INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Joan Friesen has been elected to serve as the next executive minister for the American Baptist Churches of Greater Indianapolis, according to the American Baptist News Service.
The group of about 30 congregations in the Indianapolis metropolitan area is one of 33 regions in the American Baptist Churches USA. Some of the regional groups operate much like local associations in urban areas. Other regions cover entire states, and some cover broad swaths of the country.
Friesen will begin her duties in Indianapolis Nov. 1. Since 2007, she has been director of church relations at Redwood Glen, a Christian camp and conference center near San Francisco. Prior to that, she served as minister of mission support in the American Baptist Churches of the Northwest and as a consultant to the America for Christ Offering Committee of the ABC Board of National Ministries. Friesen is a graduate of Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.; and American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, Calif.
“Rev. Friesen will be a wonderful match for the current needs of the region and is perfectly equipped to lead the congregations and leaders to new heights of ministry in the Greater Indianapolis area,” said Jeff Woods, ABC’s associate general secretary for regional ministries.
“I am both honored and excited to see what God will do in us and through us in the Greater Indianapolis Region,” Friesen said. “I've already been able to experience firsthand several churches that are taking seriously the call to be Christ's hands and feet in their communities."
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