L3 Ministries

David Rich and Glenna Salsbury, January 2022

Glenna and her Heavenly Treasures impacted my life greatly – David

It is impossible to put into words the impact Glenna had on my life. In the summer of 1996, she challenged me on the things I believed about God and His sovereignty. I set out to prove she was wrong, but the more I dug into the Word, it not only confirmed her teachings, but deepened my love for Christ. For the next 10 years, we talked and emailed weekly as she patiently brought me into the light of what she called the truths of grace & sovereignty and culminated in the book that I dedicated to her, “7 Biblical Truths You Won’t Hear in Church, BUT Might Change Your Life!” 

Glenna was a friend, a second mother, a mentor, a teacher, advocate, and cheerleader for me. I, like many of you, were in awe of her gift of her knowledge of the Bible and her ability to instantly connect with anyone who gazed into her eyes. I have often been referred as “Glenna’s #1 Disciple,” but I have a sneaking suspicion that I am merely among hundreds, if not thousands, who might also lay claim to the title.

Eric Blick and Glenna Salsbury

I first met Glenna in 1963 in Bakersfield, California – I was minus 8 years old! A life-long friend of my entire family, I do not remember a time when I did not know her as mentor, encourager, and friend. Whether as a pen-pal when I was 7, or in her sending me books and tapes and sermons that connected with her, or in each key turn in building my family with my wife Jodi and our four children, or in learning about peanut butter on bacon over coffee with her and Jodi in Chicago between her keynote speeches, or in reading her book Heavenly Treasures to our kids at dinner around our table, or in talking theological questions not for sport but for life and character, and in countless other epic and ordinary moments, she had a lasting impact on my life. 

Glenna spoke words. She spoke lots of words! She even spoke words for a living! Glenna and I worked out a couple of deals. The bank that I have worked at for 24 years would fly her to Omaha as our Keynote speaker for large events and I would jam her calendar full of speaking events at our churches in Fremont or others to connect. In 2002 on Martin Luther King Day, she spoke to a room full of a hundred bankers. After taking out a handwritten note card – from I am sure one of you in this room – she made the point that words are powerful. She read this letter to demonstrate how even seven sentences can be used to speak “courage” into someone which is what “encouragement” is. Then she looked at me and then slowly to all in the room and said, “And I can go along way on that.” Words spoken over us are powerful. Who are you speaking over? Who are you writing to? What was Glenna’s word over you? My life is different because of HOW Glenna spoke powerful words over me.

The word “indestructible joy” is spoken over Glenna. She found Jesus offering reasons for joy through real faith that, even through tears, made her magnetic, drawing others closer-in to her and to this Source. She prayed as if she saw God, and He heard her. She knew God. I am inspired by her tangible faith that showed me, as the writer of Hebrews worded it, her faith had “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” – because these things are real.

This is a quick clip of what Glenna has meant for me. I got to introduce her at a speaking engagement where we hired her for our keynote speaker at the bank during COVID. I am thankful to God for her love and mentorship and contagious joy of the Lord as her strength.

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