Meet the New Executive Director – David Schmus

As you may have recently read in Teachers of Vision, Finn Laursen has recently stepped down after 14 successful years as Executive Director. Under his watch, CEAI grew significantly in terms of efficiency and organization, and launched two hugely impactful ministry initiatives: The Daniel Project and LIFT America. These two efforts are seeing thousands of teachers and students lives impacted for Christ. He has left an extraordinary legacy.

I have been privileged to serve the last two years as Outreach Director under Finn’s wise mentorship. Now I am pleased to announce that I have been selected by the CEAI Board of Directors as the next Executive Director. Please allow me to introduce myself!

I would love to hear your story! Send me an email or give me a call and let me know how I can serve you. Or, you may actually get a call from me as I reach out to get to know our members!

P.S. Here is my short “bio” if you want to know that kind of info:

David Schmus is the Executive Director of Christian Educators Association International (ceai.org), which encourages, equips, and empowers thousands of Christian educators around the country to live out their faith legally in our public schools, and gives teachers a Biblical alternative to politicized teachers unions. Prior to his tenure at CEAI, he was a high school AP US History/Government teacher and a Christian Club adviser for 15 years, being repeatedly honored as Most Inspirational Teacher. He holds an M.A. in Biblical Studies and Theology from Biola University, and has taught Biblical Worldview and Introduction to Teaching classes at Biola as an adjunct professor. David has been interviewed for numerous radio, podcast, and online/print outlets, including World Magazine, Christianity Today, Salem and Bott radio networks, and the Moms in Prayer podcast. He leads and co-hosts the annual Rise Up Summit, an online conference that attracts over 10,000 Christian educators yearly. David and his wife Elizabeth have been married for 29 years, have 5 daughters, and are based in Orange County, California.