife, Karoline, served for 17 years as missionaries with the Methodist Church of Costa Rica, working at the Methodist Seminary. Now, as Associate Vice President of the Florida Dunnam campus, he is committed to promoting spiritual transformation and renewal in the lives of students at Asbury Seminary through global partnerships in Latin America and travel courses to Costa Rica.
God invited Steve to join His mission when he was a senior in college at Asbury University. Using the passage of Isaiah 12, God reminded him of the salvation he had received, but challenged him to share that hope with others.
“Isaiah 12 is at the heart of my call,” Steve said. “God takes me back to that as a reminder of my calling today, but through that encourages me to keep an eye on my immediate context and realize that God’s call is always bigger. It’s his heart for the world.”
Over the years, Steve has seen God break the math rules to multiply his ministry efforts exponentially. Whether individually or within a community, God has worked to bring hope as Steve helps train Christian leaders in North America and Costa Rica. Before transitioning to Asbury Seminary in 2010, Steve worked with the Methodist Seminary in Costa Rica as a professor, administrator, and during the last eight years of his tenure, as president of the seminary.
In 2013, the Methodist Church in Costa Rica celebrated 90 years. As part of the festivities, the Bishop Dr. Luis Fernando Palomo, invited the local churches to come together for a National Celebration. Nearly 4000 people gathered in a rented gymnasium to celebrate this historic moment. During the event, Bishop Palomo called graduates of the Methodist Seminary to come forward. More than 100 people filled the gym floor, visually testifying to thousands of lives transformed.