Trisha Miller Manarin
The District of Columbia Baptist Convention installed Trisha Miller Manarin as its executive director/minister — the first female to hold the job in the convention’s 145-year history — this fall. Manarin has held the position since August 2020, but the convention delayed her installation because of the COVID pandemic.
Manarin previously served as a local church pastor, coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, staff member with the Baptist World Alliance, and a professor and missionary. The convention cited her “wealth of local, regional and international experience” as assets for her leadership among D.C. Baptists
“Dr. Manarin is a woman of great energy, vision and experience — a change agent, a woman with a heart for the gospel and a love of missions,” executive director search committee Chair Charlotte Peddicord said.
Molly Marshall, interim president of United Theological Seminary, told participants at the installation: “We are here to do a holy thing today, and, Trisha, you have been getting ready for this your whole life. God has called you to do the work of a bishop for pastors and churches in this region, and you are richly equipped to lead.”
The D.C. Baptist Convention is one of the most diverse regional organizations among Baptists. It is composed of 160 congregations and ministry partners.
In her remarks, Manarin asked, “Isn’t this just like God to bring together people like you and me to be about God’s good — and sometimes dangerous — work?”