Our Pastor

Pastor Steve Schroeder & Bobbi

Pastor Steve and his wife Bobbi have spent their married lives serving the Lord together. For fifteen years Pastor and his wife founded and directed Victory Academy for Boys working with troubled teenage boys in a boarding school setting. During those years many boys were introduced to Christ as they lived at Victory. The staff at Victory developed a ministry to the parents of the boys with hopes of reconciling families with God and with each other. Victory Academy is still in operation today. (More information about Victory Academy is available at www.vafb.org)
In 1998, Pastor Steve and his dad, Pastor Bill, moved their families to the Aurora/Naperville area of Illinois to start a Baptist church in an affluent community. For 20 years the Schroeders ministered Christ, preached, taught, evangelized, discipled, and built New Life Baptist Church. In 2009 New Life Baptist merged with another church in Naperville and had its first permanent location. While in the Aurora/Naperville communities Pastor Steve and Bobbi raised their six children, involved themselves in the community, and invested into the lives of those God brought their way. During those years Jared, the fifth Schroeder son, was diagnosed with epilepsy. Jared’s seizures and the efforts to find cures for him shaped the family in a unique way to care not only for normal children but also for children with special needs.
Today, four of the Schroeder sons are married, three are serving in pastoral roles in the U.S. and one is serving at a university in China teaching English along with his wife. The only Schroeder daughter, Stefani, is in college in the U.S. studying for a degree in business.
“God has led us to Jakarta to serve Him at the Jakarta International Baptist Church. We came in December of 2018 and hope to stay here for a long time. The people of Jakarta are so kind to us and treat us with their warm and friendly smiles. The church is a family that wants to continue serving the Lord and His kingdom for years to come. As a pastor, I am committed to opening God’s word and explaining what it meant both when it was written and today. God’s word is alive and God’s Holy Spirit opens our hearts and minds to know what God has for us in His word each week. We would love to have you come visit and then to stay and become part of our JIBC family.”
Pastor Steve