Linda was born and raised in New York. Rev. Linda Paz is an ordained minister. She was a pastor’s wife for over 20 years, and has been involved in ministry for over 60 years. She worked for two years in New York City with Teen Challenge. She traveled around the county ministering through Children’s Crusades, as well as working with troubled youth and gangs before moving to Seattle in 1968. Linda then worked with the Seattle Teen Challenge before going to Los Angeles to open a girl’s home. After Bible College her and her husband pastored churches in California and Washington for 20 years. After her husband passed away she continued to work with women and children in crisis situations. Linda was the Director of the Everett Gospel Women and Children’s Shelter for five years, as well as with Northwest Family Life in Seattle, a counseling agency that deals with domestic violence. She is the mother of 3 children, has 10 grandchildren. Linda was a registered Washington State counselor and a counselor with the American Association of Christian Counselors.
- Linda was honored with becoming a Washington General in 1999 for the work accomplished with women, children and families, presented to her by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and the Five-Star Generals with the State of Washington.
- Linda was honored in 2005 by the First Nations People, an American Indian veterans group, by being awarded the “Warriors Medal of Valor” for her work and ministry with women, children and families.
- Linda continues to be recognized for her service to families
Linda is now the Executive Director of Matthew House in Monroe, Washington, as well as the Family Liaison for the Monroe Prison Complex where she continues to work with families who have loved ones incarcerated in the prison system.
In 2009 she was named “Woman of the Year” by the American Biographical Institute. She has twice been given the Christian Community Caring Award. Is an Honorary Lifetime Member of Strathmore’s Who’s Who, in 2010 was inducted into “Great minds of the 21st Century” by ABI for her work as a “Prison Family Advocate.”
Guest Speaking – Her genuine love and compassion for women and children has made her a popular speaker. She has a deep knowledge of the Bible and has a warm heart’s concern for women and children’s issues. Linda’s gift in speaking and her incredible humor have made her a popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats.
If you would like Linda Paz to speak at your church or meeting, please feel free to contact her at: 360-794-8720
While Easter may fall on a different date every year, the significance of this very special holiday continues to remain the same. And although decorating eggs with the grandchildren and watching them excitedly wait up all night for the Easter bunny is something worth remembering, it’s only appropriate that we also take the time to remember, and celebrate, Jesus. For our executive director Linda Paz, Easter is an especially important holiday because in 1956 at the age of nine, she gave her life to Christ on Good Friday.
For a number of years, Linda had been treated by the New York Heart Association for severe rheumatic fever, which had caused complications with her heart. At the time, Linda was the oldest of seven siblings; neither them nor her parents were Christians. One day though, her family had been watching television and a man named Oral Roberts, who was just beginning a healing ministry at that time, appeared on the television and announced that he was going to pray for people over the television at the end of the program. When the time came, Linda’s mother
asked Jesus to heal her. The next week when they went back into the New York Heart Association to have more tests done, Linda’s doctor came into their room and said that they
would have to run everything two more times, because it seemed that the results were incorrect. Linda and her family spent the whole day at the office until finally her doctor came in again and said that the tests taken over the course of the last few years and the three series of tests that had been taken that day were completely different. Linda had been healed.
Her doctor asked their family what had happened from last week to the current week, but they couldn’t think of anything that would have had an effect on her new results, They couldn’t put two-and two together that Linda was healed only because her mother had put her hand on her and asked for her to be healed by the Lord over Oral Roberts program,
A year later, because there were so many children in her family, Linda’s family had been invited to a children’s crusade, where they would potentially be able to win a bicycle. At the church, the pilgrim’s progress was taught. It was a two-week long crusade and ended on Good Friday. On that last day, a woman known as Aunt Helen, gave the altar call and asked if anybody wanted to come up and accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Linda’s parents were the first to stand up and go to the altar. Shortly after, all eight of their children, including Linda, walked up as well and gave their heart to Christ.
On Easter Sunday, Linda and her family attended a full gospel church for the first time. Some weeks later, the pastor preached on divine healing and on how God was their healer. It was
at that point that her mother realized that the reason Linda had been healed, was because she prayed for her a year earlier. Soon after, Oral Roberts came to Madison Square Garden with his tent and Linda’s pastor and parents shared her testimony of how God had healed her when he prayed over the television. When Oral Roberts and his organization heard it, they contacted her family and asked for permission to contact the New York Heart Association to verify what happened. They then carried her testimony in their international magazine called Abundant Life, and because of it, pastors throughout the East Coast heard her testimony as well, and this was the
start of her family driving around to different churches to give her testimony, and how she began her ministry.
God Bless, Rev. Linda Paz, Chaplain, Washington State General
God is a God of Healing, Isaiah 53:5
