It’ll be hard to replace Jim Gwinn, the long-time president of CRISTA Ministries who recently retired, say those who know him best.
So it’s not surprising that a successor is yet to be named.
Gwinn recently retired after 18 years of leading the Christian organization that operates 10 ministries, King’s Schools, retirement communities and three radio stations. CRISTA Ministries is the largest employer in Shoreline.
“It is hard to replace a personality like Jim, who is so well-known in the community,” said long-time co-worker Bill Brown. “He had that vivacious, entrepreneurial spirit.”
But rather than slow down, it seems Gwinn will be keeping rather busy after retirement.
“It’s not retiring, but reemphasis,” Gwinn, 65, said. “I will do other things; I am not going to do nothing.”
For six months a year, Gwinn and his wife, Karen, will reside in Palm Springs, Calif., where Gwinn will serve as chaplain at Outdoor Resorts of America, which he describes as a “high-end” RV park. While there, he will speak at a weekly church service.
From November through April, the couple, which has been married for 45 years after meeting at a summer camp when teenagers and have two sons, will return to their Edmonds home. While in town, Gwinn will continue serving as a volunteer chaplain for a number of organizations, including the Shoreline Police Department, Lynnwood Cycle Barn (owning a Harley is a requirement) and a local Corvette club. A Corvette aficionado, Gwinn owns three Corvettes — one was a gift from a relative.
As volunteer chaplain for the two auto groups, Gwinn prays before events and dinners. But for the police department he does the “hard stuff,” such as informing people a loved one has died. He also will continue to drive the school bus for King’s football and basketball teams four or five times a year, which he says gives him an opportunity to “get to know the kids.”
Gwinn became president of CRISTA 29 years after graduating from King’s High School himself. He was reared in a Christian household in Lake Forest Park with several other siblings and later graduated from Seattle Pacific College and Western Baptist Seminary and worked for a number of organizations, such as Moody Church in Chicago, Camp Sambica and Moody Bible Institute before being asked to return to CRISTA in 1987.
“From a young age I always wanted to be a youth pastor and that is what I did for a long time,” Gwinn said. “It’s like youth pastor makes good.”
Duties as president of CRISTA began at 6:30 a.m. daily, when Gwinn could be heard on air on all three CRISTA radio stations. Other duties included calling on donors and board members, speaking in churches on Sundays (CRISTA does not operate a church) and serving on two national boards: Christian Management Association and National Religious Broadcasters.
“It was fun to come back and be president at a school where I graduated and grew up as a kid,” Gwinn said. “I worked with a wonderful board and we enjoyed success and failure together.”
Accomplishments Gwinn rattles off include increasing the operating budget from $33 million to $170 million, acquiring five new ministries and opening a second school campus — King’s West, a K-12 school in Bremerton.
One unsustainable vision was operating Alderbrook Inn on Hood Canal as a Christian conference center. It was sold after three years, he said.
“If I had a dream it would be to someday retire and run that,” Gwinn said, “but it was too expensive for churches to use.”
What is most fulfilling to Gwinn is the knowledge that CRISTA, which is nondenominational, averaged between 3,000 to 4,000 people per year who became followers of Christ as a result of ministry outreach.
Gwinn said he is not concerned with the direction CRISTA may head when a new president eventually is named.
“I have total confidence in them,” Gwinn said. “I hope the next person takes it farther than I did.”
Brown, who serves as the chief financial officer for CRISTA, said during Gwinn’s time at CRISTA, the organization grew considerably. Highlights include founding a retirement community in Silverdale, a second school campus in Bremerton and briefly operating a house for AIDS sufferers.
“He was definitely on the cutting edge of doing stuff that many other religious non-profits may have been afraid to do,” Brown said.
Gwinn will be remembered for knowing something about everyone he came in contact with, Brown said, and for being able to deal with a wide range of people, from politicians to car aficionados like himself.
“He is an incredible guy at being able to fit in and make people feel wanted and warm,” Brown said. “It didn’t matter if they were a janitor or President of the United States.”
Karen Gwinn, who volunteers at CRISTA’s women’s ministries, said her husband’s outgoing personality will likely be missed the most.
“He knew everybody’s name,” she said, “and shared his faith with everyone.”
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