Leadership Team

The national Leadership Team is your elected volunteer national board. We work in partnership with our affiliated chapters, staff and colleagues across the ABC-USA family to achieve our common mission of "ministers serving ministers." The Team bears fiduciary responsibility for the Ministers Council.

PRESIDENT
Rebecca Driscoll

The Rev. Rebecca Driscoll, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Attleboro, Massachusetts (July 2021–present), TABCOM Minister for Creation Care (April 2021–2023). She is a member of the National Ministers Council and the Conference of Baptist Ministers in Massachusetts (2019–present. She served as intern for AB Women in Ministry on the MC Leadership Team (2019-2021) and as Discernmentarian for the MC Leadership Team (2021-present).

VICE PRESIDENT
Naomi Mitchell

The Rev. Dr. Naomi Mitchell is a dedicated minister committed to fostering wholeness, wellness, and well-being. Her expansive counseling expertise encompasses a diverse array of areas, including pastoral care, bereavement, marriage, eating disorders, self-esteem, social adjustment, job loss, depression, trauma-informed care, and anxiety. Her degrees include: M.Div. and M.A. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and a D.Min. in Homiletics from the Association of Chicago Theological Schools. Dr. Mitchell was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in 2022. She serves as co-pastor at Morgan Park Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois, with her husband the Rev. Dr. Joel R. Mitchell. Together, they lead an international counseling and education ministry called The Marriage Investors. Naomi serves as President of the Ministers Council of ABC-Metro Chicago.

TREASURER
Shane Kinnison

The Rev. Dr. Shane Kinnison is currently serving as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO; a congregation affiliated with ABC of The Great Rivers Region and American Baptist Churches--USA. He has been a member of Ministers Council since 2011, serving as President of the Ministers Council of Oregon and terms on the National Ministers Council including Member at Large for what was previously the Board of Governors, as well as Secretary and Treasurer of what is now the Leadership Team.

SECRETARY
Julio Gonzalez-Paniagua

The Rev. Dr. Julio González-Paniagua is by vocation an educator and musician, and by Lord’s calling, Pastor of the First Spanish Baptist Church of Central Islip, in Long Island, New York. As a musician, composer, arranger, conductor and Liturgy and music workshop leader, he fully participates within the American Baptists in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Latin America. Pastor González has earned a B.A. in Music, a Master in Education, both from the University of Puerto Rico, a Master in Divinity from the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, and a Doctor of Ministry from Drew University, New Jersey.

CHAPTER SUPPORT
Dianthia Yvonne Gilmore

Called into ministry at the tender age of fourteen, Rev. Dianthia Gilmore finds “immeasurable joy” in sharing God’s prophetic word, love, mercy, and compassion with others. She holds a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies (Old Testament) and a Doctor of Ministry in Formational Counseling, both from Ashland Theological Seminary. Gilmore also earned a master’s in psychology (John Carroll University). She serves as Associate Pastor (Antioch Baptist Church), Christian counselor, spiritual director, writer, speaker, retired math teacher, academic coach, workshop and conference presenter, mother, grandmother, and wife to Dr. Thomas Gilmore, who is the president of the Cleveland Ministers Council.

She is working on her first book - Intimacy with God - born of a passion for self care and burnout prevention. Her meditation ”Sabbath Resting” was published in Leaves of Wisdom: A Book of Daily Meditations and Encouragement (Dr. Danette Anthony Reed, International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.)

MEMBERSHIP/CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT
Rick Mixon

The Rev. Dr. Randle (Rick) Mixon is an ordained American Baptist minister with over 50 years of experience in pastoral ministry, church leadership, and social justice advocacy. He began serving as Interim Pastor of First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, MI in October 2024. He served as the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Palo Alto, California from 2006-2020, and as Interim Minister for four congregations in four states over his career. He is a long time member of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA, the church that ordained him in 1996 as the first openly LGBTQIA+ Baptist to be ordained. He serves as Affiliate Professor of Pastoral Care at Berkeley School of Theology (Berkeley, CA) and emeritus board member of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. His education includes: Ph.D., Religion and Personality, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA; M.Div., The American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley, CA; M.S., Marriage and Family Therapy, California State University-East Bay, Hayward, CA; B.A.,English, Columbia College of Columbia University, New York.

COORDINATOR OF TIM/EIM GRANTS
Matthew Sturtevant

Rev. Dr. Matthew Sturtevant has served for thirteen years as a pastor at First Baptist Church in Lawrence, KS. He was born and raised in central Illinois and has degrees from Georgetown College, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Chicago Theological Seminary. Matt has served in ministry positions in Kentucky, South Carolina, and over twenty years in Kansas, including as the president of the region Ministers Council. His wife Kimberly is an elementary teacher in Lawrence, and they have two young adult children, Addison and Ethan. He loves to spend time climbing mountains, running on the dirt, and photographing the world he sees around him.