Hi!  My name is Brad Long.  I am in my 3rd year of my teaching ministry at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Beatrice.  Before this, I was a substitute teacher at Beatrice Public Schools and other school districts in Southeast Nebraska.

I have a wonderful wife (Joanna) who teaches 1st grade at St. Paul’s and I have 2 beautiful children, La’Kaya and Anthony.  Joanna and I have been foster parents for approximately 7 years and have had other children come into our home for different periods of time.  We feel God’s calling in our lives to continue in that area.  I also have 2 dogs (Martin and Gus) and a cat (Ollie).

I was born in Omaha, Nebraska and attended Lutheran elementary school at St. Paul Lutheran all the way through 8th grade.  My family moved in 1991 to Blair where the rest of my family calls home today.  I am the 2nd of 4 children and I have 3 nephews and 2 nieces.  My mother is a retired computer operator and my father was a trim carpenter before being called home to the Lord in 2017.

I graduated from Wayne State College in 1999 (where I met Joanna) and Concordia University in Seward in 2003.  While I was at Seward, I received my Lutheran Teachers Diploma.  I am currently attending Ft. Hays State University working towards my Masters in Elementary Education.

In case you can’t tell I LOVE sports!!!  I was a basketball manager at Wayne State and I helped coach my son’s basketball team.  I have a couple of friends who are head coaches at some universities.  I like Huskers Football, Creighton Basketball, Chicago Cubs, Denver Nuggets, Seattle Seahawks, and Seattle Sounders FC.  I am a member of the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame and I keep score book for the Beatrice Boys High School Basketball team.

In my spare time I love to hang out with my family and friends, playing card or board games, playing with my animals, cooking, and doing word and number puzzles to keep my mind active.  My favorite foods are Pizza and Mexican.  I like any kind of carbonated drinks.  I like to visit my family in Blair and O’Neill.  I also love to serve my church in different areas.  Finally, my favorite Bible Verse is Ephesians 2:8-10, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your doing but it is the gift of God.  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”