The Nominating Committee of the Standing Committee of district delegates to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference is presenting the following ballot for the 2024 Conference taking place in Grand Rapids, Mich., on July 3-7.
Complete biographical information for the following nominees will be made available at www.brethren.org/ac2024/business/ballot and will be printed in the Conference booklet.
Moderator-elect
Don Fitzkee of Lancaster (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, in Atlantic Northeast District, is an ordained minister. He is a pastor of worship and has been a teacher as well as a non-salaried “free minister.” His leadership roles on the denominational level have included service on the Mission and Ministry Board, during which time he served a term as chair. He has preached at Annual Conference. He has been a district representative on Standing Committee and authored the history of his district. For 17 years he worked for COBYS Family Services, a district-related agency. In previous decades, while in Brethren Volunteer Service, he was an editorial assistant for Messenger magazine. His intercultural work has included interaction with the Spanish-speaking community in his congregation, a recent family tour of civil rights sites in Alabama, travel to Nigeria, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. He and his wife currently are helping to resettle Afghan refugees through Church World Service.
Gene Hollenberg of Union Center Church of the Brethren in Nappanee, Ind., in Northern Indiana District, is an ordained minister. He is executive director of Camp Alexander Mack, where he has led the camp board through two periods of strategic planning and is preparing for a third. His leadership roles in the denomination have included service as chair of the Outdoor Ministries Association, and as an instructor for the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership. At the district level, he has been district board chair and district conference moderator. At the local level, he has served as church board chair and children’s Sunday school director, among other roles, and has served as moderator for two congregations. His intercultural work has included interactions with minority communities as a teacher, principal, and school supervisor in schools marked by poverty. As a school supervisor, he assisted in coordination of a three-year program exploring systemic racism in the South Bend (Ind.) school district.
Program and Arrangements Committee
Addie Hostetler Lucatorto of Good Samaritan Church of the Brethren in Cranberry Township, Pa., Western Pennsylvania District
Laura Sellers of Happy Corner Church of the Brethren in Clayton, Ohio, Southern Ohio and Kentucky District
Mission and Ministry Board
Area 4
Pearl Miller of Warrensburg (Mo.) Church of the Brethren, Missouri Arkansas District
Colby Patton of Wichita (Kan.) First Church of the Brethren, Western Plains District
Area 5
Robert Aguirre of Glendale (Calif.) Church of the Brethren, Pacific Southwest District
Erik Brummett of Live Oak (Calif.) Church of the Brethren, Pacific Southwest District
Bethany Theological Seminary Board of Trustees
Representing the colleges
David McFadden of Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind., South Central Indiana District
Jamie White of Stone Church of the Brethren in Huntingdon, Pa., Middle Pennsylvania District
On Earth Peace Board
Jennie L Waering of Roanoke, Central Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va., Virlina District
Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm of Northview Church of the Brethren in Indianapolis, Ind., South Central Indiana District
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Find more Church of the Brethren news:
- Brethren Disaster Ministries works to help coordinate response with districts
- Church World Service distributes thousands of disaster kits, offers support to survivors in wake of hurricanes
- Children’s Disaster Services places two teams of volunteers in North Carolina
- Districts respond with aid to hurricane survivors, collections of relief goods and monetary donations
- Brethren bits