Gil Odendaal, Ph.D., D.Min.

Gil Odendaal, Ph.D., D.Min. serves as Global Director for the HIV/AIDS Initiative with Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. He has thirty years of ministry experience as missionary, pastor, educator, and leader. For the past 10 years he has progressively immersed himself in the fight against HIV and AIDS, especially in the African context. He is a researcher and practitioner with deep experience and knowledge gained through hands-on involvement and doctoral research in the battle against AIDS with expertise in the pedagogical, cultural and theological aspects pertaining to the pandemic.

Prior to accepting his current position, Gil served as Regional Coordinator for Africa with LifeWind (formerly Medical Ambassadors International) where he provided leadership to more than 600 Community Development Trainers and 17,000 Community development Volunteers. He also served as Regional Coordinator for Russia and Eastern Europe for a period of two years.

Deeply committed to unleash the untapped human resources latent in the church world wide and to see health equity become a reality in the southern countries, Gil trains and mobilizes medical professionals, leaders and PEACE team members of Saddleback Church to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the global community who are infected or affected by HIV. He has developed innovative programs, projects and campaigns that empower the local church globally toward education, prevention, treatment and care for the infected and affected utilizing the PEACE PLAN strategy in the local church.

Gil holds professional memberships in the American Anthropological Association (AAA); Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR); Association of Professors of Missions; Association for Africanist Anthropology; American Society of Missiology, and The Evangelical Missiological Society. He also serves on the boards of three mission organizations that do holistic community development through the church

As public speaker and guest professor, Gil has conducted trainings in wholistic community development regularly in Africa and various other global settings.

Gil and his wife, Elmarie, were born and raised in South Africa. They have been married for 33 years. They have three adult children and two grandchildren.