A Legacy of Faith

Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. Psalm 144:1

After battling cancer for more than a decade, beloved pastor’s wife and missionary Sharon Faith Ries is now with Jesus.

Several months ago, Sharon had shared her memories with Calvary Chapel Magazine of her extraordinary life and walk with Christ. “I have peace that I have fulfilled my calling; I’ve done what the Lord asked me to do,” she said of her 50 years in ministry.

Those close to Sharon, wife of Pastor Raul Ries, described her extraordinary life for Christ: Growing up in Chile and in a remote Colombian jungle mission, escaping a bloody revolutionary war as a girl, returning to the mission as a young mom to establish a Bible school, surviving deadly mudslides on short-term missions, and encouraging thousands of women on several continents in their walk with Christ.

Looking back on her life, Sharon said, “I’m so grateful that Raul and I got to work so closely with Chuck and Kay Smith. I had a close relationship with her; I felt like she was a spiritual mother.” Sharon and Raul both marvel at “the way God has used us, despite our frailties.” She is confident that the Lord will continue the work that He began: “All of these people who went with me, now they are doing it all—building, administrating—doing everything we would do together.”

Affliction & Light

Sharon has enjoyed many more years than doctors had predicted. Recently, she noted, “The Lord has been my Husband, my best friend, and my encourager. Right now, I am going through a bit of suffering.” She cited Philippians 3:10a, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” She reflected, “I want to know Him in the fellowship of His suffering. I pray, ‘Lord, if You are allowing me to go through this, I want to go through it with You. I want to know You in that capacity.’ Jesus means everything to me.”

“I feel like I am knowing Him in a deeper way,” she said. “It’s like He’s right there by my side. He wakes me in the night and instructs me by His Holy Spirit. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8).

During painful procedures, she remembers the cross. She has been amazed that, in her weakest moments at the hospital, the Lord has touched those around her. People ask her for prayer or the reason for her joy, and she shares Christ.

“Jesus said, ‘I am the Light of the world’ (John 8:12a) and ‘You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden’ (Matthew 5:14),” quoted Sharon. “I have experienced that in the hospital. Laying there embarrassed or in pain, and then later a doctor or nurse asks, ‘What is it about you?’ and I say, ‘It’s not me; it’s God. Without God, I’d be terrified.’ …You may be a little flickering light, but you’re still a light shining forth Jesus. We are touching lives we don’t even realize we are touching.”

Bride of Christ

Sharon often spoke about being the Bride of Christ. After moving from the mission field to the States as a teen, she later became pregnant out of wedlock and married Raul Ries. As she repented and sought the Lord, He gave her a special truth she has cherished all her life: “For your Maker is your Husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 54:5a). On her wedding day, she said her own vows to Jesus in her heart.

After they married, suffering from PTSD and a violent childhood, Raul began to abuse his beloved wife. On the night he decided to kill his family and himself, he heard Pastor Chuck Smith share the Gospel on TV and gave his life to Jesus. Radically transformed, he shared his testimony with everyone he knew, and eventually founded a large church, still thriving today, Calvary Chapel Golden Springs, CA. “Even now that Raul is a Christian, still the Lord is my Husband,” Sharon said. “We both look to the Lord as the One who guides us.”

In her book, My Husband, My Maker, Sharon details how the Lord personally sustained her through an abusive marriage, lonely motherhood, demands of ministry, and perils on the mission field. She has often recounted the day He promised to restore the crumbling mission in the jungle and placed a called on her heart to rebuild it.

Returning to the Jungle

In 1983, Sharon and her young sons visited her parents in Colombia. Ed and Naomi Farrel had returned there after being forced out during Christian persecution. As she sat near the burnt ruins of her childhood home, a mission called El Secreto (the Secret), overlooking the Upía and Lengupá rivers and the majestic Andes, she prayed and read her Bible. “What would You have me do, Lord?” Then she felt the Lord speak to her from Isaiah: “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. … The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls … your gates shall be open continually” (Isaiah 60:1, 10a, 11a). Sharon recalled, “God was telling me that I would return here with people from our church and rebuild El Secreto.”

With Raul’s blessing, Sharon and Pastor Hector Martinez—the missions director of CC Golden Springs who was led to Christ by Sharon’s parents and mentored in ministry by Raul—began leading teams from Calvary Chapel to rebuild El Secreto. From that time until now, teams have continued the work as God has provided, bit by bit, in El Secreto and beyond. Pastor Hector testified, “It was through Sharon’s prayers that the Lord supplied everything.”

In 1992, El Secreto opened its doors to young Colombians undaunted by the paramilitary soldiers in the jungle. “The classes were small due to the persisting danger in the region,” Sharon explained. “Many of those first young men who were taught verse by verse grew strong in the Lord and are leading Calvary Chapels and ministries in South America today.”

Many churches have been planted over the past four decades. “We never asked churches in the States for money. We wanted the nationals to see how God provides, so they would know that it was His work,” Pastor Raul explained earlier. “That’s how God built His Church, and that’s how He builds theirs.”

The school has drawn students from Colombia, Chile, and Peru. Believers from CC Golden Springs have faithfully gone to work alongside local pastors, recently breaking ground on a large retreat center at El Secreto—a long-time prayer of Sharon’s—housing 500 for conferences and training.

Fearless Faith

“My mom had a fearless faith that impacted me,” noted her son Ryan Ries, once a rowdy skater and drug addict who is now a radio host, author, and speaker helping young people face tough issues. “She always had an open door for my skater friends in middle school and high school. She took us all to church; many of them got saved. Some of them still go to her for counsel during hard times.” Ryan remembered traveling with his mom to the mission field—as she had accompanied her parents—seeing alligators and monkeys, and watching his mom minister with genuine love for people Ryan went on to establish the Whosoevers ministry, reaching the next generation for Christ..

In time, God brought together a team of servants willing to risk their lives alongside Sharon in South America. Pastor Hector remembered Sharon’s tenacity after a terrible earthquake in the early 1990s. The road from the city of Villavicencio to El Secreto suffered road blocks after the quake, making vehicles easy targets for terrorists. “It’s too dangerous for a red-headed woman,” he warned, referring to her hair that made her stand out as a foreigner.

“If you have peace from God about going, then I’m going, too,” the zealous woman declared. Hector knew that Sharon, having grown up in the heart of one of the most perilous regions in Colombia, was well aware of the dangers. She asked, “What do I have to do?”

“You’ll have to wear a hat or dye your hair black,” he capitulated. “And absolutely no English at all.” She readily agreed. He recalled, “She had to do that at least twice in Colombia because the situation was so dangerous.”

Hector divided the convoy into three different vehicles—carrying food, medicine, and passengers—and sent a motorcycle ahead. At every segment, each car waited first for the all clear. The two-hour trip took eight hours along the treacherous road, yet the Lord protected them. “We were able to bring back all of the Bible students, about a dozen, to their homes and families in the city,” he recalled. “They were the first generation that went on to become pastors and plant churches throughout Colombia.”

Mudslides & Pastors’ Wives

Sharon’s reputation for being fearless spread. One day, Sharon invited Kay Smith and her sister-in-law, Ruth Smith, to come with her to Colombia. Sharon smiled as she related, “Kay said, ‘You’d better pray about that, Ruth. If you go on a mission trip with Sharon, you could die.’” Soon after, in 2008, Sharon led Ruth and about a dozen ladies from the U.S. to put on a women’s retreat in El Secreto. As they traveled by bus on the same river road from Bogota, a heavy rain descended. Suddenly a terrible mudslide came roaring down the mountainside. They were hemmed in: On one side, tons of earth, debris, and boulders tumbled toward them; on the other side, the churning river threatened a few feet below.

Boom! A heavy boulder crashed onto the roof of the bus, leaving a hole right above Sharon’s head. “I knew Satan was trying to kill me,” she recollected. “Another woman saw a snake with red eyes trying to get into the windows.”

Sharon called Raul and told him, “I’m on my way to heaven. You need to pray.” Looking outside, she asked the Lord whether she should stay on the bus and be swept away in the ferocious river, or go outside and face the falling rocks. The Lord directed her to listen to the pastor escorting them.

The pastor told them to grab their purses and exit the bus immediately. As they stepped out into the knee-deep water, one of the older women—Betty Robles—lingered to carefully to put on her gloves and coat. She announced calmly, “I’m gonna go with Frankie,” her late husband. Sharon laughed as she recounted, “I was like, ‘I don’t wanna go with Frankie; I wanna go with Jesus.’” She shouted above the noise, “Grab Betty and get her off the bus!” By God’s grace, all the women survived and the Bible materials remained completely dry. “You just have to go in faith, wherever the Lord is leading. He will take care of you,” she said in a message entitled “Looking Unto Jesus.”

Ministry to Women

As Raul’s church grew, Sharon built a team of about a dozen women—some of whom have ministered alongside her for 50 years. Sharon looked for women who loved Jesus, served others, and had a calling on their lives. I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts (Psalm 119:63).

Another key concept was unity. “We can’t be thin-skinned in ministry; we can’t get offended. If someone is harsh, forgive them; no one is perfect—that I learned from my mother,” Sharon noted. “We all help each other.”

When Sharon went through several seasons of severe demonic assaults, she called Kay Smith, who prayed fervently for her and helped her through. Missions Administrator Sally Duran recalled, “Seeing Sharon forgive helped us to forgive. She told us that we were not going to allow Satan to creep in and destroy us. We would continue the work that the Lord gave us to do.”

Claire Engeron, writer and chief editor of Somebody Loves You Publishing, who also serves in the women’s ministry, described Sharon’s infectious love of Christ. “He is her Beloved. She seeks to fully reveal His character in all her teachings. His grace pours from her lips,” she recalled. “Coming from England, I had never seen anyone who loved the Lord like that. Her Bible studies stirred my heart and gave me a tremendous love for the Word of God.”

Sharon noticed Claire and reached out to her. “She sees people as diamonds in the rough—she sees their gifts, and what they can become in Christ. She approached me; I was sharing the Word of God with other women because I had been so broken. She invited me to join her in ministry.” When trials came into Claire’s own life, Sharon stood by her as a faithful friend and intercessor.

Fighting the Spiritual Battle

Sally added, “She taught us, you don’t need to defend yourself; God will defend you.” She cited a passage Sharon taught them: “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD … The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:13a-14).

“She has taught us how to engage in the spiritual battle,” noted Marcella Roark, Women’s Ministry Administrator. Sharon had them read Warren Weirsbe’s books, What to Wear to the War and The Strategy of Satan. She often called the leaders together to pray specifically. Marcella added, “One time we had a prayer meeting in the fellowship hall. She said, ‘Bring your blankets and your comfortable clothes.’ We prayed for 24 hours. Some people fell asleep when they got tired, and then they would wake up and pray. She is a firm believer in prayer.”

Comfort & Hope

“Sharon is like a mother to so many of us, and a grandmother to our daughters,” Marcella said. “I don’t know how we will do without her.” Sharon has a heart for hurting women and children. “Because of the abuse she went through, she is very concerned for abused women,” Marcella related. “Countless times she has talked to women and shared her story. If they have a nonbelieving husband, she tells them, ‘You are married to the Lord, and you serve the Lord.’” Sharon often gave away her own furniture, clothes, or home goods to families in need. Willing to fight in the trenches, she supported battered women during their legal battles and found them safe places to sleep. She’s walked with women through miscarriages and other tragedies.

In the work of the Lord, Sharon also taught the women to respect the pastors and always be under the authority of a pastor—a practice that she had learned from her mother. The pastors were consulted to review the Bible study materials that Sharon and her team wrote, said Claire Engeron, so that the materials were doctrinally sound. Later, the rich Bible studies were translated to Spanish and sent to South America: “She had a vision, not only for our church and our ladies, but people in other countries—her missionary heart.” In fact, the Bible studies have been used mightily by the Lord, Claire noted.

Serving South America

In 2003, Pastor Lucho Sori Mera from Colombia took the Spanish Bible studies into a large maximum-security prison in his country. Not only did Sharon provide Bible resources, but she helped funnel gifts for the inmates’ children at Christmas. With Pastor Hector’s help, Pastor Lucho also brought the El Secreto Bible Seminary inside the prison. “Thanks to this process, today there are pastors in different cities bringing the Gospel and the Good News of salvation,” said Lucho, “not only to inmates but also those outside of prison bars who are prisoners of sin.” In 2008, after a lengthy application process, Sharon and a team were allowed to visit the prison and minister to many young inmates. “Those families still remember that visit,” Lucho recounted. “Today we praise God for His work, celebrating 20 years of ministry, during which have been many graduations, weddings, and baptisms. This ministry is still alive, bringing the Gospel to inmates and their families.”

Sharon’s sister, Shirley Craver, noted, “The Lord is really doing a work in South America right now—many new pastors and their wives are coming into the Calvary Chapel family. It’s wonderful. It’s because Sharon’s whole outlook on life is just to work for the Lord––for souls.” For years, she has championed the pastors and their families, sponsoring many to come to conferences in the U.S. and South America.

At the recent CCA Pastors’ and Leaders’ conference at CC Golden Springs in November, South America Building Director Sammy Duran and his wife Sally hosted a barbecue at their home for the South American pastors. During a spontaneous time of worship and prayer, the group gathered around Sharon and prayed for her and Raul—the couple who had done so much for them and their countries. It touched Sharon deeply.

Sammy has enjoyed serving in missions alongside Sharon for nearly 20 years. “Sharon leads by example. In El Secreto you could find her scrubbing the bathroom floors, sanding wrought iron or a wooden table. She would take on a project and attack it,” he chuckled. Once, after a pastor’s conference in Colombia, she asked him to help her start stacking chairs. She said, “People will never learn unless they see us doing it—just like Jesus would do. We follow His Servanthood.”

For God is not unjust to forget your work and your labor of love that you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Hebrews 6:10

Sharon’s Bible studies are available here. In an interview with Ryan and Pastor Raul, Sharon talks about women's ministry here. 

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