Dr. Fred R. Lybrand

 Maybe it's because his dad was a lawyer and state legislator, or maybe it's because he grew up in Alabama with something to prove, or maybe he just found a good use for his self-proclaimed ADHD; but whatever the cause, Fred Lybrand has become a careful thinker in a number of disciplines. If you are looking at a topic with Dr. Lybrand, then you are guaranteed to see things like you never have before. “I finally discovered that I'm one of those unfocused students that just likes to learn everything. I guess God made me to be a knowledge broker—-I learn some hopefully useful information, and then give it to others who need it,” Lybrand describes of his own love for learning and teaching.

Lybrand attended the University of Alabama and majored in English Literature, with a double-minor emphasis in speech communication and fiction writing. He went on to teach the introductory speech communications class while also attending law school at Alabama. A hunger to understand the Word of God, however, led him to withdraw in order to pursue theological studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Lybrand graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1989, and received a doctorate from Phoenix Seminary, 2007.

In January 2010, Dr. Lybrand retired from a 24 year career as a pastor of two churches in Texas. At Midland Bible Church he helped build a church which has launched ministries in several continents (including successful church-planting efforts in Uganda), as well as serving as a founding board (and faculty) member for Midland Classical Academy, a Socratic-method based high school. The school provides a “classical education” focused on teaching students through the Socratic Method using classical books, interactive science and math, logic, fine arts, and the creative process—all built on the foundation of the Bible. At Northeast Bible Church (Evangelical Free Church) in the San Antonio area, Dr. Lybrand helped redesign the church to grow as a disciple-making center for promoting the grace of God. Teaching and counseling in the church context has been a long-term focus of Lybrand's labors.

Lybrand is also the founding executive director and a past president of the Free Grace Alliance (www.freegracealliance.com), an organization committed to coordinating and connecting the various “free grace” leaders, organizations, and churches in the USA and abroad.

Dr. Lybrand's interests in communication, teamwork, and individual giftedness has led him into human resource consulting with a variety of companies and firms including large independent oil and gas exploration companies—Burlington Resources (now ConocoPhillips), Marathon Oil, Encana, and Pioneer Natural Resources. His work with Pioneer Natural Resources led Lybrand and Hermann Eben to develop a leadership development and organizational consulting business, TrimTab Solutions. Under the mentoring of Robert Fritz, Lybrand is certified as a Business Structural Consultant, an Individual Structural Consultant, a Creating What Matters Facilitator, a Kolbe Conative Index Interpreter, a Consultant in Natural Church Development Processes, and a Think on Your Feet Associate and is also certified in the Kolbe Conative Index and the MBTI. All of these studies have to do with how to improve effectiveness in human contribution.

Lybrand has been married to Jody White Lybrand, his college sweetheart, for 27 years. They have five children: Tripp, Laura, Forrest, Holmes, and Brooks. Jody has a master’s degree in early childhood education and does the larger share of the homeschooling for the Lybrand gang, all of whom have been schooled from birth to college at home. Dr. Lybrand agrees that 'if you can't say it you don't know it', and with writing as his first love, he created The Writing Course a curriculum to teach kids to overcome every fear of writing on the way to writing well.

In addition to Glaen, Lybrand has written and published five other books entitled Heavenly Citizenship: The Spiritual Alternative to Power Politics; The Absolute Quickest Way to Help Your Child Change; About Life and Uganda;and Preaching on Your Feet, and Back to Faith: Reclaiming gospel clarity in an age of incongruence.