John Strehle has worn various hats throughout his career. For the last 12 years, he served as a pastor here in the Southern California Conference (SCC). Before joining SCC, he pastored various churches outside SCC, was a district pastor, served as a school chaplain and Bible teacher, and was the Natural Church Development (NCD) director in Wisconsin. But before these ministry posts, he was in a different field altogether.
“God was blessing in mighty ways, and I was like, no, I don’t need to do pastoring. But God kept opening doors,” Strehle recalled. “And when He kept opening the doors, I finally said, ‘Well, Lord, if you keep opening them, I’ll just keep walking through.’” That led to his transition out of a seven-year physical therapy career working in outpatient orthopedics.
Now, Strehle has walked through another open door to join the SCC office team as the director for planned giving and trust services. In this new position, he’s drawing on his different positions and experiences.
“Each of them helped me appreciate a greater scope of a variety of ministry and concepts,” Strehle noted, adding that each experience he had in the past “in some ways set up stepping stones that I didn’t realize then to a moment where I was asked to consider planned giving and trust services.”
Another perspective Strehle brings into this position is his coaching background, which began when he was introduced to the North American Division Evangelism Institute and Christian life coaching almost 20 years ago. From there, he has expanded from becoming an NCD coach and a Christian life coach to relationship and marriage coaching and, in 2018, he began specializing in conflict coaching and mediation.
While the department deals with things like power of attorney, wills, and trusts, “we don’t just prepare documents,” Strehle said. “It’s about the heart of the individual and helping them reflect on what God is doing and where He is leading. Our motto is ‘planning today, blessing tomorrow.’”
When asked what he looks forward to in the future of planned giving and trust services in SCC, Strehle said “creating a ministry where we walk alongside you, to help you follow the Lord’s leading as you bless your family and bless God’s mission in your faithful stewardship. God has blessed us so much, let’s give Him room to multiply what He has given us as we respond to His presence.”