Gilbert grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona where his parents were missionaries. Because there wasn’t a high school nearby, he attended Yucaipa High School in southern California where he lived with church families.
He graduated from Biola University and then moved to Portland, Oregon where he graduated from Western Seminary. He married Sue Elliot in 1979 and has pastored Grace Bible Fellowship since 1981. They have three adult children and four wonderful grandchildren.
Gilbert has focused his writing on telling the story of Sue’s aunt and uncle, Bert and Colleen Elliot. They were missionaries in northern Peru for 62 years before their deaths in 2012.