DR. PHILIP P. SCHMUNK

I accepted Christ at age 4 because my older brother told me I was going to Hell.   I was the first person my brother Dan led to Christ, and he went on to become a crusade coordinator for Billy Graham and has served for the past 10+ years as the president of the American Tract Society.  I was raised in a Christian home and grew up in independent Evangelical Churches in Michigan. I attended college at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana majoring in Bible Literature.  I met my wife Donna there and we have been married for 30 years.

After College I attended Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, (Now known as Denver Seminary) in Denver, Co.  I received an M.A. in Systematic Theology in 1979.  I also served as a student pastor during this time at Southwest Baptist Church.

While there in Denver, two sons were born to us, Philip, and Daniel. I accepted a position at First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, MN immediately upon graduation from Seminary. While living in Mpls. Our third and last child Jennie was born.  Philip is now married, and 28, and works as an architect in Portland, Oregon.  On July 20, 2000, My middle son Daniel, who was at that time 21 experienced a seizure from which emergency medical personnel were not able to revive him, and he died unexpectedly.  Dan is with Christ and enjoying eternity, and perhaps needless to say, we in our family have experienced God’s grace, and have been profoundly influenced by this experience. Jennie is now 25 and lives with her husband in Olympia, Washington where she works as a teaching aide to autistic children.

I served at FBC first as Minister to Younger Adults and then after ordination in 1980 as Assistant to the Pastor. My greatest success there was an Evangelism Explosion program that was reaching many people for Christ each year. After serving for 8 years at FBC, Minneapolis, I joined the staff of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, working with graduate students. While rewarding in many ways, I found this to be a very difficult ministry; trying to balance raising support, ministering to donors, and working on campus.

After almost 3 years with Inter-Varsity, I accepted a position in Washington State at Longview Community Church.  I served there for 8 years as Associate Pastor for Christian Education.  During this time I completed a D.Min. degree in Church Leadership from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

In July 1997 I accepted a position from Browncroft Community Church in Upstate New York as Associate Pastor.  I deeply enjoyed serving Christ there. In 2001 our senior pastor accepted a position at a large church in California, and I found myself chief of staff and interim pastor. God blessed us during those years and the church remained healthy and growing. In 2005 the church finally hired a new senior pastor and I continued to serve as executive pastor. The average weekly attendance of people on campus during a Sunday morning totaled about 2100 people. During the 4+ years of interim leadership I heard God’s clear call to senior leadership in the church.

My commitment to Christ is to serve at my greatest capacity with all my heart. My wife Donna is a teacher and works in a Sarasota County school teaching second grade. She is a really terrific woman of God and amazing support to me. We both look forward to getting to know you and serve along side you for the Glory of God..