Pastor Johnold Strey is originally from Cedarburg, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School (1993), Martin Luther College (BA, 1997), Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (MDiv, 2001), and Santa Clara University (MA, Pastoral Liturgy & Liturgical Music, 2009). As a part of his seminary training, he served as vicar at St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, California during the 1999-2000 school year. He began his ministry as pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Belmont, California from 2001 to 2011, then served as associate pastor and minister of music at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Citrus Heights, California from 2011 to 2016. Pastor Strey accepted the call to serve as associate pastor at Crown of Life Lutheran Church in the summer of 2016, and was installed on September 25, 2016. He became Crown of Life's senior pastor in 2018.

Pastor Strey is also involved in Crown of Life’s national church denomination, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), especially in the areas of worship and music. He served as a member of the Rites Committee of the WELS Hymnal Project, which produced Christian Worship: Hymnal in 2021. He is a presenter for the WELS School of Worship Enrichment, a regional weekend worship seminar offered at various times and locations around the country by the WELS Commission on Worship. Pastor Strey has also been a presenter for the triennial WELS National Worship Conference, and served for ten years as the District Worship Coordinator for the WELS Arizona-California District prior to accepting the call to serve Crown of Life. He is the author of Christian Worship: God Gives His Gospel Gifts (2021) from Northwestern Publishing House. He now serves as the secretary of the Board of Directors and a member of the Executive Committee at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School in Jackson.

Pastor Strey and Emily Gresens were married in the summer of 2000. Emily is a graduate of Fox Valley Lutheran High School (1995) and Wisconsin Lutheran College (BA, Elementary Education & Music Education, 2000). She taught Kindergarten at St. Matthew Lutheran School in Milwaukee (2000-01), and music and choir at Bayside Middle School in Foster City, California (2001-03). During her two school years at Bayside, Emily also sang as a soprano in the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. She has taught Music Together classes since 2004, and operates her own Music Together center called Musical Beginnings. Emily has also had several articles published in Forward in Christ magazine, a monthly periodical published by WELS. Pastor and Emily have been blessed with four children.