Chuck Swindoll


Charles Rozell Swindoll is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded Insight for Living, headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2,000 stations around the world in 15 languages. He is currently senior pastor at Stonebriar Community Church, in Frisco, Texas.

Early life

Charles Rozell Swindoll was born on October 18, 1934, in El Campo in Wharton County, Texas, the third of three children born to Earl and Lovell Swindoll. He attended Charles H. Milby High School in Houston. He credits his drama teacher, Dick Nieme, for helping him manage his stutter. As a member of the school marching band and orchestra, he learned to play all of the instruments in the woodwind section, although the clarinet remained his primary instrument. After graduating from high school, he studied mechanical engineering while working for Reed Roller Bit Company in Houston, Texas. Swindoll then fulfilled his military service obligation with the United States Marine Corps, first in San Francisco, then on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Part of his duty included playing in the Marine Corps Marching Band.
After his honorable discharge in 1959, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary, where he graduated magna cum laude four years later.

Career

Swindoll was ordained into the ministry in 1963 and served in Dallas, under J. Dwight Pentecost, for two years. He has since held senior pastorates in Waltham, Massachusetts, Irving, Texas, and Fullerton, California. He started his current senior pastorate in Frisco, Texas in 1998.
Swindoll is the founder of Insight for Living, which produces a radio program of the same name on Christian and non-Christian radio stations around the world. The program is heard on more than 2000 stations, as well as being webcast, and is translated into several languages. Its roots go back to the summer of 1977, when Swindoll's sermons from the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton were broadcast on radio. In 1979 the Insight for Living radio ministry began; its offices are now located in Frisco.
In July 1994, Swindoll became the president of Dallas Theological Seminary and now serves as its chancellor. He is the author of more than 70 books, most of which are based on his research and preparation for sermons preached each Sunday. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Christianity Today produced an article naming Swindoll as one of the top 25 most influential preachers of the past 50 years.
In 1998 Swindoll founded Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco. Many of the pastors at Stonebriar are graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary. The church first held services at Collin County Community College, then moved to its permanent home on Legendary Drive. The grew rapidly from a few hundred members to several thousand in the first few years, and this growth has necessitated major expansion of the current facility. Construction for the additions began in 2005. The church is known for its missionary work in India and in other countries. Though Swindoll is still widely regarded as an Evangelical Free Church of America preacher, the Stonebriar Community Church is not affiliated with any particular denomination.

Personal life

On June 18, 1955, Swindoll married Cynthia Ann Parker, who used to be the pianist at a Baptist Church in Galena Park, Texas. Together, the couple has four children, ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Selected publications