Year: 2014

Bernie Schnippert, who recently retired as GCI’s General Counsel, grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where, at age 11, he began attending WCG church services with his parents, Bernard and Irene Schnippert, and his sister, Karen. After high school, Bernie entered Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. He graduated in 1971.

A tall man at 6 feet, 9 inches, Bernie says his life has been greatly affected by his height. “I always feel conspicuous when I walk into a room because people tend to stare at me because of my height, and someone is always bound to approach me and ask how tall I am and whether I play basketball. If I hadn’t been in the church, I probably would have pursued basketball more wholeheartedly. I couldn’t do that, of course, because of the church’s former teaching about strict Sabbath observance.”

Bernie met Arlene Pratt of McMinnville, Oregon, at Ambassador College. They married shortly after graduating. “Arlene has been my partner and soul mate through this entire journey over the past 43 years,” Bernie says. “The joys, the highs, the sorrows, the lows. We have experienced it all together, and I could not imagine life without her. We have three daughters, Crystal, Amber and Coral. Our lovely daughter Amber died a year ago from breast cancer. We also have four wonderful grandchildren. Crystal’s children, Clint and Heather, are 17, and Julia is 13. Amber’s daughter, Megan Patrick, is seven.”

Regarding his service in the church, Bernie says, “I have had absolutely awesome opportunities afforded me over the years. I entered the Canadian pastoral ministry about a year after graduation from college. I pastored in Calgary, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta; and then in Las Vegas, Nevada, before being transferred to Pasadena in 1987.”

At church headquarters in Pasadena, Bernie served as Director of Media Operations before being appointed in 1995 as Treasurer and finally as General Counsel in 2005. “Bernie was a talented and creative church pastor serving our Las Vegas congregation when we asked him to come to HQ to combine all the church’s editorial, publishing and broadcasting functions into one coordinated media operation,” recalls GCI President, Joseph Tkach.

With a tenacious love for learning, Bernie holds both a Juris Doctor degree and a Ph.D. in Management and Administration. Dr. Schnippert has also been an active member of the California State Bar since 1992. “Bernie is one of the most devoted, trustworthy and hardest working people I have ever known,” said retired GCI vice president Mike Feazell. “We met during my sophomore year of college when we lived in the same dorm, and I was immediately impressed with his honesty, his positive outlook on life and his ‘let’s find a way’ approach to challenging projects. People used to call us ‘Mutt and Jeff’ because of our difference in height. Bernie has never ceased to be a faithful and dependable friend.”

Looking back over his career in the church, Bernie said, “The most important contributions that I feel I have made to the church are the successful sales of the Big Sandy and Pasadena campuses during a critical period in the church’s spiritual journey and establishing a sound employee retirement plan.” GCI Treasurer Mat Morgan said, “Working at first for Dr. Schnippert, and then alongside him, during those challenging years afforded me a depth of rich experience that helped prepare me for the work I’m doing now. I count it a blessing to have worked so closely with such a dynamic personality.”

Dr. Russell Duke, President of Grace Communion Seminary, said, “We herald Dr. Schnippert’s decades of service in helping the church and its educational institutions work through challenging transitions, including his assistance in preparing our seminary to meet the legal standards of accreditation. Thank you, Bernie!”

Bernie isn’t all work. “Until I got sick,” he explains, “my passion was fishing and camping. But now that I am mostly confined to my home, I’m back into ham radio, which has been a hobby of mine since I was 12 years old.”

Bernie has been battling a slow-moving carcinoid cancer, a major factor in his decision to retire.

“I want to thank all the people over the years who put their trust in me and afforded me opportunities to serve in so many different capacities,” Dr. Schnippert said. “It has been an exciting, sometimes even wild ride, and it has been my hope and prayer that my contribution to the Church has been a positive one.”

Larry Van Landuyt pastors two GCI congregations in California: North Valley Christian Fellowship in Chico, and GCI in Redding. He was born in Grenada, Mississippi, where his father was in the Army, preparing to leave for Europe during World War II. Referring to himself as “an army brat,” Larry and his family moved frequently: “To Oregon, South Carolina, Maryland, New Mexico and Alaska. Then my father finished his military career at Fort Ord, California.”

Larry’s formative years were spent on one of America’s first rocket bases—White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico (later renamed White Sands Missile Range). “Along with rockets and rattlesnakes, my older brother and I spent many hours exploring the desert around the base on our bicycles and hiking the nearby Organ Mountains that lay between the base and the town of Las Cruces.”

Larry’s family has been part of GCI for a long time. “My mother’s family began listening to Herbert Armstrong when he was broadcasting from Portland, Oregon, in the 1930s or 40s. My maternal great aunt was baptized in the mid- to late 40s. Her sister, my grandmother, was baptized sometime later. Then my mother became a member of the Radio Church of God at a spring festival in Big Sandy in 1953 or 54. Her older brother and younger sister also became members. I first attended the Feast of Tabernacles in Big Sandy with my mother about this same time; I was 10 or 11. We never lived in a church area, however, so our contact with the church was only through the radio broadcast, The Plain Truth magazine, the Bible Correspondence Course and the many doctrinal booklets.”

While living in Fort Ord, Larry’s dad traveled to Fresno on Saturdays to attend church. “There he met Herman Hoeh and obtained provisional permission for me to finish high school at Imperial in Pasadena. I attended my senior year there, worked on the college grounds crew that summer and entered Ambassador College in the fall of 1960.”

Larry met his wife-to-be, Judy Olsen, the summer before attending college. “She had graduated from high school and had come to Pasadena from Michigan with her brother Morgan, who was attending Ambassador at the time. We both entered Ambassador College the following fall. We had no interest in each other before or during college. We began dating in summer 1965, a year after my graduation. She had left college after her junior year to pay down her college debt by working full-time in the church’s co-worker department. We were married in Ambassador’s lower gardens on January 2, 1966, mid-way through her senior year of college. Judy always says, “It was a God thing.” I’m sure she’s right; it’s lasted over 48 years. We have four daughters: Chantel, Sheila (deceased), Sharina and Christine, and six grandchildren: Gina, Alexander, Kayla, Dacota Jade (DJ), Nikko and Asher. They range in age from 18 months to 25 years, and in location from the house next door to Christchurch, New Zealand.”

Larry worked as an elementary teacher in Imperial Schools from 1963 until it closed in the mid-70s, and again when it reopened until its final closing in the early ’90s. “God’s love and power are undeniable considering he took a youngster who didn’t like school and wasn’t a particularly gifted student and used him for over five decades to teach children and adults of all ages the value of learning and the joy of God’s righteousness.” When Imperial closed for the second time, Larry was given the opportunity to answer letters in the church’s personal correspondence department. This job helped fulfill one of Larry’s passions, “studying and learning from human history—especially biblical history, which reveals God’s wondrous purpose for his human creation.”

Larry didn’t plan on being a pastor. “I was ordained in a surprise (to me) ceremony in Pasadena on May 14, 1994. About a year later, as headquarters began drastically downsizing, I was offered pastoral training in the Los Angeles church serving under Curtis May in preparation for being given a field assignment. In the summer of 1996, we were assigned to pastor the Chico and Redding congregations, where we continue to serve.”

Of Judy’s involvement in ministry, Larry says she is “2/3 of the ministry of Jesus in which we have had the privilege to participate. She is accompanist, soloist, befriender, consoler, prayer partner, wife, mother, grandmother, refreshment maker, master potluck cook, children’s ministry leader and faithful supporter of the one who does little more than prepare, preach and pray.”

When asked what he enjoys most about being a pastor, Larry said it is “being able to share the joy of God’s grace and love, the really Good News with others whom God is calling.” About being part of GCI, Larry said he enjoys “the sincere bond of fellowship and love among the members and the leadership of the denomination. I also deeply appreciate all the varied opportunities I have been privileged to be a part of in the 60+ years that the Spirit has been leading us through RCG, WCG and now GCI.”

Larry says his most memorable moment as a pastor was “when God opened my eyes, mind and heart to see the joy and peace of his new covenant life of freedom in Jesus Christ, and then having the opportunity to share that joy with others.”

Asked when he feels closest to God, Larry said, “It’s when I’m far away from the accomplishments of humans and surrounded by the beauty and majesty of God’s marvelous creation.”