By Bob Allen
An ordained Alliance of Baptists minister and graduate of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond has been named executive director for The Beatitudes Society, a national leadership development organization seeking to bring progressive Christian voices to the public square.
Lindsay Andreolli-Comstock, a former advocate for women and children victimized by human trafficking in Southeast Asia, comes to the post from National Farm Worker Ministry, where she was named executive director in 2013.
In her new post she will oversee projects to equip young leaders to articulate a Christian voice for justice, compassion, inclusion and peace to counter influence of the Religious Right.
The Beatitudes Society was founded in 2005 by Michael Kieschnick — CEO and president of CREDO/Working Assets, a business that supports activism by donating 1 percent of monthly charges for mobile phone, long distance or using a credit card, to nonprofit organizations working for women’s rights, the environment, equality, peace and social justice — and Frances Hall Kieschnick, an Episcopal priest and community leader who formerly served as senior associate rector at Trinity Church in Menlo Park, Calif.
Andreolli-Comstock begins work Feb. 6. She was selected in a nationwide search to succeed retiring Anne Sutherland Howard, a one-time newspaper reporter ordained in the Episcopal Church who is a member of the board of Faith in Public Life.
“It is with a profound sense of gratitude that I begin my role as executive director of The Beatitudes Society,” Andreolli-Comstock said in a news release. “The work of changing the public discourse to reflect the transformative work happening among the progressive Christian community is one that moves me deeply. I am grateful for the board’s trust and look forward to many years together in ministry.”
Andreolli-Comstock holds a bachelor’s degree in religion from Chowan University and a master of divinity degree from BTSR. She is a doctor of ministry candidate at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, with a dissertation focused on educating and equipping lay leaders for social justice advocacy and action.
She was ordained to the ministry in 2007 by Tabernacle Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., where she served as associate pastor. She also served as minister of Christian education and youth at First Baptist Church of Worcester, Mass. For four years she served as a human-trafficking specialist in Southeast Asia with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
In September she married Mary Andreolli, former minister for outreach and communications with the Alliance of Baptists. Andreolli was recently named video producer and co-host of Every Day Grace TV, a television program produced by the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church that airs on WNCN in Raleigh, N.C., YouTube and as video-on-demand on Roku.
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