Next month, the Covenant family will gather in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the 141st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Gather 2026 marks fifty years since the Evangelical Covenant Church voted to ordain women as pastors, affirming that women are also called and gifted for ministry. The anniversary offers an opportunity not only to celebrate, but also to reflect on the ongoing work of living into that decision across the life of the church.
The women profiled below will each speak at Gather. Their stories reflect different generations, contexts, and expressions of ministry within the Covenant. Some helped open doors that had previously been closed. Others continue to navigate the realities of leading in spaces where women’s leadership is still questioned. Together, they offer a living witness to God’s call across fifty years of Covenant ministry.
Saturday Evening
Rev. Carol Shimmin Nordstrom
One of the first two women ordained in the Evangelical Covenant Church (1978)
“When God calls, you do not say no.”
If Gather 2026 marks fifty years since the Covenant voted to ordain women, Carol Shimmin Nordstrom stands near the beginning of that story. She was there before there was a path, and she helped make one for those who followed.
Her sense of call began at Covenant Park Bible Camp in Mahtowa, Minnesota, where she sensed God calling her to full-time ministry. She entered Bethel Theological Seminary in 1973, originally planning to pursue a doctorate in New Testament studies. But a seminary internship in South Haven, Minnesota, changed the direction of her ministry.
“Once I began serving as pastor,” she has said, “I knew this was part of my call from God.”
In May 1976, she became the first woman to earn an MDiv from Bethel Theological Seminary. A few weeks later she attended the Covenant Annual Meeting as a delegate from her home congregation. On the agenda was a recommendation from the Board of Ministry to begin ordaining women.
When the vote passed, Glenn Anderson, then dean of North Park Theological Seminary, crossed the room to tell her he looked forward to seeing her in Chicago that fall for orientation to Covenant ministry. The decision meant she could pursue ordination within the Covenant rather than elsewhere.
Two years later, in June 1978, the Covenant ordained Sherron Hughes-Tremper and Carol Shimmin Nordstrom as the first two women ordained in the Evangelical Covenant Church.
After orientation at North Park, Carol’s first call took her to Calgary, Alberta, where she served at Evangelical Covenant Church as minister of youth and community. Her ministry would later take her across the United States and Canada, including a season teaching at Covenant Bible College in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where she met Craig Nordstrom, then a seminary intern. They married in June 1980.
Forty years of pastoral ministry followed: preaching, baptizing, counseling, marrying, burying, and walking alongside congregations through the rhythms of ordinary church life. It was not always easy. Covenant churches willing to call a woman pastor were, at times, few. Finding placements for a clergy couple in the early 1980s was harder still. But Carol continued to follow the call she believed God had given her.
She especially remembers the people who encouraged her along the way, including Paul Johnson, then associate superintendent of the Northwest Conference, who phoned her every Monday morning during her internship to ask how the weekend had gone. When discouragement came because not everyone in the pews believed she should be the pastor, his prayers and steady support helped her continue.
“His calls helped me to realize that, indeed, God had called me to pastoral ministry.”
Carol’s final pastorate was at Salem United Church of Christ near her home in Wanatah, Indiana, a congregation with deep Pietistic roots and strong Covenant kinship. When she announced her retirement in 2016, members urged her to stay. Whether through preaching, playing the accordion, or sharing children’s sermons alongside Hootie the owl puppet, Carol became known for a ministry marked by warmth, presence, and longevity.
Her story reflects both the significance of the Covenant’s 1976 vote and the realities women pastors continued to navigate in the decades that followed.
Friday Morning
Rev. Evelyn Johnson
Covenant pastor and denominational leader
“It’s got to be more than just the thinking, but really feeling and doing something about it.”
Throughout more than four decades of ministry, Evelyn Johnson has helped shape the Covenant as pastor, denominational leader, and advocate for women in ministry. She was the first woman to lead a budgeted department within Covenant Offices and the first woman to serve as a conference superintendent, helping open pathways that had not previously existed.
Her influence extends beyond titles. Johnson consistently called the church to move from belief to action, particularly in areas of justice, multiethnic ministry, and the full participation of women in leadership. Her ministry reflects a conviction that the church is called not only to affirm what is right, but also to live it.
Friday Morning
Rev. Debbie Blue
Former executive minister, Love Mercy Do Justice; spiritual director
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Debbie Blue’s ministry has helped shape the Covenant’s understanding of justice as an expression of discipleship. From her early ministry at Community Covenant Church in Calumet Park, Illinois, to her leadership of compassion, mercy, and justice initiatives across the denomination, she created spaces where people encountered both the gospel and one another more deeply.
Through efforts such as Sankofa and the Invitation to Racial Righteousness, Blue helped guide the church into difficult but necessary conversations around race, reconciliation, and community transformation. Known for her steady persistence, she helped lead the Covenant through work that was often slow, demanding, and deeply relational.
Friday Evening
Rev. Sandi S.K. Lee
Associate superintendent, East Coast Conference
Sandi Lee’s ministry has been shaped by walking closely with others as they discern their call. For years, she guided pastors through the credentialing process in the East Coast Conference, helping many navigate an important threshold in ministry.
In one meaningful moment, Lee was ordained alongside colleagues she had previously helped shepherd through the credentialing process herself. Now serving as associate superintendent, she continues to invest in leaders across the conference, bringing decades of experience to the work of discernment, care, and formation.
Saturday Morning
Rev. Alma Zamudio
Covenant pastor, spiritual director, and leader with Unidos South OC
Alma Zamudio’s ministry centers on questions many people quietly carry: Who belongs? Who is welcomed?
As a first-generation Mexican American, a pastor, and the mother of a son with special needs, she leads and writes from lived experiences of navigating spaces where belonging is not always assumed.
Through spiritual direction, teaching, and community work, Zamudio invites people to recognize that God’s welcome is not earned but given. Her ministry emphasizes dignity, presence, and care in a world that often asks people to prove themselves before they are fully received.
Thursday Evening
Rev. Danielle “Dani” Kilgore
Lead pastor, Church Without Walls, Berkeley, California
“I didn’t choose to be a pastor. The calling chose me.”
Dani Kilgore’s path into Covenant ministry began through relationships, local church involvement, and a growing sense that God was leading her into ministry. Over time, experiences in youth ministry, teaching, outreach, and missions helped clarify that call.
Now serving as lead pastor of Church Without Walls and president of the African American Ministerial Association, Kilgore’s ministry reflects a relational and intergenerational vision of leadership. Her work emphasizes connection, belonging, and helping others discern their own call over time.
Gather 2026 will take place June 25–27 in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition to business sessions and worship gatherings, the annual meeting will create space to reflect on fifty years of women in Covenant ministry and the ongoing work of supporting leaders across the life of the church.
