Gammelgard Accepts East Coast Conference Position

He will be welcomed to the conference during the 122nd conference annual meeting in Easton, Connecticut, April 18-20 and will begin his ministry on May 1.

Gammelgard will lead the conference’s growing work to assist pastors and lay leaders to revision, refocus, and renew their ministries to their communities. “We are moving steadily into the development of regional networks for starting and strengthening churches,” Burgoyne said. Key to achieving the goal will be developing a coaching and consulting system that will be available to every congregation, Burgoyne added.

Gammelgard was selected following a four-month process involving a team of members from the conference board.

A native of Oakland, California, where he grew under the ministry of First Covenant Church, Gammelgard made a decision to follow Christ while attending Mission Springs Camps and Conference Center.

Gammelgard attended Westmont College and California Polytechnic University. He later attended Fuller Theological Seminary and North Park Theological Seminary.

He was ordained during the Covenant Annual Meeting in 1985 and has served a wide range of youth and adult ministries in the Pacific Southwest Conference. He planted Oak Hills Covenant Church in Vista, California, which he led for 14 years.

Gammelgard has coached pastors in church planting and church vitality contexts. He also has served as an intentional interim pastor for several congregations, guiding the Pasadena (California) Covenant Church through a strategic turnaround as well as helping the 23 members of Crown Valley Covenant Church in Laguna Niguel conclude that ministry. He most recently served as interim executive pastor at Crossroads Covenant Church, in Loveland, Colorado.

In applying for the position, Kreig reflected that because the church is full of flawed people who are called to honor Christ, the church will “always have work to do along that redemptive journey . . . and that is a journey of revitalization.”