The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel has made 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.”
