CHICAGO, IL (September 28, 2020) – The Evangelical Covenant Church Board of Nominations is receiving nominations of candidates to serve on denominational boards. The elections will be held at the 2021 Annual Meeting.
Nominations may be submitted here.
Delegates will vote on candidates covering two years. Due to COVID-19, no election was held for the 2020 candidates. People who were already serving on the boards agreed to extend their terms one year. Those board members are:
Board of Nominations
- Evan Westburg
- Cheryl Borgeson
Covenant Ministries of Benevolence
- Robert Anderson
- Art DeRooy
- Richard Nelson
- Mary Palmer
Executive Board
- Jon Bonkoski
- Donna Erickson
Board of Trustees of North Park University
- Peggy Bley
- Rebekah Eklund
- Keith Hamilton
Board of Ordered Ministry
- Nancy Ebner
Candidates for the 2020 election are:
Executive Board
Six-year term
Jonathon Bonkoski leads Mortenson Development’s national real estate project management in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He currently oversees the $850 million redevelopment of the United Village at Midway surrounding Allianz Field, home of the United professional soccer team in St. Paul. His previous board positions include North Park Board of Trustees and vice chair of ACE Mentor Twin Cities, an afterschool program that encourages students to pursue careers in the architecture, construction and engineering industry, including skilled trades. He attends Emmanuel Covenant Church in Shoreview, Minnesota.
Greg Jao serves InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA as the senior assistant to the president and director of external relations. He leads InterVarsity’s efforts to partner with other ministries, churches, and networks; shapes InterVarsity’s leadership communications; and guides InterVarsity’s response to situations where the ministry’s presence is challenged by campus administrators. He has authored several books published by InterVarsity Press, Zondervan, and Adama Books. He chaired the committee that brought the first Asian American church into the Covenant and consulted on revising the Covenant Constitution in the 1990s. He is a member of Christ Covenant Church in Villa Park, Illinois.
Jennifer Mitchell Fetch was raised in southwestern Saskatchewan and has degrees in biology and agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan and a doctorate from North Dakota State University. She has been involved with the breeding of a variety of crops, as well as work with Fusarium Head Blight in wheat. Jennifer was the oat breeder at Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada in Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba, from 1998 to 2020. She has been involved in the development of 12 oat cultivars in western Canada. She is a member of Faith Covenant Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Evelyn Perez is passionate about advocating, equipping, and raising up young women leaders in the Latino church. Originally from Guatemala, she has called the Bay Area home since immigrating to the U.S. at the age of two. She has served Evangelical Covenant Church Latino congregations throughout several stages of life. She currently serves as director of ministries to women at Iglesia Maranatha in Richmond, California. In 2018 she decided to pursue her calling to ministry and is now attending North Park Theological Seminary through the Ignite program.
Timothy Rodgers is pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Atlanta. He has served as a member of the Historic Westside Cultural Arts Council, Neighborhood Public Safety Committee, English Avenue Neighborhood Association, and Executive Committee of the English Avenue Ministerial Alliance. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Southeast Conference Ministerium.
Four-year term
Ben Schoffmann is the lead pastor of Chugach Covenant Church in Anchorage, Alaska. He has served in this capacity after decades of bivocational ministry while working 38 years in the energy industry, much of the time as a senior executive. Ben is a certified coach through the John Maxwell Company and conflict-resolution through Peacemaker. He is engaged in post-graduate education at North Park and Western Seminaries.
Board of Benevolence
Six-year term
Semmeal Thomas is pastor of City Covenant Church in Detroit. He serves on the Board of Directors at Covenant Community Care. He is the founder of Mission: City, a newly established agency working in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood to offer resources to build a community of independence.
Darryl R. Johnson Sr. is the founder and pastor of the Walk of Faith Covenant Church in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and the founder of Walk of Faith ministry. He is also the founder of the Mound Bayou Movement, Omnicast Foundation, and WRDC gospel radio station. His family owns Community Adult Day Care, Nevaeh Hospice, Professional Florist, and several other businesses. He is the former mayor of Mound Bayou, a founder of Historic Black Towns and Settlements Alliance, and a vice president of the World Conference of Mayors.
North Park University
Five-year term
Gricel Medina has served as a bilingual church planter for the Evangelical Covenant Church as well as a Midsouth Conference consultant. She has received the Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) International Lifetime Achievement Award and was the first Latina to serve two terms as chair of the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Commission on Biblical Gender Equality. She has written and spoken extensively on biblical gender equality, mercy, and justice. In March 2019, Sojourners magazine named her one of 11 “Women Shaping the Church.” She is a board officer of the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Associación Latina de la Iglesia del Pacto Evangélico (ALIPE).
Sally Carlson is associate pastor of congregational care at Bethany Covenant Church in Mount Vernon, Washington. She previously served as pastor of missions and ministries at Hope Community Church in Strathmore, Alberta, and co-pastor at Norquay Covenant Church in Saskatchewan. While in Strathmore, she was part of a team that helped settle a Syrian refugee family of seven who had spent two years in a refugee camp.
Beth Fredrickson has served as executive director of Harbor Point Ministries since 2016. She previously worked in public relations and marketing. She was elected to the North Park board in 2014 and has served on its academic committee, student recruitment and retention committee, and the committee on trustees. She has volunteered as chair of the marketing communications advisory team for the city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, for seven years, having served as a general member for nine years. She also cofounded the Historic Heights Neighborhood Association and has served in a variety of volunteer roles for the Wauwatosa School District and the Milwaukee Evangelical Covenant Church, where she is a member.
Christine Rosell served on the board from 2014 to 2019. She was a member of the finance committee, advancement committee, and the student recruitment and retention committee. She also served as the liaison to the Evangelical Covenant Church Executive Board. She previously worked in marketing for Covenant Retirement Communities (now Covenant Living) and has been an active volunteer in her local community. She and her family have been longtime members of North Park Covenant Church in Chicago.
Board of Ministry
Five-year term
Peter Kim is pastor of Trinity Covenant Church in Manchester, Connecticut. Having spent significant time traveling in Latin America, he has a passion for cross-cultural ministry in the United States and abroad. He has been involved with planting multicultural churches in urban and suburban contexts.
Marco Ambriz is the lead pastor at First Covenant Church in Oakland, California, where he has served on the staff since 2004. He previously served as pastor of a Korean Presbyterian church in the Bay area. The child of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants, Marco grew up as a pastor’s kid, worship leader, and preacher in the Latino Pentecostal church in Texas, Louisiana, and California.
Ed Carey is the senior pastor of Kingdom Covenant Ministries in Miami, Florida.
Annual Meeting Officer
Two-year term
Elizabeth (Liz) Jensen is nominated for moderator. She served as pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Venice, Florida, from 2008 until she retired in 2019. She continues to preach at the church twice a month while the church seeks a new pastor. She also served as associate pastor of two Covenant congregations in suburban Minneapolis. Liz also served on the Mound City, Minnesota, city council for twelve years. She has served in multiple capacities with the Southeast Conference Ministerial Association, including as president.
Rick Lindholtz is nominated for vice-moderator. He has served as pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Stillman Valley, Illinois, for nine years. He previously served Covenant congregations in the Great Lakes, Pacific Northwest, Midsouth and Pacific Southwest conferences. He has chaired the Central Conference Ministerial Association for four years and currently is vice chair. He also served as chair of the Midsouth Ministerial Association. He was a member of the evangelism commission in the Great Lakes, Central, and Pacific Northwest conferences.
