Assemblies of God elects first female exec.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The top U.S. board of the Assemblies of God has unanimously elected its first woman general secretary in the Pentecostal denomination’s more than 100-year history.

Donna L. Barrett, lead pastor of an Independence, Ohio, church, will fill the unexpired term of James T. Bradford, the denomination announced April 23. Bradford resigned earlier this month to serve as pastor of Central Assembly, a flagship church of the denomination in Springfield, Missouri.

Barrett, 58, who was a paralegal before pursuing the ministry, has been an Assemblies of God minister since 1988 and has served in state and national organizations of the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination. The religious body claims 3.2 million U.S. adherents and 68 million worldwide. (RNS)