the most significant female executive appointment in 50 years with the
selection of the Rev. Tammy Dunahoo as general supervisor of the Pentecostal
denomination.
Foursquare’s board of directors named Dunahoo to the
denomination’s second-highest position last month. She had served as interim
general supervisor since September, and her appointment was effective
immediately.
Although the 8.7 million-member church was founded in the
1920s by Aimee Semple McPherson and led by the well-known evangelist until her
death in 1944, Dunahoo’s selection is the most significant female executive
appointment since 1950, according to denominational leaders.
Of Foursquare’s more than 6,000 credentialed U.S. ministers,
36 percent are women, and 7 percent of them serve as senior pastors.
Foursquare President-elect Glenn Burris, whose term begins
Oct. 1, said he “could not be happier” with the appointment.
“Tammy served our church with distinction in the role of
interim general supervisor, and I have every reason to believe that she will
continue to help lead our church into a fruitful future, passionate for the
harvest, committed to an emerging generation of leaders and dedicated to the
health and training of our ministers,” Burris stated.
“She is an excellent leader whose commitment to the Lord and to people is
evident in all that she does.”
A longtime pastor and church planter with her husband of 30
years, Gary, Dunahoo previously served as vice president of Foursquare’s Women
in Leadership Ministry and is a past director of the denomination’s women’s
department.
Dunahoo said she is humbled by the appointment. “The
global need requires everyone called by God, regardless of age, gender
or ethnicity, to be equipped and sent in partnership with God in His mission,”
Dunahoo said. “There is much to do, and I look forward to partnering with
leaders across the body of Christ.”
