Memorial Tribute for Brian James Bartsch

Introduction

Thank you for joining us as we celebrate the life of our oldest son, Brian. The Lord unexpectedly called him home via a suspected cardio pulmonary arrest on Saturday afternoon, May 3, 2025. It was a big shock to his wife, Christa, to his children and their spouses, and to us, his parents. We, his parents are giving you an insight into what God has done and is doing.

The Beginnings

Brian James Bartsch, 54, was born on April 27, 1971 at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas Texas. He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces at birth. He was the son of James T. and Esther L. Bartsch. I was from Kansas, and Esther was from Pennsylvania. We met at Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska, and were married the day after she graduated.

After my senior year at Grace, we moved to Dallas, Texas. I began attending Dallas Theological Seminary in the fall semester of 1969. Since both Brian and I have been big Dallas Cowboys fans, I don't mind saying that the 69-70 season was the beginning of Roger Staubach's taking over of the quarterback position from Craig Morton.

Early Childhood

When Brian was a little fellow, and Esther was trying to potty-train him, we went for a brief vacation to Galveston, Texas, right on the Gulf of Mexico. Er, America. We were poor seminary students and could only afford a Class C Motel. The bathroom had no tub, and I held Brian in my arms and tried to give us both a shower. He was not impressed! For some reason, our time in Galveston was kind of gray, and the city, at least where we were situated, seemed gloomy, unkempt, and uninviting.

Our second son, David, was born on February 21, 1974, my last semester of Seminary. I graduated in May of 1974, and our family moved to Rexford, Kansas, where I began pastoring Rexford Community Church. Brian enjoyed playing “tackle” football with his dad out in the front yard. He was unafraid to venture into the church auditorium with an open casket prior to an upcoming funeral. I decided there was no point in shielding small children from death. As it turns out, ironically, he is the first one in our immediate family to experience death firsthand.

Spiritual Formation

When Brian was about four in Rexford, I read to him a Bible Story book for children. One story described the Twelve Disciples as Jesus’ friends. There were four questions at the end of each brief story. On this occasion, one of the questions was, "Did Brian want to become a friend of Jesus?" The answer was, “No.” Some months later, reading through the same story, the same question was asked again. This time, Brian said, “Yes.” So I took him upstairs to his bedroom and explained the need for him to trust in Jesus to gain forgiveness for the sins he had committed. Brian prayed a prayer expressing his trust in Jesus and asking Him to come into his life. I believe it was then that he was born again into the family of God (John 3:1-18). Esther and I believe that any positive step toward God and Jesus a small child can take is a good step. He would need more content to his faith and spiritual walk later, but he did decide to take that first step. We are grateful for God's working in his life and for his voluntary decision.

South Australia

In June of 1978, Esther and I, along with Brian and Dave, flew to Adelaide, the capital of the State of South Australia. The thirteen hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand, was brutal. But we survived. There in Adelaide, I was the youth pastor of Edwardstown Baptist Church for about four years. I also helped our pastor and another pastoral staff from another church found Adelaide College of Ministries, a ministry-oriented Bible College.

Ever interested in sports, Brian played basketball outside in the rain and also learned to play cricket. For awhile he sported a black eye to prove it!

James Valley Christian School
Huron, South Dakota

Back in America, Dad began teaching Bible to Grades 7-12 at James Valley Christian School (JVCS) near Huron, South Dakota. Dad drove all four children, Brian, David, Jeffrey, and Erica to school every day. Brian went out for basketball, but was sometimes out-muscled by stronger and taller opponents. He did learn to play the trombone, and after a time, the family had a brass quintet. Dad and Brian played trombone while Dave played tuba, Jeff played French Horn, and Erica played trumpet.

The family attended Bethesda Church of Huron. The Pastor, Eldon Busenitz, had graduated from Berean Academy in Elbing, Kansas, a solid Christian school from which Dad had graduated back in 1965. Both Dad and Mom, along with Eldon and his wife Marlys, had graduated from Grace College of the Bible in Omaha after their high school years. Both the Busenitzes and the Bartsches have a Mennonite heritage. It should be no surprise that Esther Bartsch and Marlys Busenitz were second cousins!

It was at Bethesda Church that I, Dad began to speak to Brian about the importance of getting baptized (Matt. 28:18-20). Always possessed of an independent streak, Brian had finally pushed back against me and said, "I will get baptized when I am ready!" So Dad kept his mouth shut. I was a little disturbed when I heard that Pastor Busenitz was going to hold baptism classes, but Brian had said nothing about it. Almost on the eve of the baptism, I heard "through the grapevine" that Brian was going to be participating in the baptism. So, we watched our son getting baptized, almost oblivious that he had been a candidate for some time!

Grace College of the Bible

After graduating from JVCS in 1989, Brian began attending Grace College of the Bible in Omaha. He went out for choir. The choir director, Norman Regier, commented more than once to me that Brian had a penchant for talking a lot during choir. The boy from South Dakota was not bashful!

Marriage and Family

It was at Grace that Brian and Christa Shafer began noticing each other. She was the daughter of Ted and Karla Shafer out of Cozad, Nebraska. Ted was an auto mechanic by day and a lay pastor in his off hours. Brian and Christa had some initial ups and downs in their courting relationship, but they were able to sort that out. They were married at Crosspoint Bible Church on June 27, 1992. Both fathers officiated at the wedding.

Having married into the Shafer family, Brian, along with father-in-law Ted, and Ted's son Thomas all bought motorcycles and did a little touring together.

Brian and Christa had five children. Matthew was the firstborn, followed by Jonathon. Then there were three girls, Katie, Sarah, and Emily.

Initially the family took up living in various places in Omaha. Then Brian and Christa bought a double-wide mobile home in Blair. Eventually, they purchased their present home.

Employment

Brian worked for a time at Grainger Supply in Omaha, then began to teach himself coding for computers. That eventually led to an ongoing position of data base management at Orion Advisor Solutions, initially headquartered in Omaha.

Interests

Brian possessed an inquiring mind. He was a self-taught student of the Civil War, World War I and World War II. Brian loved singing. When the extended Bartsch family got together for a reunion, he would participate lustily, chiming in with his baritone voice. He also enjoyed history, politics, theology, and smoking meat.

He, along with his father, Jim, followed the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys Football team for years. Every time “March Madness” rolled around, Brian would print off an NCAA tournament bracket and get almost everyone in his immediate family to fill one out.

Every year in the fall, Brian put together a spread-sheet of all 32 NFL teams. Interested family members (including me, to be sure) would predict the fortunes of all 32 teams for the complete 17-game schedule. Recently I commiserated with Jonathon that his father would not be able to circulate that spread sheet anymore. Jonathon has promised to put on the mantle in late August or early September.

Spiritual Interests

For many years Brian was an elder at Crosspoint Bible Church. He worked with the Elder Board in crafting position papers and in making staff choices and policy decisions. At Crosspoint elders cycle off and back on the Board periodically. At the time of his departure, Brian had cycled off.

Brian was an avid Bible student. He taught the Adult Bible Hour at 10:30 AM on Sundays at Crosspoint Bible Church for years. Typically disdaining any notes, he would lecture, ask and answer questions for an hour-and-a-quarter on Sundays, recalling from his mind truths he had studied previously.

Like me, Brian believed in a literal interpretation of God's Word. God had made some irrevocable promises to the nation of Israel, recorded in many different books of the Old Testament.

One of these consists of God's promise of international peace coupled with international worship at the house of the God of Jacob on the mountain of the LORD in Jerusalem (Isa. 2:1-4).

Another introduces God's New Covenant with Israel in which He promised to write His law within them and on their hearts, and promised to forgive all Israel's iniquity and to remember their sin no more (Jer. 31:31-34). That prophecy concludes, "If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done," declares the LORD (Jer. 31:37).

Like me, Brian is convinced that the Church has not forever replaced Israel. In fact, in recent years he proudly displayed his belief that we Gentiles who believe in Jesus have been, as wild olive branches, "grafted in" to the Jewish "rich root of the olive tree" (Rom. 11:17). His belief was reflected in his display of a license plate on his car that read "Grafted In."

A Sudden Conclusion

On Saturday afternoon, May 3, 2025, Brian came in from doing yard work. He was not feeling well, so he sat down on the couch in the living room and called for his youngest daughter, Emily, to come downstairs. "Call Mom!" he instructed her. But Mom was at a graduation party and could not be reached. Suddenly the end came and Emily was forced to call 911. They instructed her by phone to do CPR, but it was too late. The end had come.

Where is Brian Now?