About Us

Our Team

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Jim Olson has served as Senior Pastor at Bethel Christian Fellowship since 1990. He is a graduate of Wheaton College (BA 1981) and Bethel Seminary (MDiv 1986), and in 2010 he completed a Doctor of Ministry program in Global and Contextual Leadership at Bethel University. Pastor Jim & his wife Annette have three daughters and a son and reside in St. Paul. Send him an email.

Sam grew up as a missionary kid in Mexico and moved to the U.S. after High School. He attended Elim Bible Institute in NY where he met his wonderful wife, Sarah, and majored in Biblical Studies and Missions graduating in 2003. Next, he spent six years as a Youth Pastor in Breckenridge, MN. During that time he finished a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and Practical Ministry from Regent University & Beacon University graduating in May of 2009. He has a passion for connecting with God and with people as he seeks to passionately pursue God and creatively make Him known; first as His son, then as a husband, father, brother, pastor, and musician. Sam and Sarah & their children reside in Minneapolis. Send him an email.

Ben is a graduate of Elim Bible Institute in Lima, NY, with a major in Biblical Studies and a minor in Youth Ministry. He grew up in St. Paul, MN, but has traveled to over 20 nations as part of a ministry team doing evangelistic and relief work. His passion and desire is to see young people fully reach their potential in Christ and make a lasting impact on the world. Ben and his wife Hannah have three young children and reside in St. Paul. Send him an email.

Liz Kimmel is a native of St. Paul, MN, and a graduate of Bethel College. She has served as Pastoral Assistant at BCF since 2002. In her spare time Liz enjoys writing Christian poetry and prose (check out her poetry page on the LifeLines available on this website), and is currently working toward publishing a grammar workbook for middle school children.

Liz lives in St. Paul with Cary, her husband of thirty-two years. Send her an email.

Dave has years of ministry experience in churches throughout the United States and has a very close ministry relationship with Bethel, having served as Interim Sr. Pastor for 9 months during Pastor Jim's Sabbatical in 2009. Dave now serves as the United States Missions Director for Great Commission Media and he travels empowering and equipping the church to fulfill the Great Commission.

Alan has an extensive ministry in his home country, Scotland and also ministers in England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He ministers across 15 States in the USA including the cities of Los Angeles, New York, Anchorage and Seattle. Alan ministers across Eastern Europe in Hungary, Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia. In addition to this he ministers in several locations within Indonesia. Finally, Alan has also ministered in Haiti and Ecuador.

For the past seventeen years Dale has been the director of a ministry called Leadership Strategies (LSI). LSI focuses on leadership training for church workers, church planting, and humanitarian assistance such as medicines, medical clinics, clothing, food and disaster relief.