Chuck Swindoll

Early life

Swindoll was born 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 overcome severe stuttering. As a member of the school marching band and orchestra, he learned to play all of the instruments in the woodwind section, although the saxophone 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. After his honorable discharge in 1959, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary, where he graduated magna cum laude four years later.

He and his wife, Cynthia, have four children.

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 (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.

Selected publications

Swindoll's New Testament Insights Commentary Series

Profiles in Character series

Honors and awards