Charlie Avila

Charlie Avila was born in Blythe, California on May 6, 1960. He is the 2nd oldest of five boys. He graduated from Palo Verde High School in 1978 and went to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in September of 1978 and graduated in June of 1983 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. He received Jesus Christ into his life on May 2, 1983 through a campus ministry at UCLA. He was baptized with the Holy Spirit in August of that same year.

Charlie was a Captain in the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio from September of 1983 until August of 1988 as a test engineer primarily on F-16’s, and later, on F-15’s. In September of 1990, Charlie moved to Fresno, California to be close to his family and marry his sweetheart, Irma. They were married on February 9, 1991. Charlie calls Irma “the first and the last;” that is, his first wife and last wife. They will be soon celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary.

On August 11, 1992, their beautiful daughter, Leah Nicole, was born. Leah received Jesus into her life at the age of three, and later on surrendered herself completely at the age of six during a chapel service at her Christian school. She was water baptized shortly thereafter. She has always been a straight-A student, and is very gifted musically. She loves to play the piano and guitar. Leah graduated from Clovis High School as one of the valedictorians. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Mathematics in 2015 and graduated with her Master’s in Science Education from UCLA in 2017. Leah is a high school math teacher. She is a worship leader at Twin City Bible Church in Urbana, Illinois. She is married to Jose Beltran, who attends medical school at the University of Illinois. Jose is now finishing the four year of medical school. Both of them have a humble spirit and love Jesus.

On August 10, 2001, we received into our home a foster care child named Daniel. He was only one year and ten months old. After 33 months of intense and difficult maneuverings through the courts and adoption system, we finally adopted him in February of 2004. We changed his name from Daniel Nathan to Daniel Elisha, to reflect the two favorite prophets of his dad. He is a gifted musician who serves as the bass guitar player and drummer for the church’s worship team. Daniel received Jesus into his life at the age of four, and was water baptized the day after his 7th birthday. Daniel graduated from Fresno Christian Schools in 2018 with honors and from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona in 2022. We are confident that he will be a strong leader in the body of Christ.

Charlie and Irma came to Clovis Christian Center on September 1, 1991. Irma taught in Sunday School for many years and directed the Nursery. Irma retired after teaching kindergarten for 34 years in the Fresno Unified School District. Charlie was ordained as a Bible Teacher in August of 1992, and taught the Wednesday night services for about five years. On December 27, 1996 he became the Pastor of the church. He started the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation teaching newsletters in January of 1992 as an outreach ministry primarily to his family and friends. Pastor Charlie’s books and in-depth teachings are available either on www.teacherofthebible.com or www.amazon.com.

Pastor Charlie learned New Testament Greek at the local Mennonite Brethren Seminary and his own intensive study. He also graduated from Anchor Theological Seminary with a degree in Bible. He received his Master of Divinity degree in Old Testament in January of 2006 and his doctorate in Pastoral Ministry in September of 2009 both from International Bible Seminary & College. He is ordained with both Worldwide Ministries and the Foursquare Church. He also teaches Old & New Testament courses at the Fresno School of Mission, Dr. Nzash Lumeya, director. He also serves an overseer (bishop) for Worldwide Ministries (he is currently the Vice President). He is a missionary traveling to many of the nations of the world teaching the Word of God and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He is the author of The Christian & Anger, The Christian & Hell, The Christian & Homosexuality, The Christian & Witchcraft, Witnessing to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Healing the Sick, How to Become a Christian, Making Disciples One on One, Having Sex with Your Boyfriend, The End Times, Detecting & Dealing with False Teachings, Biblical Qualifications of Church Leaders, The Three Priorities of Pastors, Read the New Testament in 90 Days, Going to the Nations, and Premarital Counseling for Christian Couples, and devotional commentaries on the books of Esther, 2 Peter, and Jude. His books are available on Amazon in Kindle, softcover, hardcover, audio editions. All these same titles are also available in Spanish on Amazon. Hundreds of Pastor Charlie’s video teachings are available on YouTube at the “Teacher of the Bible” channel.