Dr. Keith Gomez was saved in 1974 at the Central Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, under the pastorate of Dr. Bob Smith. He served the church as a soul-winning layman, and in 1978, the current pastor, Dr. B.G. Buchanan, asked him to serve as Associate Pastor. The Lord called him to preach shortly thereafter, and he felt God’s leading to attend Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, Indiana. He graduated from there in 1982.
During his last semester in college, he accepted the pastorate of the Northwest Bible Baptist Church, a church of 31 members located in Mount Prospect, Illinois. The Lord blessed and the church grew. Unable to expand at their site in Prospect Heights, in 1994 the church purchased 16 acres of land in rural Elgin, Illinois.
Under his strong leadership, the church continues to grow and it is a national leader in the area of numbers of salvations and baptisms per year. Described by the late Dr. Jack Hyles as a "miracle pastor with a miracle church," Dr. Gomez proceeded with plans to move the church 32 miles in 1996 from Prospect Heights to Elgin in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago! It opened the doors to its newly built 1,700-seat auditorium, Sunday School/educational wing in July and held its dedication service on August 11, 1996.
Dr. Gomez is the host pastor of the National Pastors' Conference and is sought after continually for counsel as a "Preacher's Preacher."
He founded Providence Baptist College, which began its first year of classes in August of 1997. The college is designed for students who have the call of God on their lives and who want the very best preparation possible to answer that call. Providence Baptist College continues to grow each year.
During the summer of 2001, Dr. Elmer Fernandez, Spanish Evangelist, and Fires of Evangelism have also relocated to the Elgin facilities.
On January 26, 2008, Dr. Gomez lost Carla, his wife of 34 years, to cancer.
Their three children (Jason, Ashley, and Josh) all live in the Elgin area and
are members of Northwest Bible Baptist Church. Jason and his wife, Ronda have a daughter, Kylie. Ashley and her husband, John,
have two children, Kayla and Tyler.