Jerry Ray Tyler

Jerry’s Life. Wow, where shall we start? A baby born during World War II, on July 8, 1945 in Burbank, California, he lived with his mother at his grandparents’ home for many months. Both his parents, Ray and Vivian Tyler, are now with Jesus. As a little one, Jerry had eye surgery and turned to loving music since he had to have his eyes covered for a summer. The music was the thread of how he met his wife, Judy, since they were is orchestra together in junior high and high school. Jerry continued his music in college at Santa Barbara, California, and also at San Fernando State College. Unexpectedly, he had to go into the service during the Vietnam War after he had only been married for two months to Judy, which was not what he planned. He was gone for 13 ½ months. Jerry and Judy then moved to Ft. Lewis in 1968, and had their first child, Jeremy. He changed his major from music to business and finished his schooling at University of Puget Sound and got his first job at U.S, Bank in Corvallis, Oregon. Then came Jamison, the second son. His job transferred him to Eugene, Oregon, which became a very significant pivotal change for Jerry and his family. Jerry and his wife both got saved in 1974. Judy getting saved three months after his salvation was from his fervent prayers. Jerry immediately felt called by God to be a pastor, so he went to the pastoral school at Faith Center, a Foursquare Church, with the church leader, Pastor Roy Hicks, Jr. While in Eugene, Joy, his daughter, was born. She was special for he and Judy expected another boy, but God had other plans. God continued to surprise Jerry and Judy with His plans. In 1979, Jerry and his family moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to be on staff at Klamath Christian Center. It was a wonderful experience to learn, to be challenged, and to experience leadership under Pastor Gordon Hankins. In 1981, the family moved to Casper, Wyoming, to be senior pastor at Emmanuel Chapel, a Foursquare Church. There was no one to lead worship so Jerry, who had one semester of piano, began leading worship. His wife and son, Jeremy, laughed a lot because many clunkers were made on the keys of the piano, but after a while, he did lead worship and no one believed later that he barely knew how to play the piano. God showed Himself to Jerry, and Jerry began once again to give prophetic words to the people given to him by the Lord. Jerry became like a Daniel Boone, hunting deer, and going fishing. He collected every Christian worship album. In fact, he had to be the first one to get the album, which drove his wife crazy. During the 8 ½ years in Wyoming, Jerry and family were exposed to a deeper move of God, through leaders like Kim Clement and John Wimber. Leaving Wyoming was hard for them because they left so many friends who were like family. The new adventure was to come to Olympia, Washington, to pastor East Olympia Foursquare Church for 3 ½ years. He also worked for L&I in 1990 until he quit in 2013. In 1993, God surprised Jerry’s family with another challenge: to call Church of Living Water the Tyler home church under the leadership of Pastor Burt and Jan Smith. So many learning opportunities began as he and wife Judy were Single Pastors, did small groups, and Jerry became very involved in missions, under Scott and Pat Bergford. Jerry began to be challenged to teach pastors in Mexico. He felt way over his head, but God once again showed Himself to Jerry. Jerry became very influential to many pastors in Mexico. Jerry was minding his own business, now in the process of getting his Master’s degree from Kings Seminary, when God once again popped “the bubble” of Jerry’s life, asking Jerry to leave Church of Living Water to plant Restoration Foursquare Church in Lacey, Washington in 2004. Again God’s faithfulness, grace and forgiveness operated in Jerry’s life. Trusting God had to increase with this new path, so Jerry was willing to just follow Jesus. Jerry got to once again love people and put his arms around them as the Senior Pastor. Jerry loved to teach the Word and give pictures of what was happening in the Word. He also loved to ask “On a scale of 1-10, how are you doing?” and then after the answer would say, “What is one thing that could change you to a higher number?” At this point, he was not as young as he used to be so eventually he cut down to part time at L&I, using his time to teach the Master Commission students (called Anthem now). He loved to challenge, encourage, and make the students think, not just give pat answers so they had to really see and dig into the Word. In 2013 he quit L&I so he and Judy could have more time together and just concentrate on the church, and go camping more often. Then in 2014, he retired from Senior Pastoring at Restoration Foursquare and returned to Church of Living Water to just sit and soak in the Word and worship, through Pastor Jon Cobler. But God once again challenged him to do more, and, of course, Jerry loved every minute of it. He got to teach the Anthem students again, which always inspired him just to be with them. He felt so honored to be a part of the younger generation as they accepted the “old man of wisdom.” You know he was kind of like Noah by then. He also did small groups again and began ministry time again with the Mexican Pastors. He really had a heart for Mexico, especially Mexico City. In 2015, Jerry and his wife had a great long vacation in Europe. It was a wonderful time, full of adventure and unknown. Then 2016 began a different journey as he had angio sarcoma in his parotid gland, but did that stop Jerry. No, for he still went to Israel with his two sons, did Anthem, traveled, and had several visits to see kids and grandkids in Arizona. He lost his smile while in Israel, due to nerve damage from the cancer, and no longer could close his left eye so wore a patch over his eye part of the time, now looking like a pirate. He just kept going like an energizer bunny, but had less energy so was like an older energizer bunny. He would use his cane and just kept walking closer to Jesus and did life as he could, never complaining. Well, guess that isn’t quite so true since he got tired of being reminded by his wife to eat and drink, but he did it and got stronger at times. Now the rest is history. He was invited to graduate into the arms of Jesus on Sunday, March 5, 2017. Jerry is survived by his wife of 51 years, Judy; son, Jeremy Tyler, his wife Janelle and their children Sullivan and Jelena; son, Jamison Tyler, wife Heather and their children Abby, Jackson and Leila; daughter, Joy Malave and her children Uriah, Christophe, and Alegria; brother, Tom Tyler, his wife Mary and their children Michaela and Missy. Please leave memories of Jerry or condolences for his family in the Guestbook below.