Glen Schrieber: I'm Excited About the Future of the EFCA

I’m the district superintendent of EFCA Southeast. I do a lot of traveling. I think I will have driven 1.1 million miles in these 20 - 21 years. I bought a brand-new Toyota Camry and it finally died at 397,000 miles. I rent now. 

I came to Christ through a free church, in Columbus, Nebraska. And it was local members of that free church that led me to the Lord and then discipled me after. They encouraged me to go into full-time Christian work; they encouraged me to go to a Christian bible school. I went to Moody Bible Institute. They supported me through that, and I went on staff at Campus Crusade for Christ, they supported myself and my wife through that. And then when I wanted to do church ministry, beyond the parachurch church, I went to TEDS (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) and then I've been church planting, or some sort of ministry with the church ever since. So I came to Christ in 1971 and started church planting for the free church after seminary in 1985. 

We were part of a team that planted two churches in the Louisville, Kentucky area. Then I went to New Orleans and planted Urban Impact and a couple of churches there. We were in New Orleans from 1988 to 2003.  

When we moved to Louisville, the district just included four states; the deep south wasn't even on the map of the Free Church. So when we moved with that team to Kentucky, we added Kentucky to the map, and then Tennessee and called it the east central district. And then they were looking for someone to follow up some potential church interests further south, and they said, “Glen, you like this kind of thing. Would you be interested in going south to plant a district? And I said, “Sure, if I can move anywhere I want.” And they said, “What do we care? It's not even on the map yet.”  

So we moved to New Orleans because it was kind of the biggest, baddest place, and I had an urban ministry desire. It’s probably one of the best things that we've ever done in ministry and in marriage and family life, just enjoying those years in New Orleans. 

The opportunities are immense in the southeast. People are moving there all the time. It's a fluid situation. The thing that I'm most excited about, as I think of just all the years in the district, is just the health, vitality and health of the pastors; we've got a number of young pastors I'm extremely thrilled about. When I think of the future of the EFCA, and I think of our district, we're in good hands. I love how God has brought these guys to these churches for this time.  

With my impending retirement or reassignment, I would like to continue to invest in the Free Church that I love and to continue to play a part but just a different part. I'm quite excited to see what's ahead.