Greg Fritz was born and raised in a rural farming community in Pennsylvania. He left his small town and started his cross-cultural career by serving among the poor in Honduras as a 16 year-old. He helped found the Caleb Project while studying at Penn State University and taught English in Libya from 1980 to 1981. He was President of Caleb Project from 1983 to 2006. The Caleb Project, a mobilization organization that sought to assist people as they journeyed toward increased strategic involvement in living out Christ’s Great Commission gave him regular opportunities to coach people who had entered cultures different than their own. They informed, equipped, and engaged people in reaching the least reached peoples who generally live in the difficult places of our world.
From 2007 to 2011 Greg served as Vice President at Partners International where he met many wonderful international indigenous leaders. He serves as an Adjunct Professor of Cross-Cultural Ministry and World Religions at Whitworth University where he completed his Doctor of Ministry degree in 2004. Greg and his wife, Nancy, have four adult children and live in Spokane, WA. Currently, he is primarily invested in enabling entrepreneurs in emerging markets with Anda Leadership.
Recently, Greg spent several weeks in Zimbabwe, where the people long for links with the rest of the world. They feel a sense of urgency because the world is moving on and leaving them behind. They are anxious to meet with westerners because they hope we have insight about how they can structure the wonderful human and natural resources available to them to create a better future for their families, communities and country.
He does not have too much experience interacting with the people of Zimbabwe, but he has consistently noticed two things.
“First, these people have suffered more than I can fully comprehend. Every person has a horrific story of personal struggle, hardship and loss. Many lost loved ones during the Bush Wars and have struggled with prejudice or have lost status, businesses, homes, and other worldly possessions during hyperinflation. My host’s husband was murdered while being robbed. Her friend’s parents were murdered because they had the wrong political views. Listening to the personal stories of these people causes me to realize my life has been sheltered. I find myself struggling to understand how people can endure so much,” Greg said.
“The second thing I noticed is that the Christians in Zimbabwe are filled with joy. They love freely, they are working for reconciliation and justice, and their teasing makes me laugh. I don’t remember laughing this much in a long time as I have during this trip; their pain is real but their joy is authentic.
The Zimbabweans particularly appreciate when we listen first. They are used to Americans and other experts presuming they have answers to their complicated problems. We do not start with the assumption that we have much to offer; we come to serve. Amazingly, this opens doors for us to meet with dozens of business, political, and church leaders in three cities. We listened to their stories and struggled with them for answers.
"Several of my new Zimbabwean friends are urging me to return soon to continue teaching leadership and management topics to various groups of leaders. They particularly want life-on-life mentoring; a highly relational transfer of knowledge, skills, and encouragement from an individual with greater life experience to someone with less,” Greg explained.
After much ministry experience in teaching, writing curriculum and speaking over the last 35 years, Greg’s wife, Nancy is currently a children’s ministry consultant and international trainer with Kidzana Ministries (visit www.kidzana.org). She has a passion for training local leaders in Asia, Africa and anywhere the Lord allows, reaching and discipling local children to love Christ for a lifetime.
She went to Asia earlier this month to do training there. During this training, 98 children’s leaders were equipped for service with children in their homes, Sunday schools and schools.
“The training is very interactive and applies to the cultural context that one is preparing to enter. One example of this is creating dramatic performances; which is a fun way to learn how to interact with children. Each team acts out a Bible story, using no words or props. They then take this creativity back to their students and have them share their gifting and interest in working with children. We have the leaders write this on puzzle pieces, as a way for them to share with the rest of us as we work together to ‘build a vision’ for children’s ministry on the wall,” Nancy said.
We are thankful to the Fritzes for sharing the joys and difficulties of God’s work in their lives and are blessed to call them part of our LAC Family.