Faces of Faith: The Rev. Herb Searfoss

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Senior Pastor Herb Seafoss stands outside the Glenwood Bible Church which has been there for 96 years. | Larry Ruehl~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 21, 2012 8:09AM

What does he do?

Born in New Jersey, Herb Searfoss said he trusted Christ as his personal savior at the age of 5 while attending a good news club.

“I heard the gospel and confessed my sin, asking Christ to save me,” said Searfoss, who since 2008 has been the senior pastor of Glenwood Bible Church at 201 W. Main St.

How did he get into his job?

“I was raised in a Christian home, for which I praise the Lord,” said Searfoss, whose family moved to Pennsylvania when he was 7.

“I was baptized by immersion at 13 in Bowman’s Creek in northeastern Pennsylvania,” he said.

“As a teenager I drifted from my dedication to the Lord still attending church but not focused on God’s will. Through this time God continued to pursue me,” he said.

Later on, Searfoss, while working at a local commercial printing plant, began attending church with his wife and became involved in the church’s music program.

“I was about 29 and active in the church, directing the choir and involved in other ministries, when through a friend, God’s direction for me became clear,” Searfoss said. “It was during this time God was working in my heart concerning ministry.”

Searfoss went on to enroll at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pa., where he earned a certificate of graduation in theological studies in 1999. That same year he was licensed as an ordained minister and went on to serve as an assistant pastor at a Calvary Baptist church in Pennsylvania for the next 10 years.

In 2008 he came to Glenwood Bible.

“I felt God’s call to do senior pastor ministry and God opened the door, and I came (to Glenwood Bible),” Searfoss said.

What’s the best part of the job?

“The best part of the job is I get to spend time investing in the lives of people,” Searfoss said.

“The purpose of a pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry in every aspect of life. I get to be involved in their lives and to help in what God has trained them to do,” he said.

What’s the worst part of the job?

“The most challenging part of the job is that it’s the nature of life that people have problems,” he said.

“In the life of the pastor I need to help others with their problems, be there for people who face a death in the family, have marital conflicts or personal conflicts or addictions,” Searfoss said.

What does he do for fun?

“I like to work with my hands, work on my car and do carpentry. I also enjoy playing golf,” he said.

Searfoss and his wife, Becky, live in Glenwood and have two children: Daniel, 22; and Emma, 19.