Kevin Kompelien: The Free Church Has Blessed Me Beyond Words

The Free Church is the air I've breathed my entire life. 

The pastor of the church at the time I was born, Thief River Falls Evangelical Free Church, was on the 1950 EFCA Merger Committee. The pastor that followed him was Wes Johnson, who became the district superintendent of the EFCA Great Lakes District. There were two families from our church that led evangelistic meetings in Free Churches all over the country, and we had a constant stream of Free Church missionaries come through our church, many of whom stayed in my family’s home.  

Wes Johnson's son, Larry, was one of my best buddies in elementary school. I was in their house all the time. I had the chance to understand the heart of a pastor from the perspective of his family. One of my dad's older sisters also married a Free Church pastor, so I grew up 1) with an uncle who was a Free Church pastor, 2) being in a Free Church pastor's house all the time and 3) hearing a great deal about what was happening in the Free Church in the U.S. and around the world. 

The formational years 

I trace a great deal of my spiritual heritage back to a little Free Church camp called Cooperstown Bible Camp in Cooperstown, North Dakota. In junior high, that's where I said, “Yes” to fully following Jesus. Every year in high school, my church went to the Free Church Youth Fellowship National Conference, which was the precursor to Challenge.  

In youth group, there was a volunteer youth leader named Wally who invested in us. I remember him saying, “I can’t do this full-time, but I’ll teach you how to do things.” He taught us how to study the Bible and lead Bible studies, to lead groups and events. That was just normal for him —it was intentional disciplemaking, before we called it that.  

From that youth group, a number of us became missionaries, pastors and leaders in local churches. Two were instrumental in starting two international missions agencies. One taught for years at Denver Seminary. And, lo and behold, another guy out of that youth group ended up being the president of the Free Church.  

I grew up seeing my parents engage in and enjoy being a part of a local church family—where other adults invested and spoke into my life—and it was a powerful experience. The church was family for me.

Answering the call 

When I’d come home from college, there was an older Scandanavian man who’d come up to me on Sunday mornings. With his cane and his coffee breath, he would walk slowly across the sanctuary, get right up in my face and say, “Young man, God has gifted you for ministry. When are you going to answer his call?”

After my freshman year at Trinity College, God began to nudge me into ministry. When I came to TEDS in 1979, it was ground zero for the discussion on the inerrancy in Scripture in North American evangelicalism. Because of that, people asked me, “Is that why you chose to go to TEDS?” I said, “No, I went because it’s the Free Church seminary, and I want to be a pastor in an EFCA church.” I saw what the movement of churches meant, and it mattered to me.

I met and married Becky during my time at TEDS, and after graduating, the Lord led us to Pleasant Valley Church (EFCA) in Winona, Minnesota. They’d been through a major split six years earlier, and we were able to come in, love the people and watch God do His reconciling work. During that time, I got involved with the North Central District of the EFCA. They said, “We need churches planted in southeast Minnesota,” so I joined the church planting committee and watched God work in church plants across southeast Minnesota.

All four of our kids were born in Winona, and we quickly outgrew the parsonage. After searching for almost a year, the Lord opened up a house just five doors down from where we’d been living. We bought it, painted everything and told people, “We’re here for the long haul.” Little did we know, the day Becky unpacked the last box, we’d get a call from a Free Church in San Jose, California. 

The Lord moved our family to Hillside Church (EFCA) in San Jose—a church that really cared about reaching their community and the world. At the time, San Jose was one-third Hispanic and had one of the largest Vietnamese populations outside of Vietnam, and we launched a ministry for recent immigrants in a neighborhood near the church. God grew the church, and He grew our heart for all people in our community. 

We also launched a ministry to an unreached Islamic people group in Tanzania. I love the Free Church’s heart for missions, and one of the reasons we got involved in Tanzania was to work with ReachGlobal to see churches established. Over an eight-year window, our church sent 60-plus people to Tanzania. I also went multiple times, training Tanzanian leaders and Sudanese refugees in Uganda. 

Given those connections, ReachGlobal invited me to speak at the ReachGlobal Africa division conference in 2005. When I came back, I wrote to ReachGlobal leadership and said, “Thanks for the opportunity to invest in your missionaries. Our church cares about Africa, and if there’s anything I can do to help with the work in Africa, let me know.” Two weeks later, they emailed back, “Have you ever thought about leading the ReachGlobal Africa division?” I almost fell out of my chair. 

Becky and I spent almost a decade leading the ReachGlobal Africa division, and it was amazing to see all the places God took us. I remember sitting in a mud-walled, thatched-roof house in the middle of rural Congo, meeting with Congolese pastors, and thinking, “What is a kid from Thief River Falls doing here?” Yet, God opened doors, and through a movement of national leaders, we saw almost 4,000 churches planted over the next decade.

When [EFCA President] Bill Hamel announced he was retiring, I did what everybody else did: I started praying for the next president. Then I got an email from the search committee saying, “Your name's been given to us as someone who could provide leadership for the Free Church.” Becky and I spent two and a half months praying, asking the Lord if I should even apply.

This was never my preferred career trajectory. One of the application questions was, “Why do you want to be EFCA President?” My answer was, “I really don’t want to be EFCA President. But if I can help the Free Church, I’ll serve however I can.”

A message to the Free Church 

The greatest honor and privilege of my life of ministry has been serving as the Free Church president. 

The Free Church is who I am. Nobody sat me down and taught me the History, Theology and Polity Course. I lived the History, Theology and Polity Course. It’s fascinating how God used all my experiences growing up and serving in ministry in the Free Church and said, “I've entrusted all that to you; now I want you to lead our movement.” God used the Free Church to shape me, and I think He allowed me to be a part of helping keep the Free Church, the Free Church.

If someone asked me, “What do you want to leave from your time as EFCA President?”, I would say two things. First, in everything we do, we must never take our eyes off Jesus, His mission and His Word. As Walter Kaiser Jr. [former academic dean at TEDS] often said, “Keep your finger on the Text.” Or, as the Scandinavian founders of the Free Church would say, “Where stands it written?”

The second is an idea I happened to say to a missional summit of Free Church leaders in 2015, following our biennial national conference: “We just came from EFCA One. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we functioned like ‘one EFCA?’” That phrase took a life of its own—because it’s who we are. We do this together.

To the Free Church, I say: never forget what God called us to, and never forget who He has called us to be. Ministry will look different in different generations and different places, but if the values are solid, if we have our eyes on Jesus and His mission, if what we do flows out of the Scriptures, if we work together in trusting relationships, we’ll be fine.

It’s been an incredible blessing to have spent my life in the EFCA. I’ve met some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met anywhere—from people in small churches in rural communities, to large churches in major cities, to incredibly bright people at TEDS, to mission leaders and national partners around the world. I am blessed beyond anything I can put into words.