On Sundays, you’ll find him behind the pulpit preaching God’s Word. But before Pastor Bob Galey came to Oakland Woods Baptist Church in Clarkston, his life was quite different.
For 14 and a half years, Galey served as a gunner on a B-52 for the United States Air Force and during that time served in the Persian Gulf War.
With only five and a half years to go to retirement, Galey — married with three children — stepped away from it all to answer a call from God to preach, though it would mean losing 3/4 of his salary and medical insurance.
“I heard a plain voice from God saying, ‘I took care of you in Saudi Arabia, I can take care of you now, too,'” Galey remembers.
But let’s go back…
It was at age 9, growing up in Lubbick, Texas, Galey accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.
He got away from the church, though, while in high school and joined the military in 1978 after graduation in 1977.
During his service, he was stationed in Carswell, Texas, became a gunner instructor in Merced, California, did a couple exercises in England, and would end his career at Wurtsmith base in Oscoda, Mich., where he was in charge of training every gunner that came on base.
It was when he met the woman that would become his wife, Bonnie, on a blind date in 1980, that God began having more of a presence in Galey’s life again.
A lady strong in her faith, Galey joked, “She would have become the first Baptist nun if I hadn’t rescued her.” The two married four months after their first date.
Shortly after, Galey was transferred to California. He and his wife became very active in a church there, and rededicated their lives to the Lord.
Galey soon felt a calling to preach. When he originally talked to Bonnie about this, he recalled, “She said, ‘she didn’t get that (feeling) at all.'” Galey’s pastor told him God would not give him a calling and not call his wife as well. So, Galey waited a year and a half until Bonnie said she felt convinced God wanted her to be a pastor’s wife.
In February 1988, Galey was ordained in the ministry. He began pastoring a small church in California, but then received orders to Michigan.
While here, a six-member church 80 miles from the Air Force base in Oscoda wanted Galey to fill their pulpit.
“They couldn’t pay me, but I had my Air Force salary to rely on, so Bonnie and I took the kids every weekend and drove to the church.”
When war was on the horizon, Galey trained a man to fill his spot on Sunday mornings.
Though he wasn’t preaching in a conventional church every Sunday, Galey’s preaching continued in Desert Storm.
His squadron commander even gave him the nickname “Preach” and a name tag which said, “Sgt. Preach Galey,” to wear on his flight suit.
“Everyone called me ‘Preach,’ that was my handle.”
In between flying, Galey conducted outdoor worship services where over time 56 men gave their lives to Christ. Three of the men Galey had the opportunity to baptize in the Red Sea.
Throughout the Persian Gulf War, Galey flew 27 combat missions. He relied on the Lord to keep he and his fellow crew members alive during each and every mission.
“I put God in a box. I prayed, ‘I want to take off today with these men and land with these men today.’ I didn’t want to just say bring us home safely, because I could get shot down, be taken a prisoner of war and still return safely.”
The Lord did keep Galey safe during the war, but there was still some bumps he’d go through along the way. In fact, three times Galey’s aircraft was hit.
“When your life is on the line you really understand the meaning of prayer and rely on it. It gave me a tremendous amount of freedom and peace to let God be God.”
On one particular mission, a missile went through the wing of the plane Galey was on, ripping a hole, of what Galey explained was the size of two basketballs side by side.
“That incident redefined what a problem is for me. When you’ve got a hole in your wing and you’re 80 miles north of Baghdad, that’s a problem. What color to paint the sanctuary is not a problem. It made me appreciate the definition of a problem.”
Galey credits the fantastic flying skills of his pilot, Randy Long. “He saved my life.”
Overall, Galey said, “What was most important about my time in Desert Storm is what God did. I believe the reason I was there was not just to take Iraq out of Kuwait, but I was there to lift up God.”
After the war, Galey returned to Oscoda and to his church.
“When I returned (the congregation) had placed yellow ribbons on everything. It was very emotional.”
In two years there, Galey’s church grew to 150 people from its original six, and a 6,000 square feet addition to the building was needed and built.
The Air Force gave Galey the chance to take any assignment he wanted, but it was when Galey decided to step away from the military to stay with the church.
In 1994, he was asked to fill the pulpit at Oakland Woods Baptist Church. Though it was difficult to leave his church, he felt God wanted him in Clarkston. Oakland Woods then had 34 people in its congregation, which averages 210 on Sunday mornings nowadays.
Looking back, Galey –whose two sons are following in their father’s footsteps and have joined the military — feels the decision to go into full time ministry and step out of the Air Force was best.
“It was God’s choice for my life. It was a calling. You can’t walk away from a calling. Bonnie and I don’t have any regrets.”