The North American Baptist Conference is a collection of roughly four hundred churches dispersed across twelve regions in Canada and the United States. Each region is led by a Regional Minister, a pastor to the pastors and churches within their region. Through the Regional Ministers, the NAB is capable of effectively ministering to each church on a more personal level.
Covering Alberta, Canada, as well as a bit of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, the Alberta Baptist Association is not the largest region in the NAB, but it contains the most churches, totaling sixty. The regional minister is Dr. Terry Fossen.
Dr. Terry Fossen
Regional Minister
Terry has a passion for pastoral leadership and development. An NAB pastor for many years, he is now the minister for the Alberta Baptist Association. Terry was also part of the faculty, and later the administration, at Taylor College and Seminary. He’s been married to Tamara for over forty-five years, and they have six children and ten grandchildren. Terry enjoys good historical movies and likes to keep up on resources surrounding leader development.
Address:
11525 – 23 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T6J 4T3
Canada
Atlantic Association
What is now known as the Atlantic Association was the location of some of the first German Baptist Churches in North America. The region consists of fifteen churches across New Jersey, eastern New York, and Pennsylvania. The regional minister is Rev. Larry Burd.
Rev. Larry Burd
Regional Minister
Larry served as the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Easton, Pennsylvania, for thirty-three years until September 2016, when he went on a nine-month sabbatical, after which he returned to Calvary on a part-time basis. He is married to Sharon. Larry’s favorite movie is Fiddler on the Roof. He also enjoys the outdoors, especially hunting, fishing, and gardening.
Address:
5300 Green Pond Road
Easton, PA 18045
US
The BCBA includes twenty-eight NAB churches in fourteen cities, including one just south of the Canadian–United States border in the state of Washington. Dave Mohr is the regional minister.
Dave Mohr
Executive Minister
Before becoming the executive minister for the BCBA, Dave served as the pastor of an NAB church in Calgary, Alberta. Having been married since 1991, he and his wife, Kim, have three adult children. Though he has been geographically displaced fan for some time, Dave is a life-long Edmonton Oilers fan.
Central Plains Region
The Central Plains Region is the combination of fifty-five churches across three different groups, the Southern Association, which is Louisiana, Texas, and Florida; the Southwestern Association, formed of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri; and the Great Plains Association, which is most of South Dakota and a few churches in Iowa. The regional minister is Rev. Brad Seifert.
Rev. Brad Seifert
Regional Minister
Brad lives in Junction City, Kansas, with his wife, Tami. Brad was ordained in the Southwest Association in 1994, two years after he graduated from North American Baptist Seminary – now Sioux Falls Seminary. He has been the lead pastor at two church, the most recent of which he served for twenty-two years before becoming the regional minister. Brad and Tami have one son, Zach, who lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Samantha. Brad enjoys coaching youth sports in his spare time.
Office Phone: | Cell Phone: (785) 761-3953
Office Phone: | Cell Phone: (785) 761-3953
Address:
4723 Monrovia St.
Shawnee, KS 66216
US
The Eastern Association is one of two regions within the NAB that covers a portion of both Canada and the United States. It consists of thirty-three churches and stretches from Montreal, through the Ottawa Valley, Toronto, the Golden Horseshoe, western New York, and western Pennsylvania. Rev. Dr. Dana Goodnough is the regional minister.
Rev. Dr. Dana Goodnough
Regional Minister
Dana splits his time between serving as the Eastern Association regional minister and pastor of Discipleship at Pittsford Community Church in the Rochester, New York, area, where he has served since 1985. He is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Calvary Bible College, and Dallas Theological Seminary, and he also has a counseling degree from Liberty University and a doctoral degree from Dallas Seminary. Dana has participated in several short-term mission trips to places like Russia, Indonesia, Chad, Ukraine, and Brazil. He and his wife, Monica, have three adult children and five grandchildren. In his leisure time, Dana enjoys a good book in an Adirondack chair by a quiet lake.
Address:
421 Marsh Road
Pittsford NY 13045
US
Great Lakes Association
The Great Lakes Association consists of twenty-seven churches as far north as Alpena, close to the northern tip of the southern Michigan peninsula, and as far south as Hebron, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. The regional minister is Rev. Terry Holley.
Rev. Terry Holley
Regional Minister
Before serving as the regional minister for the Great Lakes Region, Terry was the senior pastor at Heartland Community Church in Medina, Ohio, a church he planted back in 1997. He holds a master's of Divinity from Ashland Theological Seminary. Terry has been married to his wife, Janie, since 1974, and they have two adult children, Nate and Elisa. The movie Pee-wee’s Big Adventure is among his favorite works.
Address:
884 Laurel Glens Drive
Medina, OH 44256
US
Regional Minister Kent Carlson serves the forty-two churches that make up the Northern California Association. With churches as far north as Lincoln and as far south as San Jose, the majority of churches are situated in the area around Sacramento, the state capital.
Kent Carlson
Regional Minister
Kent lives with his wife, Diane, in Folsom, California, where he planted Oak Hills Church in 1984 and continues to serve as pastor emeritus. They have three daughters and two granddaughters. From 2016 to 2020, he served as the vice president of Leadership Formation for the NAB International Office. He is currently working on his doctor of ministry degree through Sioux Falls Seminary. Kent once played Captain Von Trapp in a stage adaptation of The Sound of Music. As a native Chicagoan, he is an avid Cubs fan.
Address:
1904 Quail Lakes Drive
Stockton, CA 95207
US
The Northern Plains Region consists of two associations, the Manitoba Baptist Association with seventeen churches and the North Central Association with thirty churches. It is formed by the province of Manitoba and the states of North Dakota, a section of South Dakota, and a portion of eastern Montana. Randy Jaspers serves as the NPR regional minister.
Rev. Dr. Randy Jaspers
Regional Minister
Prior to serving as regional minister beginning in November 2017, Randy was the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, for twenty-seven years. He also served on the NAB Executive Committee and in various association roles. Having grown up on a dairy farm in north central Iowa, Randy is a farm boy at heart and still enjoys working outside in his garden. He has been married to Kristy since 1979; together they raised five children, who have since gifted them with four grandchildren.
Address:
404 16th Street, NW
Jamestown, ND 58401
US
The Northwest Region unites thirty-two churches in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington under the common goal of resourcing, networking, and enabling local churches to become disciple-making congregations to the glory of God. Steve Weisenburger is the regional minister.
Steve Weisenburger
Regional Minister
Steve Weisenburger became the regional minister for the Northwest Region at the beginning of 2023. Prior to this, he served for nineteen years as pastor of Bernal Bible Church in San Jose, California. Steve earned his doctorate in 2019 and currently teaches leadership classes part time for William Jessup University's master's program. His life’s desire is for all those he serves to grow in their joy and love for Jesus. Steve and his wife, Roslyn, have two grown children.
In addition to the fourteen NAB churches within the province, the Saskatchewan Baptist Association also includes Good Spirit Bible Camp, which reaches out to children and youth from nine First Nations reservations. Rev. Mike Anderson is the regional minister.
Rev. Mike Anderson
Regional Minister
Before becoming the regional minister, Mike served for nineteen years as associate pastor of a single church in the SBA. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Religious Education from Ambrose University and is finishing his master of arts in Theological Studies from Briercrest College and Seminary. Mike and Marcie have been married since 2005, and they have three kids. His favourite colour is pink (bold, not dusty rose), and he’s almost always down to watch The Princess Bride.
Address:
PO Box 206
16 Davies St
Springside, SK
S0A 3V0
The Southern California Association is the smallest region, both in number of churches and geographically, mostly consisting of the greater Los Angeles area, with a handful of churches further south. Even so, the churches that form the SoCal Association are quite diverse. Ric Olsen serves as the regional minister.
Ric Olsen
Regional Minister
Though Ric grew up all over the US, he is a sixth-generation Californian. He was first introduced to Jesus his senior year of high school. He graduated from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and has been married to Carolyn since 1998. In addition to his role as RM, he serves as the lead equipper/pastor at The Beacon in Orange, California, the fire department chaplain for Orange, and the executive director of LoveOrange, a nonprofit serving the city. His favorite book is Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy.
Address:
34 Plaza Square
Orange, CA 92866
US
Dr. Dan Andrews serves the forty-one churches within the Upper Mississippi Region, including one that is more than 150 years old. The churches of the UMR range in size from a few dozen to a thousand. This region includes churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Dr. Dan Andrews
Regional Minister
Dan grew up in a Christian home in southwest Minnesota and put his faith in Jesus Christ as a young person. Influenced greatly by his parents and the pastor of his home church in Marshall, he answered God’s call to full-time ministry while attending a small Bible college. He received his master of divinity degree from Central Theological Seminary in Minneapolis and his doctor of ministry from Trinity Seminary. He and his wife, Renee, have five children and became first-time grandparents in June 2022. Dan enjoys technology, golfing, and a good mystery show.