Charles R. Swindoll is the senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, and the Bible teacher on the internationally syndicated radio program Insight for Living.
Chuck has written more than thirty best-selling books, including Strengthening Your Grip, Laugh Again, The Grace Awakening, and the million-selling Great Lives from God’s Work series. Chuck and his wife, Cynthia, live in Frisco, Texas.
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 (1965–67), Irving, Texas (1967–71), and Fullerton, California (1971–94). He started his current senior pastorate in Frisco 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 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 Plano.
In July 1994, Swindoll became the president of the 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 (1956–2006).
In 1998 Swindoll founded Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco. The church first held services at Collin County Community College (now Collin College), then moved to its permanent home on Legendary Drive. The congregation 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. Many of the pastors at Stonebriar are graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary, and 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.
