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By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff 

New conference superintendents have been appointed by Bishop Marcus Matthews to serve five districts within the Baltimore-Washington Conference. 

The Rev. Rebecca Iannicelli will serve as superintendent in the Washington East District. The Rev. Edgardo Rivera was appointed to the Frederick District. The Rev. Jongwoo “J.W.” Park was named superintendent of the Central Maryland District and the Rev. Laura Easto will lead the Baltimore Suburban District. The Rev. Joseph W. Daniels will serve a dual appointment, as superintendent of the Greater Washington District and continuing in his ministry as pastor of Emory Fellowship in Washington, D.C. 

“These persons will bring to the table gifts and voices that reflect the rich diversity of the Baltimore-Washington Conference,” Matthews said. “Each of them has demonstrated a love of God and the church that is being lived out in their current ministries and beyond. They each, in their own ways, personify the idea of spiritual servant leaders.” 

Leaving the Cabinet will be its Dean, the Rev. Ianther Mills, who serves the Washington East District; the Rev. T.R. Chattin of the Frederick District; the Rev. Vivian McCarthy of the Central Maryland District; the Rev. Karin Walker of the Baltimore Suburban District and the Rev. William Chaney of the Baltimore Metropolitan District. 

The Rev. Cynthia Moore, the current superintendent of the Greater Washington District, will be moving to lead the Baltimore Metropolitan area. Chaney will receive an appointment to a local church. 

The appointments go into effect July 1. 

The Revs. Evan Young of the Annapolis District and Conrad Link of the Cumberland-Hagerstown District will continue as superintendents. 

The five new superintendents together represent 101 years of ministry. 

Easto, who has served as a superintendent before in the former Baltimore North District, is currently the pastor of Westminster UMC. She has also served at Marvin Chapel, Calvary UMC in Frederick, Providence UMC in Kemptown, Milford Mill UMC in Randallstown, and University UMC in College Park.

Park has pastored Trinity UMC in Odenton, Emmarts UMC in Woodlawn and Fairhaven Parish in Gaithersburg. Daniels has served Emory Fellowship, a United Methodist congregation in Washington, since 1993. 

Rivera served churches in the Eastern and Central Pennsylvania annual conferences. He came to the Baltimore-Washington Conference in 2007, served a tour as a chaplain in Iraq and became a conference Guide and leader of area Hispanic ministries.

Iannicelli is now serving as a Conference Guide with the Annapolis Southern region. She has pastored Mt. Zion UMC in Mechanicsville, Centenary in Shady Side and Community-Trinity Cooperative Parish in Crofton.

The appointments break new ground. Park is the first Korean American and Rivera is the first Hispanic to serve on the Cabinet.