Charles Kreider

LBC’s Longest-Serving Board Member

For four decades, Charles Kreider has given his time and talents to Lancaster Bible College as the longest-serving member of the Board of Trustees, helping guide the college through times of change, growth and opportunity.

First serving as a Corporation Member in 1984, then elected as a Trustee in 1990, Charlie, as he’s known to friends and family, became part of the Executive Committee in 1993, serving as secretary until 2007 then as vice-chair until 2021. He joined the Membership Committee in 1997, where he continues to serve today. He’s been part of the Board under three college presidents, and his current three-year term will end in August 2024.

After graduating from Lancaster Mennonite School in 1964, Charlie attended St. Joseph Hospital School of Respiratory Therapy, where he also worked for several years. He then created the Department of Respiratory Therapy at Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital and also worked as St. Joseph’s Technical Director and Clinical Instructor. Eventually, he co-founded Lancaster County Respirator Service, later named LancoMed Homecare, to supply respiratory medical equipment for homecare patients, and also purchased two companies that distributed respiratory products. After 25 years in this industry, Charlie sold these businesses in 1996.

Charlie and his wife, Arlene (Herr), were married in 1967. Arlene also worked in the medical field, serving as an RN in intensive care and as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist at two area hospitals; she was also involved in clerical work in the family business.

In the mid-‘70s, Charlie realized that having a plane would be beneficial in business, so he started flying lessons in 1975. Over the years, he’s owned eight planes, doing most of his business flying in a Piper Seneca III. After the sale of his respiratory companies, Charlie began flying smaller, more efficient planes—most recently a Mooney Ovation, which he sold in 2022. He still has access to several aircraft, holds an Airline Transport Pilot license and has accrued nearly 8,500 pilot-in-command hours. He spent many of those hours serving nonprofit organizations to help leaders, including those at LBC and Hope International, be more efficient in their travels.

Charlie has also been involved in voluntary Angel Flights, which transport patients for treatments or transplants, as well as Patient Airlift Services and Veterans Airlift Command. He’s flown in all kinds of weather for emergency deliveries of medical equipment and has also ferried new planes from factories to distributors as well as shuttled planes to and from repair stations.

Along with his service to LBC, Charlie has served on other nonprofit boards, including Community Bible Church in Marietta, Pa., where the Kreiders have attended and been involved since 1968, along with Five Stones Global, formerly World Mission Associates, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Lancaster County, Gospel Horn Ministries, Evangelistic Association and Grace College.

Another of Charlie’s passions is computers. Around 1979, he began teaching himself about programming and has written software for businesses, nonprofits and churches. He even has an LBC computer connection through Alpha & Omega Community Center in downtown Lancaster, which operates the Computers for Refugees program. LBC alumnus Daniel Gingrich (’78) leads the initiative, which collects donated computers and upgrades speed and operating systems before distributing to families.

These refurbished computers, many of which Charlie works on, help refugees, migrant workers and newly arrived immigrants. Over several years, the program has distributed hundreds of desktops, laptops, tablets and printers to individuals, families and organizations.

Charlie is a self-described prayer warrior, with a daily prayer list of 100 individuals and groups, including LBC leadership, faculty, staff and students.

Today, one of Charlie and Arlene’s favorite roles is as grandparents. They frequently spend time with their son and daughter-in-law, Daryl and Dana, and two grandsons, Ayrton and Ari, who live nearby.

More than computers or flying, Charlie has a love for evangelism, which is why he appreciates LBC’s mission after 40 years of service to the college.

“I’m committed to the concept of training Christian students for ministry with a biblical worldview,” he said, “which is what we’re all about.”