About Brian Zahnd
Brian Zahnd is the founder and senior pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. Born in Savannah, Missouri, he became a Christian as a teenager through a dramatic encounter with Jesus during the height of the Jesus movement. Soon after, he began holding Bible studies in high school, leading a coffeehouse ministry, and preaching in whatever church was crazy enough to let a long-haired Jesus freak into the pulpit.
In 1981, Zahnd and his wife, Peri, founded Word of Life Church with a handful of Jesus-movement young people in a broken-down church building. Now, with a thriving congregation with multiple services each weekend, Word of Life Church is among a unique group of large-sized congregations located in counties with populations of 100,000 or less.
The Zahnds have three sons and two daughters-in-law who are all actively involved in ministry and church life. Brian Zahnd may be one of the most avid Bob Dylan fans in the world. (He had 1,235 Dylan songs on his iPod at last count. That is 4.2 days’ worth of music!)
Known for his passion for the church and his thought-provoking, prophetic, challenging style of preaching and teaching, Brian travels extensively, ministering in churches and at pastors' conferences around the world.
Brian's blog, brianzahnd.com, offers a diverse menu of interesting and provocative insights about the King and His kingdom.
