Rev. Olan Hendrix, who served as the first Executive Director for ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability), died April 13, 2023, in Sun Lakes, AZ, at age 91. After being interviewed for the Executive Direction position at ECFA’s very first board meeting, he took on that role in April 1979, serving fruitfully until October 1981. “Olan’s capable leadership blazed the trail for what ECFA has become today,” said Michael Martin, ECFA’s President and CEO (today’s equivalent to the Executive Director role). “I am so grateful that ECFA was one of the many Christ-centered organizations that God used Olan to impact.”

Olan was born in Benton, AR, in 1931. He graduated in 1949 from Tennessee Temple University. Other educational endeavors included attendance at King’s College, the University of Delaware, and Tennessee Temple Baptist Theological Seminary. Olan also spent time in the U.S. Navy in Asia during World War II.

The churches he pastored included First Baptist Church, Elkton, PA, 1950-1953; Hilltown Baptist Church, Hilltown, PA, 1953-1959; and Bethel Baptist Church, Kalamazoo, MI, 1969-1970.

Olan was Home Secretary of Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (FEGC) from 1959 to 1969. This organization was founded shortly after World War II by a group of young men and women, many of whom had been soldiers like him serving in the Far East. After the war, they returned to Asia, burdened for the spiritual needs of its people. In 1981, to better reflect its enlarged geographical scope for missions, FEGC became SEND International. Olan served for 12 years as the U.S. Director for SEND International, which became an ECFA member in 1985 and continues to reach the world for Christ as an interdenominational and international organization.

Olan served for seven years as the General Director of the American Sunday School Union with headquarters in Philadelphia, PA. Founded in 1817 as the Sunday and Adult School Union, it became the American Missionary Fellowship (1974), which morphed once more to become InFaith in 2011. A charter member of ECFA, InFaith currently works in a variety of ministries focusing on underserved places spreading the Gospel.

World Vision, also a charter ECFA member, is another organization that benefitted from the leadership of Olan Hendrix. At the time Olan came to ECFA, he was working part-time as the Director of Leadership Development for World Vision. As their mission, World Vision seeks to provide hope, joy, and justice for all children.

At the end of his career, Olan landed as the Executive Director/CEO of Leadership Resource Group, bringing his leadership to an organization founded to provide resources to senior leaders and executive teams to help them enable healthy and successful companies in a variety of industries.

Olan Hendrix authored four books: Management for the Christian Leader, Three Dimensions of Leadership, Management for the Christian Worker, and Management and the Christian Worker. John Pearson’s “Special Tribute” obituary of Olan cites a number of articles that Olan wrote, including many still available on the ECFA website.

He spent over 50 years of his life in ministry, and ministry took him to over 80 countries. The last few years of his life were spent living in Arizona with his wife, Libby, who died in February 2022. They were married for 72 years. Olan’s was a life well-lived, and he will long be remembered for his teachings, his influence on leadership, and his passion for Christian ministry—including the formative years of ECFA.