Doctor Sybrand de Swardt has been the pastor of Lynnwood Baptist Church since 2009. He is married to his wife, Beth, and they have two children: Carol-Marie and Thomas-Wayne.

Dr. de Swardt is an expositional preacher and also provides extensive counselling and teaching on counselling-related issues. He earned a Master of Arts in Biblical Counselling from The Master’s University and a Doctor of Educational Ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His doctoral project focused on developing a thirty-hour contextualised Biblical Counselling course. Additionally, he has trained many individuals in counselling-related topics through SMTI and independently in Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, and Africa.

Dr. de Swardt is a Fellow with the Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors (ACBC) and serves as the director of SMTI which provides advanced training in Biblical Counselling across Africa and Europe. He is a guest lecturer at Mukhanyo Theological College in South Africa and is a professor of Biblical Counselling at Brookes Bible College in St. Louis, Missouri. Additionally, he has been a speaker at the annual conferences hosted by the ACBC.