First Christian's Leadership
A warm Place to Worship with a Circle of Friends
Our Pastor
Tom Swartley and wife Carrie Swartley.
Pastor Toms Swartley's biography:
I was Born in 1973 in Park Rapids MN to a godly family. Our family regularly attended Faith Baptist Church in Park Rapids Minnesota where I was influenced by some very solid teaching. None the less, I engaged in ungodly activities and was doing things a Christian should not do. Attending a Christian Rock concert one summer I confessed my problems to a man who blew me away when he said, “God would rather have you drinking, smoking, and doing all that other stuff than not have you at all.” That was the first time I began to understand the love God has for sinners like me.
I graduated from high school in 1991 and attended North Dakota State University. I was officially in the electrical engineering program but in reality I majored in goofing off. After the first semester they decided that my GPA (which began with a decimal point) was not acceptable and I was asked to move on. However, I had met a pretty girl named Carrie there who would later become my wife.
In 1992 I enlisted in the US Navy active duty reserve and served two years active duty. In boot camp I was assigned to be the EPO (Education Petty Officer) who was responsible to see that the company (around 70 men) passed all their written tests. Company 123 had none held back for failed written tests and I was granted a meritorious promotion.
After boot camp I was stationed on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (an aircraft carrier) based out of Alameda California from December 2002 till July 2004 http://www.cds9.navy.mil/Lincoln%20stats.htm.
In April of 1993 Carrie and I were married while I was on leave. She came out to California and we set up house while I continued to serve aboard ship. While I served aboard the Lincoln we cruised to Hong Kong, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Australia, and Hawaii.
At the end of my enlistment I found that I had 30 days of unused leave. So I took what was called terminal leave. While still being fully active duty but on leave that would end my active duty obligation both my wife and I qualified to fly on “space available” military flights. In the late fall of 1994 Carrie and flew “space available” from Travis AFB in California to Anchorage AK where we stayed with a friend I grew up in church with and his family. Then we flew to Tokyo for 6 days and from there to Okinawa for one week to see my sister who was a missionary teacher there, and from there to Oahu and back to Travis Air Force Base. This traveling was especially nice since my wife could come with.
After my enlistment was done I took a job with a convenience store in Columbus Nebraska and soon found myself the manager. I managed this store for a year and a half and knew that I needed something different.
In 1996 I entered the insurance and investment business. I sold insurance, serviced accounts, and offered investment options and estate planning until 2002. The income was good but God had other plans.
I received a call from the Lord to attend Nebraska Christian College. From a worldly standpoint that made no sense. Even if I did go and graduate I would likely take a job that would pay less than the income I already had. But I couldn’t run from the call so I enrolled and attended 2 half days a week for 2 years. I went out of my way to keep my college folly to myself, as I was not sure how my company would view such things.
After 2 years of clandestine classes I felt compelled to take the leap and resign. No matter how I did the math we would come up short but again, I couldn’t shake the call. We had incurred significant debt purchasing and remodeling a hundred-year-old office building, and our 2nd child was due any day. None the less, I resigned from my job in sales, put our building up for sale and trusted God to provide. A few days later I received a letter from NCC informing me that I had qualified for a full ride scholarship. A week or so after that a healthy baby girl joined our family. Then, just 30 days after my resignation we had cash in hand from the sale of our building and retired a good share of our debt. God seemed to be saying, “See, I told you, trust me”.
In May of 2004 I began Nebraska’s first prison chaplain internship. I had the privilege of working with the chaplain of the Omaha Men’s Correctional Center for eight weeks. During that experience I met many staff members and inmates and had a chance to visit nearly all of Nebraska’s prison facilities. It was awesome to see inmates truly impassioned for the Lord even while some served life sentences for heinous crimes.
In December 2004 I heard that a small church in Elm Creek Nebraska needed a temporary preacher. I said that I would be willing and began to make the 2-hour drive each way every Sunday. As God would have it we loved the Church in Elm Creek and they showed great kindness to us. They asked us come on full time after graduation. After some prayer we agreed that the Lord wanted us in Elm Creek. Meanwhile Monday through Friday I drove the 50 miles each way to NCC and on Sundays we drove the 100 miles to Elm Creek.
In May of 2005 I graduated from NCC with honors. God had seen me through a bachelors program involving some 20,000 miles of commuting over 5 years while incurring no debt. In June of 2005 we moved to Elm Creek and felt at home rather quickly.
Since coming to First Christian Church in Elm Creek God has enabled us to be a part of a growing family of believers.
God is Good.
Chairperson:
Jerry Stall
Vice-Chairperson :
Sharon Harlan
Secretary:
Julie Stall
Treasurer:
Sharon Harlan
Elders:
Ross Gibbons, Dale Wright, Joyce Waugh, Ilia Wright, Sharon Harlan, Doug Young and Calvin Moore
Deacons:
Ray Hahn, Bill Hoban, Glenn Poppert, Gary Davenport, Wayne Wright, Norman Richardson, Donavon Brodine, Floyd Dodd, John Hahn, Clarence Taylor, Joe Porter
Deaconess:
Kathy Hahn, Peg Porter, Nancy Stone, Betty Wright, Jo Benjamin, Jenalee Brodine, Sharon Harlan, Nancy Schnacker, Phyliss Richardson, Bonnie Poppert, Ilia Wright.
Contact Us
We are located in Elm Creek Nebraska. You may contact us via phone at (308) 856-4530. Or you can email us at info @ elmcreekchristian.com or visit us at First Christian Church, 330 N Tyler Street, P.O. Box 284, Elm Creek, NE 68836.
