He has served the past seven years as director of church planting for the Pacific Southwest Conference.
Contreras will lead this new division in the world mission department with Karen Hallberg, associate director, and Sally Carlson, coordinator of Covenant Mission Connection.
“Walter is a strategic and visionary leader with experience in global missions, urban ministry, local church staff, para-church organizations, as well as television, radio and conference leadership,” says Curt Peterson, executive minister. “In addition to his recruitment, training and coaching of church planters in the Evangelical Covenant Church, Walter has also supported global mission projects in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay with church planter training and coaching.”
In his conference work, Contreras organizes and leads cross-cultural experiences through the Journey to Mosaic. He has served as coordinator of Hispanic Ministries of the Evangelical Covenant Church and has taught as an adjunct professor at the Hispanic Center for Theological Studies (CHET) in Los Angeles.
Since 2003, Contreras has developed resources and provided administrative assistance to Esperanza U.S.A and World Vision. From 1985-1997 he served as executive director of the Fred Jordan Mission in Los Angeles, coordinating and directing programs for men and families as well as community development, also advocating for the homeless in the Hispanic community.
From 1990-1998, Contreras served as assistant to Juan Carlos Ortiz in the founding of Hispanic ministries at the Crystal Cathedral and as the “voice over” for Dr. Robert Schuller’s Spanish language television program. In the early 1980s he coordinated evangelistic crusades and television outreach as a missionary in Paraguay.
Contreras is Ordained to Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Covenant Church. He studied at Elim Bible Institute and received his Master of Divinity – Multicultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1999.
In his new role, Contreras will be responsible for assisting Covenant churches in planning and mobilizing for global mission and connecting churches with mission opportunities with which they can partner. This division also will provide resources and training events to help Covenanters engage in world mission more effectively. Covenant Mission Connection and Covenant Merge Ministries will be supported by this division, which also will organize mission awareness trips.
“Walter is a passionate leader who desires to see people and communities transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Peterson notes. “His commitment to the holistic mission of the gospel and the ministry of the church will inspire and challenge the Covenant to boldly pursue its call to global mission. Walter’s gifts and experience in a wide range of ministries and cultures in the church will bring a rich resource to the Covenant as we seek to take the whole gospel to the whole world through the whole church by the grace and power of God.”
Contreras and his wife, Cecilia, have two children: Margaret, 7, and Emely, 4. He will begin his new duties August 1.
