Conference Managerial Staff

Doug Anderson

Phone: 317-924-1321
In addition to his appointment as Associate Director of Church Development for the Indiana Conference, Dr. Doug Anderson is executive director of the Bishop Rueben Job Center for Leadership Development based at Dakota Wesleyan University. He was a district superintendent and pastor of several growing churches of different sizes in the Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church. He has led a variety of practical church seminars and consultations for more than 20 years and is a member of the Academy for Spiritual Formation of the Upper Room. He is the co-author of The Race to Reach Out, published by Abingdon Press in 2004.

Steve Clouse

Phone: 317-924-1321
Steve Clouse, a native of Elkhart, Ind., previously served as director of worship ministries at First UMC of Goshen, a position he has held since 2000. He also has served in church worship, music and/or youth ministries since 1993 in Michigan, Maryland and Kentucky. He graduated from Grand Rapids Baptist College in Michigan in 1989 with a Bachelor of Music degree, from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Ky. in 1994 with a Master of Church Music degree and from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary at Elkhart in 2008 with a Master of Divinity degree. Clouse will serve congregations in the western part of Indiana.

Brian Durand

Phone: 317-924-1321
Brian Durand will create a new working model for youth leadership in the conference by developing and maintaining a network of active youth leaders throughout the conference. He also will create a similar model tailored specifically for young adults and coordinate with campus ministry in the conference. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1994 and a M.Div. degree from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis in 2005. He served as pastor of youth and college ministries at St. Luke’s UMC in Indianapolis from Aug. 2000 through June 2009. He also worked with the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity in Indiana. He was ordained an Elder at Muncie, Ind. in June 2009. He is married to Cheryl Durand and lives in Noblesville.

Ed Fenstermacher

Phone: 317-924-1321
Ed Fenstermacher is a native of Harrisburg, Pa., but only lived there a few months. His parents were missionaries who served in the Congo and later served in Nome, Alaska. He has lived in northern Indiana since he was eight-years old. He is a graduate of John Glenn High School in Walkerton and Taylor University (B.D. Degree in secondary education English). He taught high school English in Kendallville from 1980 to 1984. He then served as Director of Church Growth and Revitalization at Simpson UMC in Fort Wayne from 1984 to 1995. Since then, he has served as Associate Director for Church Development and Revitalization in the former North Indiana Conference. He and his wife Marlene are members of Covenant UMC in Fort Wayne. They are the parents of Erik, Kyle and Andrew. The Fenstermachers spend a lot of time watching their three boys’ sporting events. Ed also volunteers at “In As Much,” a downtown ministry that serves the poor. He also likes to play racket ball, work crossword puzzles, garden and collect banana stickers. In his new position which becomes effective July 1, he will develop and implement the conference strategic plan for church development, with a focus on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Sandy Harlan

Phone: 317-924-1321
Sandy Harlan has worked with the South Indiana Conference Board of Ordained Ministry in several capacities during the past 11 years. In 2007, she was named to the full-time position of Director of Ministerial Services and continues to serve in that capacity. From 1993 to 2007 she also served as Director of Financial Ministries for St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Bloomington. She was consecrated a Diaconal Minister in 1998 and ordained Deacon in 2000. She is a 1965 graduate of the University of Evansville hold a B.A. degree and has done graduate work in theology and church administration. She is mother to two adult sons, one of Greenwood, the other of North Fort Myers, Fla. She also has a grandson in Bloomington who is married and father to twin five-year-old girls. Besides time with family and friends, she enjoys movies, reading, walking, travel and oil painting.

Ruth Ellen Needler

Phone: 317-924-1321
Ruth Ellen Needler is a native of Sweetser, Ind., five miles west of Muncie, and a 1977 graduate of Oak Hill High School. She was employed by the North Indiana Conference for the past 32 years has worked in various areas of the conference service center. For the past seven years, she has held her present position. She is a life-long member of the Mount Olive UMC in Marion. She is married to Roger Needler, her high school sweetheart. They have three adult children: Pete, Ty and Brad. As pastimes, she enjoys sports, reading and travel. In her position, she will provide oversight of office services, including supervision of the support staff pool and conference services, including support needs of the annual conference session. She will be supervised by Brent Williams, the new conference director of administrative services.

Heidi Player

Phone: 317-924-1321
Heidi Player joined the Indiana Conference Staff in January 2010 and serves as an assistant to the director of financial services. She is responsible for maintaining the general ledger and its subsidiary accounts as well as financial reporting. She worked for the former South Indiana Conference Center for 11 years. She has an Associate’s Degree in Accounting from Ivy Tech and will complete her B.A. in Business Administration from Indiana State in the summer of 2010. She is married to Clayton Player and has a teenage son named Christian. She enjoys spending time with her family and pets, gardening and cooking.

LeKisha Reed

Phone: 317-924-1321
LeKisha Reed came to serve the Indiana Conference in July 2009. Prior to this appointment, she served as associate pastor of First Grace United Methodist Church in New Orleans, La., a position she has served since June 2007. Previously, she has served as pastor of the Boyntown UMC in Gretna, La., a resident student chaplain in Atlanta, Ga., program director for the Summer Leadership Institute in New Orleans, and a ministry fellow of The Fund for Theological Education in Atlanta. She is a 2002 graduate of Dillard University of New Orleans (Bachelor of Arts Humanities) and a 2005 graduate of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta (M.Div.). She spent 1990-2000 in the overseas student program at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheba, Israel. Reed is a Hurricane Katrina survivor and assisted her congregation and community of Gretna in recovery efforts following the August 2005 devastation.

Sharon Washington

Phone: 317-924-1321
Sharon Washington came to Indiana in July 2009 from North Carolina where since May 2006 she served as an associate pastor of the World Tabernacle Church, a new, independent congregation with more than 1,500 members, in Rocky Mount. There she assisted in establishing a new church start in a marginalized community. Previously, she served as chaplain at two hospitals in Atlanta, Ga., and as a lay pastor in Bluefields, Nicaragua. She served as a pastoral intern with Eastern Seminary at Iglesia del Barrio, a UMC start in Philadelphia and as a short-term missionary in Mexico. Prior to her call to pastoral ministry, she worked in pharmaceutical research and development for AstraZeneca in Newark, Del. form 1992 to 1999. She graduated from Duke University at Durham, N.C. in 1992 with a B.S. degree in Engineering and from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (of the American Baptist Churches USA now Palmer Seminary) in 2002 with a M.Div. degree.