Clark Friesen

Elder Clark Friesen hails from the farmlands of Kansas where he was reared in the Mennonite Church. He was sent out as a missionary in 1969 to serve at the Mennonite Church of the Sermon on the Mount, a church planting effort in Houston, Texas.

In May 1974, he first came to Metropolitan Community Church in Houston, Texas and is a charter member of that congregation. During his tenure with Metropolitan Community Church of the Resurrection in Houston, he served as the Clerk of the Board of Directors, a member of three pastoral search committees, a member of the Building Search Committee, and the Hymnal Committee.

Friesen served the South Central District of UFMCC as District Clerk from 1978 to 1979 and as Assistant District Coordinator from 1979 until 1982. In 1982 he was elected as the District Coordinator of the South Central District, serving until 1995.

Friesen served the UFMCC as a General Council member from 1985 until 1995. He has also served as a member of the Task Force on Clergy Credentials and Concerns Committee, the Task Force on World Church Extension, the Task Force on Samaritan College and as Chair of the Corporate and Legal Division from 1989 to 1995. He was elected as a member of the UFMCC Board of Elders at the denomination’s General Conference in Sydney, Australia in 1997, becoming the third layperson to serve on the Board of Elders in the denomination’s history.

In 1996, Friesen transferred his membership to Water of Life MCC in Tucson, Arizona where he served as the Vice Moderator of the Board of Directors. While on the Board of Elders for the denomination, Friesen served as Liaison Elder to the Great Lakes, Eastern Canadian and Northeast Districts. He was also a member of the Geographic Review Board.

Elder Friesen retired from the Board of Elders in 2001.

(This biographical statement written by Frank Zerilli from MCC General Conference program books in 1999 and 2003.)

Biography Date: April, 2010

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